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?
Replies
I tend to agree with Jeff here -- of all the DC Finests, I think the anthologies probably have the least appeal to younger readers. I could see certain readers being drawn in by some artists -- Toth, or Adams, or Kubert, or Heath -- but I think most younger readers (mid-30s and under) will gravitate toward the character books. Heck, pretty much ALL readers will gravitate toward the character books first. I like the anthologies, but it's the character histories that really draw me.
And I agree, Cap, that the history of the House of Secrets is probably why DC started where they did.
I should probably add that I hope the anthologies jump around a bit in time, jumping a few volumes ahead or behind of the last one to give us the slightly different flavors that time brings. That said, repurposing material already collected for omnibuses is part of what makes these books cost-effective, so we're probably more likely to see some dovetailing.
repurposing material already collected for omnibuses is part of what makes these books cost-effective
I would love some collections of books I haven't read!
For superheroes that means going back to the beginning of the Silver Age and earlier. I honestly don't have high expectations there. I'll consider myself lucky if they finish the Big 3.
But I didn't start reading DC's war and weird books until, I dunno, late '70s or early '80s. There's tons I haven't read! But as we see, they do tend to cover old ground, since that's the cheapest route. So I'm getting the same House of Mystery and Sgt. Rock over and over. Doggone it!
Yep... but I'd expect another Sgt. Rock book of mostly unreprinted stuff sooner or later, and the same with some of these others. Those Archives have been out of print for more than a decade, so it's hard to even blame them for double-dipping -- especially when the new book costs $40 for the same material that used to cost $150!
I'm also looking at the omnibus lines with a little more wariness now -- the Finests are a much more convenient format for me. So instead of getting the second volume of Superman: The Triangle Era, I'll likely wait until the Finests get to that material (as I expect they'll do in the next few years). Patience is part of the key to Finests, I think ... as much as I want that Ostrander Spectre omnibus, for example I have a reasonable amount of confidence that I'll see that book in Finest form in a few years' time.
As you pointed out, the issues that were already reprinted are ready-to-go, and thus cheaper for DC. I haven’t actually read all of the Superboy volume, but will they be looking at sales before spending the money to continue with future volumes? If somebody decided to go ahead, would somebody else overrule them?
There's not a lot of transparency to how the decisions to publish collections are made. All we can do is guess. But I think it's safe to say they take sales of previous volumes into account.
I wrapped up Batman: Red Skies this weekend, and in the words of Fred Savage in The Princess Bride, "Is this a kissing book?"
Oh yes, it sure is.
Sure there's an interdimensional crisis at the start of it (which mostly means bad weather and landslides, here), and sure, Batman fights villains like Two-Face and Film Freak and Hugo Strange... but more than anything, this run seems concerned with Batman's relationship to Catwoman, and how that gets complicated by his relationship with Nocturna, and how the Batman/Catwoman dynamic complicates the relationship between Batman and Robin... driving the boy wonder into the crimefighting arms of...Harvey Dent?
There's no romance there, naturally, but Harvey really seems like Robin's "rebound" detective. Even as Harvey is courting the widow of a security guard who died while under Nocturna's thrall. Jason, too, is finding romance, with a high school classmate named Rena. (I don't think she ever appears again after this volume; the street-kid version of Jason doesn't really have a place for her in his life.)
Relationships are complicated here. Jason, in stories before this volume, was adopted by Nocturna, and began to think of her as his mother. Batman was drawn to Nocturna, too, but eventually resumes his relationship with Catwoman. Vicki Vale has had enough of her relationship with Bruce Wayne, and throws herself into aerobic workouts. Julia Pennyworth begins working with her at Picture News, also removing herself from Bruce's orbit.
But for most of this book, things trend in a Bat/Cat direction very familiar to readers of Tom King's run. (There's even a double-date issue, only this time it's with Green Arrow and Black Canary.) It's only in the next volume when Catwoman gets hypnotized (and re-villainized) when things completely break up; similarly, Jason Todd becomes a completely different character in the next book as well. Even so, in this book he's livelier than I remember, talking to Bruce not as a son, but as an equal, calling him "champ" a lot, and very often calling him out when he's in an emotional rut.
I really hope DC releases the volume prior to this soon! I spent my first five or six years as a DC fan not caring for Batman at all, but these are the years where I got really hooked. It's great to read them again.
(Still reading: War: The Big Five Arrive, and I've just started Super Friends: Fury of the Super Foes. Plus, I've picked up Daredvil: A Touch of Typhoid on the Marvel Epic side.)
Sure there's an interdimensional crisis at the start of it (which mostly means bad weather and landslides, here)...
I occurred to me as I read the stories in this volume (many for the first time), that this series may well be the source for the term "red skies crossover" (a generally derogatory term to demote insignificant Crisis "crossovers" which featured nothing more than a mention of "red skies"). Actually, I rather appreciated that, 40 years removed. If I had bought an issue at the time expecting to see a bonafide crossover (which is something I might have done back then), my opinion may have been different. Right now I am reading a Marvel omnibus which includes only a single title's chapters of one of their neverending crossovers and it reads like $#!t. But I didn't find the "red skies" crossovers of this DCF to be distracting at all.
[I posted my thoughts on the "Red Skies" DCF back on pp.52-53 of this discussion (if you're interested in re-reading them now that the volume is fresh in your mind).]
Yeah, the Red Skies worked out really well in this case! It's pretty much exactly what I want from title during a big event if I'm already reading it: Let me know that's something's happening, but then get on with the story!
I've been reading DC Finest: Super Friends: Fury of the Super Foes, and it is a DELIGHT.
For example, here's the list of entertainers on a Super Friends telethon in issue 5. I recognize enough of them to suspect that they're all characters that have appeared in DC stories before.
And, a few panels later, we get a caller from the universe next door...
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