DC Finest Prospective - Thoughts on future books

As requested by no one, my thoughts on all 31 DC FINEST books on the schedule from here to next summer, ahead of the first ones coming next week. General thoughts on the line here.  Note all comments are based on tentative contents, taken from the listings on this site.  Some will change, some of the books might never come out, the covers of a few will be different (looks like they'll all have the classic DC logo, for one thing).

AQUAMAN
"King Of Atlantis"

Aquaman adventures from the early Silver Age, with great art by Ramona Fradon and Nick Cardy.  Looks like they moved back the start point from what they used in ARCHIVES and SHOWCASE PRESENTS, so you get a few dozen 1950s stories that have never been reprinted, drawn by Fradon.  Makes this a tempting book.

BATGIRL
"Nobody Dies Tonight"

A run of a Batman family book featuring the Cassandra Cain version of the Batgirl character, the first one to ever hold her own solo series, launched in 2000.  Tried it a few times, never really appealed to me, though I often like Kelley Puckett's writing in other books, so I'm not opposed to trying a bigger chunk.  But not in any hurry, either.  Starts with #7, leaving room for an earlier volume to have stories from before the series starts.

BATMAN
"Year One & Two"
"The Killing Joke And Other Stories"

Two consecutive runs of the main Batman books, BATMAN and DETECTIVE, and a few side things starting in 1986, pretty much what would be considered the launch of the post-Crisis version of Batman.  These are going to read as  pretty disjointed books, but they will have a lot of highlights, including the title stories "Year One" and "The Killing Joke" ("Year Two" less so, but it has its moments.  If only it had more consistent art...), "Son Of The Demon".  Some very good work by Jim Aparo, Alan Davis, Norm Breyfogle, David Mazzucchelli, Brian Bolland and others.  Maybe not enough for me that I don't already have in preferable formats.

CATWOMAN
"Life Lines"
"Vengeance And Vindication"

Two consecutive books with the earliest solo adventures of the longtime Batman villain, from the 1989 mini-series to some one-shots and short stories to the 1993 on-going series. Pretty much the most "not for me" that the line is getting in the announced books.

DOOM PATROL
"The World's Strangest Heroes"

Very entertaining comics by Bruno Premiani and Arnold Drake starting with the launch of the team in 1963.  Major point of interest here are a few crossover issues, an issue of CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and a Flash team-up in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD,  which have been reprinted but not as widely as the other issues (most importantly, not in any of the SHOWCASE PRESENTS books).  I could see myself buying this someday. A second book would run out of Drake/Premiani stuff quickly, so probably leak into the later revivals.

THE FLASH

"The Human Thunderbolt"

Hey, I'm not going to really complain about a book of Infantino, Kanigher and Broome, but talk about starting with the most oft-reprinted part of the characters run.  

Might still get this after I get a few of the other books, if it becomes my preferred format for DC reprints, but I hope we see some stuff from the vast unreprinted (especially in colour) years of Barry Allen.

GREEN ARROW
"The Longbow Hunters"

Initially, didn't care that much about this.  Mike Grell's Green Arrow run is okay, aged a bit poorly, falls off in quality quickly and is as common as dirt in both the original issues and prior reprints.

But...

Unlike those prior reprints, which only took Grell's stories, this one is including some Dennis O'Neil stories, in particular the "Fables" storyline which spanned the 1988 annuals for DETECTIVE, GREEN ARROW and THE QUESTION (plus two earlier issues of THE QUESTION with a cameo and guest role for Green Arrow).  That is some remarkable stuff, and until recently hadn't been reprinted (and still hasn't outside a $100 book).  That's some of the best writing O'Neil did in a career full of great writing, and some great art by Denys Cowan.  Might be worth the book for that stuff alone.  And some of the rest is okay.

GREEN LANTERN

"The Defeat Of Green Lantern"

What will end up being the second book of Hal Jordan's adventures as Green Lantern, mostly still by Gil Kane, John Broome and Gardner Fox.  Solid stuff, well worth a look.  Most interesting thing might be the less-often reprinted THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD issue with a GL/Batman crossover drawn by Ramona Fradon.  And like FLASH there are a lot of later unreprinted runs to get to.

