Showcase Presents for November 2007

DC Comics is on a roll! After announcing their September and October collected editions schedules last week, they published their November one this morning. As usual, two Showcase Presents books are coming out that month, one of which I can't wait to get my hands on...

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Gerry Conway, David Kraft, Bob Rozakis and Paul Levitz
Artists: Pablo Marcos, Rich Buckler, Arvell Jones, Dick Ayers, Mike Vosburg, Ric Estrada, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta, Bob Layton, Joe Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Jack Abel, Romeo Tanghal, Joe Orlando, Frank McLaughlin, Ernie Chua and others
Collects: THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #1-15, DC SPECIAL #27, DC SPECIAL SERIES #6, SUPER-TEAM FAMILYI #13 and 14, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #166-168 and a story from CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE #2
$16.99 U.S., 520 pages

Comment if you have read any of this before because all I know about this series is that it features a team of super-villains. And that's because I read it in the title. Clever, huh?


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUICIDE SQUAD VOL. 1 TP
Writers: John Ostrander, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Paul Kupperberg
Artists: Luke McDonnell, Keith Giffen, Erik Larsen, Dave Hunt, Karl Kesel, Bob Lewis, Al Gordon and Malcolm Jones III
Collects: SUICIDE SQUAD #1-18, the DOOM PATROL AND SUICIDE SQUAD SPECIAL, and a story from JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #13
$16.99 U.S., 528 pages

Now this is what I'm talking about. Since the start of the Showcase Presents line, I was hoping to see this kind of book published. It's from the 80's, has a great reputation amongst comics fandom and features the work of some of my favorite creators (Giffen, DeMatteis and Ostrander). November won't come fast enough...

Source : newsarama.com

Round of Reviews (Updated)

As usual, here's a couple of reviews found on the net in the recent days.

• Less than stellar review of The War That Time Forgot on Bookgasm.com
• A more favorable SP: The War That Time Forgot review from Silver Bullet Comics reviews.
• From the same website, a review of SP: Superman Vol.3
• Thoughts on Essential Wolverine Vol.1 by Doc Bleechen on the CGS forums
  

Showcase Presents for October 2007

There are weeks when there's so many announcements that I can't seem to keep up with them. Monday DC published their September solicitations, Tuesday Marvel published theirs and yesterday DC confirmed their collected editions for October. The Great Disaster Showcase Presents will officially be published, as will be a Metal Men one, though not much info was given on the latter.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE GREAT DISASTER FEATURING THE ATOMIC KNIGHTS TP
Writers: John Broome, Jack Kirby, Gerry Conway, David Michelinie, Cary Bates, Sheldon Mayer, David Kraft, Paul Levitz, Steve Skeates, Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Len Wein, Robin Snyder, Mike Bentley, George Kashdan, Wyatt Gwyon, Paul Kupperberg, Roger McKenzie, Jack Oleck and Elliott S. Maggin
Artists: Murphy Anderson, Jack Kirby, José Luis García-López, Walter Simonson, Pablo Marcos, Mike Nasser, Alex Saviuk, Vicitan, Bill Draut, Alfredo Alcala, Jack Sparling, Rich Buckler, Howard Chaykin, A.B. Magpali, Howard Bender, J.M. Matucenio, Steve Ditko, Buddy Generale, Paul Kirchner, Jeff Aclin, Frank Miller, Alex Niño, Curt Swan, Danny Bulanadi, Wallace Wood, D. Bruce Berry, Andy Mushynsky, Frank McLaughlin, Bob Layton, Bob Smith, Steve Mitchell, Bob Oksner, Terry Austin, Joe Rubinstein, Vince Colletta, Tex Blaisdell, Bob Wiacek, and Danny Bulanadi
Collects: FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL #1, HERCULES UNBOUND #1-10, SUPERMAN #295, DC COMICS PRESENTS #57, and stories from KAMANDI #43-46, STRANGE ADVENTURES #117, 120, 123, 126, 129, 132, 135, 138, 141, 144, 147, 150, 153, 156 and 160, WEIRD WAR TALES #22, 23, 30, 32, 40, 42-44, 46-49, 51-53, 64, 68, 69 and 123, HOUSE OF MYSTERY #318, HOUSE OF SECRETS #86, 95, and 97, TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #215 and 221, and THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #12.
$16.99 U.S., 576 pages

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: METAL MEN TP
Writers: Robert Kanigher and Bob Haney
Artists: Ross Andru & Mike Esposito and Ramona Fradon & Charles Paris
Collects: SHOWCASE #37-40, METAL MEN #1-15 and THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #55
$16.99 U.S., 528 pages

Showcase Presents for September 2007

Back when the Showcase Presents line started, people were speculating on whether DC Comics were going to stick to collecting pre-1976 comics to avoid paying royalty fees to the creators of the original material. I didn't know much about the whole thing, but all this talk had me and many other fans worried. Well guys, worry no more...


