A New Line of Books from DC – DC Finest!

I don’t have any examples of the new line in hand, but copies are beginning to trickle out I believe. So, I feel fairly safe to follow up the Marvel ReMasterworks post with this from the DC side of things.

As this announcement from DC suggests, interesting things are afoot. My collector’s antennae are already twitching!

DC’s answer to the Marvel Epic Collections?

Rather like Marvel’s Epic Collection line, these volumes will be released out of order but will add up to complete lines eventually. I’d imagine that would take quite a long time for any characters that started in the Golden Age like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman!

I’m already imagining a volume one of Superman full of Golden Age tales followed up with a second volume collecting issues from 2015! Nothing like a seventy-five year gap in continuity! Joking aside, it’s been fun watching Marvel’s Epic Collections gradually close the gaps in those lines and if DC stays the course, something similar could happen with these.

Like the Epic Collections, this new line by DC is intended to be chunky, fairly affordable paperbacks in full colour. Nice!

Speaking for myself, I started collecting DC’s classic collections long after the hardback Archives line had ceased to be. This could well be a (comparatively!) cheap way for me to dip my toes into some lines which are now hard to find in colour reprints.

Details So Far…

The initial news release from back in February listed just a handful of volumes, but this has grown into the following list:

• Aquaman – The King of Atlantis
  • No contents yet but from the cover art this looks like it’s going to be covering Silver Age Aquaman. No publication date as yet.
    This volume would be awesome as this era hasn’t been reprinted in colour much at all.
• Batman – Year One & Two
  • Batman #404 – 414, Batman Annual #11 and Detective Comics #571 – 581. November 5, 2024.
    These story arcs are pretty much always in print in some form but it’s nice to have them both in one book.
    I’ve got both Year One & Two in separate books as well as the recent volumes of Caped Crusader and Dark Knight Detective lines so I’m not sure I’ll be needing this.
• Catwoman – Life Lines
  • Action Comics #611 – 614, Batman: Catwoman Defiant #1, Showcase ’93 #1 – 4, Catwoman (1989) #1 – 4, Catwoman (1993) #1 – 12 and Catwoman Annual #1. December 17, 2024.
    Not sure about this particular volume. I don’t think the 1990s art here has dated very well.
• The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt
  • Showcase #4, #8, #13 – 14 and The Flash #105 – 123. November 26, 2024.
    The earliest issues featuring Barry Allen Flash. Quite often reprinted by nice to see the Flash included in this line. It’s also a volume one for this version of the Flash.
• Green Arrow – The Longbow Hunters
  • No contents or publication date yet and I don’t really know that much about this character. However I do know this story arc is from the late 1980s and has been recently reprinted in omnibus format by DC. So a bit of surprise to see here.
• Green Lantern – The Defeat of Green Lantern
  • Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #19 – 39, The Flash #143 and Brave and the Bold #59. December 3 2024.
    Mid-1960s Silver Age Green Lantern. Has been reprinted previously in paperback but again, nice to see this title is part of this line.
• Legion of Super-Heroes – Zap Goes the Legion
  • Action Comics #378-387 and #389-392, Adventure Comics #374-380 and #403, and Superboy #172-173, #176, #183-184, #188, #190-191, #193, #195, and #197-203. December 10, 2024
    The Legion tales jumped around a few titles, so it’s quite hard to follow them if you’re a casual fan like me. On the face of it, this volume collects them all from about 1969 to 1974.
    Overlaps with the older hardback Archives and Silver Age Omnibus but if like me, you slept on the Silver Age Omnibuses this is a really exciting volume!
• Justice League of America – The Bridge Between Earths
  • Justice League of America #45-72. November 19, 2024.
    Mid to late 1960s tales by Garner Fox and a young Denny O’Neil. A real transitional period.
• Justice Society of America – For America and Democracy
  • All-Star Comics #3-12. December 3, 2024.
    This covers the earliest adventures of the Society from the early 1940s. Another case where the Archives line had long since gone before I started collecting. However, I’m not sure how much more Golden Age material I need but nevertheless, this should be a cost effective way to dip a toe into the material.
• Supergirl – The Girl of Steel
  • No contents or publication dates yet.
• Superman – The First Superhero
  • Action Comics #1-25, Superman #1-5 and New World’s Fair #1. November 5, 2024.
    Superman’s first appearances! These tales must be amongst the most reprinted comics ever! Well, they are important and the Batman and Wonder Woman lines are starting in different eras so it’s not a big surprise.
• Wonder Woman – Origins and Omens
  • Wonder Woman (2006) #14-35; Outsiders: Five of a Kind – Wonder Woman/Grace #1, and Brave & Bold #7. October 8, 2024.
    Is this the most recent in the line so far? I think it might be. I don’t know anything about this period except that it’s written by Gail Simone and she’s usually very good! But wasn’t there a recent omnibus edition?
• Zero Hour: Part One
  • Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #4-3 and related tie-ins. December 10, 2024.
    Representing the DC events, Zero Hour seems to be getting quite a bit of love lately from DC. The omnibus is getting a reprint and it’s part of the opening line up for DC Finest.

Although this opening line up is spread out over this year’s autumn and winter months, that’s still an ambitious start!

By the way, I’ve cribbed this list from Wikipedia here – Page listing the new DC Finest line of books – the Wiki editors were very quick off the mark creating that page!

Interesting Things Ahead!

Something seems to have really lit a fire under DC lately. The classic era Omnibuses had been slowly plodding along but the previous chunky paperback line that DC was publishing along side (such as the Doom Patrol book I had a look at) had puttered along and then was cancelled.

Things were looking a bit bleak for classic collections for a while there but perhaps DC was keeping a lid of things knowing they had this new line in their back pocket? Anyway, fingers crossed the DC Finest line takes off and grows!