HARLEY QUINN

"Birth Of The Mirth"

Interesting approach to this one, mixing in some Harley Quinn books based on the animated series, where she made her debut, and her appearances in the main DC comics universe, leading up to an including the early issues of her solo series by Karl Kesel and Terry Dodson, which is a lot of fun.  The animated stories are good coherent stories, sometimes excellent (including the origin story "Mad Love" by character creators Bruce Timm and Paul Dini).  The DC universe stories can be a bit disjointed, often lone chapters of long stories, until you get to the on-going.  It'll be interesting to see if they separate the two version of the character in the book, or mix them in publishing order.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
"The Bridge Between Worlds"

Pretty straight forward, probably the eventual third volume of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, in an era of transitions as original artist Mike Sekowsky gets replaced by Dick Dillin partway through the book, and a few issues later original writer Gardner Fox gets replaced by Dennis O'Neil.  O'Neil and Dillin probably do enough to warrant names on the cover, which DC can do while they're in there fixing "Sekowsky".  Anyway, good stuff, but I'm looking more forward to a less-reprinted era like Steve Englehart in the 1970s.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
"For America And Democracy"
"The Plunder Of The Psycho-Pirate"

The earliest adventures of the Justice Society from the 1940s.  The stories are generally still solo adventures of each member by different artists, tied together with a framing sequence.  Enjoyable, and much more so in two $40 paperbacks than they were in five $50 hardcovers a generation ago.  Although originally just a dime each, $2.10 for the whole shebang a few more generations back.  Those were the days.  Boy, the way Glenn Miller played...

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES

"Zap Goes The Legion"

Odd choice from the Legion history to start.  Can't recommend the first half of the book, as the Legion goes from lead feature to back-up to occasional guest stars.  But the second half is pretty nearly all Dave Cockrum, his full run on the series, as the Legion works its way back to lead status.  Cockrum is one of the best regular artists the Legion ever had, and he starts early in his career and starts good and gets even better quickly.  The writing improves as the book goes on as well.  But it's a bit of a slog to get there.

METAMORPHO

"The Element Man"

The choice to include Metamorpho early in the run of SHOWCASE PRESENTS was unexpected and great, one of the things that sold me on that line.  The choice to include it early in this run is less unexpected (the character is appearing in an upcoming film), but still pleasant.  This also includes one additional Batman team-up not included in the SHOWCASE.

PEACEMAKER
"Kill For Peace"

And this is the one that drives me crazy.  First half of the book is long overdue, the 1960s comics by creators Pat Boyette and Joe Gill, published by Charlton.  You figure with the character being in a movie and on TV we'd have seen a nice slim book of that by now, only five issues and a few back-ups.  Instead we get this, mixing in the later DC version of the character from the 1980s on.  I can't see many people who want the front half being happy with the second half, and the people, if any, excited by the second half having any interest in the first.  It's not like the HARLEY QUINN book, where it's different but compatible versions of the same character, it's essentially two different characters sharing a common trademark.

And I've got no faith they'll go with that great Boyette cover.  Not sure I can bring myself to buy the book anyway, but definitely not with a non-Boyette cover.

I'd almost rather have had something like this:

PLASTIC MAN

"The Origin Of Plastic Man"

Most of what was reprinted in the first three PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES back in the day, the first four years of Jack Cole's 1940s comics published by Quality.  On the one hand, great comics, great price.  On the other, DC's ability to really capture Cole's linework from printed comics wasn't really that good 25 years ago, and I doubt they've gone back to square one with this, more likely they're using the same "restoration" created then.  But even watered down Cole is still great.

SCIENCE FICTION
"The Gorilla World"

One of the more unusual choices for the line, so far the only title that's not a super-hero book, and gives some hope for the future of the line expanding further into DC's rich history (war, western, mystery, humour, funny animal).  This collects some early 1950s science fiction stories from STRANGE ADVENTURES, MYSTERY IN SPACE and ACTION COMICS, mostly stand-alone short stories with a few continuing characters like Captain Comet and Tommy Tomorrow. Fun stories with some great artists.  This is the book I'm most likely to buy, although it's not out for a while, next summer by the latest schedule.

SUICIDE SQUAD
"Trial By Fire"

The 1980s comics by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell, reprinted before but this time including a lot of other comics, such as the LEGENDS mini-series where the team debuted, the SECRET ORIGINS issue, several issues of Ostrander's FIRESTORM where the team appears and other crossovers.  Not sure it needs all those crossovers (and how something like MILLENNIUM #4 will read out of context, or if they'll only include the Squad relevant pages), but the core of the book is some really good stuff.

SUPERBOY
"The Super-Dog From Krypton"

The Silver Age SUPERBOY series (when not involving the Legion) is a bit of a blind-spot in DC's reprint history, at least partly because of some litigation involving the company and the creators of the character.  That seemingly resolved* we can now get this, the stories from SUPERBOY and ADVENTURE COMICS beginning in 1954, and including the debut of Krypto, the pet dog Jor-El shot into space before doing the same with his infant son.  Not sure how that test proved the rocket was safe, since he never got Krypto back...

