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
Replies
On DC Comics Presents: I just realized that a few issues of the run were recently skipped: 70, 71, and 74. Not sure why. Issue 70 features the Metal Men and is by Paul Kupperberg and Alex Saviuk; 71 features Bizarro and is by E. Nelson Bridwell and Curt Swan; 74 features Hawkman and is by Bob Rozakis and Dan Mishkin, with art by Alex Saviuk. I don't see anything in common among the three issues to indicate why they might have been skipped; it might simply be an oversight.
Also, the next few issues 77 and 78 (with the Forgotten Heroes and Villains), are already represented, so next week should by 79 and 80, unless DC goes back to fill in the gaps. (There are a handful of upcoming issues already on the site, too -- 86, 89, and 93 -- so we might get to the final issue of 97 more quickly than we anticipate... although whether the gaps will be filled remains to be seen.)
BTW, for Eduardo Baretto fans, the Superman/Wonder Woman teamup in issue 76 features his work not only on the cover, but on the interiors as well. I came late to appreciating his art, but now he's one of my favorite artists of the era.
I think he designed DC's covers in the mid 80s. My recollection is the design of Amethyst #16's cover (drawn by Ernie Colon) was attributed to him on the letters page.
It could be -- the GCD credits it only to Colon, but that doesn't mean Baretto didn't have a hand in it. (The unconscious man looks kind of Baretto-ish to me.)
But you might also be confusing him with Ed Hannigan, whom I recall had some sort of editorial/design role for DC's covers around that time.*
*Of course, I may be the one who's confused! I can't find any info on this role in a quick search for Hannigan's bio. Oh, wait, here's a small gallery of some of his rough sketches for covers that others completed.
I think you're right! There goes my reputation for infallibility.
Ah, well. Easy come, easy go.
He has a website with examples of his cover-work here (with some dead links, I fear).
Yep -- it's a shame there's not more stuff up there! He's got a really cool design sense.
Luke Blanchard said:
Most of Kirby's DC stuff has received digital makeovers. Now that Mister Miracle is complete, maybe we'll see The Demon or Sandman.
I'd like to see 70s Freedom Fighters and Secret Society of Super Villains as well.
Good call! Or the rest of Kamandi, for that matter -- Comixology only has up through issue 27. Kirby drew and (mostly) wrote it through 40, and the series ran till issue 59! (The only issue I ever picked up off the stands...and was left hanging until DC published the Kamandi Challenge Special earlier this year!)
The first issue of The Sandman was by Simon and Kirby. The idea was evidentally to do the Sandman of legend as a superhero. Jerry Grandenetti did an unused version of the cover. I think that suggests the concept was Simon's, as he worked a lot with Grandenetti in the period.
#2 and #3 were by Michael Fleisher and Ernie Chan. I don't have #2. In #3 Chan's Glob is much better than Kirby's, a lively nightmare critter. The remaining issues were by Fleisher and Kirby. Mike Royer inked all the issues except #6, inked by Wally Wood. Most or all of the issues have Kirby covers.(1) The Christmas story intended for the unpublished #7 first appeared in the digest The Best of DC #22.
The series didn't take itself seriously, and at its best it was imaginative and humorous. I think it's Kirby's best series from the tail end of his 70s period at DC.
(1) The GCD ascribes the pencils of #6's cover to Bill Draut on the basis of a statement in The Amazing World of DC Comics #7. I suppose that's possible since Wood inked, but it sure looks like Kirby's work.
(corrected)
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 89 Next