Upcoming Comics August 28, 2024

Welcome back to Upcoming Comics! With the "All In" relaunch coming in October, everything at DC has had a weird feeling about it. There's this sense that we're just waiting for everything wrap up so that the shiny new titles can begin. Sales numbers also reflect that. I sure hope that the new initiative lands with a bang, both for the health of the company and the stories. Anyways, let's see what's coming around this week.

Upcoming Comics

Detective Comics #1088

Chaos against order. Good against evil. The Dark Knight against…everything. The end is nigh, and nothing can prepare you for what’s to come in the penultimate chapter of Ram V’s gothic opera.

Written By: Ram V, Dan Watters
Penciled By: Guillem March, Javier Fernandez, Christopher Mitten
Inks By: Guillem March, Javier Fernandez, Christopher Mitten
Colors By: Luis Guerrero
Cover By: Evan Cagle

Thoughts: This series has had a ton of build up, so now we're in the final stretch to see it all (hopefully) come together

Batman News Critic: Jackson

Batman: Dark Age #5

Ra’s al Ghul has come for Gotham! When Bruce’s former mentor becomes his greatest enemy, he is forced to recruit some of the unlikeliest allies out there… the Rogues Gallery! Will their team-up be enough to save this city on the brink of destruction?

Written By: Mark Russell
Penciled By: Mike Allred
Inks By: Mike Allred
Colors By: Laura Allred
Cover By: Mike Allred, Laura Allred, Frank Miller

Thoughts: As the series has gone on, it's slowly taken on the form of what you'd expect from a Batman comic. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.

Batman News Critic: Akash

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16

Nightwing and Deadman come face-to-face with the sinister Unfallen in the final chapter of Tim Seeley and Kelley Jones's terrifying team-up! Lois Lane finds herself in the midst of a deadly conspiracy! And the Question desperately searches for answers about the strange villain menacing her life!

Written By: Tim Seeley, Jay Faerber, Alex Segura, Stephanie Williams
Penciled By: Kelley Jones, PJ Holden, Andy MacDonald, Asiah Fulmore
Inks By: Kelley Jones, PJ Holden, Andy MacDonald, Asiah Fulmore
Colors By: Michelle Madsen, Patricio Angel, Marissa Louise, John Kalisz
Cover By: Simone Di Meo

Thoughts: More detective stories are always good.

Batman News Critic: Akash

Absolute Power: Origins #2

Amanda Waller has suffered immeasurable loss…and the loss of her humanity along with it. Now, after having blazed her own trail into Washington politics, the Wall launches the new phase of her career: TASK FORCE X. Witness the rise of one of the deadliest teams ever to roam the DC universe and a shocking revelation that will make history in part two of Absolute Power: Origins. Brought to you by John Ridley and Alitha Martinez!

Written By: John Ridley
Penciled By: Alitha Martinez
Inks By: Norm Rapmund
Colors By: Andrew Dalhouse
Cover By: Irvin Rodriguez, Pasquale Ferrara, Edwin Galmon

Thoughts: The motivation that they came up with for Waller in the first issue really didn't make any sense. I feel that's a pretty damning problem for this series because it seems to be its primary purpose.

Batman News Critic: Chris

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #5

Barry Allen is the lone speedster to still have his powers, staying barely a step ahead of the Flash-themed Amazo, VELOCITY, now powered by the speed of the rest of the Flash Family. While Barry must keep moving to avoid capture, he’s also working as a one-man communications network for the remaining free heroes. Can Barry continue to aid the Resistance, or has time run out for the Flash?

Written By: Alex Paknadel
Penciled By: Pete Woods
Inks By: Pete Woods
Colors By: Pete Woods
Cover By: Pete Woods

Thoughts: Go as fast as you can, Barry; you can't outrun the obligatory event tie-in.

Batman News Critic: Aaron

Gotham City Sirens #4

YOU CAN'T KEEP A BAD GIRL DOWN! CATWOMAN, POISON IVY, AND HARLEY QUINN REUNITE FOR A WEEKLY ADVENTURE! When a violent and highly illegal energy drink-sponsored hunting operation threatens the lives of wildlife and the residents of Gotham City alike, the only ones fit to save the day are the criminal trio of Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. Back together again for the first time in years. Sometimes the only way to fight bad is with even worse! With special appearances by White Rabbit, Punchline, and introducing the himbo cowboy henchmen sensation soon to be sweeping the nation known as "The Nasty Boys!" Get your chaps, spurs, and hats out cause it's hunting season! By the end of story you'll be covered in guts, goo, and grit! Featuring the talents of Leah Williams, Matteo Lolli, Daniel Hillyard, and more! If you're not chanting "Hot tubs and headshots and hotties, oh my!" by the end of this four-week-long series, you're doing it wrong!

Written By: Leah Williams
Penciled By: Daniel Hillyard, Ro Stein, Matteo Lolli
Inks By: Daniel Hillyard, Matteo Lolli, Ted Brandt
Colors By: Triona Farrell, Marissa Louise
Cover By: Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson

Thoughts: Well this mini turned out to be a whole lot of nothing.