[*SUPERBOY created by JERRY SIEGEL. By special arrangement with the JERRY SIEGEL FAMILY.  SUPERMAN created by JERRY SIEGEL and JOE SHUSTER. By special arrangement with the JERRY SIEGEL FAMILY.]

SUPERGIRL
"The Girl Of Steel"

Various short stories and guest appearances from Kara Zor-El from her 1959 debut on.  Most of it drawn by Jim Mooney, who does a great job.  Perfect, no notes.  Well, maybe a different cover, but there aren't many Supergirl covers of the era that don't have Superman on them.

SUPERMAN FAMILY
"The Giant Turtle Man"

How great would it be if there was just a 600-page story that was just about Jimmy turning into a giant turtle?  Sadly, that only takes up 8 pages of the book, which almost feels like false advertising.  Still, ten issues each of JIMMY OLSEN and LOIS LANE, plus various other relevant stories from the other titles from the early 1960s.  This starts a bit later and goes a few issues beyond what the SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY got to in the fourth volume.

Oh, I was bored and, weirdly, this is the kind of thing I do for fun, I thought I'd re-imagine the cover with a few tweaks to the format as how I'd like it

Of course not all logos would work as well in the format as this one, based on one of the top logos ever designed for anything, ever.  And some of the books are based on concepts that never even had logos ("Science Fiction" and "Team-Ups" of the initial batch).

SUPERMAN
"The First Superhero"
"Kryptonite Nevermore"

Two distant eras of Superman, starting with the original stories in 1938 from creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, soon  joined by others.  That's all a well trodden path for reprints, not sure if DC ever improved the reproduction of some of those early issues.  Still formative stuff.

Then jump to 1971 and however many volumes later for a new era of Superman.  While they've collected the SUPERMAN issues of the era twice before under the "Krytonite Nevermore" title, with the work of Dennis O'Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, this is the first time they'll be mixing in the contemporaneous stories in ACTION COMICS, also mostly by Swan and Anderson with other writers.  So that's a point in favour of the book.

TEAM-UPS

"Chase To The End Of Time"

An interesting choice to combine the team-ups with Superman (in DC COMICS PRESENTS) and Batman (in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD) starting in 1978, but not their team-ups with each other (in WORLD'S FINEST) from the same era.  I kind of like it. I wonder if they'll separate the two series in the book or alternate?  It's mostly single issue stories in this era (with some exceptions like the title story), so either could work fine.

Kind of interested, although most of it won't be new to me.

TEEN TITANS

"The Judas Contract"

Pretty much undeniable material by George Perez and Marv Wolfman, up there at the top of the heap for 1980s DC.  The title story has been reprinted quite a bit, but not always with the surrounding material which provides the extensive set-up and aftermath in the same volume, plus other relevant appearances of the team in other books..  

WONDER WOMAN

"The Legend Of Wonder Woman"
"Origins & Omens"

Two era of Wonder Woman.  The first is the end of one age, right before the post-Crisis reboot by George Perez.  Only read the title story by Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek, which isn't really indicative of the contents (most of which have never been reprinted), but I'll consider getting it.  The other is the most recent material being offered in the DC FINEST line so far, from 2008 to 2009.  Doesn't really appeal to me, I kind of suspect most people it would appeal to have gotten prior reprints.

EVENTS: ZERO HOUR

"Crisis In Time Part One"
"Crisis In Time Part Two"

I assume they'll standardize the subtitle by the time it comes out.  

A hodge-podge of DC comics from the middle of 1994, all around an event series I don't recall much at all, and dislike most of what I do recall other than the art.  Can't imagine it reads well as a book, with all these individual chapters of larger stories. It does give an idea of how they plan to handle crossovers in this series of books.

A prospective on DC Finest

As you might expect from my interest in DC's old SHOWCASE PRESENTS line I have some interest in their upcoming DC FINEST line, which is like a colour version of that line and also takes some cues from Marvel's long established EPIC line of reprints.  The initial releases are a few weeks away as I write this, and in an unusually aggressive launch DC has already announced 31 books coming in the line, almost weekly releases until the middle of next year. And they will look something like this:

These are preliminary covers from solicitations, expect at least a few of them to change by publishing date.  In particular I hope that the recent return to the classic DC bullet logo (seen only on the recently announced TEAM-UPS book) happened in time that it'll be used for this line*. It's not only objectively better, but the aesthetics of changing a design element so early into a run... well, if you don't think the change of logos on the last years of the SHOWCASE line don't bother me even more than the fact that the two logos on those books are the worst DC logos of all time...

