Scott and Dan pick the comics they’re most looking forward to…
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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension
Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-39: Secret Origins Super-Villains Facsimile Edition, DC. Keep the treasuries coming, DC! There are two this month — Superman and Spider-Man came out Feb. 4 — but no others are scheduled through May. Got my eye on you, June! By the way, this issue’s foil cover is far out.
Side note: While I continue to beat the drum for a Detective Comics #168 Facsimile Edition, at least this issue has that original Red Hood tale from 1950.
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Action Comics #419 Facsimile Edition, DC. I think it’s cool when DC gives us Facsimile Editions based on a famous cover alone. I mean, this does have the first appearance of the Human Target, but that’s not the selling point. It’s that famous front by Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson and Jack Adler.
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 Facsimile Edition, DC. This landmark epic, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is available in so many formats but I don’t care. One of the best parts about Facsimile Editions is they can give you that feeling you had when you first picked something up decades earlier. Plus, I bet this cover looks great in foil. (There are other variants too, natch.)
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Detective Comics #1106, DC. The flagship Batman series is getting all the attention, but Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin’s Detective is right there. The Lion is a good addition to the rogues’ gallery, though his origin last issue was a little too been-there-done-that.
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The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3, DC. Here’s hoping we get a Third Knight series introducing Robin. Has to happen, right?
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The Rocketeer: The Island #1, IDW. John Layman and Jacob Edgar bring us a story based on a never-published outline by Dave Stevens. Cliff heads to Skull Island in search of Amelia Earhart and finds a gigantic, dyspeptic ape. Popeye and Tintin also show up. No, really.
There’s even a Stevens variant:
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The Amazing Spider-Man Classic Newspaper Comics: 1977, Clover Press. The Library of American Comics and Clover Press team up to reprint the Bronze Age Amazing Spider-Man newspaper series. This first volume covers 1977 and what’s especially cool is that it’s slipcased so you can store it vertically on your shelf.
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Archie & Friends #20: Space Adventures, Archie. New story featuring the Riverdale gang and Cosmo the Martian, plus the requisite collection of vintage reprints. Love the EC-style cover by Dan Parent.
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Iron Man #2, Marvel. One of these days, I’ll do a feature on the great variants David Nakayama is doing for both Marvel and DC. In the meantime, enjoy this beaut…
… and this one for Sorcerer Supreme #3:
And then there’s this dandy by Erik Larsen:
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Scott Tipton, contributor-at-large, 13th Dimension
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Omnibus, IDW. Modestly offered for your approval: Two of my Deep Space Nine graphic novels are collected herein: Fool’s Gold, featuring art by the fabulous Fabio Mantovani, and Too Long a Sacrifice, moodily illustrated by Greg Scott. I only got to dip my toe in the DS9 universe a couple of times, and I’m delighted that these stories are back on the shelves.
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Micronauts Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years – The Long And Winding Road, Marvel. I’ll admit to not being as big a fan of the series once Commander Rann grew the beard and got all mopey, but still, it’s like they say about pizza: Even mediocre Micronauts is still Micronauts.
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The Joker: The Bronze Age Omnibus, DC. Bronze Age Joker is the best Joker, hands down.
Dan adds: 100 percent, Scott. Perfect combination of a homicidal madman and a charismatic clown, as weird as that is to say. He wasn’t yet the sadistic horror show he is now. (A new printing, by the way.)
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DC Finest: The Demon: Birth of the Demon, DC. Hot take: I’d say The Demon is the most creatively successful of all Jack Kirby’s 1970s DC series.
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