Batman News Critic: Jack

Batman: Off-World #5

In a distant galaxy, the villainous Blakksun Mining Company has ruled with an iron fist, murdering or enslaving all that stand in their way. But they’ve never faced the brutal, unrelenting fists of justice—as Batman is coming to break up this monstrous monopoly!

Written By: Jason Aaron
Penciled By: Doug Mahnke
Inks By: Jaime Mendoza
Colors By: David Baron
Cover By: Doug Mahnke, David Baron, Jaime Mendoza

Thoughts: Oh wow, this is still going? The last issue was, what, 4 months ago?

Batman News Critic: TBD

Beyond the Bat

Welcome to Beyond the Bat, where we take a quick look at the rest of DC’s comics coming out this week.

Gallery

Graphic Novel Watch

Sometimes you need more than floppies. Sometimes you want something that can sit nicely on your shelf that proudly displays your favorite stories. That’s when you turn to graphic novels. Let’s see what bat collections are coming out this week:

Gallery

Ratings

Most Excited: Detective Comics #1088- It's time to put the cards on the table and see how this story all wraps up.

Least Excited: Gotham City Sirens #4- More than just being a bad series, I worry this will hamper the Sirens' ability to get a good revival down the road.

Wild Card: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16- There's definitely some interesting team-ups in here.

Well that’s it for this week! Let us know in the comments what comics you’re looking forward to.

12 comments

Madeleine
August 24, 2024
Are DC's comics selling poorly? The Absolute Line is suffering from negative early press, that I know.
Ram V's Detective Comics is riddled with faults but it's the one Batman ongoing I haven't found intolerable (yet). I like the character work better than the ways Ram V goes about it getting results.
I won't claim to know how to fix DC but I have thoughts on Batman comics. I could rail against Caped Crusader's own missteps again but I want to praise it for a moment for being as close a return to storytelling fundamentals established by middle Bronze Age as we're like to get for Batman for the foreseeable future. At its best it was exactly what I want from Batman. It revitalized characters, concepts, and situations that have grown old and worn out in the comics.
The stale edge and gigantism of Absolute Batman may be for somebody but it's not for me.
1. Jackson Luken
  August 24, 2024
  Everything is relative but compared to Marvel, yes, DC is selling very poorly. For reference, Marvel had twice as many comics in the top 50/100 sold last month, and those numbers only get worse as you get closer to the top. Marvel has pretty consistently performed better than DC for a long while now (decades), but very recently has been especially bad.
  1. Madeleine
    August 25, 2024
    Well... I don't know enough about the business and sales side of DC or anything about Marvel to make an informed comparison but I can't say I'm shocked. DC is a gamble with every issue and it tries my patience. To make this more concrete: I spend to excess on manga but my mere two to three monthly DC issues are bought with Amazon digital rewards accumulated through those manga purchases. That way I don't feel as bad if I don't like the issue much, which all too often is the case.
  2. Robin MB
    August 25, 2024
    Wow I didn't know it was that bad, honestly for the faults I can give Marvel(too much MCU synergy, the Spider-Man office being a mess, and in general too many Spider-People, etc) they have tons of new talent and with Ultimate they are trying something that is radically different but not just needlessly edgy. Absolute Universe feels like it's trying to be the worst of the original Ultimate line.
    I do think the MCU helps with sales a bit at least, DC doesn't really have a good movie franchise to help it atm in the way Marvel does
Darth Gnaw
August 24, 2024
What is the pic of Battinson at the top from? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the releases...
1. Jackson Luken
  August 24, 2024
  Lee Bermejo variant cover for Brave and the Bold #16
  1. Darth Gnaw
    August 26, 2024
    cool! thanks
Comic Book Treasury
August 25, 2024
I'm not the most well versed in all Amanda Waller but I suppose the "origin story" exists to justify why they decided to make her this unidimensional, without zero complexity, villain. Her biggest problem right now is how boring she is. It doesn't help the event at all!
Mingthemerciless
August 25, 2024
Datk Night Dark City remains one of my favorite arcs from the main book of the last few decades. I know its not everyones choices but Venom. Gothic and Prey are up there as well for me. In fact, the original Legends of the Dark Knight and Shadow of the Bat runs are very solid ones for me.
Court of Owls would be the last good original villain DC has brought in for Batman and even that is going back several years now. Snyder ran out of anything good after that.
Like you, I see nothing starting from Tom Kings run to now that can honestly be recommnded for great Batman reading. I expect Taylors upcoming run to change nothing with that.
1. Robin MB
  August 25, 2024
  All good choices, I will say for an out of left field choice I liked the Scarecrow story from Nu52 Dark Knight.
2. Jackson Luken
  August 25, 2024
  I don't know how to tell you this, but all of those stories you listed in the first paragraph are from over 30 years ago. It's tough to even call them "the last few decades" anymore.
Madeleine
August 26, 2024
There was an article at CBR that recommended some comics for newcomers wanting to know what to read after watching Caped Crusader. I don't remember all the titles listed but was pleasantly surprised to see Mike Grell's Masque, a comic you recommended to me months ago and that I loved.
I think you're right about the lack of new classics that new initiates can use. I like that Batman comics have a sturdy canon but the comics of late have largely been too keyed into editorial directives or writers' pet projects to feel relevant after a run ends.

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