After applying a little math to the November DC solicitations, I was more than a little disturbed. Buying one of everything that had a price listed (as opposed to the action figures, which were “PI”) would cost about $1,100.00. This would get you some 120 items, including the relists. Because I don’t like to think of myself as a slavish DC fanboy, who I had imagined would spend much of the $1,100.00 gladly, I was pretty pleased to count up only 33 items, retailing for just over $193.00. Not bad, eh?

Then I looked at what I was buying, and had to admit to slavish fanboyhood: only one of those 33 items falls outside the mainstream DC Universe, and that’s the Astro City installment. Otherwise, I am getting exactly half of the DCU books.

Now that my shame is on public display, let’s take a look at oh, about half of the DCU books solicited for November and beyond….

BATMAN

I am eager to read Batman/The Spirit, which should be fairly decent perhaps in spite of Jeph Loeb. Over the course of twelve months I steadily grew to dislike Loeb through his severely underwhelming script for “Hush.” Its “hot artist draws all of Batman’s villains and supporting cast in one yooge adventure” model could even be seen as a warmup for the Spirit special. Loeb followed that with the doubly-irritating Superman/Batman, whose dueling first-person narratives beat the reader over the head with unnecessary commentary. Therefore, if that Loeb shows up for Batman/The Spirit, it could be a long slog through Darwyn Cooke’s pretty, pretty artwork. I am more optimistic than this sounds, but like my dad says, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

As for the regular books and continuing miniseries, blah blah blah Grant Morrison yadda yadda yadda Matt Wagner flee floo flurr Frank Miller. Seriously, tonight I read Morrison’s second issue of Batman and the first issue of Wagner’s Batman and the Mad Monk, and they were both pretty great. There haven’t been too many times since I’ve been collecting comics that I could look forward to such a collection of heavy hitters on a big-time DC title. I feel obligated to include Miller in the bunch (and wow, what about Morrison unloading on Miller and his imitators?) even though “severely underwhelming” could also apply to All-Star Batman & Robin, but again I am optimistic. I’m a little disappointed that DC won’t hit the superfecta in November with a Paul Dini issue of Detective, but I don’t want to develop a sense of entitlement about the whole thing.

I’m sorely tempted by the thought of Marv Wolfman writing Nightwing for (I think) the first time in about twelve years, but then I read “Dick Grayson is still having trouble finding a job!” and thought, good grief, DC, you just don’t get it. He’s not Peter Parker, he’s Johnny Storm. Wolfman and George Perez spent the better part of four years getting him away from Batman, and then Wolfman spent the next ten years cementing his relationships with the Titans. No wonder he’s had a hard time on his own. The solo series apparently feels the need to make him distinct from both Batman and the Titans, which doesn’t leave room for a lot of other connections. Accordingly, Dick starts to look almost like a hanger-on of the Rick Jones or Snapper Carr variety, very close to a slacker sliding towards thirty and still dropping little hints that he used to be part of these bigger things. After ten years of trying to be independent, he needs to either get established somewhere that will give him long-term security, and/or swallow a little pride and go back to the Wayne Foundation. There may be (and may have been, for all I know) a good story about him refusing Bruce’s financial support, and that may play into what Marv is planning, but somehow I doubt it. I guess that’s a long way of talking myself out of buying Wolfman’s Nightwing.

Another Bat-heir resurfaces, as the Earth-2 Huntress gets a paperback collection. Did it really take Infinite Crisis to spur the release of all this Earth-2 content, or does this have a more subtle connection to Selina’s baby over in Catwoman? (The solicits’ notion that the Huntress name itself might be enough is a little hard to swallow, considering the differences between the two characters.) Either way, it’s nice to see DC revisiting these stories, which by the way show an older Dick Grayson mentoring his “sister.”

SUPERMAN

Honestly, I appreciate what Richard Donner did for Superman, and I think it has been the biggest influence on the character in maybe the past forty years, but I get the feeling that Geoff Johns is doing most of the heavy lifting on this Action Comics run, kind of like Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens on the William Shatner Star Trek books. Cover looks pretty, though.

Meanwhile, over in Superman, Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco are really turning in some of the best Superman stories in a long time. I have arrived at this glowing opinion after only two issues (plus Busiek’s contributions to the Superman/Action summer crossover), and postapocalyptic Superman tales are nothing new, but I see no reason why Busiek and Pacheco won’t continue their good work.

