Welcome to August my comic loving friends and I hope that the summer has been treating you well so far. Can you believe that we are almost done with it? Before you blink, September is going to be here and it’s back to school for the readers who are doing that and more focus on the workaday world for the folks that enjoyed some quality break time during the summer months. I’m starting our comic book solicitations narratives with the stuff coming out from DC Comics this month because we are going to find the movie “Suicide Squad” opening up at the end of the week. This will be the third film in the growing DC Extended Universe and there are plenty of titles with characters from the film on the stands this month. We posted the films “Blitz Trailer” some weeks ago which you can see HERE if you missed it. As before I’m using the provided to the media press copy and artwork to bring all of this coolness to your attention. I’ll return at the close to offer up some additional personal Geek opinion. Here we go, and believe me you will want a new coffee or water for this since there are quite a few titles to line out. Please remember that these are for across the whole month and have not been broken down into a week by week availability.
ALL-STAR BATMAN #1: “My Own Worst Enemy” part one! Superstar writer Scott Snyder explodes into an all-new Batman series alongside legendary artist John Romita Jr., reimagining some of the Dark Knight’s greatest villains. First up: Two-Face! Batman must take Two-Face to a destination out of Gotham City, but the duplicitous villain has a two of spades up his sleeve. Every assassin, bounty hunter and ordinary citizen with something to hide is on their tails with one goal: kill Batman! Handcuffed together on the road to hell, this is Batman and Two-Face as you’ve never seen them before!
Written by SCOTT SNYDER • Art and cover by JOHN ROMITA JR., DANNY MIKI and DECLAN SHALVEY • Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR. and DANNY MIKI
BLUE BEETLE: REBIRTH #1: Lost in the desert with no memory of the past few years, teenager Jaime Reyes must find his way home again—but when he reaches his town, he’s shocked to find it abandoned and in the hands of government officials…officials who are very interested in the Blue Beetle and the scarab that gives him his power! How can Jaime find his family and uncover the secret behind the town’s seizure—and why Kord Industries is helping keep the world from learning the truth? This is a one-shot issue.
Written by KEITH GIFFEN • Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #1: “Who Is Oracle?” part one! Someone has stolen the name Oracle right out of Barbara Gordon’s past! Hot on this false Oracle’s trail, Batgirl, Black Canary, and Huntress are all tracking the same mafia capo…so it makes sense to team up, right? Problem is, Barbara and Dinah need the secrets locked up in Oracle’s brain…and Helena Bertinelli would rather put a crossbow bolt right through it!
Written by JULIE BENSON and SHAWNA BENSON • Art by CLAIRE ROE • Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
DEATHSTROKE: REBIRTH #1: A thousand enemies, a thousand kills—Deathstroke is the world’s greatest assassin. Stalked by an unseen foe, Slade Wilson is confronted by his own troubled past and challenged to reinvent himself before he loses everything and everyone in his life. Can Deathstroke be redeemed? Or will his addiction to violence destroy him? This is a one-shot issue.
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST • Art by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ • Cover by ACO • Variant cover by STEPHEN PLATT
DEATHSTROKE #1: “The Professional” part one! Deathstroke’s latest contract takes him to a war-torn African country, where he finds himself caught in the middle of a disintegrating alliance between a ruthless dictator and a deadly super-villain. With an entire nation at stake, Slade Wilson must choose between fulfilling his contract and saving an old friend.
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST • Art and cover by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ • Variant cover by SHANE DAVIS
HARLEY QUINN #1: “Die Laughing” part one! Welcome back to Harley Quinn’s crazy world on Coney Island…now get ready to wave goodbye, because everyone there just might get eaten alive! Harley’s gotta protect her neighborhood against an all-out zombie apocalypse! Break out the chainsaws, everybody!
Written by AMANDA CONNER and JIMMY PALMIOTTI • Art by CHAD HARDIN • Covers by AMANDA CONNER • Variant covers by BILL SIENKIEWICZ
HARLEY QUINN #2: “Die Laughing” part two! As the plague of zombies on Coney Island continues to spread, Harley must rescue one of her own from the undead hordes…and try to uncover the cause of this corpse-y catastrophe!