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS VOL. 1
Written by Mike W. Barr and Marv Wolfman
Art by Jim Aparo, George Pérez, Bill Willingham and others
Cover by Aparo

In this hard-hitting, value-packed volume, witness Batman's formation of the original Outsiders! Metamorpho, Black Lightning, Katana, Halo and Geo-Force star in these stories from BATMAN & THE OUTSIDERS #1-19, BRAVE & BOLD #200 and NEW TEEN TITANS #16!

on sale September 12 o 552 pg, $16.99 US

I'm so getting this. I love Batman, I love 80's comics and all the talk about *spoiler* Batman leading the Outsiders once again *spoiler* has me very interested about that era's Outsiders.


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: CAPTAIN CARROT VOL. 1
Written by Roy Thomas, E. Nelson Bridwell and others
Art by Mike Sekowsky, Scott Shaw, Alfredo Alcala and others
Cover by Shaw, Bob Smith & Ross Andru

Experience the adventures of Captain Carrot and his Zoo-Crew battle Frogzilla, the Armordillo, the alien Bunny from Beyond and many more in this volume collecting NEW TEEN TITANS #16 and CAPTAIN CARROT AND THE ZOO CREW #1-20!

on sale September 26 o 520 pg, $16.99 US

If any of you knows if this is any good, feel free to comment because I had never heard of this series before reading this solicitation.
source: dccomics.com

Quick Look: Showcase Presents The Flash

I got my hands on the all-new Showcase Presents Flash book and, after verification, it does include Showcase Presents #4. For those of you who have never heard of it, this issue is considered by many to be the birth of the silver age of comics.

Even if the art seems so-so at times, as Chris from The ISB reported at the end of his weekly reviews, the book looks VERY interesting . So interesting in fact that my girlfriend took the time to flip through it and said it looked like fun, much more than any of my other Showcase books. Now, how could I argue against my girlfriends thrusty seal of approval?

I'm going to sink my teeth into this volume and get back to you for a more meaty review. Until then, here are some readers comments from the book's topic on the Marvel Masterworks message boards.

Various Reviews of Showcase Presents

Everybody loves Showcase Presents! Not convinced? Check out these reviews from all over the web...

Showcase Presents Jonah Hex on rpg.net

Showcase Presents Jonah Hex on sequart.com

Showcase Presents Superman Vol.1 on SilverBulletComicBooks.com

Showcase Presents Superman Vol.1 on revolutionsf.com

Quick reviews of various Showcase Presents books on FreakyTrigger.co.uk

Chris of the Invicible Super Blog posts, once again, about The War That Time Forgot

Rumor Mill : Showcase Presents The Great Disaster

The following was posted byTickTock1 on the DC Comics message boards and reported by HighlandRay on the Marvel Masterworks message boards. Thanks to both of them for the info!

Greetings from the UK!

I attended the Bristol Comic Book Convention this weekend where Bob Wayne was kind enough to point this out as one of the new Showcase titles set for late '07-early '08. The Great Disaster book will cover the tales of the Atomic Knights, the Hercules Unbound series as well as "other related stories". He seemed to smirk a bit as he said that, but it may have just been my imagination. As a graphic, he used one of the covers of the Hercules Unbound series.

I loved the Great disaster stories as a kid and will be looking forward to this. With all of the Atomic Knight stories and the Hercules Unbound together, that still leaves over a hundred pages available doesn't it? Maybe they'll slide in the original OMAC series as well. One can hope anyway.

Upcoming Showcase Presents Schedule

Here's a roundup of the upcoming Showcase Presents books (confirmed by DC Comics)

June
The Atom Vol.1 (June 13th)
Batman Vol.2 (June 27th)

July
Batgirl Vol.1 (July 11th)
Martian Manhunter Vol.1 (July 25th)

August
Adam Strange Vol.1 (August 8th)
Wonder Woman Vol.1 (August 22nd)

September
Batman and The Outsiders Vol. 1 (September 12th)
Captain Carrot Vol.1(September 26th)

October
The Great Disaster Featuring The Atomic Knights Vol.1 (TBD)
Metal Men Vol.1 (TBD)

November
Secret Society of Super-Villains Vol.1 (TBD)
Suicide Squad Vol.1 (TBD)