DC Comics July 2021 Solicitations

[lordultimus]

source: newsarama.com




Superman: Son of Kal-El #1

story by Tom Taylor
art by John Timms
cover by John Timms
ON SALE 7/13/21
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
card stock variant cover by InHyuk Lee
US $4.99
card stock variant cover by Stephen Byrne
US $4.99
1:25 card stock variant cover by Jen Bartel
US $4.99
1:50 card stock variant cover by John Timms
US $4.99

Jonathan Kent has experienced a lot in his young life. He’s traveled the galaxies with his Kryptonian grandfather and lived in the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes, who were intent on training him for the day his father, Clark Kent, could no longer be Superman. There is a hole in the Legion’s history that prevents Jon from knowing exactly when that will happen, but all signs point to it being very soon. It’s time for the son to wear the cape of his father and bear the symbol of hope that has told the world who Superman really is. Join writer Tom Taylor (Nightwing, DCeased) and artist John Timms (Infinite Frontier) as they usher in a whole new era for the House of El!
Also, “Tales of Metropolis” continues. Jimmy Olsen gathers his misfit heroes, including Ambush Bug and Gangbuster, to find out who the Projectress really is and why she set her sights on Bibbo!


Superman and the Authority #1

story by Grant Morrison
art by Mikel Janín
cover by Mikel Janín
ON SALE 7/20/21
$4.99 US | 40 PAGES | FC | DC
1 of 4
card stock variant cover by Bryan Hitch
US $4.99
1:25 card stock variant cover by Jen Bartel
US $4.99

Sometimes even Superman finds a task almost impossible. Sometimes even the Last Son of Krypton needs to enlist help. Some tasks require methods and heroes that don’t scream “Justice League.” So Clark Kent, the Metropolis Marvel, seeks out Manchester Black, the most dastardly of rogues, to form an all-new Authority tasked with taking care of some business on the sly. Not only will Black know the right candidates for the team, but if Superman can make him behave himself and act in service of the greater good, then he’ll prove literally anyone can be a hero! They’ll have to move quickly, however, as the Ultra-Humanite forms his own team to take out the Man of Steel.
This new limited series helps launch an all-new Superman status quo, setting up story elements that reverberate across both Action Comics and Superman: Son of Kal-El in the months to come. And not only is Superman putting together a superstar team, but it takes superstars to tell the tale: Grant Morrison (The Green Lantern, All-Star Superman) and Mikel Janín (Batman, Future State: Superman: Worlds of War)!



Static Season One #1

written by VITA AYALA
layouts by CHRISCROSS
finishes by NIKOLAS DRAPER-IVEY
cover by KHARY RANDOLPH
ON SALE : 6/15/21 $3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC 1 of 6
old school variant cover by SHAWN MARTINBROUGH
$4.99 US
new school variant cover by NIKOLAS DRAPER-IVEY $4.99 US
1:25 variant cover by DENYS COWAN $4.99 US
team variant cover by OLIVIER COIPEL $4.99 US

At long last, the most famous face of the Milestone Universe is making his shocking return!
Bullied nerd Virgil Hawkins wasn’t the kind of kid you’d normally find on the streets at a protest—but like everyone else in the city of Dakota, he was fed up. Unfortunately, the first time he stood up to raise his voice, the world turned upside down. The experimental tear gas released that day left some of his classmates maimed or dead…but it left Virgil, and others, with stunning new abilities. Virgil has power inside him now—real power, the ability to channel and manipulate electromagnetic fields.
But there’s anger burning inside him, too.
What is he supposed to do about all of this? And first and foremost—what is he supposed to do about his bullies, now that they’ve got superpowers too?
A dynamic creative team of new comics voices and Milestone Media veterans join forces to open up a new chapter in the story of the most iconic Black teen superhero in comics history.



Icon & Rocket (Season One) #1

story by REGINALD HUDLIN
art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
inks by ANDREW CURRIE
cover by TAURIN CLARKE
ON SALE 7/27/21
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
1 of 6
old school variant cover by DARRYL BANKS $4.99 US
new school variant cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE $4.99 US
1:25 variant cover by REINA KOYANO $4.99 US

Long ago, the stranded alien known as Arnus gave up hope of returning to his home planet. Tragically, he’d also realized that his adopted home of Earth was beyond saving. Content to waste away his long life in a human guise, Arnus was past caring…until the day a young woman named Raquel Ervin crashed into his life. Soon she’d convinced him to put his incredible power to work again as the heroic Icon…and to transform her into his sidekick, Rocket! But an innocent question on Rocket’s part—”Why can’t we do something about the drugs on my corner?”—quickly set a chain of events in motion leading to the pair becoming the most hunted beings on Earth…and they’re not just being pursued by Earthlings, either!
Writer, director, and producer Reginald Hudlin (Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther?) and superstar artist Doug Braithwaite unleash a tale of power and responsibility that will stretch from the boardrooms of corporate America to the jungles of South America and the depths of deep space! If you’ve ever thought there were certain things that a superhero story just couldn’t do, it might be time to start thinking different…



