DC's Digital Backlist - Secret Society of Super Villains spotlight!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

A while back, I logged some week-to-week posts on DC’s digital reprint program through Comixology. It’s been a while, and their digital offerings have matured, so I thought I’d take another look at what they’re adding each week. Currently, they seem to be doing about 30 books a week. I might not list all the issue numbers going forward – if the 90s Superman titles continue moving forward at two of each a week, there’s not much value in listing each issue. But let’s take a look at this week’s, and let’s see where the patterns take us, shall we?

 

90s Superman: DC is following the 90s Superman titles (soon to be the 2000s Superman, as this week’s titles are from December 1999) pretty quickly, giving us 8 issues of the books every week. There’s a lot of material to get through, but that’s still an admirable clip. We may only have a few more weeks of this, judging by Action Comics (the one title of the bunch that doesn’t change its numbering and continues for a long while) – 761 is the most recent issue, and Action already seems to be in the digital library from 769 on. Superman, Adventures of Superman and Superman: Man of Steel have bigger gaps, though. 

Action Comics 760, 761

Adventures of Superman 574, 575

Superman 152, 153

Man of Steel 95, 96

 

Arion: 11, 12

DC has been adding two issues of Arion: Lord of Atlantis a week for the last 6 weeks. There are 35 issues and a special, so there's a way to go before the series is completed.

DC Comics Presents: 75, 76

DCCP started out at a faster pace, but has been going two a week for a little while now. There are about 20 issues to go. Bonus: More Arion this week, in issue 75!

Guy Gardner: Warrior: 33

11 issues to go.

Huntress: 19, 4-issue 1994 series

We wrap up the Cavalieri/Staton ongoing that introduced Helena Bertinelli, and then power through a Chuck Dixon mini from 1994. Will Huntress return next week, or will we move on?

Justice League America (Bwa-ha-ha) 51, 52

This one has a ways to go before having everything available.

Manhunter: 34

Four more issues till it’s all there!

Mister Miracle: 23-25

This wraps up the 70s run – Kirby and then Marshall Rogers, it’s all there! (I think DC also recently wrapped the 70s Return of the New Gods run, too.)

Superman (Bronze Age): 233

This is an interesting one. The Kryptonite Nevermore cover – I’m surprised it wasn’t available before this. Will DC continue from here? Their 70s Superman offerings on Comixology are paltry.

Wanderers: 7, 8

This 80s Legion spinoff ran 13 issues, so we’re almost there.

Wonder Woman (Silver Age): 130, 131

DC has been making silver age Wonder Woman stories available, probably wishing to expand their catalog in anticipation of the movie. At this point the silver age issues go from 112-131, with a couple of gaps.

Swamp Thing (Diggle/Dysart run): 25

4 more issues to go.

Trigger: 5

This Vertigo sci-fi series lasted 8 issues. I don’t remember it at all.

 

That’s a pretty exhaustive look at this week’s offerings. Next week, I’ll probably just note new additions (what will replace Mister Miracle? The '89 and '96 series have already been collected, so we might be in for something new. And there might be more Huntress comics that haven't been reprinted yet, but Comixology has a bunch of them listed already, and the Bat-universe is so sprawling it's tough to search), unexpected omissions, breaks from the patterns, and go forward from there. 

And to make things easy to follow:
Week 2. (April 6, 2017)

Week 3 (April 13, 2017)

Week 4 (April 20, 2017)

Week 5 (April 27, 2017)

Week 6 (May 4, 2017)

Week 7 (May 11, 2017)

Week 8 (May 18, 2017)

Week 9 (May 25, 2017)

Week 10 (June 1, 2017) -- All the golden age Wonder Woman goodness!

Week 11 (June 8, 2017)

Week 12 (June 15, 2017)

Week 13 (June 22, 2017)

Week 14 (June 29, 2017)

Week 15 (July 6, 2017)

Week 16 (July 13, 2017) -- Our Worlds at War! Underworld Unleashed!

Week 17 (July 20, 2017) -- The Great Ten! More Wonder Woman!

Week 18 (July 27, 2017) -- Batman Confidential and Deathblow? Young Heroes in Love?? Doom Patrol!

Week 19 (Aug 3, 2017) -- Some Bronze-age Batman!

Week 20 (Aug 10, 2017) -- Loeb/Sale Challengers begins!

Week 21 (Aug 17, 2017) -- Silver Age Challs!

MIDWEEK SALE BLAST (Aug 22, 2017): Wildstorm!

Week 22 (Aug 24, 2017) -- Holding pattern...

Week 23 (Aug 31, 2017) -- chugging along

Week 24 (Sept 7, 2017) -- Same old, but with newer Challengers

Week 25 (Sept 14, 2017) -- Baron/Jones Deadman debuts

Week 26 (Sept 21, 2017) -- Holding steady, with more Deadman

Week 27 (Sept 28, 2017) -- Deadman in Action Comics Weekly?

