A while back, DC announced a new line of reprints, called DC Finest, that packages about 500 pages of comics from various eras into a $40 softcover. From all appearances, it looks to be an attempt to mimic Marvel's successful Epic Collections line, in which complete runs of their books are reprinted in similar paperbacks, but often out of order. So you might get Fantastic Four volume 3 (The Coming of Galactus) before volume 1 (the early stuff), but the volumes have all been mapped out, and gaps get filled in as time goes on.
DC announced a bunch of collections, ranging from the Golden Age (All-Star Comics, Superman) to the 2000s (Wonder Woman), with plenty in between. In October's solicitations, they've finally nailed down the contents for most of the announced books. Here's what's been announced so far.
DC FINEST: WONDER WOMAN: ORIGINS & OMENS
ON SALE 10/8/24
DC Finest: Wonder Woman: Origins & Omens collects these Wonder Woman issues from October 2007 to 2009: Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #14-35, Outsiders: Five of a Kind – Wonder Woman/Grace #1, and The Brave and the Bold #7.
DC FINEST: SUPERMAN: THE FIRST SUPERHERO
ON SALE 11/5/24
The First Superhero covers Summer 1938 to Fall 1940 and reprints classic stories from Action Comics #1-25, Superman #1-5, and New York World’s Fair #1.
DC FINEST: BATMAN: BATMAN: YEAR ONE & TWO
$39.99 US | 592 pages | 6 5/8″ x 10 3/16″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-835-3
ON SALE 11/5/24
Collects Batman #404-414, Batman Annual #11, and Detective Comics #571-581.
DC FINEST: CATWOMAN: LIFE LINES
ON SALE 12/17/24
Collects Catwoman (vol. 1) #1-4, Catwoman (vol. 2) #1-12, Catwoman Annual #1, Batman/Catwoman: Defiant #1, and stories from Action Comics Weekly #611-614 and Showcase ’93 #1-4.
DC FINEST: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN EARTHS
ON SALE 11/19/24
Collects Justice League of America #45-72 from July 1966 to June 1969.
DC FINEST: GREEN LANTERN: THE DEFEAT OF GREEN LANTERN
ON SALE 12/3/24
Featuring works from revered comics writers and artists such as John Broome, Gardner Fox, and Gil Kane, this volume collects classic stories from Green Lantern #19-39, The Flash #143, and The Brave and the Bold #59.
DC FINEST: EVENTS: ZERO HOUR PART ONE
ON SALE 12/10/24
This first of two collections features Superman #93, The Flash #94, L.E.G.I.O.N. #70, Green Lantern #55, Super-man: The Man of Steel #37, Team Titans #24, The Darkstars #24, Valor #23, Batman #511, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31, Detective Comics #678, Legionnaires #18, Hawkman #13, Showcase ‘94 #8-9, Steel #8, Superboy #8, Outsiders #11, and Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #3-4.
DC FINEST: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: ZAP GOES THE LEGION
ON SALE 12/10/24
This first collection starring the greatest heroes of the 30th century features stories pulled from the pages of Action Comics #378-387 and #389-392, Adventure Comics #374-380 and #403, and Superboy #172-173, #176, #183-184, #188, #190-191, #193, #195, and #197-203.
DC FINEST: THE FLASH: THE HUMAN THUNDERBOLT
ON SALE 11/26/24
Collects Showcase #4, #8, and #13-14, and The Flash #105-123.
DC FINEST: JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: FOR AMERICA AND DEMOCRACY
ON SALE 12/3/24
Collects All-Star Comics #3-12.
DC has also announced three more for January, although the exact contents aren’t announced yet:
DC Finest: Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters – 21st of January, 2025
The most iconic stories starring Green Arrow! (From the cover, it looks like it’s the start of the Grell run, starting with The Longbow Hunters miniseries.)
DC Finest: Supergirl: The Girl of Steel – 14th of January, 2025
The earliest stories starring Supergirl! (Looks like Supergirl, from the beginning.)
DC Finest: Aquaman: The King of Atlantis – 7th of January, 2025
The earliest stories starring the King of the Seas: Aquaman! (Silver Age Aquaman, with Jack Miller, Robert Bernstein, and Ramona Fradon listed as creators.)
So for the purposes of discussion... which ones of these interest you the most? And looking forward, where would you go for the second volumes of these titles?
Replies
I have often referred to this, the age we're living in now, as the "Golden Age of Reprints," and I applaud this line. I agree with you that this line is DC's answer to Marvel's EPIC Collections line. Regarding the order in which those are released, when the line was originally announced, the goal was to concentrate on runs that hadn't already been reprinted in hardcover. Apparently DC is not following that tack. Consequently, I will not be buying too many of this initial flight of the DC Finest line, although I will be buying the Superman one, because I have long thought DC got off on the wrong foot by starting the DC Archive line with Superman rather than Action Comics. Back in 2016, I took the opportunity to correct DC's similar Batman/Detective Comics misstep with The Golden Age Batman v1 tpb, but that line didn't last. DC has the unfortunate tendancy to continually reprint the same material over and over in a variety of formats, only to abandon it. My fear is that this line will not be as successful as they hope if they continue to reprint material already available in Archive or Omnibus format. Other than that caveat, as I said I applaud the line and wish them success.
Good idea starting this thread!
