Too Much Awesome: DC Previews (November 2010)

TOP 5 BOOKS FROM DC'S NOVEMBER SOLICITATIONS

1. Superboy #1

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Jeff Lemire, and his Atom Special was less than stellar, I still have faith in him. Superboy seems like a perfectly suited project for him. The preview in Action Comics last week was a lot weirder than I expected, and it's going to be interesting to see how Lemire works his way up to that point. I'd never seen any of artist Pier Gallo's work until the preview, but I like what I've seen. I'm not a huge fan of the way he draws faces, but I like his overall style and the level of detail.

2. Batman, Inc. #1

I am hugely skeptical about the direction in which Grant Morrison's epic Batman saga is headed. When people started speculating that the return of Bruce Wayne would mean multiple “Batmen,” I thought it was the stupidest idea I'd ever heard in my life. And now that's exactly what we're getting. Batman has become a franchise and this is the new flagship title that will see Bruce running international operations, while Dick holds the fort in Gotham. I'm looking forward to the first issue, because in spite of everything, Morrison still has the ability to surprise me in his execution of ideas that would not work in the hands of a lesser writer. The first few issues will determine whether I'm going to keep following it or not.

3. Batwoman #0

I've heard so much about Greg Rucka's Batwoman run (in Detective Comics) and have been meaning to pick up the hardcover collection, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Hopefully my budget will allow me to do that before November so that I can get on the bandwagon having read the material leading up to it. J.H. Williams III, who illustrated most of Rucka's scripts on the original run, is now sharing writing duties with W. Haden Blackman and art duties with Amy Reeder.

4. Knight & Squire #2

Paul Cornell's run on Action Comics has been amazing so far and it makes perfect sense that he should write the Knight & Squire mini-series. The team of British super-heroes were of course introduced by Grant Morrison in his Batman run. Cornell claims that exactly 100 new character will be introduced over the course of the six-issue series. You can spot dozens of them in an advance preview on DC's blog The Source. Jimmy Broxton handles the art.

5. Red Robin #17

My pick for the last item on my list was a toss-up between this and Action Comics, since those are my two favourite comics right now. I went with this one because I'm really curious to find out how the return of Bruce Wayne will affect Tim, if at all. The solicitation text for this issue hints that this will be dealt with, at least in part, as Tim sets out to release Linx from prison (after having put her there himself a couple of issues ago). The creative team is still Fabian Nicieza on scripts and the excellent Marcus To on art.

OTHER BOOKS I'M DEFINITELY PICKING UP IN NOVEMBER

• Action Comics #895
• Legion of Super-Heroes #8
• Birds of Prey #6
• The Flash #8

STUFF THAT HAS ME CURIOUS IN NOVEMBER

Teen Titans #89 features a new creative team, and I'm torn. Artist Nicola Scott is great, but writer J.T. Krul has a pretty bad track record. Damian is involved (and featured on the cover), so that makes me both more interested and more weary, because he's one of my favourite characters but some writers simply don't get him and do a terrible job writing him. Should I give the man who likes to write about dead cats and sexual impotence a chance?

Detective Comics #871 also gets a new team. Writer Scott Snyder's Vertigo series, American Vampires, is getting good reviews, but I'm really sick of vampires so I can't be bothered to check it out. Jock, the man with only one name, is taking over art duties. I'm not super-familiar with his work, but I've seen some of it online and it looks pretty good. This is a 4$ book, though, so that's a drawback. There's a back-up story about Commissioner Gorden, which I couldn't care less about.

Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money is a 56-page one-shot written and drawn by Howard Chaykin. That's pretty much all you need to know. This one's definitely worth a look.

Batgirl #15 sees artist Dustin Nguyen joining the creative team. Bryan Q. Miller is still writing. I've only read one previous issue of Batgirl (because of a cross-over with Red Robin) and I can't say I was very impressed. But Nguyen is an amazing artist and that alone makes it worth considering. It'll probably depend on whether it's coming out on a slow week for me.

I noticed that there's a T-Rex on the cover of Secret Six #27. Why the hell am I not reading this series again? Oh, right. Because I want to start from the beginning. I should really get around to picking up those trades. I feel like I'm missing out on all the fun.

I don't really know anything about T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, but there's a new series starting in November and, oh, look, a shiny new cover by Frank Quitely! The interior art is by someone or something called "Cafu & Bit," and I have no idea what that means. Nick Spencer (Morning Glory) is writing. This one might be worth checking out as well. I will investigate further.