DC: Infinite Frontier

DC's Infinite Frontier relaunch starts in March, with an initially trimmer line, as DC takes steps toward anthologies and backup features.

A handful of standards continue, often with new creative teams: Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, Action Comics, Justice League, Flash, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Batman/Superman

There are also some new titles. Some of them are relaunches of recent titles, but a few are deeper dives: Harley Quinn, Teen Titans Academy, Swamp Thing, Suicide Squad, Crime Syndicate, The Joker

And there are a few new anthologies: Batman: Urban Legends, and Superman: Red and Blue. The Superman titles seems like a variation on Batman: Black and White, but so far none of the art I've seen has made the color combination look appealing. The Urban Legends book seems more like an anthology of various gotham stories (Batman, Harley Quinn, Grifters, Outsiders), with a lead feature starring Batman. Hopefully it works.

Of the ongoing books, I'm most interested in Justice League by Brian Bendis and David Marquez, Gene Yang and Ivan Reis's Batman/Superman, the two Superman titles (written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, with initial art by Phil Hester) and Tom Taylor & Bruno Redondo's Nightwing. Flash promises "the redemption of Wally West," but I've heard that one before. 

In the new launches, there's a new Swamp Thing from India, the 80s Titans are now teaching younger students, and Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad are back (with Peacemaker leading the Squad). None really jump out at me. There's a Crime Syndicate comic that promises "edgy" super-action on Earth 3, and a Joker book that sounds the most promising of the lot: a retired Jim Gordon on an international manhunt for the Joker. That sounds great, aside from the Joker.

So ultimately, this is probably the DC relaunch I've been the least interested in since...well, since just about ever, I guess. There's good stuff there -- Nightwing has my favorite team in comics right now! and I *do* love anthologies and backup features -- but so much of it seems grim and grumpy.

Nonetheless, April promises more launches. A Robin ongoing has been announced, and there's more to come. 

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  • March's backup stories:

    Demon or Detective: a two-part Robin tale in Batman and Detective
    Punchline: In Joker
    Tales of Metropolis: in Action and Superman
    Diana of Themescira: Young Wonder Woman stories in Wonder Woman
    JL Dark: in Justice League

    Nothing that will pull me into buying a book, but I expect I'll like JL Dark better in shorter installments, and as Johnson plans some epic space stuff with Superman, it'll be good to have backups keeping an eye on Metropolis.

    I expect the "Demon or Detective" story to just last in March, leading into the Robin ongoing. There'll probably be new backups in April. (Will they run from Batman to Detective? It's not a bad way for DC to encourage readers to buy both titles.) 

  • There were two one-shots that were supposed to bookend "Future State": Generations Shattered (January 6) and Generations: Forged (February 24). I was at least going to look at Generations: Shattered, but I didn't notice it. Can anyone confirm that it shipped? Has anyone here read it? 

  • Generations: Shattered shipped a few weeks ago. I've read it and loved it. It's got very familiar "gathering of the team" vibes, but I like the particular characters (and iterations of characters) that it gathers, and I like the notion that the people brought on board aren't all the ones who were intended to be there. 

    Dan Jurgens is one of the writers, and it's got his fingerprints all over it -- not only are there some callbacks to 90s Superman characters, but also it's just got this very sturdy, non-ironic look at superheroes. Honestly, it's a breath of fresh air.

    Also -- and this is a total plus to me -- Tom Napolitano's lettering seems a touch bigger than in most comics. Much easier on the eyes!

  • Thanks. I'll have to look for it next week.

  • Splitting up the Robin back-up between 2 series, makes me want to skip both of them just out of spite. That really irritates me.

    Ultimately, I will read the previews and see what interests me, same as always.

  • I've got the DC solicitations for March and April, if y'all want me to post the pertinent ones.

    DC has also sent PR on the new Swamp Thing (it's a maxiseries, 10 issues, I think), Batman (two series so far), Green Lantern and Robin. I haven't read them yet, but I can post them as well. Whatever y'all want.

    One of the Batman series is by John Ridley, and stars Tim Fox. Evidently, it's going to detail his hero's journey to donning the cape-n-cowl, as seen in Future State. Many of the creative teams on Future State books will follow as the regular team on the "present" book.

  • I bought Generations: Shattered today. What I think happened was I missed it because both of the covers were in the same slot, and I didn't recognize the virgin alternate, which must have been in front.

  • Oh, nice, Cap! Yeah, I'd love to see them! I hadn't yet heard of the new GL book, though I figured one was coming.

    I did see some info on the new Batman; The Dark Knight book by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert. It's a 6-issue mini, taking Batman to Europe. Sounds great -- it's a hell of a team! -- but it being a finite series, I might hold off until I can buy it as a collection and enjoy it all at once. 


  • Aprils's backup stories:

    Ghost-Maker: in Batman
    Huntress: in Detective
    Midnighter: in Action
    Tales of Metropolis (Ambush Bug): in Superman
    Punchline: In Joker
    Young Diana of Themescira: Young Wonder Woman stories in Wonder Woman
    JL Dark: in Justice League

    So that back-up series stretching across two series lasted one issue of Batman & Detective. They're separate now.

    Also in backups: The Batman: Urban Legends anthology continues the Grifters and Outsiders stories, but replaces Harley Quinn with Batgirl this issue.

  • Do we know who is doing Ambush Bug?

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