DC is continuing to expand their collected editions catalog, this time with a new line of oversized trade paperbacks. The new line of collections, DC Finest, was unveiled today as part of DC’s presentation at ComicsPro. DC Finest will, according to DC, collect “the most in-demand periods, genres, and characters from across DC history.” The publisher also previewed the first wave of titles for the new line.
More from DC on the new line:
Scheduled to launch in November, these affordably priced, large-size paperback collections start at $34.99, and will take full advantage of DC’s extensive backlist and appeal to casual and completist fans alike. Focusing on characters and storytelling genres instead of creators or prior series will give casual fans the chance to discover full continuities for their favorite characters, while offering completist readers an affordable option to build out their ultimate collection of stories based on their favorite DC Super Hero or genre.
The format and $34.99 price point may draw immediate comparisons to Marvel’s Epic Collections line, which is aimed at collecting every issue of a particular title in chronological order. The scope of DC Finest is wider than that, though, according to DC, collecting stories grouped by character or genre and not just series. It sounds like a cross between the Epic Collections and DC’s old “The Greatest _______ Stories Ever Told” collections:
Character-focused collections will spotlight multiple iterations of fan-favorite DC Super Heroes; for example, a “Robin” volume may include stories featuring Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, and Jason Todd, while a “Green Lantern” volume would include classic stories featuring Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Alan Scott, and other fan-favorite ring slingers. Genre fans can curate collections of their favorite tales of science fiction, romance, humor, war, Westerns, horror, and other genres; many of these volumes will feature material reprinted for the first time, by some of comics’ greatest storytellers.
The publisher also released full details for the first wave of DC Finest titles, along with mock-ups of what the books will look like.
DC Finest – The Flash: The Human Thunderbolt:Collects classic adventures of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, including 1956’s iconic Showcase #4. Also includes Silver Age Flash stories that include the first appearances of famous Flash rogues, including Captain Cold, Mirror Master, and Gorilla Grodd.
DC Finest – Batman: Year One & Two: Collects the Dark Knight’s adventures following the game-changing crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths,including Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli and Batman: Year Two by Mike W. Barr and Todd McFarlane, plus more mid-to-late-’80s Batman stories from Barr, Max Allan Collins, Norm Breyfogle, and others.
DC Finest – Wonder Woman: Origins & Omens: This collection spotlights fan-favorite writer Gail Simone’s run on Wonder Woman, starting with 2007’s “The Circle,” with artist Terry Dodson, plus celebrated story arcs “Ends of the Earth,” “Rise of the Olympian,” and “Warkiller,” featuring art by Aaron Lopresti.
DC Finest – Catwoman: Life Lines: Selina Kyle steps out of Batman’s shadow and becomes a protagonist in her own right in this collection featuring Catwoman’s 1989 solo debut by Mindy Newell and J.J. Birch, Peter Milligan and Tom Grindberg’s Catwoman Defiant from 1992, and the first year of DC’s Catwoman ongoing series, by writer Jo Duffy and artist Jim Balent.
DC Finest – Superman: The Coming of Superman: Features the Man of Steel’s earliest and most iconic adventures, starting with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s groundbreaking Action Comics #1. This collection includes Action Comics #1-25, Superman #1-5, and New York World’s Fair Comics #1.
Unlike DC’s upcoming Compact Comics line of graphic novels, DC Finest appears aimed more at traditional comics readers, at least in terms of format, but aside from the Catwoman collection, which features material that’s never been collected before, the rest of the first wave includes stories most existing readers probably already have collected in one form or another. The character- and genre-focused collections are also an interesting choice, and definitely different from anything else DC has on bookshelves right now.
What do you think of this new line of DC collections? Sound off below!
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