DC July 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Leaving out the “new editions” this month:

Will buy:

Once again, nothing this month. Sorry, DC! Might buy eventually:

• New Teen Titans: Games (hardcover): A new OGN by the classic New Teen Titans team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Color me intrigued. ($24.99)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Joe the Barbarian (hardcover): Is Joe an 11-year-old hallucinating diabetic, or is he a fantasy hero? With Grant Morrison, you never know. ($29.99)
• Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold: It’s fashionable — and correct — to dump on J. Michael Straczynski currently, but that doesn’t mean he can’t write. ($17.99)

Licensed:

• Deus Ex ($17.99)
• Resident Evil: I was going to say something about the irrelevancy of video-game comic books until I read the last line of the solicit: “Veteran mercenary Holiday Sugarman is sent to remote Grezbekistan; when his team is wiped out by G-Virus infected militiamen, he must face G-Prime – alone.” I cannot take Grezbekistan or “Holiday Sugarman” seriously as names, and it makes no sense to me that “Holiday” is a “he.” I mean: obviously, “Holiday” is a girl’s name. ($19.99)
• World of Warcraft, Book 4: Written by the Simonsons (and Mike Costa), the solicitation is full of that fantasy cliché: the name with the apostrophe in it. What does an apostrophe mean in the middle of Med’an and Cho’gall? For that matter, what does the double “a” in Meraad mean? Do I stretch out that last syllable? Muraaaaaaaaaad. ($14.99)
• World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen (hardcover): Oh no. The Worgen. Why are they cursed? What are they? I don’t play WoW, so this is not aimed at me, but I was curious as to what they were; they are exactly what I thought they would be: wolf men. ($22.99)

The Rest:

• 99 Days (hardcover) ($19.99)
• Batman: Impostors: The contents of this one are “collected from Detective Comics #867-891.” I was set to criticize DC for not telling us the actual contents of the 128-page book, but then I realized Detective is up to only #880 in July. Typo! I assume that should be #871? ($14.99)
• Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories: According to Amazon, the hardcover version of this Paul Dini / Bruce Timm Batman Adventure collection is out of print. These are highly regarded stories, so it’s a good thing DC put it back in print. ($17.99)
• Batman: Under the Red Hood: Oh, joy. The Red Hood. Can’t wait. ($29.99)
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!: Back in Black: Written by Art Baltazar, who does the Tiny Titans. Could be good. ($12.99)
• Brightest Day, v. 3 (hardcover): The final volume of the “spectacular” series. Yay! ($29.99)
• Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story ($19.99)
• Doom Patrol: Fire Away ($19.99)
• Fogtown: This is a noir comic set in 1950s San Francisco, with a an allegedly “deeply closeted” PI. It ends, according to the solicitation, with a “horrifying, gender-bending truth.” Vertigo! ($12.99)
• Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer (hardcover): “Learn why no one in the universe messes with Sinestro and lives to tell the tale!” Except that Hal Jordan messes with Sinestro all the time and has lived (except that time when he was dead, but Sinestro had nothing to do with the little yellow space bug). ($22.99)
• Justice League of America: Omega (hardcover; $24.99)
• Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth Omnibus, v. 1 (hardcover): It’s odd — the same sort of completist nostalgia I find normal in Marvel material I find baffling with DC. My prejudices showing, I suppose. In any event, it’s a Jack Kirby omnibus, which will drive up sales no matter how goofy I find the premise. ($49.99)
• Legion of Super-Heroes 2: Consequences (hardcover) ($24.99)
• Madame Xanadu, v. 4: Extra Sensory ($17.99)
• Supergirl: Bizarrogirl: Bizarro! I love you! ($19.99)
• Superman / Batman: Night and Day ($17.99)
• Superman: The Black Ring, v. 2 (hardcover): Another volume of Paul Cornell’s “Lex Luthor starring in Action Comics.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ($29.99)
• Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane Archives, v. 1 (hardcover): Ten issues for $60. Eh, no thanks; that price tag killed any curiosity I might have had. ($59.99)