Delayed a bit due to the pandemic, a Star Wars tie-in comic book series proved this summer to be the best so far since Marvel Comics pulled the comics license back from Dark Horse. Star Wars: Bounty Hunters completed its first story arc and will be coming next month to comic shops in a collected edition, available via pre-order now here at Amazon. Compiling the first five issues of a new series in the vein of The Mandalorian, it establishes itself with a new anti-hero from the past and familiar faces fans of the original trilogy love. It all begins by asking why all those bounty hunters appeared together on Darth Vader’s ship Executor in that brief scene in The Empire Strikes Back.
We’re probably far from seeing a story featuring the bounty hunter Valance as good as in the pages of the original Marvel Comics series in 1978, but the first issue of the latest Star Wars comic book series is promising. Valance, borg Hall of Famer and the first character in science fiction specifically referred to as a “borg,” shares the spotlight with a few other familiar faces in Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, now available in comic book stores. When Star Wars writers and artists pull from the original trilogy and do it right, it can be quite fun for fans of the franchise. And much seems to involve deconstructing every detail of George Lucas’s original visions. For this series, that means asking the question: Why would you have so many bounty hunters on the bridge of Darth Vader’s star destroyer? The answer became clear in last year’s Disney+ series The Mandalorian: it’s because sometimes that’s how the jobs work–if you can afford it. And that’s the starting point of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters.
In the not too distant past we meet Valance working with Boba Fett the Mandalorian and the lizard-like Trandoshan called Bossk, two of the fellows we first met on Vader’s ship, working a job with a few other hunters. Only the job goes sideways due to the actions of one of the hunters, Nakano Lash. So the story begins when Lash becomes the bounty, setting the other hunters after her. Taking place after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, that means Han Solo remains in carbonite in the cargo hold. And it also means Lady Proxima is still around, the character that held Han’s life in her hands, introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story. And it also makes room for Doctor Aphra, a character from the more recent comics universe.
In fact, writer Ethan Sacks and artist Paolo Villanelli appear to have the ability to play with the entire Star Wars universe in a single series. No longer are they held back, tethered to the lead characters Luke, Leia, Han, and Darth Vader, so readers can finally dig into the other corners of the already established Star Wars galaxy. The first issue probably has more characters and action sequences than necessary, but it’s a promising beginning. Check out covers from the first four issues and a preview of the first issue below.
Detective Comics, the title DC Comics took its name from, first hit the shelves of newsstands just before March 1937, 26 months before Batman would first appear in the famous Issue #27 in May 1939. This Wednesday the monthly comic book’s landmark Issue #1000 is arriving, and it’s going to be packed with content from several writers and artists. It’s 96 pages in all, including the first appearance outside video games of Arkham Knight. And as you’d expect, DC Comics is releasing the issue with several covers (our count below is a whopping 84 or about a cover for each year Detective Comics has been in print!), including a standard cover, a set of decade-inspired covers, both a blank sketch cover and new black edition, retailer incentives featuring logos or no logos, and several limited, exclusive shop, convention, and creator store variants. More than a few are simply stunning, and this is the rare mass cover event where the final regular cover set (10) includes several works as interesting or better than the exclusives (the Frank Miller with the classic title art really takes us back to the 1980s). Check them all out below–all 100 images including art without logos–with links to where to buy them (exclusives that haven’t sold out in pre-sales).
Writers for stories in Detective Comics Issue #1000 include Brian Michael Bendis, Paul Dini, Warren Ellis, Geoff Johns, Tom King, Christopher Priest, Dennis O’Neil, Kevin Smith, Scott Snyder, Peter J. Tomasi, and James T Tynion IV. Interior artists include Neal Adams, Greg Capullo, Tony S. Daniel, Steve Epting, Joëlle Jones, Kelley Jones, Jim Lee, Doug Mahnke, Alex Maleev, Alvaro Martinez, and Dustin Nguyen.