Written by AMANDA CONNER and JIMMY PALMIOTTI • Art by CHAD HARDIN • Covers by AMANDA CONNER • Variant covers by BILL SIENKIEWICZ
THE HELLBLAZER #1: “The Poison Truth” part one! London may have recovered from Constantine’s return, but he hasn’t. Mercury hasn’t forgiven him, but she won’t leave him alone, and Swamp Thing is calling in a favor. And all the while, bigger things are brewing…
Written by SIMON OLIVER • Art and cover by MORITAT • Variant cover by JOHN CASSADAY
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1: “Dark Trinity” part one! When a turf war puts Black Mask in Red Hood’s crosshairs, Jason discovers that the False Face Society is not what it seems, and that the organization is asbout to auction off a powerful weapon. As criminals from all over the globe descend on Gotham City, Jason must prove that he belongs amongst the city’s worst in order to gain access to this Dark Summit!
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL • Art by DEXTER SOY • Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI and CAM SMITH • Variant cover by MATTEO SCALERA
SUPERGIRL: REBIRTH #1: Supergirl turns to the shadowy organization known as the D.E.O. (Department of Extranormal Operations) to restore her lost powers once and for all! But as a fateful experiment sends Kara Zor-El rocketing toward the sun, disaster strikes at home in the form of the lost Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On! All the epic action of the brand new Supergirl series starts here! This is a one-shot issue.
Written by STEVE ORLANDO • Art by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO and RAY McCARTHY • Cover by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO • Variant cover by ADAM HUGHES
SUICIDE SQUAD: REBIRTH #1: Soldier. War hero. Traitor. Captain Rick Flag was one of America’s greatest military commanders before he was banished to a secret military prison. But after years of isolation, Flag’s life changes forever when a woman called Amanda Waller offers him redemption in exchange for taking on the single most dangerous job in the entire DC Universe: keeping the Suicide Squad alive! This is a one-shot issue.
Written by ROB WILLIAMS • Art and cover by PHILIP TAN and JONATHAN GLAPION • Variant cover by AMANDA CONNER
SUICIDE SQUAD #1: “The Black Vault” part one! When a mysterious and definitely super-important cosmic item falls out of the heavens and into enemy hands, America has only one option: Task Force X, Amanda Waller’s strike team of incarcerated super-criminals. A one-stop-shop for plausibly deniable espionage and ultra- violence, this “Suicide Squad” only handles missions they’re not expected to survive. An insane new era of SUICIDE SQUAD begins here with superstar artist Jim Lee and red-hot writer Rob Williams (UNFOLLOW, MARTIAN MANHUNTER).
Written by ROB WILLIAMS • Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS • Variant cover by LEE BERMEJO
SUPERWOMAN #1: “Who Is Superwoman?” part one! Lois Lane takes flight! Now powered up with the abilities of Superman, Lois pledges to carry on the super-legacy as Superwoman! There’s only one problem: Lois’ new powers are killing her, and neither she nor her friend and confidant Lana Lang know what to do about it. Will Lois even survive long enough to learn the deadly secret of Ultra Woman?
Written by PHIL JIMENEZ • Art by PHIL JIMENEZ and MATT SANTORELLI • Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ • Variant cover by TERRY DODSON and RACHEL DODSON
SIXPACK AND DOGWELDER: HARD-TRAVELING HEROZ #1: In the tradition of the original Hard-Traveling Heroes, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Sixpack and Dogwelder are ready to bring their allegedly socially aware brand of justice to the lands beyond Gotham City! After the events of ALL-STAR SECTION EIGHT, Sixpack is fighting to keep what’s left of his team together. Dogwelder has gone in search of his past, while newlyweds Bueno Excellente and Guts are dealing with some fidelity issues. Could Section Eight be done for good? But everything changes when a mysterious trenchcoat-wearing chain smoker offers our favorite dog enthusiast some clues about his true nature. Is Dogwelder everything he seems? Or is he meant for something greater?
Written by GARTH ENNIS • Art by RUSS BRAUN • Cover by STEVE DILLON • Variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
SUICIDE SQUAD MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #1: From the pages of SUICIDE SQUAD comes an all-new series featuring two of the team’s most infamous heroes, El Diablo and Boomerang! First, a sudden pardon frees the fiery El Diablo from Belle Reve prison, much to the shock (and irritation) of team leader Amanda Waller. Chato returns to his old neighborhood to reunite with his family, but when he’s attacked by a heavily armed local gang and their leader, the deadly, super-powered Bloodletter, will his freedom and his life get cut dramatically short? Meanwhile, in the first chapter of two-part tale written by Michael Moreci (from DC’s Writers Workshop program) with art by Oscar Bazaldua, Boomerang and the Squad embark on a mission to take down a ruthless dictator within a small, unstable Central American nation, but when the mission goes awry, the Squad must jump in a helicopter and flee as all hell breaks loose. But amid the chaos, the team realizes one of them was accidentally left behind: Boomerang! How can he stay alive long enough to be rescued when a whole army wants him dead?