Week 28 (Oct 5, 2017) -- A slow swerve into Batman

Week 29 (Oct 5, 2017) -- Doom Patrol finishes in the smallest week ever

The Gap List: a list of unexplained or awkward skips.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist:

Blood Syndicate 31: By DG Chichester and Elim Mak. After The Long Hot Summer, a new threat targets Brickhouse & Third Rail.  

Hardware 37: By John Rozum & Eric Battle. The villain Malleus sends strange alien creatures to fight Hardware. 

Captain Carrot 5: A mysterious egg cracks open on Easter Bunny Island. Guest-starring the daring archaeologist, Oklahoma Bones, and his snake, Whipley! By Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! Despite all the gags, it strikes me that this cover would be right at home on an issue of Challengers of the Unknown: Heroes gathered around on a mysterious, exotic location while something crazy & dangerous is about to happen. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Last week's DC digital backlist books are...

Icon 37: Static helps Rocket celebrate her birthday. By Jacqueline Ching & Joe Brozowski.

Static 38: By Jacqueline Ching & Shawn Martinbrough! Virgil faces the Botanist and a sinister army of plants. But also learns some all-time awkward news: His sister has a crush on Static!

Captain Carrot 6: The Zoo Crew faces off against the Bunny from Beyond! By Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! For some reason -- and hey, it's from the same writer, published around the same time -- I always saw this story as an absurdist take on the alien story in All-Star Squadron 10-12. 

Also, while I think these have been available on Comixology for a long time, DCU Infinite now includes all 150 issues of Fables!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Also: Big news for June! The Milestone books and Captain Carrot are continuing on their schedules -- though July will see some changes as Blood Syndicate and Static Icon reach the ends of their runs. But also, a fourth backlist title a week is going to start appearing in the middle of the month! First up: Wetworks from 1994, starting with issue 2 (since issue 1 is already available). The series ran 40-some issues, so at an issue a week, it could take 10 months -- that is, if DC does the whole series without a break. We'll see. But by August, we'll be looking at the end of Milestone (unless the later, smaller titles are collected) and the end of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, whose final issue will hit at the end of August. So we could soon be looking at 3 completely new books in the existing slots, while Wetworks presses on. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist!

Blood Syndicate 32: By DG Chichester and Denys Cowan & Pat Broderick. The Blood Syndicate faces Soulbreaker's techno-voodoo! Also: This issue sports another one of Howard Chaykin's golden age cover homages, this one to All-Winners Comics #1. (3 issues to go!)

Hardware 38: By John Rozum & JJ Birch. Hardware vs Malleus on a crumbling space station! 

Captain Carrot 7: Roy Thomas brings in another parody of a character he's associated with... Bow-Zar the Barkbarian! By Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! Also: Bow-Zar's creator is also featured, but he's not animal version of Robert E. Howard, but instead an Ezra Pound parody named Ezra Hound. That seems like an extremely strange choice to me; I might read this one and find out if there's any reason for it beyond the easy dog pun name. (Although Pound, itself, is a dog pun, too.)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

As we near the end of the core four Milestone books, here's a look at what's left to collect. 

Crossover issues:
Worlds Collide: 1 issue, the central chapter of the Worlds Collide crossover.
Long Hot Summer: 3 issues, crossover.

Milestone Ongoings:
Shadow Cabinet: 18 issues (issue 0 is part of Shadow War crossover)
Xombi: 22 issues (issue 0 is part of Shadow War crossover)
Kobalt: 16 issues
Heroes: 6 issues

Limited Series*:
Deathwish: 4 issues
My Name Is Holocaust: 5 issues
Wise Son: The White Wolf: 4 issues

*There's also Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool, but it's already available.

All told, after the core four are wrapped up, there'll still be 79 issues of Milestone content to make available. If Milestone keeps its current 2 slots a week, it would take the better part of a year. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see it move down to 1 slot a week once these titles are through, however. Hopefully they'd start with the 6 crossover issues (including issue 0 of Xombi and Shadow Cabinet). Of course, another possibility is these lesser-known Milestone books drift out in limbo for a while as other titles come to the fore.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist:

Icon 38: Icon & Rocket vs the new Blood Syndicate, led by Holocaust. This was published about 6 months after the final issue of Blood Syndicate's own title. By Dwayne McDuffie and Mark Bright. (4 issues to go)

Static 39: By JC Ching* & Jeff Moore! Virgil faces Kilgore, a mad scientist who steals his powers by draining his blood. Plus. Frieda struggles with bulimia. *It looks like Jacqueline Ching, or someone, decided to make her credit gender neutral for whatever reason. (6 issues to go)

Captain Carrot 8: The Zoo Crew faces off against a Time-Trapper style villain, a bear called the Timekeeper! No idea why there's no pun in his name. By Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! Also: a Yankee Poodle backup with pencils by JLA artist Mike Sekowsky??

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Here's this week's DC backlist!

Blood Syndicate 33: By Ivan Velez & Jeffrey Moore. Kwai returns to Paris Island, and then the Blood Syndicate heads to China to help her face Demon Fox! (2 issues to go!)

Hardware 39: By Jacqueline Ching and Prentis Rollins. Hardware and Technique face off... and Hardware is defeated! 