DC Comics did a nice job of pulling out creators defining each decade, with Steve Rude (1930s), Bruce Timm (1940s Detective Comics #69 homage), Michael Cho (1950s), Jim Steranko (1960s), Bernie Wrightson (1970s), Frank Miller (1980s), Tim Sale (1990s), Jock (2000s), and Greg Capullo (2010s)–all appear to only be available with the trade “Detective Comics” logo (but we’ve included images of the original art below). DC Comics publisher Jim Lee is back again with the standard cover, a wraparound design. The rest reflect a crazy big stack of variants by everyone and anyone, most available with the Detective Comics logo (with “trade” logo) or without logo (“virgin”), some in black and white, some with sketch art, some with foil cardstock. The following are all the non-standard variant artists and where to get them (we heard an Andy Kubert cover may be out there, but could not confirm this): Neal Adams (three designs, NealAdams.com), Jay Anacleto (trade, virgin, and B&W) (Unknown Comic Books), Kaare Andrews (trade only, no virgin-only edition confirmed) (Third Eye), Artgerm (trade, virgin, retro) (Forbidden Planet), Lee Bermejo (virgin, trade) (Midtown), Brian Bolland (trade, virgin, B&W) (Forbidden Planet), Greg Capullo (gold foil version of his 2010s cover) (WonderCon variant), Clayton Crain (virgin, trade) (Scorpion Comics), Tony S. Daniel (trade, no virgin-only) (artist website, Comic Stop), Gabriele Dell’Otto (trade, silver virgin, and gold convention) (Bulletproof), Jason Fabok (trade, virgin, B&W) (Yesteryear Comics), Riccardo Federici (trade, virgin) (ComicXposure), Pat Gleason & Alejandro Sanchez (trade, virgin, B&W) (Newbury Comics), Adam Hughes (trade, virgin) (Frankie’s Comics), Jee-Hyung Lee (trade, virgin, B&W) (Frankie’s Comics), Dan Jurgens & Kevin Nowlan (sketch, line art, and color versions) (Dynamic Forces), Mike Lilly (trade-only, no virgin cover) (Comics Vault), Warren Louw (virgin, trade) (KRS Comics), and Doug Mahnke (trade, virgin) (Planet Comicon).
Plus there’s Francesco Mattina (trade, virgin) (Midtown), Mike Mayhew (trade, virgin) (The Comic Mint), Stewart McKenny (trade, we couldn’t locate anyone selling the virgin cover) (Comics Etc.), Dawn McTeigue (virgin, trade) (Comics Elite), Rodolfo Migliari (trade, retro trade, virgin) (BuyMeToys.com), Lucio Parrillo (trade, virgin) (Scorpion Comics), Alex Ross (two covers) (via his website), Natali Sanders (virgin, trade) (KRS Comics), Nicola Scott costume match design to her Superman image for Action Comics #1000 (trade, virgin) (Kings Comics), Bill Sienkiewicz (two designs, signed or not, one in trade, one virgin, via his website), Mico Suayan (trade, virgin) (Unknown Comic Books), Jim Lee & Scott Williams (midnight release vertical and convention silver foil, B&W, and four villain designs) (Torpedo Comics, Bedrock City Comics, Graham Crackers).
The wedding of Batman and Catwoman is shaping up in the issues of DC Comics’s Batman bi-weekly series, with the date set at Issue #50, greeting comic book readers next month. Writer Tom King continues his ongoing Bat-tale with an abundance of interior and variant cover artists, including Mikel Janin, Joëlle Jones, Jim Lee, Frank Cho, Alex Ross, Mike Mayhew, Tim Sale, Neal Adams, Lee Bermejo, Joshua Middleton, Dawn McTeague, Frank Miller, Jock, Andy Kubert, Ant Lucia, Eric Basaldua, Natali Sanders, Greg Capullo, Joe Jusko, Olivier Coipel, Scott Williams, Warren Louw, Tyler Kirkham, Rafael Albuquerque, Tony S. Daniel, J. Scott Campbell, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, David Mack, Lee Weeks, Mark Brooks, Dave Johnson, Clay Mann, Greg Horn, Francesco Mattina, David Finch, Paul Pope, Joe Madeurera, Mitch Gerads, Alé Garza, Becky Cloonan, Jae Lee, Francesco Mattina, Ty Templeton, Joseph Michael Linsner, Nick Derington, Jason Fabok, Arthur Adams, Jim Balent, Lucio Parillo, Amanda Conner, and Michael Turner. The standard cover will feature the work of Mikel Janin. So how is this going to go down? Anyone else remember the wedding storyline for Green Arrow and Black Canary? It seems plenty of villains will be around if the variant covers are any indication.
We think we found nearly all the base images for the variant covers (below). Let us know if you see one when missed and we’ll update the images below. We did not include every logo or no-logo version, or black and white or similar variants.