Written by JAI NITZ and MICHAEL MORECI • Art by CLIFF RICHARDS and OSCAR BAZALDUA • Covers by MIKE HUDDLESTON
SUICIDE SQUAD: WAR CRIMES SPECIAL #1: When a retired American politician is taken to Europe and tried for alleged war crimes, the USA must recover him from an allied nation before terrible truths are revealed. Enter the Suicide Squad, who storm the Hague itself to save America from her own dark secrets. The writer who started a revolution, John Ostrander returns to the Suicide Squad for the first time in a decade to tell one of his boldest and bloodiest stories ever.
Written by JOHN OSTRANDER • Art by GUS VAZQUEZ • Cover by JUAN FERREYRA
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #1: The vendetta of the League’s newest enemy puts them through the ultimate test by releasing the DCU’s most dangerous super-villains from prison!
Written by BRYAN HITCH; Art by NEIL EDWARDS and DANIEL HENRIQUES; Cover by BRYAN HITCH
EARTH 2: SOCIETY ANNUAL #1: Earth-2’s Batman is Dick Grayson. Does he have what it takes to be a true Batman and follow in the legacy of Bruce and Thomas Wayne before him? Or will he only ever be a stand-in? Beyond anything else, he has one overriding goal…to find his missing son. Is that a job for the Batman…or is it something only Dick Grayson can do? The Wayne legacy is at stake. This is an epic turning point in the history of Earth-2’s Batman.
Written by DAN ABNETT; Art and cover by BRUNO REDONDO
GOTHAM ACADEMY ANNUAL #1 When the Gotham Academy student body comes down with a mysterious disease, Pomeline and Colton disagree on the origin of the threat, causing a fissure in Detective Club! The team fractures to get to the bottom of the case…but who will solve it first? Will Maps be able to reunite her friends? Will they ever eat pizza together again?! Join the search for clues in the first ever Gotham Academy Annual, precursor to Gotham Academy: Second Semester!
Written by BECKY CLOONAN and BRENDEN FLETCHER; Art by ADAM ARCHER, MICHAEL DIALYNAS and CHRISTIAN WILDGOOSE; Cover by KARL KERSCHL
DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS ANNUAL #1: The long-buried tale of a heroine of the Great War! An ace pilot turned ancient predator, you may now know her as the Halloween horror, “The Bloody Batgirl”! But here, we will present the secret story of how she became the first Bombshell known as…the Batgirl!
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT; Art by ELSA CHARRETIER; Cover by TERRY DODSON and RACHEL DODSON
PiercingMetal Thoughts: Wow that is a lot of titles and I think that I am going to need a bigger box if I plan on continuing to purchase the first issues of this new “DC Universe: Rebirth” scenario. I’m also going to need a few extra bucks so any of you readers that need some assistance with some normal tasks of your day for a reasonable sum should give me a shout LOL. Luckily a lot of the DC Comics titles returned to a $2.99 a copy price point which makes this a little easier on the wallet. So which ones am I most excited for you might be wondering? Well, simply put I like most of these with the exception of the Blue Beetle and the Gotham Academy so while I might be picking up the first issue I don’t think I will be keeping up with the series. I realize that one of these is an annual but I am speaking more of the monthly that it stems from. I have to say that I am enjoying quite a few of the “Rebirth” titles and that their structures and storylines are reaching me better than more than half of “The New 52” did when that initiative was first introduced. Those readers who love nothing more than a brand new first issue in their collection are probably besides themselves given the amount that they get to add to their forever stash. Don’t forget to check out “Suicide Squad” when it opens if you are a fan of these types of films and oh yeah, before I forget to mention. In the event that you’re one of our new readers, I showcased both the Wonder Woman Trailer and Justice League Footage that was unveiled at the San Diego Comic Con. You can enjoy those trailers by clicking the bolded type in this sentence. Let me know what you think of these new releases in the comments section below and I will see you with more in the coming days.
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