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 agree in principle with both of you. When DC (or Marvel, though it's done so less often, and less successfully) buys a universe, what they get are a bunch of characters who need new jobs. Captain Atom is no longer the heavy-hitter -- we've got Superman for that. Peacemaker can't be a cold-war Iron Man -- let's make him a loon, in the name of irony.
A few -- The Question, Blue Beetle -- seem to find a good groove in the universe, at least for a while. I think it's the smaller-scale heroes who do best with this sort of thing. Only one person can be the strongest in the world, and that's Superman. But a driven detective in a city that's falling apart? Any city can have one of those. Tone & character matter more than powers and abilities. That's why Blue Beetle became a fan-favorite in the Justice League: Not because he could do things Batman couldn't -- but because there was enough leeway in his character that he could be used to make us laugh.
Probably the best place for most of these aquisitions is a parallel world. But its their interaction with the DC universe that's often the selling point. Without that, any comic from these other universes would have to essentially stand on its own, and I doubt DC has the confidence that they'd sell that way.
But a driven detective in a city that's falling apart? Any city can have one of those.
Good point. And a prime example of that is The Question (Vic Sage flavor). In the Denny O'Neil/Denys Cowan series, he operated in Hub City, which was violent and corrupt. Supposedly it was based on East St. Louis, Ill., which was at the time the murder capital of the USA, but it could have been any number of others.
Plus the mature tone of The Question as well as the darker themes in Captain Atom again work better in DC's eyes because it's not DC characters doing them.
They never seem that comfortable of doing "mature" stories with characters created by DC so it's easier with acquired characters.
I'm still making my way through DC Finest: Peacemaker, and it's become a bit of a chore. The four issues of the Peacemaker miniseries (by Paul Kupperberg, Tod Smith, and Pablo Marcos) are WAY too dense, visually and with word baloons. I like a good meaty comic, but this is so dense there's no information that gets priority; it's hard to follow the throughline. Although I noticed there's a mention that he no longer thinks dead souls are in his helmet...but instead, he Dead Nazi Dad is giving running commentary on his superhero performance. (Apparently Peacemaker's dad was a death camp commandant in WWII, and lived in secret for 10 years after the way... but killed himself when he was discovered, when his son Christopher was 5.)
And whatever the distate of THAT situation -- and believe me, there's PLENTY -- arguably the worst thing about it is that it's one more character on the page spouting word balloons nonstop, and most of the characters don't even know he's there, so it's even harder to follow all this dialogue than it would normally be.
One other bit of interesting setup: the gency Chris works for has given him a handler, who's falling for him. Pretty standard. But also he has a psychologist...but because he wouldn't want a shrink if he knew he had one, she dresses like a french maid and works around the house, waiting for him to unburden himself to "the help."
This is a deeply weird comic. To top it off, there's also a 3-page densely typed text piece after every issue with various characters giving reports on Peacemaker's mental state, etc. I'm glad they're here but I'm giving them a pass. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Meanwhile, my copies of the DC Finest: Superboy: The Dog From Krypton and DC Finest: Batman: The Killing Joke have arrived. Superboy, in particular, looks like it'll be a good palate cleanser for the Peacemaker volume.
I have Superboy and should get Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore today or tomorrow (hopefully).
Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore will be in my next order; I'm waiting to get it with the 80s Wonder Woman volume.
Got it!
Dead Nazi Dad is giving running commentary on his superhero performance.
I remember this change -- yes, I read all those books when they came out -- and, as probably everyone here knows, that's the direction they went with on the TV show. It was clear they wanted to continue to portray Peacemaker as mentally unbalanced, but sharpening all those voices to just one, and a big one at that, was a good writing move. As a reader I appreciated that, but I still hated what they'd one to the Charlton Peacemaker, didn't care for any of DC's attempts to ape the Punisher (they missed the central psychological conflict that makes him bearable, IMHO, and just mimicked the superficial ultra-violence), and felt the book was a slog to get through. I still feel that way, which is why I abandoned the re-read when I did.
It's on my shelf now, more as an example of bad comics than good ones. But it does have all the Charlton Peacemakers, which is bringing me closer to having read all the Charlton "action heroes line" of comics from the '60s. I actually HAVE read all of them I'm aware of, but there are likely backup stories that I'm NOT aware of, and haven't read. Or a Charlton Bullseye story or two. Plus there's Sarge Steel and Fightin' Five, of which I have read very little. I have one Sarge Steel issue, and no Fightin' Five at all. I imagine they're terrible, probably bad copies of Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Blackhawk, respectively. But I always have an itch to read stories I haven't read, even if they're not very good, for historical purposes.
But to RE-read bad comics, like DC's Peacemaker, is a misery. If I hadn't read those issues originally, I'd be reading them now. But since I have already ... well, life is short.
I also have the DC Finest Superboy, and Kryptonite Nevermore on the way (I'll probaby get it tomorrow). I was hoping we'd have a story-by-story discussion like we did with Supergirl and Superman Family, because that was fun. If Jeff of Earth-J doesn't start them, I will. (But he's better at it!)
But he's better at it!
Oh, please!
I am about halfway through both the Superboy one and "Kryptonite Nevermore." I have no plans to do an issue-by-issue analysis, but I may at least start a discussion of "Superdog from Krypton" (and continue the "Kryptonite Nevermore" one) in another day or two.
Yikes! I'd better get started on them!
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