Even More Finest!

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said somebody’s lit a fire under DC with this line. Since publishing my last post there have been more details released and even more titles added to the line!

So, let’s get to it and look at the updated list. New details are added in bold:

• Aquaman – The King of Atlantis
  • Material from Adventure Comics #229-280, #282 and #284; Action Comics #272; Detective Comics #293-300; World’s Finest Comics #125; Showcase #30-33; Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #12; and Aquaman #1-3. January 7, 2025.
    As I suspected, this is prime Silver Age Aquaman with lots of fantastic art by Ramona Fradon. This is probably the book I’m most looking forward to.
• Batgirl – Nobody Dies Tonight
  • Batgirl #7-27, Superboy #85 and Supergirl #63. April 8, 2025.
    A new title added to the line and material I’m completely unfamiliar with. Could be a good way to sample it!
• 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.
• Batman – The Killing Joke and Other Stories
  • Batman #413-422, Batman: The Killing Joke, Detective Comics #580-589 and Batman: Son of the Demon. May 20, 2025.
    Not surprised that there’s another Batman volume added to the line already! A couple of things caught my eye – it collects The Killing Joke and Son of the Demon. Both very important tales but both are fairly standalone. Interesting to see whether DC will collect other standalone works in the line too.
    Secondly – if the contents are correct, this volume slightly overlaps with the last volume!
• 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.
• Catwoman – Vengeance and Vindiction
  • Catwoman #0, #13-32; and Catwoman Annual #2-3. June 10, 2025.
    Following on from the last volume. Neat! A big chunk of 1990s Catwoman in two volumes.
• Doom Patrol – The World’s Strangest Heroes
  • The Brave and the Bold #65; Doom Patrol #86-102; Challengers of the Unknown #48; My Greatest Adventure #80-85; Teen Titans #6. February 11, 2025.
    Another new title added! This must be the first volume as My Greatest Adventure #80 is the team’s first appearance.
• 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.
• Harley Quinn – Birth of the Mirth
  • Action Comics #765; Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #126; The Batman Adventures #12; Azrael: Agent of the Bat #60; Batman #570, #573-574; Batman: Shadow of the Bat #93; Detective Comics #737, #740-741; Catwoman #82-84, #89; The Batman Adventures: Mad Love #1; The Batgirl Adventures #1; Batman: Harley Quinn #1; Batman: Gotham Knights #14; Harley Quinn #1-8. February 18, 2025.
    Yet another new title for the line! I’m completely unfamiliar with the origins of the character beyond the basics, but that looks like a pretty good coverage. Judging from the title I’d say this was a volume one.
• 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.
• Justice Society of America – The Plunder of the Psycho-Pirate
  • All-Star Comics #13-24. July 8, 2025.
    Well, I’ll be! DC are following up with a volume two for this title pretty quickly! I’m impressed!
• 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!
• Metamorpho – The Element Man
  • Justice League of America #42; The Brave and the Bold #57-58, #66, #68, #88, #101; Metamorpho #1-17. June 17, 2025.
    Wow! This is a relatively deep cut. Quite an oddball of a character but always happy to see more Ramona Fradon art!
• Peacemaker – Kill for Peace
  • Fightin’ Five #40-41; Suicide Squad #27-30; Checkmate #16-26, #28, #32-33; Eclipso #11-13; Showcase ’93 #6-11; Peacemaker #1-4; The Vigilante #36-38, #41-43; The Peacemaker #1-5. April 1, 2025.
    I shouldn’t be surprised at this addition to the line, what with the success of the Peacemaker TV series. However, this volume covers the character’s earliest stories and might be strange for folks expecting more of that.
• Plastic Man – The Origin of Plastic Man
  • Police Comics #1-36; Plastic Man #1-2. March 4, 2025.
    Golden Age Plastic Man! Not something I expected to see. DC continues to pull out some surprises.
• Science Fiction – The Gorilla World
  • Action Comics #183-196; Strange Adventures #35-48; Mystery in Space #16-22. July 15, 2025.
