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
There've been a few changes to the upcoming DC Finests. Most have been small schedule changes -- almost all DCF books scheduled for September have been pushed back to October. Ive read that Marvel has had some similar pushbacks, so the problem is more likely at the printer than at the publishers.
Also, DC Finest Batman: Night of the Stalker has been moved from February of next year until September 2027. It's possible something else will take its place.
Finally, I revised thecontents of the Wonder Woman: Judgment on Infinity volume, since the issue numbers in the solicitation were tweaked.
I just finished the Deadman and Western volumes .. and the Western book goes out with a bang, while Deadman goes out with a whimper.
DC's Western titles are getting increasingly dominated by Jonah Hex, and that's a good thing. The last chunk of the book largely alternates between mid-size Hex stories and shorter El Diablo ones, and El Diablo really doesn't have the storytelling juice that Hex does (although the feature closes on a nice note). Hex, meanwhile, is just coming into his own. We're only a few issues away from when John Albano and Tony Dezuniga depart the feature (Dezuniga returns sporadically, but Albano is pretty much gone after Weird Western 21, only coming back for one one issue, Jonah Hex 5, in 1977 -- and also, surprisingly, to color a Fleisher-written story in Weird Western 37), so hopefully the new blood can keep up the momentum.
Deadman, on the other hand... no one knows what do do with him.Bob Haney has the best handle on him, teaming him up with Batman to jump into people in The Brave & the Bold, but otherwise, he narrates a Lois Lane story in Superman Family, he gets a robot body that he never again uses in Forever People (and the Forever People's landlady, Trixie MacGruder, was apparently part of the Hailey Bros. Circus too, and saw Boston get killed!), and most improbably of all, discovers Bruce Wayne has a brain-damaged brother, and basically hijacks his body for months until Batman catches up with him again, as shown in two issues of World's Finest, four issues apart. Whenever I'd heard of Bruce's secret brother, I hadn't heard that Boston Brand basically stole the last four months of the guy's life. (And those issues were by Haney, too, so whatever handle he had on Deadman was intermittent.)
The next volume of Deadman should bring things back on track with the excellent run of Len Wein/Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez shorts... eventually followed by what I remember were a fun run of serials in Action Comics Weekly.
The new books on the pile are 70s Team-Ups and Justice League...with early 90s Batman on deck!
I wrote about Batman’s Killer Brother over a decade ago!
Thanks for the reminder...and for providing all the details way back when. That's a great thread!
Yesterday I pre-ordered...
(These dates differ slightly from the ones posted above.)
ROMANCE most likely will have a low print run as it is a niche purchase. Who knows what will happen in the secondary market?
I hadn't thought of that, but now I'll be aware of it. Thanks, Philip!
I've already missed some books on InStockTrades by not ordering immediately on Tuesday after noon, and had to find them on minor retailer sites or on the secondary market, and that is not fun. I'll order Romance the second I see it.
I agree -- If you want Romance, don't hesitate!
er... Romance, that is.
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