DC February Solicitations

[lordultimus]

JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARKSEID WAR SPECIAL #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by OSCAR JIMENEZ
Cover by JASON FABOK
Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
Batman triptych variant cover by KIM JUNG GI
On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
The massive “Darkseid War” epic continues to set the stages for the future of the DC Universe as we reveal the secrets behind its newest major player: Darkseid’s daughter, Grail! And if the Justice League is not careful, the spoils of war will all end up with her! See the truth behind Grail's role in this war and the future of the DC Universe as she tears her way across it. Don’t miss this extra-sized special offered at the regular price of $3.99!
Plus, world-renowned visualist Kim Jung Gi puts his stamp on the DC Universe with a wall-to-wall-to-wall action triptych featuring the Big Three!



CYBORG #8
Written by DAVID F. WALKER
Art by FELIPE WATANABE and OCLAIR ALBERT
Cover by DEREC DONOVAN
Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
On sale FEBRUARY 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
Following the Technosapien invasion, the government implements greater regulation on cybernetics. Their first step is determining ownership of the cybernetics implanted in Vic Stone, setting up a major conflict when it is decided that Vic is actually property of the government. And when he refuses to comply, a warrant is issued for his arrest—and Vic Stone becomes a hunted man!



THE FLASH #49
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI and VAN JENSEN
Art by JESUS MERINO
Cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
On sale FEBRUARY 24 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
On the run from a police task force assigned to take him out, The Flash must face the CCPD’s newest deputies: The Rogues. As you can tell from the cover, it does not go particularly well.



POISON IVY: CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH #2
Written by AMY CHU
Art and cover by CLAY MANN
On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 32 pg, FC, 2 of 6, $2.99 US • RATED T
Murder in the lab! As the police investigate the death of her mentor, Dr. Pamela Isley suspects poisoning! But by whom, and why? Before the cops suspect her alter ego, Poison Ivy, Pam needs to find the true murderer. Meanwhile, her DNA experiments are about to pay off!



WONDER WOMAN #49
Written by MEREDITH FINCH
Art and cover by DAVID FINCH and SCOTT HANNA
Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
Wonder Woman Triptych variant cover by • KIM JUNG GI
On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
Wonder Woman confronts what the return of Ares and Apollo will mean for her, and how it will impact her role as the God of War.
Plus, world-renowned visualist Kim Jung Gi puts his stamp on the DC Universe with a wall-to-wall-to-wall action triptych featuring the Big Three!



BATMAN #49
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
On sale FEBRUARY 10 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
It is time. Bruce Wayne has reclaimed his true past as Batman. Now he must descend into the cave and face what he once was. Can he truly leave behind a life free from the pain and anguish of the Bat? Can he plunge once more into the madness and purpose that once consumed him? In this special, thrilling issue, watch as the fate of Bruce Wayne, and Batman, is decided once and for all.



HARLEY QUINN #25
Written by AMANDA CONNER and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by CHAD HARDIN
Cover by AMANDA CONNER
1:25 Variant cover by CHAD HARDIN
On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T+
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
At long last, it’s Harley Quinn and The Joker, face-to-face! The life of Harley’s new love, Mason Macabre, is in the Joker’s hands…but can he or Harley survive another round of The Joker’s twisted mind games?

Comments

[lucean]

The Cyborg storyline seems really interesting, which could go either really horribly wrong or be a really great story to establish Cyborg within the DCU.

The Harley Quinn I am really hesitant about, as while I understand it is a successful comic and Joker is a big part of her background, the loss of Joker was such a big story in the main Batbooks that it seems really questionable to have him return in a throwaway story in Harley Quinn.

Poison Ivy cover drives me nut. She is one of the physically most powerful Batman villains yet they insist on focusing on her seductive side in these covers. It just feels so dismissive of the character.

And just asking based on these soliciations, is Flash creativily floundering? They just be seeming to jump around a lot with big twists and the sales figures seem pretty bad.

[lucean]

And almost forgot, I kind of hated the Wonder Woman solicitation as the Finches seem to be walking back Diana being the Goddess of War already.

[chalicother]

Harley Quinn book is not canon to the DCU ...I mean compare Harley in this book to the Suicide Squad. By the way it looks , Suicide Squad Harley is the Harley cannon to the current DC story lines anyways(they used that version of the character in Superman/Wonder woman).

[lucean]

Yeah, I kind figured as much, but to me personally it is still somewhat annoying. Joker and Batman had such a climatic and epic final battle in Endgame and knowing that was Snyder's final Joker story, we can be confident it is going to be a couple of years at least before we see the true return of Joker in Batman books, if done well, should again be incredible. So having Joker just turn up in a random book feels.. off to me.

Don't get me wrong, it is just a personal preference and, since Joker is such an important character for Harley Quinn, I can easily see why this would be a great thing for the fans of the character.

[shingi70]

Man can't understand why the flash seems so Bland when the TV series is hot fire right now.

[reveen]

Is it that the comic is especially bland or is it that the show is so good it blows it out of the water regardless?

[chrisdv]

Good question. Answer: Yes.

[lucean]

To be somewhat fair, I genuinely believe that if they did even half of the stuff in the comics what they are doing in the show, that comic would bomb hard both critically and saleswise. The show is getting a lot of passes, which isn't negative, but it would be harder to sustain in the comics.

As for the Flash comic, I do think that a big problem is that DC editorial decided to put all the chips on pushing Barry as the one true Flash that they painted themselves to a corner. They aggressively purged all the supporting cast, removed all legacy from the title and pushed him really hard in the crossovers and team books. There wasn't anything inherentely wrong with it and if Barry had seen a massive acceptance, it would have been seen as a brilliant move.