    I shouldn’t be surprised this far down the list with the oddball material DC seems keen on adding to line. This could be a very wide ranging sub-line considering all of the weird and wacky sci-fi tales DC has put over the years! There’s so much that could be folded in here. Definitely one to watch!
• Suicide Squad – Trial by Fire
  • Suicide Squad #1-10; Secret Origins #14; Detective Comics #582; The Fury of Firestorm #62-64; Firestorm: The Nuclear Man Annual #5; Legends #1-6; Millennium #4. March 11, 2025.
    With Peacemaker’s addition to the line, it fitting for the Suicide Squad to appear too. This isn’t starting with the Silver Age version of the team but rather the late 1980s iteration.
• Superboy – The Super-Dog from Krypton
  • Adventure Comics #199-216; Superboy #33-43. May 13, 2025.
    A Silver Age surprise! I must admit to seesawing between thinking “this material is just too dated” to “but it’s really important to Superman’s lore!”. This will be the perfect way to dip into it!
• Supergirl – The Girl of Steel
  • Action Comics #252-288, Adventure Comics #278, Superman #139-140 and #144, Superboy #80, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #14 and #20, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #40, #46, #51 and #57. January 14, 2025.
    And here’s the contents for this first volume. Another great way to sample Silver Age Superman lore.
• 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.
• Superman – Kryptonite Nevermore
  • Action Comics #393-406; Superman #233-238, #240-246. June 3, 2025.
    Not quite following up with a volume full of modern stories but there’s still decades between these two volumes!
    There also been a recent-ish deluxe hardback covering similar issues so I’ll be sizing that up against the contents listed here.
• Superman Family – The Giant Turtle Man
  • Action Comics #266, #277; Superman #142-143, #147; Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #19-28; Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #47-56. April 15, 2025.
    Yet another surprise from the Silver Age! I think this will be a big dose of DC in wacky mode. Worth the price along just for that!
• Team-Ups – Chase to the End of Time
  • DC Comics Presents #1-14; The Brave and the Bold #141-155. March 18, 2025.
    A Bronze Age surprise this time. I know very little about these comics so another perfect way to dip my toe in.
• Teen Titans – The Judas Contract
  • Action Comics #546; World’s Finest Comics #300; The New Teen Titans #33-40; The New Teen Titans Annual #2; Tales of the Teen Titans #41-47; Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3; The Vigilante #3; and more. February 4, 2025.
    I was a little surprised that there weren’t any Teen Titans volumes in the initial announcement, so I’m pleased to see one added here. The “and more” at the end of the contents does make me think that the details might not be finalised yet.
• Wonder Woman – The Legend of Wonder Woman
  • Wonder Woman #306-329; DC Comics Presents #76; Blue Devil #10; The Legend of Wonder Woman #1-4. July 1, 2025.
    1980s Wonder Woman doesn’t get much representation in collected editions – unless I’ve somehow managed to be completely oblivious to it. So fantastic to see a second volume covering this period.
    Not only that but this volume also collects the Legend of Wonder Woman mini-series with art by Trina Robbins. Awesome!
• 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.
• Zero Hour: Part Two
  • The Flash #0; Green Arrow #90; Adventures of Superman #516; Justice League America #92; Action Comics #703; Justice League International #68; Legion of Super-Heroes #61; Green Lantern #0; Superman: The Man of Steel #0; Guy Gardner: Warrior #24; Justice League Task Force #16; Catwoman #14; Robin #10; Showcase ’94 #10; Damage #0, #6; Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #2-0; Anima #7. May 6, 2025.
    No surprise about the next volume being part two, but a bit of a surprise it’s coming along so soon. Looks like it picks up a lot of the connected issues to the event too.

Once again, I’ve got this information from this list from Wikipedia here – the new DC Finest line of books. If the new DC Finest line has caught your eye, I recommend keeping an eye on it. It’s going to be really interesting seeing how it develops!