Monday, March 19, 2018

On The Shelf: More Hanna-Barbera/DC crossovers, plus other nuggets of joy

I meant to do this yesterday, but found something a little more appealing. Anyway, word got out last week that DC will again produce a series of 1-shot specials pairing various DC characters with Hanna-Barbera characters, this time from the 70's.

It's clear that Black Lightning is getting a big time push on the heels of his hit TV series on CW (and if you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?), as he'll also appear in Detective Comics in a 2 part story in June. Before that happens, Jefferson Pierce sports his old, original look for a team up with this guy.......



David Hill is writing both Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey and the Detective 2-parter, which will actually start his run on the latter, replacing James Tynion IV. Panrific? We'll know for sure around Memorial Day.

The back-up feature posits the immortal Jason Blood, before he was fused together with Etrigan, meeting The Funky Phantom.

The Super Sons, Damian Wayne (the current Robin) and Jon Kent (the current Superboy), end up in an oddball partnership with a bionic partner.....



The plot here suggests Blue Falcon going rogue. Expect silliness.

Speaking of silly, that brings us to a natural (?) pairing of Aquaman and a wayward sort from the future.....



Speaking of oddball pairings, the back-up in this one sees Captain Caveman meet the wizard Shazam and The Spectre.

But the most radical idea has The Flash and.......



Seems they're messing around trying to explain how Speedy was sentient in the first place. He won't have his usual crew this time, but the explanation is as plain as day from the synopsis in the solicitation.

Each issue will be priced at $5 per copy, just like last year.
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Not long ago, Archie Comics decided to revive a long forgotten character, Cosmo The Merry Martian, with a brand new series. In June, readers will finally get to see a trade paperback collection of Cosmo's original stories from the 60's. That ain't all. The company is also reaching into the archives for a trade paperback of Archie at Riverdale High, one of the secondary titles from the 70's & early 80's that often had Archie and pals solving minor crimes. Both trades go for $11 per copy, cheaper than the competition.

Other DC news: Brian Michael Bendis' 1st Superman project is a "reimagining", if ya will, of John Byrne's 1986 Man of Steel miniseries. This time, though, it's set in the present. Six weekly issues, just like the original, but it doesn't revise or revisit the oft-told origin of the Metropolis Marvel. Mad is now officially under the DC umbrella, and will reboot to #1 in May. The $6 cover, though, is a total overreach. Justice League also reboots to #1 (again) in June, but the cover price, at least for the first two issues, jumps to $4 per issue. Things that make you say, "huh". Suicide Squad is the latest to be trimmed to a once a month, $4 per issue schedule, also in June. Yo, DC! Do the freakin' math and let the numbering roll naturally. Bombshells United, one of DC's digital-first books, ends with #19. In addition to the above-noted DC-HB crossovers, the Justice Society meets Scooby-Doo in a time-travel adventure in Scooby-Doo Team-Up. That's worth more than one issue, but that's not how Sholly Fisch writes the book. Trust me. Mystery, Inc., though, is down a member in the pages of Scooby Apocalypse as it lumbers forward. Now you definitely know it's outside of continuity.

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