The problem is that it doesn't seem to have worked as intended and now Barry kind of seems to be in freefall with no real ways to shake things up. If you look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, even if one doesn't like the changes, it is undeniable that they are trying new things with those character largely possible because of existing frameworks and perceptions allow them the latitude to try those new things. With Barry as Flash, there's nothing there to facilitate those attempts. I would argue that they were so intent in bringing back Barry as the one true Flash that there is almost nothing new they can do with the character.

[jaybee3]

I agree with you. Flash the TV show is appealing to a lot of people who don't read the comic and don't know that Barry Allen is the most boring Flash ever. Also the TV show is bringing in things (like Jay Garrick) that the comics has seemingly jettisoned thanks to the fact that apparently not only do "legacy" comics (so no Jay coming first as the Flash or Wally West as highly developed character- more so than Barry even - as two generations of Flash readers knew him or Bart as Impulse/Kid Flash and not the DCnU fake) not exist in the DCnU but neither do marriages or family (which is at the core of the Flash - Jay/Joan, Barry/Iris, Wally/Linda, heck you could even go Jessie Quick's relationship with her parents and marriage to Rick Tyler). The people who run the publishing side of things think that the Rogues and Barry being a cop/CSI (that was how Johns positioned it after Rebirth) are enough to make it interesting and....no.

[lucean]

I think the reaction to the show is somewhat complicated, as there multiple things factoring in to the reception of the show. And to be honest, the show is just mindnumbingly dumb at times, but somehow makes through it by being a show. Just imagine that in the comics not only could Barry for some reason throw lightning, but then his opponent would grab that lightning and throw it back at him. It would bashed mercilessly.

As for the return of Barry, I think that what lead to the current situation was that DC was expecting Barry's return to be a bigger thing that in turned out to be, as I think they were planning a Speef Force and Kid Flash books, but scrapped them in order to focus more on Barry. And as they kept removing more and more layers and supporting cast, we find ourself in the current situation. It is also kind of insane what they did with Wally as instead of giving him that grand farewell, they essentially just scrupped away the guy who was Flash for 20 years in order to honor the guy who the Flash before him.

As for Wally in the current Flash, I think several people have pointed out the central problem with him in that what is the story we should care about with him? How he can grow to be the Flash worthy of his predecessor as he did over 20 years before the return of the Barry? I really wanted someone to ask the DC editorial that how do they think the fans would react if they announced Dick Grayson is going back to being Robin.

[chalicother]

To be fair to the show, also is that the show is doing things that people thought they would never see in live action to bring comic book fans...I mean live action Grodd? Live action King Shark? Lets not even add that the show compared to Arrow, seems to embrace and respect it's main character's lore.

[junipepper]

"I really wanted someone to ask the DC editorial that how do they think the fans would react if they announced Dick Grayson is going back to being Robin."

As a Dick Grayson fan, I honestly might have preferred that to their initial New 52 decision to have Dick be Nightwing, but with most of his history stripped away. At least then there would be the hope that the complex familial Batstory could begin again. But I'm happier now that they've kind of backed off that position and are, without explicitly saying so, writing him as though his pre-New 52 past mostly did happen.

But I'll never really forgive them for removing the original New Teen Titans from the history, and -- getting back to the meat of your comment -- I think that killed a lot of potential for Wally as well. How did Wally get good enough to be Flash? By being Kid Flash working in a team where he learned a lot about strategy and a lot about how to use his powers effectively, and got to know a lot of the other heroes. Taking all that away from him, I don't really see a way for New!Wally to grow into a meaningful Flash character.

[beoweasel]

Okay, maybe it's just because I'm a white Southerner, but am I the only one who feels kind of...uncomfortable at the image of a hanging black man being leered at by a bunch of white dudes?

[silverhammerman]

I think it's deliberate. The writer, David Walker, is a black man himself, and he's talked explicitly about incorporating Cyborg's race as an important part of the character.

[chalicother]

Which to be fair..I have had a conversation with a friend of mine, and saw a article on Cyborg, when it comes to him being a black character. As a black man myself, I have always liked Cyborg, but a friend of mine who is also black said he thought Cyborg was the worst character ever. He saw him as a character while black, did not seem to a be black in any way what so ever(1. One of the reasons due to the character feeling obviously written by people who have never interacted with black people). I don't really know how to word it, but I do think there needs to be focus on the fact that Cyborg is well..black in some of his stories.

[sagrada]

That's an excellent point. If they're going to try and make a black American one of the Justice Leaguers, just eliding over the fact that he's of a different race and colour as all his teammates is a pretty big lost opportunity.

Which just makes me wish more that Hardware was on the League instead.

[jmacq1]

I dunno. I think making an issue/point of having Cyborg basically say "And I'm the black guy!" every few issues or so probably isn't much better than what we have now, because in a team book, unless you make him the primary character that's about all you're going to get.

I'm sure there are writers out there capable of handling the matter with sensitivity and nuance...but a crowded team book like JLA probably isn't where you get that. The solo title does seem better suited, but even then Cyborg works better as a metaphor for the tendency to dehumanize blacks (which looks like it may well be where the author is going), than needing to be a character that basically reminds readers he's black early and often.

[sagrada]

That would definitely be the worst way to go about it, better would be the character having a noticeably different point of view as a result of their differing experience growing up. Like Wonder Woman or Batman or Superman have, and Hal somehow doesn't.

By and large in the mainline book he's mostly kinda there, or the Rookiee One. Being a child of affluence in a society that still instinctively devalues people who look like him really ought to leave some kind of mark.

[jmacq1]

Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. While I get the disquiet of a black character rarely being written by a black writer, there's something to be said for the Star Trek/G.I. Joe approach to race: It doesn't (usually) matter, and you just portray the character positively without even commenting on the race. A little simplistic? Sure, but sometimes simple works best.