A while back, I logged some week-to-week posts on DC’s digital reprint program through Comixology. It’s been a while, and their digital offerings have matured, so I thought I’d take another look at what they’re adding each week. Currently, they seem to be doing about 30 books a week. I might not list all the issue numbers going forward – if the 90s Superman titles continue moving forward at two of each a week, there’s not much value in listing each issue. But let’s take a look at this week’s, and let’s see where the patterns take us, shall we?
90s Superman: DC is following the 90s Superman titles (soon to be the 2000s Superman, as this week’s titles are from December 1999) pretty quickly, giving us 8 issues of the books every week. There’s a lot of material to get through, but that’s still an admirable clip. We may only have a few more weeks of this, judging by Action Comics (the one title of the bunch that doesn’t change its numbering and continues for a long while) – 761 is the most recent issue, and Action already seems to be in the digital library from 769 on. Superman, Adventures of Superman and Superman: Man of Steel have bigger gaps, though.
Action Comics 760, 761
Adventures of Superman 574, 575
Superman 152, 153
Man of Steel 95, 96
Arion: 11, 12
DC has been adding two issues of Arion: Lord of Atlantis a week for the last 6 weeks. There are 35 issues and a special, so there's a way to go before the series is completed.
DC Comics Presents: 75, 76
DCCP started out at a faster pace, but has been going two a week for a little while now. There are about 20 issues to go. Bonus: More Arion this week, in issue 75!
Guy Gardner: Warrior: 33
11 issues to go.
Huntress: 19, 4-issue 1994 series
We wrap up the Cavalieri/Staton ongoing that introduced Helena Bertinelli, and then power through a Chuck Dixon mini from 1994. Will Huntress return next week, or will we move on?
Justice League America (Bwa-ha-ha) 51, 52
This one has a ways to go before having everything available.
Manhunter: 34
Four more issues till it’s all there!
Mister Miracle: 23-25
This wraps up the 70s run – Kirby and then Marshall Rogers, it’s all there! (I think DC also recently wrapped the 70s Return of the New Gods run, too.)
Superman (Bronze Age): 233
This is an interesting one. The Kryptonite Nevermore cover – I’m surprised it wasn’t available before this. Will DC continue from here? Their 70s Superman offerings on Comixology are paltry.
Wanderers: 7, 8
This 80s Legion spinoff ran 13 issues, so we’re almost there.
Wonder Woman (Silver Age): 130, 131
DC has been making silver age Wonder Woman stories available, probably wishing to expand their catalog in anticipation of the movie. At this point the silver age issues go from 112-131, with a couple of gaps.
Swamp Thing (Diggle/Dysart run): 25
4 more issues to go.
Trigger: 5
This Vertigo sci-fi series lasted 8 issues. I don’t remember it at all.
That’s a pretty exhaustive look at this week’s offerings. Next week, I’ll probably just note new additions (what will replace Mister Miracle? The '89 and '96 series have already been collected, so we might be in for something new. And there might be more Huntress comics that haven't been reprinted yet, but Comixology has a bunch of them listed already, and the Bat-universe is so sprawling it's tough to search), unexpected omissions, breaks from the patterns, and go forward from there.
And to make things easy to follow:
Week 2. (April 6, 2017)
Week 3 (April 13, 2017)
Week 4 (April 20, 2017)
Week 5 (April 27, 2017)
Week 6 (May 4, 2017)
Week 7 (May 11, 2017)
Week 8 (May 18, 2017)
Week 9 (May 25, 2017)
Week 10 (June 1, 2017) -- All the golden age Wonder Woman goodness!
Week 11 (June 8, 2017)
Week 12 (June 15, 2017)
Week 13 (June 22, 2017)
Week 14 (June 29, 2017)
Week 15 (July 6, 2017)
Week 16 (July 13, 2017) -- Our Worlds at War! Underworld Unleashed!
Week 17 (July 20, 2017) -- The Great Ten! More Wonder Woman!
Week 18 (July 27, 2017) -- Batman Confidential and Deathblow? Young Heroes in Love?? Doom Patrol!
Week 19 (Aug 3, 2017) -- Some Bronze-age Batman!
Week 20 (Aug 10, 2017) -- Loeb/Sale Challengers begins!
Week 21 (Aug 17, 2017) -- Silver Age Challs!
MIDWEEK SALE BLAST (Aug 22, 2017): Wildstorm!
Week 22 (Aug 24, 2017) -- Holding pattern...
Week 23 (Aug 31, 2017) -- chugging along
Week 24 (Sept 7, 2017) -- Same old, but with newer Challengers
Week 25 (Sept 14, 2017) -- Baron/Jones Deadman debuts
Week 26 (Sept 21, 2017) -- Holding steady, with more Deadman
Week 27 (Sept 28, 2017) -- Deadman in Action Comics Weekly?
Week 28 (Oct 5, 2017) -- A slow swerve into Batman
Week 29 (Oct 5, 2017) -- Doom Patrol finishes in the smallest week ever
Tags:
Luke, thanks so much for all your research! I was at a music festival when you posted it, so I didn't really have a chance to read or reply then, but wow!
We swerve back to business as usual with the DC Comixology reprints today... with one major exception. The Superman books are all dropped. We'll see if this continues next week, but if this is a long term decision, that's a real shame. With a little more persistence, those books would be completing their modern runs soon.