A quick heads-up for Frank Cho fans. He is selling the above interlocking triptych variant cover series, and if you want these beauties, you’ll want to order them soon. The image features the main characters of the Batman Universe: Catwoman, Nightwing, Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. (Cho’s covers will be available at a discount off his release price with a code you can get by signing up for his newsletter here), and Joe Madureira has a similar offer for his covers here. Even more artists are posting pre-order options for their own variants almost daily.
Did we mention variant covers? If you haven’t been following Batman, the cover art of Batman and Catwoman over the past few months has been something fans of the characters dream of. With black and white and other versions available, expect at least 30 variant covers for Issue #50. Many of these options from contributing artists, like Frank Cho, will be found at exclusive sellers, including Kirkham (Hastings), Fabok (Yesteryear), Mattina (7-Ate-9), Jimenez (ZMX), Jae Lee (DF), Sanders (Comic Market Street), Jusko (Midtown), McTeigue (Yancy Street), and Adams (Legacy), and creator exclusive variants only at San Diego Comic-Con or webstores include Alex Ross, Mark Brooks, Greg Horn, Joe Madureira, J. Scott Campbell. With the release of Batman Issue #50 on July 4 comes Catwoman, Issue #1. In a rarity for comics, take a look (above, right) at what Catwoman is holding in this cover by Joëlle Jones… Janin’s cover to Batman 50.
And even more have been announced, like three Alex Ross exclusives, available for pre-order for San Diego Comic-Con at his website here. Greg Horn has three covers available only at his website here. Mark Brooks has eight variants available here. J. Scott Campbell has five variants available here. Jock has three covers here. Aspen has pulled some art from the late Michael Turner for variants, too. See even more below.
Here are many of the 50+ cover images and some variations on those variants for Issue #50 previewed so far:
Eighty years ago Superman first hit neighborhood newsstands in Issue #1 of Action Comics–an issue that if you kept your copy could pay off your house, car, and retirement. The cover was dated June 1938, but it was in kids’ hands first on April 18, 1938. DC Comics is celebrating Superman’s big anniversary this week with a celebratory issue of Action Comics numbered 1000, created by some of DC’s top writers and artists, an anthology of stories just as you’d find in Action Comics’ first 500 issues. The 1,000 issues is spot-on with the number of Action Comics issues released, but those counting the months since 1938 will come up short: Action Comics shifted from a monthly to a bi-weekly once upon a time, and you won’t find numbered issues #905-956, which were replaced by 52 issues of the New 52 reboot numbering 1-52. For American comic book fans, there’s something special about holding this issue in your hands. It’s no small feat seeing such a truly undisputed iconic character get to this point.
The 80-page giant issue is one not to pass up. For current fans, it’s a ramp-up to Brian Michael Bendis’s writing run beginning with the complete issue #1001. For everyone else, it’s a nostalgic trip via variant covers and dozens of classic and modern creators offering up stories about the Man of Steel. The writers? Dan Jurgens, Peter Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Louise Simonson, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, and Brian Michael Bendis. The artists? Dan Jurgens, Pat Gleason, Curt Swan, Neal Adams, Olivier Coipel, Rafael Albuquerque, Clay Mann, Jerry Ordway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, John Cassaday, Jim Lee, Norm Rapmund, Butch Guice, Kurt Schaffenberger, Kevin Nowlan, Scott Williams, Hi-Fi Color, Alejandro Sanchez, Dave McCaig, Jordie Bellaire, Trish Mulvihill, Laura Martin, and Alex Sinclair. Cover artists include Steve Rude, Michael Cho, Dave Gibbons, Michael Allred, Jim Steranko, Joshua Middleton, Dan Jurgens, Kevin Nowlan, Lee Bermejo, Dave Dorman, George Perez, Neal Adams, Jim Lee (providing the main cover and two variants), Curt Swan, Felipe Massafera, Nicola Scott, Jock, Oliver Coipel, Jason Fabok, Kaare Andrews, Gabrielle Dell’Otto, Artgerm, Tyler Kirkham, Pat Gleason, Francesco Mattina, Ken Haeser, Doug Mahnke, and Tony S. Daniel. Check out images of all the variant covers below. Our favorite? Danielle Dell’Otto’s take on Christopher Reeve at the Fortress of Solitude, and Pat Gleason’s cover, which includes Krypto.
Some comic book stores are holding events to celebrate the Man of Steel’s big day. This Saturday if you’re in the Kansas City area head on over to Elite Comics, where you can pick up copies of Issue #1000 plus a limited exclusive Superman print (shown above) by artist Bryan Fyffe, a nationally-recognized artist whose licensed works include projects for Disney and Star Wars. Or check out your own neighborhood store.
