On The Shelf: DC rolls back prices as part of their Rebirth project

The official solicitations for DC Comics titles landing in stores in May are online now, and will be in your hot little hands in the pages of industry catalogue Previews next week. However, come June, DC is pulling a Walmart, if you will, and rolling back prices on several titles, lowering cover prices to $2.99.

"Rebirth" may explain why the Titans Hunt limited series, originally meant for 12 issues, has been trimmed to 8, with the last issue coming out in May. Having two linchpin titles, Action Comics & Detective Comics, revert to their original numbering, which would put them close to 1,000 issues each, a milestone not achieved since the days of Four Color Comics way back when.

Meanwhile, DC's expanded Hanna-Barbera line is taking shape. The previously announced Scooby Apocalypse & Future Quest will roll out first in May. Both are ticketed with $3.99 covers, but there's a big difference.

Future Quest will, as reported previously, team Jonny Quest with fellow 60's adventure heroes Space Ghost, Birdman, Frankenstein, Jr., and so much more. Acclaimed writer-artist Darwyn Cooke is attached, and is doing at least some covers, which will be a homage to Alex Toth, who created the looks for all of the above heroes except Quest, who came from the pen of Doug Wildey. The first issue is 40 pages to justify the $4 cover. Scooby Apocalypse, meanwhile, is 32 pages for the same price, and is set in an alternate universe, kind of like the book it's mirroring, Archie's on-again, off-again Afterlife With Archie, which won't return until writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa returns from Hollywood, where he's a producer and occasional writer on Supergirl, in addition to developing Riverdale for the CW and producer Greg Berlanti. Digression aside, Apocalypse is already getting some heat from Scooby-fanatics who don't quite get the concept, much less the tattoos that Fred & Shaggy are sporting.

Dynamite, on the other hand, has added Xena, Warrior Princess to their line of licensed titles, debuting in April. Likewise, they're bringing together some of Gold Key's action heroes of the 60's in a miniseries that could be a spring sleeper. More on those when they hit shelves. I'd not be at all surprised to learn that Vampirella's new, more conservative attire in her new Dynamite series is due to pressure from moral zealot groups in the predictable places. I get the idea, but I suspect it'll backfire.