Batman/Catwoman Special #1

story by Tom King
art by John Paul Leon
cover by John Paul Leon
ON SALE : 7/20/21
$5.99 US | 48 PAGES | FC | DC BLACK LABEL
One-shot
Ages 17+
variant cover by Lee Weeks
US $5.99 (card stock)
variant cover by Bill Sienkiewicz
US $5.99 (card stock)

Some great romances are destined to be. The Batman/Catwoman series shows readers the romance between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle as it changed over their lives, but what about their connections from before they became costumed adventurers? This special one-off issue, meticulously illustrated by John Paul Leon (Batman: Creature of the Night), traces the life of Selina Kyle from her earliest days to her entry into the criminal underworld, and reveals that Bruce was actually a presence in her life all along. Whether it was fate or coincidence, this story gives even more reasons why Selina and Bruce’s connection is one of the most enduring love affairs in comics.



Blue & Gold #1

story by Dan Jurgens
art by Ryan Sook
cover by Ryan Sook
ON SALE : 7/20/21
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
1 of 8
variant cover by Dave Johnson
US $4.99 (card stock)

Desperate to regain the spotlight, Booster Gold looks to attract the public’s (and Justice League’s) attention the same way any washed-up, second-rate hero would—social media. The not-so-tech-savvy hero from the 25th century enlists the help of his best friend, Blue Beetle, who possesses both the money and the brains to help his old pal navigate the scary world of internet influencers. Watch out, evildoers, our heroes are live and online!
Don’t miss Dan Jurgens’s triumphant return to Booster Gold with the help of all-star artist Ryan Sook (Legion of Super-Heroes), telling a tale filled with heart and maybe even redemption for DC’s two favorite underdogs!



Shazam! #1

story by Tim Sheridan
art by Clayton Henry
cover by Clayton Henry
ON SALE : 7/20/21
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
1 of 4
variant cover by Gary Frank
US $4.99 (card stock)
1:25 variant cover by Steve Lieber
US $4.99 (card stock)

Billy Batson came to Titans Academy looking for answers. Why was the rest of his adopted family cut off from the power of Shazam? Why are his own powers becoming increasingly unreliable? The answers send Billy on an outrageous adventure that’ll not only change him but have an immense impact on the school and other students on Titans Island.



Checkmate #2
written by: Brian Michael Bendis
art by: Alex Maleev
cover by: Alex Maleev
ON SALE : 7/27/21
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
variant cover by : Matt Taylor
US $4.99 (card stock)

The heroes network—the secret technology that connects the Batcave, the Hall of Justice, and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude—holds all the secrets of the DC Universe. The growing evil called Leviathan is trying to get it…and Checkmate are the only people standing in the way. All this and Leviathan versus Talia al Ghul in a fight to the finish, not to mention someone has kidnapped Lois Lane! And you never, ever, ever kidnap Lois Lane. Plus: Who is the Daemon Rose? From the Eisner Award-winning team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, this all-new story ties directly into the events of Justice League!



Justice League #64
story by Brian Michael Bendis and Ram V
art by Steve Pugh and Sumit Kumar
cover by David Marquez
ON SALE : 7/6/21
$4.99 US | 40 PAGES | FC | DC
variant cover by Jason Howard
US $5.99 (card stock)

Introducing…the United! This all-new all-star group of alien warriors represents all voices in the newly formed United Planets. A galactic Justice League, if you will. The first Legion of Super-Heroes? Sort of. The United comes to the new Justice League for help because the biggest threat to the universe is on the loose, and all roads lead to…Superman. All this, and Aquaman has some surprising news. This big, bold, universe-spanning story serves as a perfect hopping-on point for fans curious where their favorite DC heroes go next!
Plus: While the Justice League Dark regroups after hitting the books (literally), all eyes turn toward Gotham, where Merlin’s followers gather to protect a mysterious weapon. Now it’ll take not one knight but two to infiltrate the cult and save reality. Batman guest-stars as the Eternal Knight’s new squire in this action-packed tale!



Justice League #65
story by Brian Michael Bendis and Ram V
art by Steve Pugh and Sumit Kumar
cover by David Marquez
ON SALE 7/20/21
$4.99 US | 40 PAGES | FC | DC
variant cover by David Talaski
US $5.99 (card stock)

The Justice League heads to deep space, on the trail of the most dangerous new criminal in all the galaxy. The biggest threat to the United Planets is on the loose, and no one in the cosmos is safe. Meanwhile, on Earth, Checkmate breaks into the Hall of Justice looking for clues to Black Canary’s secret affiliation. What secret affiliation, you ask? It’s a secret, duh! All this, and Black Adam declares himself leader of the League.
Plus, as the Justice League Dark plans their next move, Batman makes his in Gotham. An ally from Etrigan’s past holds the key to saving the present, but to retrieve it, the League and the Eternal Knights must venture deep into his twisted dreams. Little do they know, Randu Singh’s mind is a maze that they could end up trapped in for good!