Yeah, I worry that this line won't be as successful as they hope, too -- and as you say, DC keeps going back to the well on a lot of their particular reprints. But I've heard early indications that it's poised to do well. Fingers crossed!
Just to start us out, I'm thinking I'll probably buy one of these collections a month. I'm most likely to go for the Wonder Woman and Legion volumes, as the WW book will let me offload most of my single issues from that era, and I'll support any Legion offering (and this one reprints stuff in hard-to-find Archives volumes). I'm tempted by the Zero Hour volume, too....and the Catwoman book, as that's material I haven't read a lot of.
For Flash, my impulse would be to reprint The Death of Iris Allen storyline, but a collection came out in 2021, so it might be too soon for another -- even if I'd add another 10 issues to the back end, taking the book from issues 270 to 295, cutting off right before the return of Infantino. So I might take us even further into the future, and release some William Messner-Loebs issues of the Wally run, issues 24 to 50 -- from the start of the Porcupine Man saga to a final showdown with Vandal Savage.
I'm not sure where I'd go with Wonder Woman. I'd probably consider a Perez collection next. But I'd love to have them put out a collection that included the Roy Thomas/Gene Colan run from the early 80s.
With Superman, I'd look toward the under-reprinted 1970s, and collect a run of stories from Pasko, Maggin, and Bates.
With Batman, I'd stay in roughly the same time period -- just a little later -- and reprint some Wagner/Grant/Breyfogle comics.
Just to start us out...
Whoops, did I jump the gun?
For my own part, I too would like to see a comprehensive reprint of 1970s-era Superman (and the "Swanderson" era from the '60s as well).
Also, I wouldn't mind seeing "The Trial of the Flash" reprinted in color.
I wouldn't have thought of the Roy Thomas/Gene Colan Wonder Woman, but if they offer it I'd buy that, too.
Trial of the Flash would be a pretty great way to go. I could see it going from issue 323 to 350, skipping a couple of the reprint issues. And then a follow-up volume could do 296-322, giving us the earlier issues of Infantino's return (including a stretch from 314 on that I think is pretty vital to Trial, but is too unweildy to include otherwise).
For Green Lantern, in an effort to get some issues that haven't been reprinted a lot (if ever), I'd go for GL issues 123-150 from 1981-82, immediately following the last issues of GL/GA, with mostly Joe Staton art (with Marv Wolfman writing the lion's share). It starts with a rousing Sinestro story eventually involving the whole GL Corps, and ends up with a big fight on Quard.
Maybe we could end it at 147 though, giving us enough space for the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries that ran around the same time. (Besides, the Quard story leads directly into the Exile In Space story cycle, which had its ups and (significant) downs. Maybe it'd be better to save some good material for that volume. Plus, that volume would go from 147 to 171 -- a pretty good length -- allowing the Wein/Gibbons run to start with issue 172 in a subsequent volume, which would bring us to 200 and the end of the series.
If the format is close to the Epic line, I'll be happy. I have picked up several of the Epic runs that I didn't have in Masterworks.
I think what DC does is reprint the same stories and then say, "they aren't selling," and dump it. I'm awaiting the Silver Age Flash Omnibus #4 and am thinking I'll never get it.
I have bought the black-and-white Showcase volumes beyond my hardcovers, but IMO comics meant to be colored suffer greatly in B&W.
I will agree with you in principle Richard, but the Jim Aparo art in the Phantom Stranger Showcase volume is an exception to the rule in this case.
I think what DC does is reprint the same stories and then say, "they aren't selling," and dump it.
Exactly.
I like your proposed Green Lantern volumes, Rob... keeping in mind #172-200 (by Len Wein, Dave Gibbons, Steve Englehart, Joe staton and Bruce Patterson) have already been reprinted in three volumes of Green Lantern: Sector 2814 tpbs.
I have the Golden Age Superman Omnibuses ... I thought they reprinted Superman, Action and World's Fair/Best/Finest in chronological order. Since I'd read all those stories in their resprective Archives I never took the shrink-wrap off. But I assumed that's what I had.
As to what I'd want, I suppose anything that's not already in hardcover. Silver Age Superman and Bronze Age Superman would lead my list, although I still retain hope that the Omnibuses will eventually take Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to 1986 (when they were all canceled for Crisis). But there's also a ton of Bronze Age material that lies untouched, from major superheroes (Flash, Green Lantern) to war, horror, Western, etc. Weird War, Jonah Hex and Sgt. Rock leap to mind.
Oh, and more Aquaman! The vast majority of Aquaman stories before his first eponymous issue -- about two decades of backup stories -- has never been reprinted. Green Arrow had a Golden Age Omnibus, but the Sea King never did, and I'd love to read at the very least his first origin (1941) and his second (1958) in the same book or series. I'm sure there are other SIlver and Bronze age books I'd like to see, like Congo Bill/Congorilla, Robotman, more House of Mystery/Secrets, Tomahawk, Uknown Soldier, Mystery in Space, etc.
I'd throw in my usual request for Golden Age Quality and Fawcett material, but it looks like PS Artbooks is picking up the slack. They've already begun with Ibis the Invincible, Bulletman, Blakhawk, Doll Man, Plastic Man and individual facsimile issues of various Marvel Family books. I've got my fingrs crossed that last will eventually lead to Whiz Comics Vol. 1 TPB.
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