I can’t get enough of DC’s Showcase Presents series. It’s a great way to learn some of the back history of your favorite characters, a goofy look at the Silver Age, and best of all, they are pretty inexpensive.
While I don’t feel I need every Showcase Presents, there are a few I can’t get enough of (Legion of Super-Heroes), and some I can do without (Superman Family).
DC has announced a change to the Showcase Presents schedule, that may make you happy or sad, depending which way you bend.
First up, the stuff DC is rushing out the door:
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS VOL. 1 TP (JUL0780179) collects stories from SUPERMAN #76 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #71-111, written by Edmond Hamilton, Alvin Schwartz, Bill Finger, Jerry Coleman and others with art by Curt Swan, Dick Sprang, John Fischetti, Stan Kay, Charles Paris, Ray Burnley, Sheldon Moldoff and others.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS VOL. 1 is a 552 page black and white trade paperback with a cover price of $16.99 U.S., and is scheduled to arrive in stores on October 17. The Final Order Cutoff date for this title is September 13.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SGT. ROCK VOL. 1 TP (JUL0780177) collects stories from G.I. COMBAT #68 and OUR ARMY AT WAR #81-117, written by Robert Kanigher and Bob Haney with art by Joe Kubert, Jerry Grandenetti, Irv Novick, Russ Heath, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SGT. ROCK VOL. 1 is a 544-page black and white trade paperback with a cover price of $16.99 U.S., and is scheduled to arrive in stores on November 14. The Final Order Cutoff date for this title is October 11.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERGIRL VOL. 1 TP (JUL0780178) collects stories from ACTION COMICS #252-281, SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #40, 44, 46, 51 AND 52, ADVENTURE COMICS #278, SUPERBOY #80, SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE 314, and SUPERMAN #123, 139, 140 and 144, written by Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Robert Bernstein and others with art by Al Plastino, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang, Kurt Schaffenberger, Wayne Boring and others.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERGIRL VOL. 1 is a 528-page black and white trade paperback with a cover price of $16.99 U.S., and is scheduled to arrive in stores on November 28. The Final Order Cutoff date for this title is October 25.
In addition, the SHOWCASE PRESENTS: TEEN TITANS VOL. 2 TP which will appear in the September Previews now has a new instore date of October 31. This title may be ordered under its current item code of SEP070225 and has a new Final Order Cutoff date of October 11.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: TEEN TITANS VOL. 2 is an 512-page black and white trade paperback with a cover price of $16.99. This title collects TEEN TITANS #19-36, BRAVE AND THE BOLD #83 and 94 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #205, written by Bob Haney, Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams, Robert Kanigher, Steve Skeates and Marv Wolfman with art by Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Nick Cardy, George Tuska, Carmine Infantino, Sal Amendola, Dick Dillin, Jim Aparo, Wallace Wood and Joe Giella.
Please also note that SHOWCASE PRESENTS: METAL MEN VOL. 1 TP (JUL070211) has a revised instore date of September 26, with a new Final Order Cutoff date of August 30.
And now for the titles DC has decided to cancel:
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: CAPTAIN CARROT VOL. 1 (JUN070217)
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE GREAT DISASTER FEATURING THE ATOMIC KNIGHTS AND HERCULES VOL. 1 (JUL070210).
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE SUICIDE SQUAD VOL. 1 (AUG070283)
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER VILLAINS VOL. 1 TP (AUG070284)
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: JONAH HEX VOL. 2 (SEP070223)
Look for retro-solicitations of SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD: THE BATMAN TEAM-UPS VOL. 2 TP and SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VOL. 3 TP, both scheduled to arrive in stores in December, in the October Previews.
via DC Comics
7 Comments
Darn, and the world just NEEDED the Suicide Squad! And why oh why no Captain Carrot?
Why would they do that? Why?
The only ones I actually WANTED got cancelled? STELLLAAAAAA????
Man! I JUST posted about how exited I was about the CCAHAZC trade on my blog! Guess it back to dollar box divin’ to rebuild my set. :-(
Fear not Stacy! The canceled titles will be resolicited in the future.
What? Jonah Hex vol 2 canceled and it is offered in TODAYS Previews? I’m going to have some unhappy customers.
I never have been able to understand DCs policy for titling books. The Superman Family Showcase is really a Jimmy Olson (with one Lois Lane story from Superman 28). Remember – there used to be a comic titled Superman Family of which the Showcase has nothing to do with.
The Batman Archive reprints Detective Comics. The Dark Knight Archive reprints Batman comics.
I guess that’s why they pay editors. If I was the editor of the Showcases, I’d start with #1 of a title and cram everything possible including the 1-pg science articles and backup stories (except maybe letters columns and maybe the ads) until I ran out of pages. Then the next volume would continue where I left off. No picking stories from several different titles to make up a Showcase (e.g. Metamorpho) unless the entire series doesn’t fill the book, or there is room for the first appearance (e.g. Showcase – the comic, not the book).
Interesting that they’d cancel the Great Disaster stuff when it’s supposedly coming in the current DCU…maybe they want to retcon stuff without fans noticing?
The greatest travesty is no Suicide Squad.
I hope the above poster is right and this is just a delay.
Doesn’t seem likely the canceled titles will ever see print, as most of the material solicited comes from the 1976-1997 “dead zone” where SHOWCASE PRESENTS is concerned (reprint rights for material from the above-mentioned period are a set fee per use rather than a percentage of the reprint package’s cover price, thus making the SP format ridiculously uneconomical to produce). Expect to see much smaller — but color — TPBs of the material DC really wants to put on shelves.
What also doesn’t make much sense is starting the WORLD’S FINEST series with the Superman-Batman team-ups. There’s just a ton of great Jack Burnley material from earlier on in both characters’ solo WF series that’ll likely never see reprinting outside the Archives if they don’t start from the beginning. The team-ups are goofy fun at times, but don’t hold a candle to the solo stuff.