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
That's the one!
I'm also about halfway through the Aquaman volume: shorter stories make for slower going. It's interesting to me to see the slow introduction of continuity into the strip.
The first bit that I can recall is when Aquaman auditions a bunch of sea creatures to be his partner. He eventually chooses an octopus, who seemingly is screwing up all the assignments, but instead is offering unique solutions that Aquaman doesn't initially recognize. A few stories later, he's given a name, Topo.
Later, we get Aquaman's origin: his mother's from Atlantis, his dad was a lighthouse keeper. This is the first time, as far as I can tell, that Atlantis comes into play, at least in the modern conception of Aquaman. Aquaman stands apart from Atlantis -- he's king of the seas, not king of Atlantis.
Then we get Aquagirl, the living embodiement of Rule 63, that says "for every character there is a gender-swapped version of that character." She's an exile from Atlantis, whose people realized she'd not be able to breathe underwater for long, so she was sent to the surface in a pod, and was adopted by an ichthyologist. She has powers briefly, then loses them. She also has purple eyes, the physical signal of her inability to breathe underwater.
Next we've got purple-eyed Aqualad, also exiled from Atlantis -- but because he was afraid of fish! Aquaman cures him of his phobia and basically adopts him after he decides not to go back to Atlantis anyway. So the purple-eyed thing carried over -- hes considered a "throwback" to air-breathers -- but the inability to breathe water didn't. Because DNA or something, I don't know. But from here on out, Aqualad is part of the strip.
Also in this time, Aquaman has gone from needing to be in water regularly to starting to have a strict 1-hour limit on his ability to stay out of water. There's nothing to suggest he's stronger or has tougher skin than any other human -- that's a more modern invention, which I think was added for the Morrison/Porter JLA (although I wouldn't be surprised if the notion hadn't turned up in an Englehart or Conway Justice League story before that).
Aquaman was already shown regularly to have some degree of superstrength by the time of Justice League Detroit (by Gerry Conway) - the #240s of that book, circa 1984-1985 IIRC. But IIRC Steve Englehart's run in the 1970s also had him casually flexing his muscles to break some sort of solid substance or cable tying him up, in a history where the Leaguers were switching foes for the fun of it.
But Aquaman just wasn't given much of a spotlight in the JLA back in those days. It was really Peter David and then Grant Morrison that treated him as capable of holding an ongoing, and that includes regular showcase of his superhuman strength (in the 1990s).
That tracks with my memory. Aquaman definitely seemed tougher than usual during his stint as League leader. Conway also buffed up his telepathy, too, IIRC.
I can back y'all up on that. Aquaman demonstrated super-strength for the first time in Justice League of America #111 (Jun 74), in the story "Balance of Power!" by Len Wein and Dick Dillin. The JLA were fighting the Injustice Gang, and just as Luis says, they switched enemies for fun. (It was Elongated Man's suggestion, and the Leaguers pulled their opponent's names out of a hat.) That was how Aquaman ended up fighting Poison Ivy, and it was her vines Luis remembered him breaking out of.
I remember this vividly, because it sparked hope in the Li'l Capn that they would finally upgrade Aquaman beyond "talks to fish." His uselessness to the JLA to that point was beyond obvious. But, as noted, Wein's open door was ignored for years more.
I agree -- "talks to fish" really doesn't help the League much. But I'm finding out in the solo stories that that's what Aquaman is all about. All his stories boil down to the theme that with clever leadership, a bunch of small creatures can pool their talents and work together to accomplish great things. It's very similar to the messge of the Legion. Most of those heroes have one power, and often it's not very powerful at all. But the way they work together makes them triumph.
With the League, Aquaman has other teammates instead of his Sea Patrol. He's not the clever leader, he's just a very specialized member who is rarely able to pull his own weight (until later stories remedied that). What made Aquaman a success as a solo character was antithetical to what makes a good JLAer.
My first time really seeing Aquaman was Justice League of America #109 (F'74) and eight-year old me was impressed. The character needed to be underwater where he was his best and where the other heroes were at a disadvantage.
Read the Batman/Aquaman team-ups in Brave & Bold where Aquaman has an edge and is described as a "bronze giant". Haney and Aparo took him seriously.
And, of course, there was his Adventure Comics run in the mid 70s that I thoroughly enjoyed!
I just recieved Harley Quinn: Birth of the Mirth and Team-Ups: Chase to the End of Time in the mail today. I've still got plenty of Aquaman to go, but I'll probably start digging in to the Harley volume as well -- a good mix of modern comics into Aquaman's Silver Age world.
I don't remember what story I read that first raised the issue, but I have always been under the impression that it is Aquaman's ability to survive the higher pressures of deep undersea life thatt give him his better than average human strength and stamina elsewhere.
In Brave & Bold #82 (Ma'69), an entranced Aquaman easily knocks out Batman!
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