[* thanks to Todd Klein's advance copy, we know the classic DC bullet will be used.  And they modified the contents a bit from the original solicitations starting and ending a few issues earlier]

I suspect the cover art on a few will change as well.

Overall I do like the design.

While I would probably go with a logo on the cover like SHOWCASE had, the bold font that they're using for the series titles is nice, and adds some consistency to the line.  Not really crazy about the "DC FINEST" name, but maybe it'll grow on me (I want to add a possessive, DC'S FINEST, since the antecedent is WORLD'S FINEST.  The title sounds like Bizarro "Them am DC Finest comics". Also, they aren't. The finest, that is. Some are, but others are at best mediocre).  I also like the relatively unusual choice to put all the title information on the bottom, which makes for a nice unique look for the line. I also like the addition of a subtitle for each book, and the credits on the cover (although the choice of credits, at least in the mock-ups, is questionable for some of the books).

And it's much better than any of these lines:

To compare with the competition, here's what Marvel's Epic line looks like:

(they've recently started a "Modern Era" line, which appears to be defined as roughly "21st Century"). Have to say, my ideal would probably be halfway between the classic Epic and the Finest.  That "Modern Era" Epic is some weak tea.  Seems almost apologetic about having to give you any information.

The preliminary look at the unfinished back covers and spines also reveals some information.

The sampling of covers provides some nice context, especially for a few of the books that have non-representative front covers.  The emphasis on the years is interesting, especially since there's no hint that these will be numbered in any way.  Like Marvel's EPIC line, they aren't being released in order (the SUPERMAN FAMILY book will probably be the fourth in the line, it mostly overlaps with the SHOWCASE SUPERMAN FAMILY v4, starting a few issues later and going a few beyond), so it'll be interesting to see if they have a number, like Marvel uses on the back covers, or will depend on the years to establish the order.

As to the choice of books, it's certainly eclectic.  Unlike the SHOWCASE line they seem to have all of DC's history to choose from, going back as far as 1938 and up to 2009 so far (with the cover design indicating plans up to at least 2023). While there does seem to be a bias towards stuff already reprinted before, there are some pleasant surprises.  I can confidently say I'll be buying some of these, but I will never be all-in on the line (cut to 15 years from now, "Can someone get me a copy of CATWOMAN: VENGEANCE & VINDICATION?  I can't find it anywhere.  How much?  Sold!").

I'll go over each individual announced release in a later post.  At a quick glance I'd say there are maybe seven I have no intention of ever buying, five or six I might buy on release, maybe as many more I would if I didn't already have almost all the contents in another form and a vast middle which I might pick up if the price is right or a leaf-through convinces me.

Showcase Presents Retrospective - Many a slip 'twixt...

Well, not surprising that in the ten years that DC was publishing the SHOWCASE PRESENTS line there were a few announcements for books which didn't end up coming out, especially as the industry evolved into announcements for books running further and further ahead of the publication date.  I've decided to call these Ghostcases. DC tends not to reveal the reason for the cancellations, might be a lack of sales, or problems with the quality of the physical source material requiring extra time in production, or problems with the contracts (there's apparently a period from 1976 to 1997 where they require a reprint fee which makes thick cheap books unworkable unless the creators agree to a royalty deal like they have for pre-1976 material)  Here are a few I've seen evidence for...

SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE CREEPER Vol 1

First heard about this one in late 2008, and there was some speculation for a while on the exact contents, beyond creator Steve Ditko's initial SHOWCASE #73 story and six issue series from 1968/1969.  The eventual list seemed to be

Showcase #73
Beware the Creeper #1-6
Brave and the Bold #80, 143, 178
Justice League of America #70
Detective Comics #418, 447-448
The Joker #3
First Issue Special #7

Doesn't matter because after that it fell off the schedule, and instead we got THE CREEPER BY STEVE DITKO, a (mostly) colour hardcover with just the stories that Steve Ditko worked on.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS WHO'S WHO Vol 1 & 2

Announced in 2006, this would have been a two volume set collecting everything from the 26 issue WHO'S WHO - THE DEFINITIVE DIRECTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE series first published from 1985 to 1987.  An ambitious and not entirely successful attempt to catalog DC's fictional universe, it had some great art, including a lot of Jack Kirby artwork on his many creations and some wonderful wraparound covers by George Perez initially (including the ones seen on the cover mockup). They seemed pretty gung-ho on the concept for a while, despite it being well outside the usual SHOWCASE era. Was not to be, and much later they came up with a much more comprehensive hardcover.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUICIDE SQUAD Vol 1