Marvel Comics continues to expand its offerings in the Star Wars universe with this summer’s new monthly Star Wars: Han Solo. Marvel released the first images of the new series this week, including cover art by fan favorite artist Lee Bermejo. Here is the promotional summary for the series:
Han Solo has finally entered his ship into the Dragon Void Run – an infamous high-stakes race across the stars. You know, the race Han has dreamt of winning. Only there’s a catch – his entry into this legendary race is a top-secret undercover mission for Princess Leia and the Rebellion! Will he keep his mind on the mission? More importantly – can he manage to pull it off while still maintaining his lead in the race?!
Urban fantasy author and Marvel Comics writer Marjorie Liu will script the series with interior art by Mark Brooks and cover art by Lee Bermejo, whose painted art always looks great in his distinctive style:
Before Watchmenis a series of titles that was beset with controversy from its inception. Years before the launch of the series last year, DC Comics had looked at a prequel concept for the much-ballyhooed Watchmen mini-series turned graphic novel, but squelched it before anything came of it. Watchmen, continually one of the biggest selling graphic novels, has a sort of sacred status to many. And loyalists believed that if Alan Moore didn’t write it or at least endorse it, then it wasn’t for them. Still, whether you hate or love the original Watchmen, how do you pass up a series of titles from the likes of J. Michael Straczynski, Brian Azzarello, Len Wein, Darwyn Cooke, Adam Hughes, Joe Kubert, Lee Bermejo, and Jae Lee? See our early review of the first issues of the series here and here.
In an era where you can either read single issues or wait out the run—especially with a mini-series—and get the graphic novel in hardcover or trade version, as consumer you have decisions to make. You could read the monthly and then you don’t necessary “need” the trade edition. If you love the monthly you may just want the trade version on your shelf for future reading. With ordinary monthly series waiting for the trade editions actually can hurt the ability to ensure series and creators you love continue, since publishers bank on weekly circulation numbers. If everyone waits for the trades, the publishers may cancel a series based on low sales. That doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case for mini-series, which publishers only plan for a few issues.
The celebration of the 75th anniversary of Superman is in full swing this week as the new Superman movie Man of Steel opens in theaters across the country today. DC Comics has coordinated with comic book stores with the release of a monthly Superman titles and a new monthly this week from some of DC Comics’ top creators. Superman Unchained #1 is in comic book stores this week, bringing together writer Scott Snyder (Batman, Swamp Thing, The Wake) and artists Jim Lee (Justice League, Batman: Hush) and Scott Williams (Batman: The Dark Knight). Snyder subtly and not so subtly ties in technologies and feats of our own world in his initial chapter of the exploits of the last son of Krypton. Fans of Lee’s art will appreciate a two-sided, quad-fold pullout poster featuring key moments of the new story.
Satellites circling Earth begin plummeting to the ground. We encounter Superman as he plunges into a circling international space station, and he must quickly figure out a way to save the astronauts inside and the town below the station is barreling toward. Superman references Guinness Book free-fall records once he drops off the astronauts. If you track the actual International Space Station astronauts on Twitter or otherwise, you might find that what was once a passing destructive event in a quick read now carries a greater emotional impact. Likewise, Snyder includes a prologue from Nagasaki in April of 1945 that reveals the creation of the new series’ ultimate villain–and what the “unchained” in Superman Unchained may be all about.
More than the standard monthly first issue, keep an eye out for a variety of alternate covers (see above and below), released by DC Comics as part of the 75th anniversary. Look for a 1930s variant by Bruce Timm, a Golden Age variant by Dave Johnson, a Silver Age variant by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, a Bronze Age variant by Neal Adams, a Modern Age variant by Jerry Ordway, a Superman Reborn variant by Dan Jurgens, a Superman vs. Lex Luthor variant by Lee Bermejo a New 52 variant by Brett Booth. The standard edition features a Lee/Williams cover, complete with DC Comics’ new 75 Years Superman logo. Compare these re-creations of classic looks of Superman with our previous take on Superman with “The Many Faces of the Man of Steel.”
If the glut of New 52 Superman titles since September 2011 left you walking away empty-handed from not knowing what to start with, and if All Star Superman isn’t your thing, Superman Unchained looks to be a Superman story with more classic elements and non-stop action. The brief villain reveal indicates we may have an interesting new character and we get to revisit Superman’s relationship with Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, and The Daily Planet.
