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
Also, the contents of the other books have been disclosed!
Green Arrow: The Trial of Oliver Queen, includes Green Arrow #9–20, Green Arrow Annual #2, The Question Annual #2, Secret Origins #38, and key Black Canary material from Action Comics #609–616 and #624–635. (There's no mention of the Brave & Bold teamup with the Butcher and the Question*, but those Black Canary solo stories in Action will be folded in!)
*note: The Brave & Bold miniseries was published with a cover date of December 1991; it shouldn't appear in this volume regardless. I guess Mike Baron's name on the PRH site made me jump to the conclusion that it would be included here.
DC Western: The Hanman Never Loses promises "No badge. No rules. Just guns, grit, and ghosts." DC’s All-Star Western galloped where few comics dared: into the gray morality and stark drama of America’s blood-soaked frontier. With haunted riders like El Diablo, brutal justice-dealers like Jonah Hex, and conflicted souls like outlaw Rick Wilson, this anthology served up taut, atmospheric stories full of loss, grit, and reckoning. Includes issues from All-Star Western #1–11 in one unforgettable ride. (Interestingly, the 70s run of All-Star Western was a mix of original stories and reprints; it seems like both will be presented here, and even then, I'm not sure it'll reach its pagecount of 601 pages.)
Justice League of America: Starro the Conqueror offers The Brave and the Bold #28–30, Justice League of America #1–19, and Mystery in Space #75.
The Flash: The Fastest Man Dead is described like so: From deathtraps to doppelgängers, Barry Allen’s sprint through the ‘70s is anything but predictable.This era of The Flash catapults Barry Allen through stories that blend superheroics, sci-fi weirdness, and social turmoil. From cultists and cursed rings to alternate realities and psychic breakdowns, the Flash’s world expands in scope and emotional depth. Featuring classic tales with Elongated Man, Kid Flash, and a surreal collaboration with Batman and supernatural forces, this is a long-awaited chronicle of DC’s boldest storytelling era. Includes World’s Finest Comics #198, The Flash #200–204, 206–212, 214–229, and The Brave and the Bold #99. (Looks like we might get those Elongated Man solo stories after all... though the wording is vague on that front.)
Batman: A Death in the Family collects Batman #423-429, Batman Annual #12, Batman: The Cult #1-4, Detective Comics #590-595, Detective Comics Annual #1 (There's so much Batman material being published at this time that this doesn't even cover a full year of stories!)
I don't recall the Elongated Man guest-starring in a Flash story at that time so it must be his solo feature!
Plus, it would have to be World;s Finest #198-199 as it was a two-part story!
The Demon's Kirby series I already have collected but for the discounted price from InStockTrades, it's worth getting for the rest of it!
I'm sure both parts of the World's Finest story are in there; these solicitation writeups on the Penguin site are usually a little slipshod; things tend to crystalize by the time we get to the DC solicitations catalogue.
That Demon volume sounds interesting. Issues #1-16 are in the Kirby omnibus, and Detective Comics #483-485 are in the Ditko omnibus, but what I don't have (not on high-quality paper stock, anyway), is the first chapter of the four-parter from Detective Comics #482 (which has art by Michael Golden). I likewise have the Wonder Woman stuff on newsprint, but it will be nice to have all these stories between two covers. In addition to The Demon, I'll be getting...
All the rest I already have.
I have all these comics already in their original form, so that's not usually the question for me when I look at the books. It's "do I want to re-read that?" or "is this something where it's easier to r-read in collected form, rather than a bunch of different titles?" Or "do I remember this character?" I don't remember Rick Wilkins, so I'll get the Western one. I'll wait to read the reviews here on the rest.
My collection begins, more or less, around 1961, so anything before that I definitely get!
I have all these comics already in their original form...
Right. What I meant was, "All the rest I already have in some archival format."
Same diff. We've read them, and have to decide if we want to read them again, or if they're worth bookshelf space, etc. We're on the same page. I was just specifying my personal POV, which is how I arrived at probably only getting the Western one.
I envy those who haven't read these stories before and are excited to see them for the first time!
In most of the cases above, I have the material in both original and some sort of archival format. I think my point was I doubly don't need to get the others because I already have it duplicated, including in the format in which I will want to reread it. (Yes, we are definitely one the same page.) However, in the three cases above I don't have those particular issues in any format (and in the case of the Demon, I want it all in a single volume even though it will be triplicated).
And there's definitely something to be said for rereading comics in this format, in the context of the character as it was originally published. As much as I like the comics that have been new to me -- much of Aquaman, for instance, and pretty much all of the Superboy volume, each of them silver age delights! -- I've been particularly impressed by the comics I'd read decades ago, exhumed in this fairly affordable format to read all at once, over the course of about a month. I've gotten so much out of the late-80s Batman volumes! The years being reprinted represent a sea change for Batman, going from being a DC mainstay to its publishing powerhouse, as the editorship turns over from Len Wein to Denny O'Neil. (We're getting the last of the Wein issues in the upcoming Red Skies volume.) Similarly, the contemporary Green Arrow book plays with those same ideas of vigilantism, but can go further in a mature readers title. But the pre-Crisis Wonder Woman book, reprinting material from just a few years prior, seems rooted to a dying tradition of superhero fun just before it falls out of fashion, in favor of gritted teeth and epic storytelling.
I'm hoping, for instance, to see the Superboy series continue, so that we get to the Legion years -- but instead of piling the Legion stories right on top of each other, like the Legion Archives and Omnibuses do, we can see them trickle into Superboy's adventures, and get a sense of how they become more dominant and popular in something akin to real time. (I expect volume 2 of Superboy, if we get it, will give us that experience with Krypto, as there are only two appearances of the Superdog in this first volume, and I'm sure he'll keep returning when the story calls for it.)
***
Across decades of chaos, this collection assembles a gallery of Joker tales that show why he remains DC’s most compelling villain. Whether he’s hosting a deadly birthday party, trademarking a fish, standing trial for Batman’s murder, or disappearing into global shadows post-Infinite Frontier, the Clown Prince of Crime commands attention in every panel.
Featuring the full runs of The Joker (1975) and his modern ongoing, this volume brings together Batman #251, #260, #286, #291–294, #321, Detective Comics #475–476, #504, Justice League of America #77, Wonder Woman #280–283, The Brave and the Bold #111, #118, #129–130, #141, and The Joker #1–10.
***
Now, I don't understand some parts of the solicitation: It mentions the book features "the full runs of The Joker (1975) and his modern ongoing" as well as mentioning him "disappearing into global shadows post-Infinite Frontier" -- but I don't see any evidence that there's any modern material in the issue numbers listed, and from what I can tell, DC Finests haven't yet gone beyond 2011 -- the most book with the most recent material is the Gail Simone Wonder Woman, and they haven't published anything close to that era since then. So I get the feeling that some of this language might have been copied and pasted from other Joker marketing copy, without regard to the specific book it was promoting.
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