Darwyn Cooke shows up here as well, writing the first arc of Superman Confidential for Tim Sale to draw. Obviously I’m a Cooke fan, and I think this will be a fun storyline, but I don’t know how well this title will do overall. It has to compete with the two regular Superman books, the All-Star title, and Superman/Batman, and seems to be justifying its existence by being an All-Star book for people who value continuity.

DC UNIVERSE

For the most part, it’s business as usual in the main DC line. 52 rolls on, highlighted by the fifth-week “event” that checks in with some Bat-characters. Morrison talked this one up pretty well, so I’m looking forward to it especially. Birds of Prey makes it to #100, but gets a shakeup as Black Canary looks to be [SPOILER!] rejoining the JLA. I’ll probably be checking out the new Blue Beetle’s first paperback.

Green Arrow is working on a mini-franchise himself, with Roy Harper [SPOILER!] in the new JLA and Connor Hawke getting his own miniseries. The latter returns Chuck Dixon to the character, which should excite longtime fans. I was already burned out on Chuck Dixon by the time he got to Green Arrow, so sorry, Connor — although I like the character, it’s not enough.

We’ll see if new artist Joe Bennett makes Hawkgirl easier to take. Meanwhile, Howard Chaykin keeps busy with a JLA Classified arc that could either be brilliantly sublime or ridiculously out-of-character.

I am more inclined to pick up Jonah Hex #s 13-15 after reading Jordi Bernet’s excellent issue of Solo last summer. Hear that, DC? Even cancelled, Solo might get you another sale!

I was not inclined to get The Next, but any issue guest-starring Superman and Metron will at least catch my eye. Of course, I think the first issue of Zero Hour also featured Superman and Metron, so it’s no guarantee that the thing will be any good….

Is “Henry Flint” a typo, and does that mean that Flint Henry is drawing the new Omega Men miniseries?

This month’s emphasis on Green Lantern is giving me flashbacks to the early ‘90s, when there were three monthly GL books, characters in both Justice Leagues, and Green Lantern Corps Quarterly. These solicits bring two monthly GL books, more of the Ion maxi-series, a Guy miniseries, and a new Archives volume. I wasn’t paying much attention to economic forces back in the day, when Mosaic and GLCQ were struck down by the events of “Emerald Twilight,” but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the end of the speculator’s market didn’t do as much to kill them. Today, the mini-franchise seems healthier — so where’s that John Stewart book, DC?

It’s a little strange to me that DC isn’t reprinting the Titans/Outsiders crossover from New Teen Titans #37 and Batman and the Outsiders #5 in its new Terra-centric paperback. (By the way, my use of “Terra Incognito?” Coincidence, really.) The Terra/Geo-Force subplot of that crossover was the last bit of “The Judas Contract’s” foundation, and without it, the focus of the issues the book does reprint is more on the other Titans’ internal strains. Terra’s a big part of that, but it’s not all about her.

The Showcase Presents Shazam! reprint volume should be worth a look, if only to see the changes in approach. It started out as a reverential attempt to recreate the Fawcett style — in a way, kind of like the new Spirit series — but towards the end it tried to be another post-Silver Age superhero book of the ‘70s.

Why is the Sachs & Violens paperback in the DCU section? I guess it wouldn’t fit in any other category. It’s almost an infamous work, and certainly a departure for guys who made their reputations on very mainstream superheroes. It tried hard to be mature and edgy, with a disturbing Barney The Dinosaur parody towards the end, but it never quite gelled into something more than a collection of ideas. At least, that’s how I remember it.

No Wonder Woman on the November schedule, but there is the Lynda Carter statue; and the Matt Wagner Batman statue looks more appealing than the grimacing Superman perched on an inappropriately-placed stand. Invulnerable or not, that can’t be comfortable.

Overall, not a bad month. It highlights the conservative approach DC has taken to its mainstream line since Infinite Crisis — a few nostalgia-oriented books like Omega Men, Mystery in Space and Tales of the Unexpected provide different flavors to their superhero-style adventures, with Rush City (mocked by Lewis Black on last night’s “Daily Show” — congratulations, DC!) and Jonah Hex getting slightly farther away from the superhero paradigms. There is very little here that hasn’t seen print at DC in some form, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone. It does surprise me a little to see slow expansion of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow “lines.” I wouldn’t have thought DC was that eager to clone titles, but the spinoffs are mostly miniseries, and that seems sensible.

And if “sensible” isn’t an eminently appropriate summation of any given month’s DC solicits, I’m not sure what is….

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