Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition focuses on DC’s November 2024 solicitations. Hit the links for more information.
DC’s November 2024 solicitations arrived late last week, sharing more information on several titles that tie into the DC All In initiative that were revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con last month.
I pulled out some of the highlights below, including launching series and milestone issues. To see DC’s full solicitations, you can find them over on The Beat.
We learned in San Diego last month that Mark Waid and Dan Mora will follow the Absolute Power event miniseries with a new Justice League comic with a familiar title — Justice League Unlimited. And if you were a fan of the animated series that took an everyone-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to membership, you’ll probably love this title as well.
“One of the things that comes out of Absolute Power is the heroes deciding that this whole event probably wouldn’t have happened had the Justice League not disbanded and they were still properly communicating with each other,” Waid said in an interview on DC’s website. “So now it’s not a matter of the traditional JL working together, it’s a case of enlisting everyone who has powers and wants to be on the team. There’s space for the Justice Society, for the Titans, and it will be Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman knowing based on any oncoming threats who is best to take that threat on.”
The first issue will … well, the solicitation text features a big spoiler for Absolute Power, so I’ll hold off on saying too much here. But in addition to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman taking leadership roles in the new League, another character it sounds like you’ll be seeing a lot of is Ray Palmer, aka the original Atom, who is working on something called The Atom Project.
And let’s not forget the variant covers; the first issue will feature variants by Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, Howard Porter, Ed Benes, Simone Bianchi, Dave Wilkins, Edwin Galmon, Yasmine Putri and Dani Sampere. It comes out Nov. 27.
The Justice League isn’t the only superteam returning to comics at DC. November will also bring a new JSA title by Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui, as the Justice Society returns. The team line-up includes Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Jade, Obsidian, Jesse Quick, Hourman, Ted Grant and Sandman, and they’ll face off with a new Injustice Society of America. The first issue will feature variant covers by Cully Hamner, Travis Mercer, Lemire, Sweeney Boo and John K Snyder III.
Black Lightning will play a big role in Justice League Unlimited, as he takes on the role of leading the Justice League’s new metahuman outreach initiative. He’s also going to appear in his own solo series by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio, as he tries to help his daughter, Thunder, adapt to a dangerous new power set. The first issue features variant covers by Taurin Clarke, Sanford Greene and Juliet Nneka, and it comes out Nov. 13.
The Question is also back in a new series this November, titled The Question: All Along The Watchtower. Alex Segura and Cian Tormey will chronicle Renee Montoya’s new job at the Justice League Unlimited Watchtower, where she’ll apply her background in both security and detective work.
The first issue arrives Nov. 20 and features a cover by Tormey and variants by Jorge Fornes, Lucio Parrillo and Danny Earls.
Cassandra Cain, whose played the role of supporting character in countless books over the last two decades, returns to her own solo title in November courtesy of Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa.
“Cassandra Cain has long been my favorite Bat-Family character, so I am seriously honored to be taking on her story—in the year of her 25th anniversary, no less,” Brombal said in the press release. “Get ready for family drama, long-buried secrets coming to light, and LOTS of martial arts ass-kicking the way only Cass can do. Batgirl is back in her own title, and the world won’t know what hit it.”
The first issue of Batgirl has Cassandra reuniting with her mom, Lady Shiva, to battle a deadly group of assassins. The first issue features a cover by David Talaski with variants by Jeff Dekal, Stanley “Artgerm” Lau and Skylar Patridge.
Following the debut of Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman in October, Absolute Superman by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval lands on Nov. 6. The new title promises a simpler take on Superman, which is reflected in the solicitation text: “Without the fortress…without the family…without a home…what’s left is the Absolute Man of Steel!” Sandoval provides the main cover, shown above, along with variants by Matteo Scalera and Jim Lee.
Action Comics continues its weekly schedule in November, as well as stories about Superman by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry, and Supergirl by Mariko Tamaki and Michael Shelfer. One of those four issues is Action Comics #1075, an oversized issue that will also feature a Perry White “Election Day” story by Joshua Williamson and Jon Bogdanove. The milestone celebration will be packed with variant covers by Sebastian Fiumara, Steve Beach, Meghan Hetrick, Lucio Parrillo, Ibrahim Moustafa and Keron Grant.
If you enjoyed Merry Little Batman, the animated film that featured Damian Wayne taking up the Batman mantle to save Christmas from the Joker, then you might want to check out Little Batman: Month One. It’s by screenwriter Morgan Evans, who worked on the film, and artist Jon Mikel, and it’s set a few days after that fateful night, as Damian must help save the Wayne New Year’s Eve Party from a suspicious party crasher.
The Milestone Universe returns in November for a new Shadow Cabinet title by Joseph Illidge, Darryl Banks And Atagun Ilhan. Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet features the shadowy super-team recruiting Rocket into the fold to help take down the evil S.Y.S.T.E.M. Denys Cowan provides the main cover, while Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Sean Murphy did the variants. It comes out Nov. 20.
The Penguin Special #1 comes out Oct. 30, and it’ll feature a collection of previously published Penguin stories by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Alan Grant and Sam Kieth, and Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson. It also features a brand-new Penguin story by Jeremy Adams and Howard Porter that “shows the Penguin’s next moves during All In.”
DC has released or will release collections of covers featuring Poison Ivy and Nightwing, among others, this year, and in November Batman gets the “Uncovered” treatment. The one-shot features a collection of Batman covers by Jim Lee, Joelle Jones, Mikel Janin, Greg Capullo, David Finch and more, and it has a few covers of its own — a main cover by Jorge Jimenez and variants by David Nakayama, Steve Lieber and Nathan Fairbairn, and Jeff Dekal. Look for it in stores on Nov. 13.
Finally, DC and the Hero Initiative are teaming up for The Superman 100 Project, a collection of more than 100 sketch covers drawn by artists like Paolo Rivera, Dave Johnson and more featuring the Man of Steel.
Back 2023, DC Comics produced blank-covered card stock editions of Superman #6, and since then, the Hero Initiative has asked 100 artists to draw sketches on the covers. The Superman 100 Project trade paperback, featuring these covers plus some bonus materials, arrives on Dec. 18. The original covers will be auctioned off by the charity in October, and the Hero Initiative will also release a limited edition hardcover.