They had this on on the schedule at least twice, in 2007 and 2010.  Also outside the usual SHOWCASE PRESENTS timeline, it would have collected the first 19 issues of the 1987 series by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell and others, plus a few relevant crossover appearances with the Justice League and Doom Patrol.  Eventually they went with a colour softcover for this one in 2011, and eventually continued the line (once the Squad movies started coming out) until they collected the full 66 issue series in 8 books by 2019. Now the series is set to be reprinted again in the next year as both a hardcover and in the new DC FINEST softcover line.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS HOUSE OF SECRETS Vol 3

Well, this is typical.  While Cain over in the HOUSE OF MYSTERY got three books collecting his series, his brother Abel only got two.  He was apparently promised a third, which would have presumably started with #120 where the previous one left off, and maybe run to the end of the series, #154.  Eventually all those issues were collected in colour in a the HOUSE OF SECRETS BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS Vol 2 (while a lot of HOUSE OF MYSTERY remains uncollected even after three books in that format.  Cain's not going to like that).

SHOWCASE PRESENTS SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER VILLAINS VOL 1

An odd little short-run series from 1976 to 1978, plus various related stories from JLA, SUPER-TEAM FAMILY and others.  Has some really off-model Fourth World depictions.  Eventually it showed up in two very thin hardcovers.

I remember a few more seemed to get to some stage of talk, but can't clearly remember what was official from DC and what was just fannish speculation and wish-listing.  Speaking of such things, post still upcoming on that other SHOWCASE PRESENTS books we could/should have seen.  Feel free to suggest, keep it from material published by DC from 1954 to 1976.

SANTIAGO! by Jay Hosler

Santiago! Santiago Ramón y Cajal - Artist, Scientist, Troublemaker
by Jay Hosler
Hardcover, 2022 - 978-0823450367
Softcover, 2023 - 978-0823454891
Margaret Ferguson Books

Been a long time fan of Jay Hosler, who has been doing science based comics for a long time, including CLAN APIS (republished as WAY OF THE HIVE), THE SANDWALK ADVENTURES, LAST OF THE SANDWALKERS, OPTICAL ALLUSIONS and (with Zander and Kevin Cannon) EVOLUTION - THE STORY OF LIFE ON EARTH.  He tells a variety of stories, approaching each from a unique angle, but usually with an unusual narrator (various insects and aliens and walking brains, depending on the subject).

So it's quite a departure in this recent book where he tells the biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal.  And no, I'd never heard of him either, but he was a Spanish scientist who did pioneering work on neuroanatomy and won an early Nobel Prize in medicine over a century ago.  Of course it wouldn't be Hosler if it was a straight, dry biography of a 19th century scientist. The basic idea here is that young Santiago is best described as Calvin, from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, a few years older just as incorrigible as ever.  From the copious notes on his sources and methods Hosler includes (which are almost as entertaining as the comics), this is a pretty valid interpretation.  Santiago is a wild child, clearly gifted in many ways and in love with art, eventually finding his way into medicine and finding a way to merge his talents and passions in a way which enhanced the understanding of the brain.

You can see why he's a character who would appeal to Hosler in particular, as a biology professor who has done comics telling stories that explain biology and science history for decades.  In this story you can see the influence of Watterson strongest, but also a lot of other classic humour comics and animation with Hosler's own well-honed style.  Really does a good job of making this story, set in mid-19th Century Europe, feel thoroughly modern while not having any overt anachronisms just by emphasizing the universal aspects of the story.

As Santiago ages the more explicit Calvinisms in the work recede, but still pop up from time to time as an expression of his exuberance as he finds his place in the world in a way which appeals to his passions and makes use of his gifts.

Highly recommend this book to anyone, and especially recommend it as a gift to any bright 10 year old with an interest in art and/or science looking for a book which reflects their own experiences despite the temporal, geographical and cultural differences.

Oh, and I see Hosler had another new book out after this.  ANT STORY about... a talking ant... named Rubi...  You can take the talking insects of of the boy...

Showcase Presents Retrospective - It walks amongst them, but it is not of them

Alright, so we have 124 distinct books published by DC under the SHOWCASE PRESENTS title.  That's pretty straightforward.