Rounding out the month of June and the Summer of Superman, look for the new Batman/Superman series featuring writer Greg Pak and artist Jae Lee in comic book stores next week. Look for a “Director’s Cut” of Superman Unchained to be released in July–it will have more original Jim Lee art as we found in the re-issue of his Batman: Hush called Batman: Hush Unwrapped, reviewed here at borg.com earlier, as well as Snyder’s script.
I’m probably not going to be the first to say it, but I think it is great that DC Comics is going to pursue prequels.
Did I really write that?
When was the last time you saw a good prequel to anything? Godfather 2 was sort of a prequel and a sequel all in one. Hrm. I’m not thinking of much else. OK, Star Trek 2009 was fun and good for an odd-numbered Trek film. And Enterprise is a decent TV series if you give it a chance. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was the prequel to A Fistful of Dollars, so there’s a good one.
The Star Wars prequels—you either like ‘em or hate ‘em. But would you rather never have seen them, or were they more fun as an experience than the other films out of that decade? (Hold your answer for a later discussion).
So last week DC Comics announced prequels to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ highly regarded (and revered, by some) Watchmen comic book series. The new series will consistent of seven titles, all under the banner Before Watchmen. Mainstream press has reported that comic book readers are all “up in arms” over this—“the debate rages” they say. I call baloney. I know more comic book fans that will be interested in checking out Before Watchmen than not. Lots of highly regarded works have been revisited time and time again. Why not Watchmen?
The mainstream press says Before Watchmen is all about money. I call baloney again. Sure, everything is about money to an extent. Business is business and comic books are a business. But what comic writer or artist wouldn’t want to get their hands on the Watchmen characters? Why do some people think Watchmen is sacrosanct? Our greatest superheroes are constantly re-imagined. Does anyone really value Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl over Superman and Batman?
Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Watchmen comic book, but I see the possibility for some cool things from the prequels. If anyone is angry I’d think it would be other DC writers and artists that don’t get to work on this project, as there is a lot of doubling up at least as writing duties are concerned.
By way of background, DC Comics announced the following details of who will be creating what books:
RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner
CRIMSON CORSAIR will be an added story in the various series. Writer: Len Wein. Artist: John Higgins
I will be checking out two of the books in particular. First, Rorschach, because I think he is the best character from Watchmen. I thought Lee Bermejo did a great job painting the standalone work Batman: Noel last year. I had been looking forward to his next project and Rorschach should be an interesting subject for him to take on.
Second, Adam Hughes is doing not just covers, but an ongoing series. (!) One of my favorite things about the New 52 is Hughes’s covers for Batgirl. His style is very 1940s, so he is a perfect choice for this retro-era comic book series, and since Silk Spectre must factor in greatly to Dr. Manhattan and his backstory, this might make the whole project worth doing. My question is why Hughes isn’t drawing the Silk Spectre title? I wasn’t a fan of Amanda Conner’s work on Green Arrow/ Black Canary and Silk Spectre was in part based on Black Canary, so I can think of a lot of other artists I’d like to see on that title. But I won’t pre-judge this one—her work on this new series may be great so we’ll just have to check it out when it is published.
All of Azzarello, Straczynski, Cooke, Lee and the Kuberts have their fan bases, so I am sure they will be pleased with these picks. But honestly, to join–for a second–the other camp, you do have to ask, if you really want to see what these characters are up to, why not check out the characters Alan Moore based these characters on, in their current, New 52 or other recent books? If you want to check out Dr. Manhattan, check out the awesome current Captain Atom series. If you want to read about Nite Owl, check out Blue Beetle (especially Ted Kord back-issues). If you want to see Silk Spectre, check out Nightshade in recent Suicide Squad back-issues, or Black Canary in the current Birds of Prey. Want to see the Comedian? Just look at Peacemaker in the pre-Flashpoint Blue Beetle series. Want to see Rorschach? There are tons of great series featuring the Question, and the recent Question, Renee Montoya, is as great a character as any.
Controversial news? Sure. A comic industry earthquake? Umm…. no. But they are prequels, so the odds are stacked against them from the get-go. Ultimately, they will succeed or fail because they have good stories (or don’t).
Tomorrow, Jason McClain and I will dig a little into Alan Moore and Watchmen.
is a series of titles that was beset with controversy from its inception. Years before the launch of the series last year, DC Comics had looked at a prequel concept for the much-ballyhooed 
mini-series turned graphic novel, but squelched it before anything came of it. 