Comments

[iamrman]

Ooh, Blue and Gold mini-series and Batgirls? It looks like I have two new titles on my list.

[scorntx]

Hmm.
Taylor writing Jon sounds intriguing. He does pretty good stuff when he's not writing the latest nightmarish alternate universe (and sometimes pretty good stuff in them as well).

A Morrison product in the same year as it was announced? Egad!
... though mixed feelings given Grant's stuff of late.
(Plus the whole notion of "heroes forming a black ops team to Make The Hard Choices", especially when that's Supes doing it.)

Static written by Alaya.
Also intriguing. The stuff they've written for Marvel's looked pretty interesting (from what I've seen here).
And, y'know, it's Static. An actual Static comic again! For the first time in almost a decade!

[tinygaylaura]

Much as I love Midnighter, Apollo and Natasha I really dread the thought of Morrison and their "writing" being allowed anywhere near these characters

[mindsweeper]

Ayala's "New Mutants" has definitely started well. I'll give Static a chance.

[stubbleupdate]

Good to see Morrison getting back in the game after their break from DC.

Let's hope their time away hasn't dulled their skills

[beeyo]

I thought Morrison was done with superhero comics? Either way, should be interesting. Nice to see Midnighter back

[scorntx]

I think Morrison said that after this thing with Superman, they're really, absolutely, definitely done with superhero comics forever.
And this time, they mean it!

[shakalooloo]

According to the solicit though, he's setting up a new Super status quo. One final comic, just to upend an entire branch of a comic's output.

[scorntx]

Given DC's general track record and their record with Grant's stuff, I'm... kinda dubious it's a status quo that'll stick for any length of time.

[tinygaylaura]

Given that Morrison's writing is absolute crap I certainly hope that it won't

[tripodeca113]

Well it's nice to some Milestone characters coming back.

[tinygaylaura]

I'm really happy about that as well! It's about time they did :)

[mrstatham]

As intriguing as the concept is, hard nope to Morrison on Superman and the Authority; I'm still not quite over how he basically killed Wildstorm back in the day when he had the two flagship books for it's big relaunch.

[kd_the_movie]

why? why do they keep trying to make Jon a thing? He's boring as hell. Kon is a million times more intriguing and IMO would be the perfect teen hero to market now in a entertainment industry thats desperately trying to appeal to Zoomers

[tinygaylaura]

Excited to see the Milestone reboot finally happening!

Especially Static Shock as I think Vita Ayala is a great writer. I hope we are going to see other Milestone heroes getting rebooted as well. I'm holding out hope for Shadow Cabinet getting a miniseries or ongoing

Crush and Lobo looks like it's going to be good fun

And I'm glad to see Poison Ivy back. Hopefully we're going to see her and Harley getting back together and get to see the two of them being written as a couple in Harley's ongoing as the writer of that book clearly has plans for the two of them together

[blueprintstyles]

I desperately want scenes with Midnighter and Apollo wanting Superman on their list of freebies,

[bruinsfan]

That'd be a bit narcissistic of Apollo, wouldn't it?

[deh_tommy]

Oh man, the description of that Batman/Catwoman special alone fills me with so much dread.

[silverhammerman]

Actually doing a run with Jon Kent as Superman sounds cool to me. I wonder if this is going to be in the mainline continuity or more in the loose future that DC has indicated they're going to be exploring with the continuing Future State books.

Morrison back, again, with another nominally final book, is certainly something. I'm a longtime mark for them, but it kind of feels weird to come back after them having gone "All right, all right, time for us old timers to clear out and let the crazy kids take over!" a couple of times now. Still, doing a book about Superman, the original superhero, aging and finding himself having to turn to new methods from a new generation of heroes could actually be a good capper for Morrison's career at DC. Certainly it would feel like a more fitting ending than any of those weird Metal/Death Metal tie-ins they did, or the bizarre one-two punch of WW: Earth One and The Green Lantern.

Excited for Static Shock and immensely relieved to see that they're got Vita Ayala writing it, slightly disappointed they've got Reginald Hudlin doing Icon and Rocket.

The wife-guy energy and general kind of clueless "women are so mysterious" energy of Batman/Catwoman is staggering.

Blue and Gold is whatever, good for the fans, though at this point I don't think there's much exciting about Jurgens writing these characters since 1) he's not gonna make them kiss, and 2) his personal politics aren't great. Mostly though I can't stop thinking about this tweet from one of my mutuals.

