Scott and Dan pick the comics they’re most looking forward to…
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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension
Batman: The Long Halloween — The Last Halloween #1, DC. Highly anticipated 10-part series (plus last week’s prologue) that was originally to be a Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale collaboration. Sale died in 2022, having only completed some of the work, so now the project acts as a tribute to the artist, with a different superstar illustrator each issue. Issue #1’s artist is Eduardo Risso. The series’ main covers will spotlight previously unpublished Sale work.
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Marvel Comics in the Early 1960s, TwoMorrows. Pierre Comtois’ latest in his series on the House of Ideas covers the dawn of the Marvel Age. Spotlighting the years 1961-65, there are “scores of handy, easy to reference new entries on Amazing Fantasy, Tales of Suspense (and Astonish), Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, Rawhide Kid, plus issues of Fantastic Four, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, and others that weren’t in the previous 1960s edition,” says the official description. (You can also order directly from TwoMorrows.)
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Elseworlds Justice League Vol. 2, DC. Trade paperback includes the classic Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1, featuring the riotous (and strangely controversial) satire Letitia Lerner, Superman’s Babysitter, by Kyle Baker and Liz Glass.
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Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, DC. The latest paperback edition of the greatest Legion story of them all, by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. (Interestingly, a hardcover Deluxe Edition is due in March 2025.)
Scott adds: One of those stories that always needs to be in print and available.
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Veronica #28 Facsimile Edition, Archie. When we broke the news that this issue was coming, it was the best-read Archie story we’ve ever published. By far. Make of that what you will.
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Alan Scott: Green Lantern, DC. Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey’s miniseries is a mixed bag. There’s some very strong character work when they explore what it would mean to be a closeted gay superhero in the 1940s. But the last third or so suffers from Standard Superhero Fightitis. A case where a cape comic actually needed less action. But I recommend it for its intelligent daring, even if it starts off much stronger than it finishes. Beautiful cover by David Talaski.
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Action Comics #1069, DC. Finale to Gail Simone and Eddy Barrows’ neat, old-fashioned little three-parter.
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Scott Tipton, columnist, 13th Dimension
All New Collectors Edition #C-54 Facsimile Edition, DC. Superman vs. Wonder Woman is one of the few treasury edition-type books from DC that I’ve never read. A must-buy, especially with art by the great Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.
Dan adds: The latest treasury facsimile coming from DC! This is a Gerry Conway/Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez barnburner. (There’s a foil cover, too.)
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Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 10: Counter-Earth Must Die, Marvel. I always liked that period in FF when Thundra and Tigra were just hanging around the Baxter Building all the time. So did you? This is the book to get, then.
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Venom War Zombiotes #2, Marvel. I have no idea what this is, but I do like the notion of a She-Hulk-Hellcat-Shocker team-up, and I have to give them credit for the word “zombiote.”
September 23, 2024
I’ve got 4 copies of All New Collectors Edition #C-54 ordered. I also incorrectly ordered the issue #1 of the Last Halloween. I meant to get issue #0. Argh. It never occurs to me that there’s a zero issue. I was only interested in seeing the Sale artwork. The JLA Elseworlds just looks odd to me. Skip. Green Lantern that isn’t the GL of old, skip. I would love to get “Marvel Comics in the Early 1960s” but I’ll most likely wait for their next holiday sale (whichever that is). Still waiting for some old Archies I can pickup for the grandsons.
September 23, 2024
Just for clarity’s sake, DC originated the large-sized format for comics and Limited Collectors’ Edition (as well as Famous First Edition) was termed a “Tabloid-Sized” edition. The “Marvel Treasury Edition” moniker is a title copyrighted by Marvel intended to differentiate themselves from DC’s version. The first Tabloid Edition by DC was published in October of 1972 (C-20, featuring Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Marvel’s first Treasury was in June of 1974 (#1 featured the Spectacular Spider-Man).
September 23, 2024
And we are still waiting on the facsimile version of the Spider-Man Treasury to be re-published. Said it before….just reprint the whole of the Silver Age and Bronze Age!
September 23, 2024
All true. But “treasury edition” as a generic term has become the norm.
September 23, 2024
What was the cause of Sales’ death?
September 23, 2024
The close-ups of Superman and Batman on the Elseworlds collection are actually of the Super-Sons (from the 70s World’s Finest issues) who were revisited in an Elseworlds story. I read it in a paperback collection of mostly those stories, and it was just OK. Maybe the other stories are good.