But what if we extend it further, and ask what it really means to be a SHOWCASE PRESENTS book.  More than the title.  What if we say that it's a black and white comic book reprint collection of originally colour comics published and owned by DC.

Well, then there's one that sticks out:

I mean, what are we even doing here?  Just by the cover, some weird painted thing.  There are a few stylistic outliers in the other covers (mostly those using Jack Adler's halftone technique), but nothing this far out.  And then you look in detail and you find out that this is a reprint of a Marvel comic?  Licensed from Conde Nast?  And was originally published as a black and white magazine?  In the words of JOKER (2019) star Marc Maron, WTF?

I mean, clearly there were some crossed wires here.  DC had hardly even dug deep into their own history when this came out, with first (only) volumes of THE LOSERS, SEA DEVILS, THE SPECTRE and many more still to come.  But for some reason they got the rights to Doc Savage and, in addition to incongruous team-ups with Batman and The Spirit*, gave us some reprints of Marvel's comics from the 1970s.  One colour volume for the 8 issue 1972-1973 series and this for the 1975-1977 b&w magazine, also 8 issues.

[* and if that was on the table, at least give us a SHOWCASE PRESENTS WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT...]

And I guess because the mentality was that "our black and white reprints are the SHOWCASE PRESENTS line", that's what this got shoved into.  So the art is shrunken down and the pages have ridiculous margins. And while the vast majority of proper SHOWCASE PRESENTS books have art sourced from good quality file material, for this they clearly had to resort to copies of the printed comics as source material.

And to be fair, by the standards of reprints from such sub-optimal source material, it's not bad (but varies a lot).  A lot of similar reprints look much muddier.  I think the newsprint closely matching the original helps. But as good as it is, it really can't match the other books.  The reproduction of the covers (often a weak point in the other books) is especially bad, as they were painted, mostly by Ken Barr (with #1 by Roger Kastel based on the film poster.  Yes, there was a film...).

All of this isn't a comment on the actual comics.  I mean, some John Buscema pencils, a lot of Tony DeZuñiga (full art or inks over others), Val Mayerik and others, all look pretty good.  Doug Moench is a usually solid writer, seems well suited to the material from what I've read.

I was about 20 copies away from a full run of the SHOWCASE books when a copy of this became available, priced a bit higher than I liked.  I did waver quite a bit on getting it, pretty much had to make the decision there if I was going to be all-in or let a few books slide.  Obviously I made a wrong choice.

Still don't like it though.  I don't even like shelving it with the other books, except for the photo-op.  Definitely the bronze sheep of the family.  Like some mutant book, and if I learned anything from X-MEN comics it's "Accursed is the Mutant" (honestly, I only skimmed X-MEN, did I get the gist of it?  And I might be confusing it with THE CRYSALIDS (look it up, kids)).

And while my brain knows it doesn't work this way, that the most likely alternative to them doing this probably was just no book, not a different book, my heart can't help but resent it on behalf of the SHOWCASE book we didn't see.  We got this instead of SUGAR & SPIKE?  This instead of PLOP?  This instead of a 1970s Kirby book?  This instead of... well a whole other future post on which SHOWCASE books that should have been, but we got Marvel's DOC SAVAGE instead.

So what's the conclusion? I guess you have to decide for yourself.  For convenience I'm going to keep saying there are 124 books, but I say for the record I do so under protest.  If comics are a religion, this book is in the non-canonical apocrypha.  And let me be clear there is one book which is my least favourite, one book which I will let burn if there's a strange fire and I only have time to rescue 123 books, and that book is SHOWCASE PRESENTS BOOSTER GOLD DOC SAVAGE.

Showcase Presents Retrospective - The Phantom 125th

So, as I alluded to here, while there are, for all intents and purposes, 124 SHOWCASE PRESENTS book published by DC from 2005 to 2016, as seen in the graphic on right and on my bookshelf, there's an argument to be made for a 125th book needed for a truly complete collection. Not a great argument, really, but it's an interesting bit of trivia.

Let's go back to February 2008, pretty much the peak of the line, they had been releasing two books a month for over a year, and would continue at that pace for more than another year.  Sometimes something that slips through the cracks and in this case it was SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY Vol 2, released on February 27, 2008, the very week of Superman's birthday (and on a year he gets to celebrate on the proper day).

Well, that seems fine.

