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
Neat! I hadn't really seen PS Artbooks line of Plastic Man reprints (and others!). They've already gotten much deeper than the Archives on the Plastic Man title, as the Archives made it to issue 10. (They got to issue 77 of the stories in Police Comics.) I have most of the Archives, so I'll be passing on the first DC Finest for Plas, but if they do a second golden age volume, it'll have enough new-to-me stuff to make it worth it.
I didn't realize PS was reprinting Plastic Man. The Archives covered Police Comics through issue 77, and Plastic Man through issue 10... but I don't have all of the Archives, missing volumes 4, 6, and 8. So I'll probably be in the tank for volume 2 of the DC Finest's golden age Plastic Man reprints, if we get one.
ETA: (huh. I thought my first post on this never sent, but apparently it did!)
I just preordered the Superboy volume covering 1954-56* (The Superdog from Krypton), which is just before I started reading superhero comics. I greatly enjoyed Superboy as a kid, and will be ordering the following volume when available.
* I'll have to wait seven months for it.
I didn't realize the Plastic Man Archives got as far as issue #10. Since the PS Artbooks are only did three-to-an-issue in the early going -- because the early '40s issues were all 68 or 72 pages -- I must have started reading the PS Artbooks series with issue #11 in Vol. 4. We're several volumes beyond that now.
What's worrying about your post is that the Archives got as far as Police Comics #77. I have bought and read Police Comics #1 facsimile edition from DC, and most of it's pretty bad ... except for Plastic Man, which I've already read. PS has just solicited Police Comics Vol. 1, with just issues #1-3 in it. It's going to take a long time, and a whole lot of "Human Bomb" and "Mouthpiece" stories, before I get to Police Comics #78.
Here's a nice overview of all the titles (31 announced so far!) coming out way from the DC Finest line. First ones ship next week!
Hey, I couldn't find a name on that blog. Is it your work, Rob?
Nope, I saw a link to it on Bluesky, from user @bobh.bsky.social. He gives his name as Bob there, and it appears to be his work. But that's all I know.
The first two DC Finest books, Batman and Superman, showed up on instocktrades.com at 55% off: $17.99! I wasn't planning on picking up these two, but that's pretty hard to resist! I'm going to wait till next week to pick up the Wonder Woman volume, but that Batman might come home with me too.
SUPERMAN: The First Superhero: I wasn't planning to buy this one (because I have the Superman and Action Comics Archives), but I was surprised to discover yesterday that I had, in fact, pre-ordered it. But, as I discoverd with 2016's The Golden Age Batman Vol. 1, there is a real benefit in experiencing these stories in the order they were produced/released. To do so with the "Archives" series would require hopping back-and-forth among no fewer than five different volumes. One would not only have to determine the proper order, but also which stories to skip, as the quarterly Superman title was initially all reprints. For example, the DC Finest version of Superman #1 reprints only the covers (front and back), the all-new origin recap, the "Scientific Explanation of Superman's Amazing Strength--!" feature, and the text pages. Completists are going to want this.
Completists are going to want this.
Actually, only those who have just the archives and not the omnibus (or those who don't have either). When DC first started releasing the omnibusses, I decided not to duplicate anything I already have in archive format. Therefore, my Superman Omnibus collection begins with volume 5, Batman with v5, Wonder Woman v3, Flash v2, Green Lantern v2, and so on.
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