New Shazam, finally unshackled from the dead weight of Geoff Johns and his awful ideas and awful writing. Not excited for it, but nice to think that this character might have a fighting chance for the first time in at least a decade.

Have they made connection between Bendis' Leviathan and Morrison's?

[laughing_tree]

Eh? I'd say King's Batman/Catwoman is the opposite of that. Batman and Joker are portrayed as these unknowable, larger-than-life forces, while Selina's the actual person caught between those poles.

I always felt the biggest problem with King's Batman is how he writes him as more an avatar for grief/trauma/whatever than an actual person. It really brings to mind Alan Moore's criticism of the Killing Joke: What's the point of a psychological examination of Batman when no human being acts the way Batman does?

I also find that Jurgens/MacFarlane tweet odd. You can't find a bigger company man than John Byrne in his prime, and he's a literal millionaire. True, he's also done creator owned stuff, but it's not Next Men or Danger Unlimited royalties that made him rich. Granted, he's an outlier, but is anyone going to claim Todd freakin' McFarlane isn't?

Don't get me wrong. The Big Two do all sorts of shitty business practices and need to treat creators better. But there are a million better ways to point that out than "He's not Todd MacFarlane." And it starts by discussing those creators with empathy for the system they have to work under, not some scornful "Look at the dumb-dumb's career choices."

[silverhammerman]

Fair do's on King's Batman. I've never connected much with his writing and have only been looking at his Batman/Catwoman from the outside. I was, perhaps, being a bit too silly and dismissive.

I was actually thinking that tweet was really on point. I mean it's not a nice thing to say, but it's more than accurate to say that Jurgens is presently the ultimate DC company man, even more than Byrne was since only one of them is still kicking around doing work-for-hire, and it's seemingly got him little to show for it beyond the privilege of continuing to work for DC. In some ways that makes him the poster boy for the utterly thankless nature of work-for-hire. It's less that everyone should aspire to be The Todd (who is an certainly outlier), and more that there's something kind of grim about working for a company for 40 years, being creator of and strongly associated with a single genuinely really good character, and still not even owning them. Maybe he's perfectly content, and I'm not about to judge that, but it's not exactly an aspirational story.

Incidentally though, if they ever do put Booster Gold in a movie the payday for Jurgens will probably be pretty decent, considering that Jim Starlin is on record saying he was paid more for KGBeast's blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in BvS than he's ever gotten from the Marvel movies. Hard not to think about that coming a week after Ed Brubaker broke his silence about the fact that his pitiful compensation for the Winter Soldier stuff.

[laughing_tree]

I don't get it. Wouldn't a creator who's produced countless strong, lasting characters for Marvel/DC, none of which the person owns, be a far better and more damning illustration of the thankless nature of corporate comics than someone who, as you see it, has only created one?

Jurgens' 40-something years is rare in large because many of his contemporary left the industry because they couldn't find enough work. They probably wish they could be in his shoes right now. Again, it's just bizarre to me that he'd be considered the ultimate cautionary tale when there are so many more obvious examples.

[silverhammerman]

In response to your points, while there are more obvious examples of people screwed over by the industry, Jurgens could be seen as a cautionary tale because there are greater examples of exploitation. He hasn't been tossed aside, he's kept up a level of quality in his writing and maintained sufficient professional connections that he's stuck around way longer than his contemporaries. He's no Jack Kirby, spiraling up dozens of ideas and having them all fall into the maw of corporate ownership, partly because even by the time Jurgens started working the shared universes were already established and so publishers didn't need that, so Jurgens has only "lost" one character and even then he still seemingly gets first crack at writing Booster Gold whenever the subject comes up. It's kind of a best case scenario for a work-for-hire guy.

So what's that best case scenario look like? First crack at writing a character who he should own but doesn't, the privilege of continuing to work in a notoriously exploitative and low-paying industry (I don't know the man's financial situation so maybe he's doing just fine, though I don't put much stock in various celebrity net worth databases), and if he's lucky a line saying "Booster Gold created by Dan Jurgens" buried twelve minutes into the overly long credits of a blockbuster movie in 2027.

Everyone is gonna look bad when you stack them up next to Todd "The Statistical Outlier" McFarlane, and I could even see looking at Jurgens and seeing a guy treated relatively well, living the fan-turned-creator's dream. Maybe he's not the best cautionary tale, but the idea struck me as an interesting way to look at Jurgens in a month when I've been thinking about creator rights a lot.

[lordultimus]

"Have they made connection between Bendis' Leviathan and Morrison's?"

Bendis' Leviathan IS Morrison's, after Mark Shaw took control from Talia.

[shadowpsykie]

oooh Manhunter is BACK! and is that Renee? also PLEASE let Static have Gear! i really need another queer superhero around!