Several weeks later, this statement was issued by DC to retailers:

In SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL. 2 TP (NOV070244), several pages from SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #2 were accidentally swapped. DC Comics will provide retailers with new, corrected copies of this title in quantities equal to their orders to date on the current printing. Retailers will not be billed for these new copies. DC asks retailers to please dispose of any copies of SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL 2 TP they currently have on their shelves, and to accept returned copies from their customers in exchange for corrected copies. The SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL 2 TP new printing is scheduled to arrive in stores on April 2. To differentiate it from the original printing, the logo on this cover will be red and white instead of red and yellow, and will arrive in stores under the item code JAN088359. 

More detail about the error can be found on the GCD entry for the book:

In the first print run, the splash page of "Superman's Secret Sweetheart" is followed by pages 2-8 of "Superman's Forbidden Room," and vice versa. The logo on the corrected edition is red and white instead of red and yellow.

Well, that was a silly thing to do.

And so, if you're looking for the book, make sure you get one that looks like this, which flew into stores a few weeks after the previous one (April 9 apparently, as they forgot to account for the April Fools' Day holiday):

Which should be almost all available copies, because of course all retailers followed DC's request to dispose of the erroneous versions.

But if for some reason you really want to be complete (and really, even I'm not that crazy.  Yet) you obviously need one of each.  And then you'd have 125 books, such a nice solid number.  Five cubed.  Five shelves of 25 books apiece (yeah, okay, three of them are slimmer). I think I'm talking myself into wanting that book...

Not really.  But since I still instinctively check any Showcase books I see, I do keep my eye open for the yellow label SUPERMAN FAMILY Vol 2, and if it's not too expensive, I'll probably pick it up.

By the way, a few of the early books also had second printings, with a different cover price and without the "Over 500 Pages..." blurb on the cover, but counting those would be extreme even for me.

But of course, there's another book one the list that doesn't belong at all, the Apocryphal Showcase.  But, as they say on Hammy Hamster, that's another story...

Preliminary notes on a Showcase Presents retrospective

 So, as DC prepares to launch their latest reprint initiative, the DC Finest line, in a few weeks, I thought I'd look back a bit on one of their previous lines, the Showcase Presents line of black&white reprints, mostly in the 500+ page range, which launched in September 2005 with great fanfare, ran well for several  years and then limped across the finish line just over ten years later in January 2016, with 124 books to its credit.  What does that look like?  Something like this:

Well, actually, kind of 125, but we'll get to the hidden book later.  And in another sense, 123 books, but we'll also get to the apocryphal book later.  But for the sake of clarity we'll say 124 books in 125 months.  That makes it sound like a book a month, but that's deceptive.  The last book came out almost a year after the penultimate book, and there were other gaps, while at the peak they were pumping out two a month.

In those 124 books, DC reprinted over 60 thousand pages of comics from their history (and some other histories).  A significant number of those pages were never previously reprinted, and while some of those have subsequently seen colour reprints there are still thousands of pages which have only seen this single reprint.  Hopefully that'll change with this new DC Finest line, but it'll take a while.

While there are some anomalies, mostly reprints of reprints, the bulk of this line reprints material from about 1954 to 1980.  That seems to be the era where DC's library of source material which needs minimal restoration is strongest (with some holes) and their contractually obligated royalties are the lowest.  So it pretty much covers the commonly understood Silver Age (which begins with JIMMY OLSEN #1 in 1954.  The OUR ARMY AT WAR volume reprinting stories from 1952 to 1953 is the only book which completely pre-dates that) and continues to what some call the Bronze Age.  Less than a dozen books have reprints only from the 1980s, with the latest reprints being from 1988, except for a few later AMBUSH BUG stories, because the Bug cannot be contained.

The 124 books were in 67 different series, so each series averaged less than two books.  38 of the books were standalones, with no follow-up volume (sometimes because the one book essentially exhausted the material). On the other end, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and BATMAN tied for the most volumes, with six each. 

I was an early adopter of the line, on the record as being excited about it from the first announcement, and often mentioning new releases back when I used to post here more.  For a good while I was all-in, but then as they began releasing them more frequently became more selective, and also started to miss some interesting ones as trips to the comic shop became less frequent. Two years ago I had 89 of the books and decided to actively look for them, and with a lot of help from some friends just got the last one I needed a few weeks ago.  And what does that look like?

For the record, book 124 for me was CAPTAIN CARROT.  Which, oddly, I probably would have bought on release if I saw a copy.

(if you're in the Toronto area and want to follow where I lead, grasshopper, well first off, don't.  That photo could be captioned "Bob's Folly".  But if you do, start with BMV Books, especially the Bloor location, then check The Big Island, and then contact me, I can tell you a few other places to check).