But what DO we have? Well, Guy Gardner: Warrior wraps up, for a start, with the final two issues, 43 and 44. We get the usual amount of issues from Arion (2), Hawk and Dove (3), Lobo (3), and Justice League America (1). We also get three issues of Justice League Europe, so Gerard Jones's indictment be damned, they're going to reprint his stories (20-22).
Continuing from last week is another 99-cent issue of Sensation Comics, #41. I hope this is a trend. Plus, we've got two old issues of The Brave & the Bold, 74 (with the Metal Men) and 75 (with the Spectre). We haven't seen B&B for quite a while, but I think it and DC Comics Presents are some of the perfect books to read digitally -- fun done-in-ones -- so I'm glad to see the here. Strangely enough, issue 74 is at the top of my to-read pile of books I bought at East Coast Comicon last month! Also, welcome to Starman Will Payton, whose first issue gets reprinted this week!
And then there's the Legion. We've got quite a variety this month, with not only 3 more issues of the DnA run of The Legion (13-15), but also 4 issues of the 70s run of Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes (235, 236, 238 and 240 -- the issues skipped, 237 and 239 were already in the system). #238 is a reprint of Adventure Comics 359 and 360. Plus, there are two Legion-related comics (that, by no coincidence, I'm sure, are about to be reprinted in hardcover: All-New Collectors Edition C-55 (or as Legion fans call it, That Damn Tabloid), and DC Super-Stars #17, Secret Origins of Super-Heroes (which includes a Legion origin, as well as origins for Green Arrow and the Earth-2 Huntress). The tabloid, thankfully, is being filed with the rest of the Legion books...otherwise nobody would ever find it again. This is the first issue of DC Super-Stars that's been reprinted, but hopefully we'll see more.
Woohooo!
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
Also, welcome to Starman Will Payton, whose first issue gets reprinted this week!
Yeah, in my head he's taking the Guy Gardner spot. His book ran for 45 issues, from 1988-1992. I've only read a handful of them.
Which JLA series are we talking about here, Rob?
Good week! Looking forward to all the Legion stuff plus the Brave & the Bold.
Ah, okay. Thanks!
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
It's an issue from the Jurgens run, immediately after the Bwahaha era. The JLE issues are mid-bwahaha.
One of the first comics I ever picked up was Starman #14 (I want to say?). I always liked Will Peyton, perhaps only for that reason. But I know I love Roger Stern's writing. I'm looking forward to this, and hoping they put out more than just one issue a week. How spoiled does that sound?
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
Yeah, in my head he's taking the Guy Gardner spot. His book ran for 45 issues, from 1988-1992. I've only read a handful of them.
Hey, it's 2017. We like our entertainment bingeable now.
Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man said:
One of the first comics I ever picked up was Starman #14 (I want to say?). I always liked Will Peyton, perhaps only for that reason. But I know I love Roger Stern's writing. I'm looking forward to this, and hoping they put out more than just one issue a week. How spoiled does that sound?
I realize that I probably should mention that the three issues of Justice League Europe that are reprinted here (20-22) are the earliest undigitized issues of the run. The series ran for 50 issues, then changed its name to Justice League International with issue 51, and continued through Zero hour, with issue 68 -- which, incidentally, is the only other issue of the run available so far.
So we've got 45 issues, 23-67, ahead of us! If wee keep the 3-at-a-time pace, that's 15 weeks!
Also of note; The Bwa-Ha-Ha league (variously called Justice League, Justice League International, and Justice League America) has a couple of holes in its run prior to what's being reprinted now. Issues 33-36, and issues 41 and 42 are missing. As is issue 60, the final issue before the Jurgens run. How odd. I'm adddig these to the Unexplained or Awkward Skips list.
Another week, another 27 classic books from DC Digital.
First of all, here’s a first: One issue from the Gap List has been filled! For some reason, the post-crisis Wonder Woman series was missing issue 76, but this week that is rectified! Huzzah! (Or whatever the appropriate Amazon cheer is.)
Another newcomer is the 3-part Batman/Wildcat miniseries, released this week in its entirety. It’s Chuck Dixon/Beau Smith/Sergio Cariello goodness!
We also get more Beau Smith in the two Guy Gardner: Warrior annuals released this week…so this week is truly the completion of the series.
Also returning is Arion (2 more issues; there’s 3 issues and a Special left, and then perhaps a later 6-part miniseries); Hawk & Dove (3 more issues, up to 21; the series ran to 28 with 2 annuals, so there are 9 more issues left); Justice League America (1 more issue, #64); Justice League Europe (playing catchup with 3 more issues, through 25); Lobo (3 more issues of his ongoing, through 9; it ran till issue 66, with 3 annuals, so he’ll be around for quite some time), and The Legion (just 2 issues this time, 16 and 17). We also have another issue of the Will Payton Starman, issue 2. With Guy Gardner closed out, Hawk & Dove ending in 3 weeks at this rate, and Arion ending in either 2 weeks or 5, there should be more space for him soon if DC wants to pick up the pace.
From the 60s and 70s, we have two more issues of The Brave and the Bold (76 and 77, consecutive from last week, and co-starring Plastic Man and the Atom); and four more issues of Superboy & the Legion, 246-249. These issues have gone past what’s included in the upcoming hardcover. Legion books are coming out at a pretty rapid clip these days, which makes me think that Legion revival in the DCU will be coming up pretty soon. Gotta have the backstock in place if you want to throw a sale to celebrate their return!
Also of note: This is the third week in a row with no Superman books, and it’s been a while since we’ve seen a Vertigo book, too.