Captain Carrot 9: More time-travel shenanigans with the Zoo Crew! Guest-starring the Terrific Whatsit and the Three Mouseketeers! Because Roy Thomas is going to connect EVERYTHING one day. By Roy Thomas, Scott Shaw! and Stan Goldberg. 

One thing these latest issues are really driving home is that toward the end of their runs, most Milestone books started scrambling for creative teams. I usually copy and paste from two weeks prior (so I don't need to bother with formatting), and I've been constantly changing the creative teams on the Milestone books. Icon seems to be the title with the most stability.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist:

Icon 39: Icon & Rocket continue to face off against the new Blood Syndicate, led by Holocaust and featuring a pivotal role for Flashback, one of my favorite Syndicate members.  By Dwayne McDuffie and Mark Bright. (3 issues to go)

Static 40: By Brian McDonald and Keith Pollard! A group of Static's old enemies has plans for him... while Virgil keeps trying to make time with Daisy. (5 issues to go)

Captain Carrot 10: Prepare to face...the WUZ-WOLF! He's a Hulk-like creature that lives as a wolf until his anger rizes, and then becomes a horrible fleshy thing, almost a super strong human! By Roy Thomas, Scott Shaw, Stan Goldberg, and Mike Sekowsky! 

Good news: Next week... we start having four issues a week!  

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I was on vacation last week, so here's last week's DC backlist.

Blood Syndicate 34: By Ivan Velez & Jeffrey Moore. The Blood Syndicate travels to the mystical realm of Kwen Lun to save Kwai! (1 issue to go!)

Hardware 40: By Matt Wayne, Eric Battle, JJ Birch, and Keith Pollard. Hardware races to save his estranged father's life! 

Captain Carrot 11: Pig-Iron faces off against the Wuz-Wolf! By Roy Thomas, E. Nelson Bridwell, Rick Hoberg and Stan Goldberg. 

And introducing...

Wetworks 1 & 2: By Mike Carey and Whilce Portacio. I was thinking this would be the 1998 Image series (originated by Brandon Choi and Whilce Portacio), but it looks like it's the 15-issue revival from 2006. So I'm pretty certain issue 1 is a new addition as well as issue 2. The revival shows Jackson Dane from the original series trying to rebuild Team 7.

Also, July's listings have been released... and at the end of the month, the number of backlist releases rises again, to 5! The additional title will be WildCATS from 1992...although it says it's starting with issue 1, and Wildcats 0-12 (as well as a special and an annual) are already available. So something's a little screwy. Otherwise, Captain Carrot continues, Wetworks continues, and Milestone continues, with Blood Syndicate dropping off. There's no evidence yet of the Milestone stragglers (World's End, Long Hot Summer, the later ongoings and miniseries) following the core four titles, but August will probably be the real test, as Icon wraps at the end of July.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist:

Icon 40: Icon & Rocket team up with some of the new Blood Syndicate against their leader, Holocaust.  By Dwayne McDuffie and Mark Bright. (2 issues to go)

Static 41: By Jacqueline Ching and Jeff Moore! Static faces his own Sinister Six: Dr. Kilgore, the Swarm, Prometheus, Rubberband Man, the Botanist, and Jump! (4 issues to go)

Captain Carrot 12: The dazzling debut of the Zoo Crew's newest member, Little Cheese! Written and drawn by Scott Shaw! 

Wetworks 3: By Mike Carey and Whilce Portacio. What is the secret of the Blood Box? I doubt I'll ever know.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist!

Blood Syndicate 35: By Ivan Velez & Wilfred Santiago. An enemy from the past returns in this extra-sized final issue.

Hardware 41: By Matt Wayne, Prentis Rollins. Hardware is hypnotized into killing his own father? (9 issues to go)

Captain Carrot 13: The frozen menace of Cold Turkey! By E. Nelson Bridwell, Scott Shaw! and Stan Goldberg. (7 issues to go)

Wetworks 4: By Mike Carey and Whilce Portacio. The team learns the origins of Vascar, the vampire who so badly wants the Blood Box! 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This week's DC backlist is here!

Icon 41: Icon defends Paris Island from the new Blood Syndicate.. but where's Rocket? Seeking out a sister she didn't know she had, that's where.  By Dwayne McDuffie and Mark Bright. (1 issue to go)

Static 42: By Jacqueline Ching and Jeff Moore! Static continues to fight six of his baddies, but his relationship with Daisy takes a hit. (3 issues to go)

Captain Carrot 14: Crossover with the JLA: Just a Lotta Animals! They're the characters Rodney Rabbit draws in his comics, so why are they alive? The cover is a great parody of the JLA/JSA/All-Star Squadron crossover from a few months before... and includes great little animal versions of the Zoo Crew creators as well as headshots of the two teams! Written by E. Nelson Bridwell, drawn by Scott Shaw! (6 issues to go)

Wetworks 5: By Mike Carey and Whilce Portacio. Dane & Mother-One team up with a werewolf cop to learn more about the Blood Box. (10 issues left of me making sense of these summaries, in which none of the proper nouns make any sense to me.)