Anyway, this post might end up being a standalone, or it might be the start of a series about the Showcase Presents line.  if it does continue, some possible topics:

A comparison with Marvel's analogous ESSENTIAL line, aka "DC Rules, Marvel Drools".  I mean, not really, but in form if not content DC's the clear winner here.

Showcase Antecedents, a look at previous DC reprints, especially black and white reprints, including the ill-advised greying of the Fourth World.

Ghostcases, the announced Showcases we didn't see. Hint, we could have gotten a lot more Ditko... (see here)

Showcases I'd have liked to see, aka 124 books and not one is SUGAR & SPIKE? How does that make sense?

What's with those three weird skinny books in the photo?  And why didn't we see more of those?

What is that mysterious 125th Showcase book I alluded to? (see here)

And what do I mean by an apocryphal book?  Are there really only 123 books in the Showcase canon? (see here)

The Making of Bob's Folly, more details than any sane person could want about my personal descent into insanity called completing the run.

The inevitable errata, a list of errors of commission and omission which continue to vex me. (see here)

Highlights from every book.  

Lists of material still only available in a modern edition in these books.

And much more.  Or, again, maybe none of that, and this is it.

El Cuarto Mundo de los Nuevos Dioses

I can't believe I've never posted about this before...

So, cast your mind back to 1971.  Jack Kirby, one year into his contract with DC, things still going well, unencumbered by the weight of some of his past employers/partners/editors, now for the most part having his work inked and lettered locally by Mike Royer, much more faithfully embellishing his work than many other prior inkers.

(this relative utopia wouldn't last, of course. Comics, kid, they'll break your heart)

So in that atmosphere, Kirby creates "The Pact" for NEW GODS #7, a bold flashback story which crystalizes some things from the past year of stories in this and the companion series in the Fourth World (MISTER MIRACLE, FOREVER PEOPLE and JIMMY OLSEN).  Some respectable people would tell you that this is the best of over 2000 comic stories Kirby created in his 76 years on this world. I would tell you it's in the top five.

Kirby knew that he was on to something, and back in the early 1970s was already talking about re-packaging the material from the original disposable periodical format into more permanent editions. As with most things, it took a while for the publisher to catch on, and inexplicably it would take then 13 years to reprint "The Pact" the first time (albeit in another periodical format), and another 14 years to reprint it again (this time in a proper book, although black and white with unnecessary grey tones) and 10 more to finally get it right...

Well, hold on, let's qualify "right".  Because if you've only read one of the reprints of the story DC has done (at least nine to date), you've never quite read it as intended. Let's take a look at one panel, first as it left Mike Royer's table in mid-1971 (courtesy of the 2014 "Artist's Edition" of the work), second as it appeared in stores just before Christmas of 1971 and finally as it has appeared in DC's reprints:

Okay, something's not right there. If you don't see it right away, look closely at every word. And punctuation mark.  

Let's look at another panel later on:

There are a few more (including one sound effect missing completely), but obviously back in 1984 DC found their film library came up a bit short on some pages of "The Pact" and had to resort to using pages that had been touched up for a translation of the story, into a language which doesn't use the letter "W" as much as Kirby liked and used inverted exclamation points.  I'm guessing Spanish.

Which, y'know, "by demons driven" and all that, if that's what they had to work with in 1984, okay.  I'd still happily mock it, but, okay.  But after a while, on a story they've thought was worth reprinting nine times, in some of their deluxiest formats for serious money?  And when the original artwork is right there (the printed "Artist's Edition" is probably already better than their existing source material, I'm sure the editor of it can supply an even better copy, and can certainly point them to the current whereabouts of the artwork)?

And yes, it's minor, these examples aren't up to "..and meet the sun." territory or other egregious and inexplicably persistent reprint errors.

But...

Well, there's this:

And that I do not forgive. This bugs me.  Every time I see it, it bugs me more.  Presumably the finger wrote "La Fuente" or somesuch in 1984, and someone had to restore it to "The Source".  And it's just not right.  He is Izaya the Inheritor, and this should not be his inheritance in a pivotal moment in Jack Kirby's best story.  And yes, I'm admitting it, his best story, I just said "top five" to be contrary.

Come on, fix this, make it look like Kirby intended, as it left Royer's hand.  Royer never splotches up the trademark cosmic dots like that.  This is a hand of flame writing, it should be bold and definitive, not that... thing. Leave the "W"s turned to "V"s, leave the inverted punctuation, the missing sound effect, but the 10th time you reprint this, DC, please look in your heart and fix this.

_______________

Adenda Especial

here are some other panels in the issue that are affected by this error (not meant to be comprehensive)