[[{“value”:”
Welcome back to Upcoming Comics! This is the end, beautiful friend. I’ve been talking a lot about how DC is in a state of transition, but it’s never been more apparent than this week. I count three runs ending and three more series finishing up entirely. Let’s take a look as DC closes the book on their “Dawn of DC” era:
Upcoming Comics
Detective Comics #1089
It began with a melody, strange and haunting, drawing Batman deeper and deeper into a demonic odyssey. From the sewers under Gotham to a hallucinatory desert, from the brink of death to a strange rebirth, from the iron grip of order to the deadly blades of chaos, it has all led to this moment. And now, the curtains close on Ram V’s epic Gothic Opera!
Written By: Ram V., Dan Watters
Pencils By: Guillem March, Christopher Mitten
Colors By: Luis Guerrero, Tríona Farrell
Cover By: Guillem March
Thoughts: I’ve been rereading V’s entire run in preparation for this finale, and I have a lot of thoughts to give on the story as a whole.
Batman News Critic: Jackson
Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #1
In 1996, writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale teamed up for Batman: The Long Halloween, an award-winning 13-chapter saga that spawned multiple sequels and stands as the most influential Batman story of its era. Now, Loeb returns to the world of The Long Halloween for its long-anticipated final act: Batman: The Last Halloween, an all-new 10-part mystery continuing the story from 2021’s The Long Halloween Special. In each issue, Loeb will be joined by one of the top artists in comics, in a beautiful and lovingly crafted tribute to Sale’s art and legacy.In issue one, Gotham City learns to fear Halloween once more as a terrible event threatens to destroy Jim Gordon’s life and puts Batman and Robin’s teamwork to the test more than ever before. In a city of liars, masked vigilantes, and criminals…can anyone be trusted?
Written By: Jeph Loeb
Penciled By: Eduardo Risso
Colors By: Dave Stewart
Cover By: Tim Sale
Thoughts: This series will have insanely high expectations to live up to
Batman News Critic: Chip
Titans #15
A major death will shake the DCU. There is no stopping it. Dark destiny is coming, and countless worlds shake with fear. The Dark Winged Queen is rising. Stronger than the Titans. Stronger than Trigon and all his demonic children. Can the Titans save the world and their friend? Or will they be forced to choose?
Written By: Tom Taylor
Art By: Lucas Meyer
Cover By: Lucas Meyer
Thoughts: “What if Trigon, but even stronger?”
Batman News Critic: Andru
Harley Quinn #43
Brrr! My buns are freezin’ off! With the threat of Gotham City being buried under five hundred metric tons of ice, your ol’ pal Harley Quinn (me!) has no choice but to face down against both the icecube lickingest bad dood to ever live, Mr. Freeze, and the devious Bat-family-hating Officer Pulaski! Can’t a Clown Queen of Crime catch a break?! Alls I want to do is set things right before the citizens of Gotham are turned into icy-cles. Plus, I got one last dream to share with ya before these jabronis start pumping my brain with coffee 24/7 and it’s A JUICY ONE! That’s right, back by popular demand, MORE BEEFCAKE BARBARIAN QUEEN HARLEY by Alexis Quasarano and this time she’s joined by da Fellspyre Chronicles’ own Riccardo Federici!
Written By: Tini Howard, Alexis Quasarano
Art By: Sweeney Boo, Riccardo Federici
Cover By: Sweeney Boo
Thoughts: And with that, Tini Howard is off regular DC titles
Batman News Critic: Jack
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #7
The Trinity of Evil achieve total domination over Earth’s super-powered protectors! But what of the heroes NOT of this Earth? Just as Kal-El of Krypton before him, J’onn J’onzz of Mars has felt the devastating effects of Waller’s Task Force VII fighters as they continue their mission of siphoning metahuman power across the globe…but hope glimmers even in the face of the ghastly Global Guardian, and a new generation of fighters from every corner of the world have joined forces to rise up! It’s the finale of Task Force VII as we near the grand finale of the epic Absolute Power event!
Written By: Dan Watters
Art By: Pete Woods
Cover By: Pete Woods
Thoughts: Oh hey, they’re actually ending Task Force VII on issue #7. Something that the “Nine Lives” arc of Catwoman missed.
Batman News Critic: Aaron
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #17
Leap year only comes once every four years, and for most, an extra day on the calendar is a mild novelty. But for Calendar Man, it’s a critical error in that which he holds most dear—and now, Batman and the GCPD respond to a deadly hostage situation, but can they work together to stop Calendar Man before it’s too late? And lastly, the Question—with the help of a surprise guest star—unmasks the mysterious villain Zerø!
Written By: Michael Conrad, Zipporah Smith, Alex Segura, Troi Peteri, G. Willow Wilson
Art By: Christopher Mitten, Miguel Mendonca, Mike Norton, Andy MacDonald, David Baldeon, Jason Shawn Alexander
Cover By: Simone Di Meo
Thoughts: Batman and The Question team ups are always fun.
Batman News Critic: Akash
Absolute Power: Origins #3
Amanda Waller’s journey has brought her to hell and back—from the blood-soaked streets of Chicago to the over-the-top exploits of her very own Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad). Now, with the clock ticking on ultimate victory over the metahumans of Planet Earth, the origin of DC’s most methodical menace draws to a close. But what secrets lie within the terrifying alien mind of the Brainiac Queen—and will the Wall survive the very seeds she herself has sown? All this and Rustam’s revenge in the finale of Absolute Power: Origins.
Written By: John Ridley
Art By: Alitha Martinez
Art By: Edwin Galmon
Thoughts: Can this extended flashback justify the motivations of the central driving force for the Absolute Power event? Maybe. Probably not.
Batman News Critic: Chris
Outsiders #11
It’s the finale you’ve all been waiting for, and our heroes enter the eye of the storm! The pages of reality have become torn and frayed, but will they burn away? Luke, Kate, and Drummer must face the past, present, and future as an unexpected force threatens to erase them all!
Written By: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
Art By: Robert Carey
Cover By: Roger Cruz
Thoughts: Ignore the Upcoming Comics from a few weeks ago where I said this was coming out. It was delayed and now it’s now. We passed then. We’re at now now.
Batman News Critic: Aaron
Beyond the Bat
Welcome to Beyond the Bat, where we take a quick look at the rest of DC’s comics coming out this week.
Graphic Novel Watch
Sometimes you need more than floppies. Sometimes you want something that can sit nicely on your shelf that proudly displays your favorite stories. That’s when you turn to graphic novels. Let’s see what bat collections are coming out this week:
Ratings
Most Excited: Detective Comics #1089– After having read the whole run straight through, I’m very excited to see how it ends.
Least Excited: Outsiders #11– I wasn’t excited when I thought it was coming out a few weeks ago, and I’m no more excited now.
Wild Card: Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #1– It has a lot to live up to, but if it can pull it off then it will be unforgettable.
Well that’s it for this week! Let us know in the comments what comics you’re looking forward to.
“}]] Welcome back to Upcoming Comics! This is the end, beautiful friend. I’ve been talking a lot about how DC is in a state of… Read More