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
Not to mention: Zatara, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Air Wave, Vigilante, Congo Bill and few others.
I'm still surprised how little Zatara has been reprinted, given Zatanna's popularity. Plus with Johnny Quick now connected to the Flash (as well as Max Mercury/Quicksilver), a JQ volume doesn't seem far-fetched.
Of course, I thought that they should have done a regular reprint digest when they started All Star Squadron in 1981.
I agree with your digest idea Phillip. The closest DC came to that was when Adventure Comics went digest size for its final issues by reprinting the Legion of Super Heroes stories in chronological order.
Yet other than Archie Comics (at close to $7 an issue nowadays) who is doing digests now?
SANDMAN: The key issues are Adventure Comics #60-71. #40-59 and #72-102 have already been reprinted in archival editions. If DCF could manage to reprint #40-71 in a single volume, that would be ideal. Simon & Kirby are often credited, incorrectly, with putting Sandman in a superhero costume. Actually, in Adventure Comics #76, they redesigned the purple and yellow costume he was already wearing (after having already introduced the "dream" element). The story in which Sandman switched to the purple and yellow costume has not, to the best of my knowledge, been reprinted... at least not in a high-quality edition.
I'm pretty sure that I have this one somewhere.
Does anyone else think it's odd that there are no Golden Age SHAZAM volumes yet?
I would love to see color volumes of Rip Hunter, Metal Men, Sea Devils, the non-Kirby Challengers of the Unknown.
They could make a volume of short-run heroes like Animal Man, Enchantress, Ultra the Multi-Alien, B'Wana Beast, Prince Ra-Man and the like.
And how about a HUMOR volume with Inferior Five, Angel & the Ape, Stanley & His Monster with some Scooter and Maniaks?
I've been away, and haven't yet gotten too far in the Superboy or Batman volumes... but I just ordered the new Wonder Woman and Superman books. Looking forward to all of them!
I've been away, and working my way through the Superboy or Batman volumes... but I just ordered the new Wonder Woman and Superman books. Looking forward to all of them!
Not to mention: Zatara, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Air Wave, Vigilante, Congo Bill and few others.
Yes! I know that most of them won’t be very good. Heck, the Golden Age Green Arrow Omnibus was such a chore to get through that I have little hope for lesser bananas. But I still want to be conversational/knowledgeable about them, so I must read them.
I know I’ve read a few Johnny Quick stories, but I don’t remember where. Probably Flash when the DC line was all 100-pagers with lots of reprints. Johnny Chambers differed from Jay Garrick in that he could outright fly, and that he was created by Mort Weisinger, so he was kept alive as a back-up feature in Weisinger books with other Weisinger-created characters (Green Arrow, Aquaman) after better non-Weisinger characters were canceled. I don’t remember anything especially impressive about him. I was a bit disappointed when Roy Thomas opted to make Johnny Quick the main speedster in All-Star Squadron, although I understand the story reasons for doing so.
I think I’ve read some Vigilante, too. Justice League of America 100-pagers, probably. I can’t say I understand the appeal of the strip. But then I’ve never understood the appeal of singing cowboys and Western strips in general. The only Westerns I’ve liked have been offbeat, like Jonah Hex and Bat Lash.
Zatara reprints are few and far between. I read the adventure reprinted in the Famous First Edition Action Comics #1 tabloid and … that may be the only one. I wonder if DC is too embarrassed (or too legally timid) to reprint what is an obvious Mandrake rip-off. Zatanna, being female, is a less obvious swipe.
I know I’ve read a couple Robotman and Air Wave stories, enough to know I was mildly interested in the first (he had a robot dog I’d like to know more about) and not at all interested in the second. DC has made some mild hay off the fact that the original Air Wave’s last name was Jordan, and they tied the strip to Green Lantern off that one coincidence.
SANDMAN: The key issues are Adventure Comics #60-71.
Twelve stories isn’t a lot to be missing, really, considering the length of the series. But, as you say, those issues do contain the one where Sandman abruptly starts running around in a superhero costume and swaps Dian Belmont for Sandy, the Golden Boy. I seem to remember reading that one somewhere (probably one of those JLA 100-pagers) but I don’t think it was addressed in-story. Unless I didn’t read it, and only dreamed I read it.
I have to say I’m really enjoying re-reading the gas-mask era stories. The Spandex era of Sandman didn’t do a lot for me, given its similarity to other strips at the time, like Captain American and Bucky, Batman and Robin, Mr. Scarlet and Pinky, Scarlet Avenger and Wing and so on. I understand the change. That’s what DC thought was selling, so that’s what they did. But in the process they ditched everything that made Sandman unique.
Does anyone else think it's odd that there are no Golden Age SHAZAM volumes yet?
I think it’s very odd! As we’ve discussed on this site somewhere, there’s enough Shazam material to sink the Titanic. And yet neither DC Comics nor PS Artbooks seem eager to collect it. In the latter case, PS Artbooks is a UK publisher and the copyright rules are different—it’s quite possible that early Captain Marvel material before a given year is no longer under protected copyright and they could start reproducing Golden Age Classics: Whiz Comics Vol. 1 tomorrow. I know they have SOME leeway in the matter, as they are already publishing facsimile editions of early Captain Marvel material, and are in process of reprinting America’s Greatest Comics (with Captain Marvel) in its entirety. (Available as either facsimile editions or in trade paperback.)
Either company would stand to make a healthy profit from a comprehensive Shazam reprint series off comics fans who’ve waited their whole lives to read those stories. But they’d better hurry before a healthy percentage of them die off!
ADDENDUM: I just had a thought. Could DC and PS Artbooks be worried that Disney wil sue if they publish a book with the words "Captain Marvel" on the cover? As I seem to recall, that was the end result of the negotiations between Marvel and DC over the reapparance of Captain Marvel in 1972 -- they they couldn't use "Captain Marvel" on the cover, which is why every Captain Marvel since 1972 has used some variation of "SHAZAM" as the title.
It should be easy enough to avoid using "Captain Marvel" in the cover, though. Just call it "Fawcett Golden Age Classics" or something.
However, reprints of part of that material in the 1970s apparently did not sell great, at a time when it was much harder to read by other means. And much of it did not age all that well. On the other hand, there are some great stories there as well.
I'm sure that no one would like it but they could reletter "Marvel" to "Thunder" or "Mighty". I doubt they would but they have altered stories before.
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