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#401-414, Batman Annual #11, and Detective Comics #571- #568-581.
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?
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Sorry, Cap'n but Terra-Man had one of the best Bronze Age Origins ever!
After the "new" Superman started in #233 (Ja'71) and they finally got rid of the Sand Superman (never a favorite), Luthor didn't reappear in Superman until #248 (F'72) which was also the debut of the Galactic Golem. After that, Terra-Man arrived in #249-250, then it was the Billy Anders/Lynx period with evil scientists and alien threats until the Golem returned in #258 and Terra-Man in #259 (D'72).
Notable appearaces were Star Sapphire (#261), the Viking from Valhalla (#260, 270), Batgirl (#268) until Brainiac finally returns in #271 (Ja'74).
Interestingly, Julius Schwartz does not become the editor of Action Comics until late '72!
My reading of the Sci-Fi edition has stalled... not because I wasn't enjoying it (I was ejoying the hell out of it!), but because I find myself over-extended a bit... and I'm on the verge of ramping up my GA Batman "villains" reading). What I'll probably do to set Sci-Fi aside for a bit, then bring it back into rotation with Horror and War at a later date when I get caught up.
Oh, I wasn't in the mood to read everything in Batman: Years One/Two edition, but I did pull by BM:Y2 and Full Circle tpbs off the shelf.
Nearly finished with the Blue Beetle volume now. I hadn't realized what a big throughline Dan Garret was in those first Ted Kord appearances; I guess I'd always figured Charlton just decided to go in a different direction, and it wasn't until DC got the character that the connection between the two was explored (because that's such a DC thing to do). But Ted keeps getting hounded by a detective about Garrett's disappearance and the mystery of Pago Island. I think, with issue 4, that's all cleared up for a while: We've learned Dan was buried in a collapse on Pago, after telling Ted to carry on for him. And then the guy who seemed to be Dan was a fellow scientist who was jealous of Dan (but one I don't think we'd met in the Dan stories earlier in the book). I've got one last Ditko story to go, and then the Charlton Bullseye story from a few years before DC bought the characters. Would a next volume start with the Wein/Cullins revival, or are there some other appearances before then? I remember an Americomics appearance -- it's strange that one wasn't included, considering how short this volume is.
Anyway, I'd be up for a Wein/Cullins book -- I think I sold my run of Blue Beetle years ago, so it'd be nice to look at those again.
I'm also barelling through the Superman book, with little more than a hundred pages left to go. I'm stalled on Science Fiction (fun stories, but the repetive rhythms keep me from reading more than a couple at a time), but it'll move up in the order soon. I think I'll move through Horror quicker, thanks to the wider range of art styles.
Would a next volume start with the Wein/Cullins revival, or are there some other appearances before then?
See the DCF Blue Beetle thread for more info on that.
Thanks!
I'm nearing the end of Superman, and I've wrapped my Blue Beetle reading. The Ditko stories got more and more Ditko as they progressed (until that last one was practically a polemic, albeit a fun and interesting one). And then that Charlton Bullseye story at the end is...not good.
And in reading Science Fiction, I've been thinking ... the volume I'm really curious about is one or two books down the line. I'd love to see how the SF books changed (if they did at all) after the debut of the Flash, and a growing realization that superheroes were popular again. How did the SF comics change? Adam Strange is definitely one addition from that era, but beyond superhero-coded recurring features (which will be fun to examine), was there anything else about the character of the stories that was reacting to the new interests of the readership? Maybe we'll find out.
I've started reading DC Finest: The Spectre, and I have a question. It looks like the Spectre title reprinted here -- the one published directly after the Ghostly Guardian's showcase run -- is labeled Spectre (volume 2). Did DC publish a Spectre comic before this? I know about his GA appearances in More Fun Comics, but there's no reason for those to be considered volume, as The Spectre wasn't the title of the publication. I can't find anything on GCD to explain this.
I have no idea. Wiki calls his first series simply The Spectre. It seems to be a mistake. Maybe they saw all those More Fun Comics covers and thought it was a Spectre solo book?
Curious. That series in not labled v2 in The Wrath of the Spectre Omnibus. It's probably just a mistake.
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