‘Dark Nights: Death Metal’ soundtrack available now

Mastodon, Manchester Orchestra, Soccer Mommy, Grey Daze and more provide tracks inspired by the comic series.

The soundtrack for Dark Nights: Death Metal has arrived on digital music platforms, featuring new tracks by Mastodon, Denzel Curry, Manchester Orchestra, Chelsea Wolfe, IDLES, Soccer Mommy, Grey Daze and more.

The soundtrack serves as a companion piece to the DC’s big event series by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and man others. It was executive produced by Tyler Bates, and each track features lyrics directly inspired by the text. Bates also produced a series of stop-motion comics featuring some of the songs with voice overs.

Here’s the track by Soccer Mommy, which was released as a single and video:

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DC announces several new projects for September as ‘DC Connect’ goes to print

‘Deathstroke Inc.,’ ‘Titans United,’ ‘Black Manta’ and more arrive from DC in September.

DC Comics has announced that their monthly online preview magazine DC Connect will be available in print starting in September — and in doing so, revealed several new projects slated for that month as well.

As luck would have it, today is also the day DC released their September solicitations, so let’s break down some of these new announcements …

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‘Batman: Earth One’ Vol. 3 ‘reframes a number of classic elements in an entertaining way’

Tom Bondurant reviews the latest in DC’s line of Earth One graphic novels, the long-awaited third part of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s Batman trilogy.

This week I read a lot of Batman, which sounds stereotypical, but it’s kind of unavoidable. The new issue of Detective came out this week, along with the third issue of Batman: The Detective; and both featured Bruce Wayne battling overmuscled man-mountains with handlebar mustaches and crazy glints in their eyes. There was also issue #3 of The Batman/Scooby-Doo Mysteries, plus a decent amount of the Darknight Detective in issue #2 of Justice League: Last Ride. And I’m still in the middle of a New 52 Batman re-read, getting into the “Zero Year” epic.

All that said, I’m going to talk about Batman: Earth One Volume Three, written by Geoff Johns, pencilled by Gary Frank, inked by Jon Sibal and colored by Brad Anderson.

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Sunday with ‘Sandman’ | Looking back at the earliest issues of the beloved series

Shane Bailey cracks open ‘Sandman: The Deluxe Edition V1,’ journeying back to the late 1980s for a look at the influential series.

Last week I decided to start a massive reread of the Neil Gaiman-written Sandman family of books, starting with the Deluxe Edition v1, and honestly I forgot how great these books are. Over the years I’ve come to take them for granted, but they are really top of the class in terms of subject and craft.

Reading these books again I see how heavily it leans into horror, which I had forgotten. It has that creeping horror feel down, the kind that starts the hairs on the back of your neck to signal that something isn’t quite right, rather than in-your-face shock horror.

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Jackson Hyde will take center stage in ‘Aquaman: The Becoming’

The second Aqualad will get a six-issue miniseries starting in September.

This article from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Jackson Hyde, a.k.a Aqualad, will get his own miniseries in September titled Aquaman: The Becoming.

It’s tucked into a bigger story about both DC and Marvel’s Pride Month efforts, but THR reveals the creative team — Brandon Thomas and Diego Olortegui, with covers by David Talaski — as well as the first issue’s cover:

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‘Fables’ returns from DC Black Label for a crossover + a new 12-issue run

Bigby Wolf will meet Batman in a six-issue series this September as ‘Fables’ returns for a 12-issue run next May.

Fables, the long-running Vertigo series by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and many others, will make its return later this year and in 2022 with several new projects.

First, September brings Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham, a six-issue miniseries featuring Fables’ resident detective, Bigby Wolf, teaming up with Batman for a case in Gotham. It will be released under DC’s Black Label imprint. Willingham will work with Brain Level, Jay Leisten, and Lee Loughridge on the project.

“I’ve wanted to do this since the very first year of Fables,” Willingham said. “Why? Because Batman is a detective, and Bigby is a detective, and I love a well-crafted story crossing over characters from two different fictional worlds. It’s automatically a fish-out-of-water story for at least one of the main characters, and that sort of story always works. Plus, I knew from the very beginning of Fables that my fictional universe would allow for many ways to get Bigby Wolf into the DCU and Gotham City. Even though those cosmic story structures wouldn’t be introduced in the Fables books for a year or more, they were baked in from the very beginning.”

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DC announces ‘Shazam! Thundercrack’ by Yehudi Mercado

The new graphic novel is set during the ‘Shazam!’ movie timeline.

Yehudi Mercado will write and draw Shazam! Thundercrack, a new graphic novel aimed at younger readers that will arrive in June 2022.

The graphic novel is set during the timeline of the Shazam! movie, as Billy Batson joins the Fawcett Tigers’ football team and learns to be a team player, while continuing his superhero training.

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Mail Call | Green Lantern Tai Pham returns in a new graphic novel next year

A round-up of recent announcements from DC, Marvel, IDW, Image, Diamond and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Tai Pham, the Green Lantern that debuted in the pages of the Green Lantern: Legacy graphic novel, will return in 2022 in Green Lantern: Alliance.

Pham’s adventures will once again be told by Minh Lê and artist Andie Tong, as he once again comes face-to-face with his nemesis, Xander Griffin, but this time he’ll have some help from a new Kid Flash.

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It’s Suicide Squad vs. Robins in the finals of DC’s Round Robin tournament

Vote for your favorite by June 2.

DC’s Round Robin tournament, which asks fans to vote on which pitch should become a series, has entered its final round. Voting is now open on the DC Community site and ends June 2.

On one side you have Robins, by the creative team of Tim Seeley, Baldemar Rivas, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Steve Wands. They made it past Green Lanterns: Underworld on Fire in the previous round. On the other side, you have Suicide Squad Seven, by Rex Ogle, Diogenes Neves, Rex Lokus and Tom Napolitano, which beat out Blue Beetle.

They’re two different kinds of stories; on the one hand, you have a bunch of former Batman proteges teaming up; on the other, El Dorado! If you’re having a hard time deciding, DC has provided 10 page previews of both titles, starting with Robins:

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International artists interpret the Dark Knight in ‘Batman: The World’ hardcover

The new hardcover collection will arrive in stores just in time for this year’s Batman Day.

DC Comics will release Batman: The World, a hardcover collection of stories featuring the Caped Crusader by creators from around the world, in September.

The release comes just in time for Batman Day on Sept. 18, and will feature stories about Batman set in locations across Europe, Asia and South America. Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo will kick the anthology off with a story set in Gotham where Batman “realizes that the call for justice knows no borders,” setting up the rest of the stories in the book.

“Batman has grown into a true pop culture icon, known the world over,” said DC publisher and chief creative officer Jim Lee. “Batman: The World is DC’s way of showing fans everywhere that Batman is more than a character; Batman is a phenomenon that transcends languages and borders.”

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Rosenberg + a host of artists piece together ‘The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox’

The Clown Prince of Crime has a story to tell and a puzzle to solve, starting in August.

How would you like to attend a murder mystery party — hosted by the Joker?

DC Comics has announced The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox, a new seven-issue series written by Matthew Rosenberg (Hawkeye, 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank) with art by Jesús Merino, Joshua Hixon and Ulises Arreola. They’ll be joined by Keron Grant, Dani, Domo Stanton, Juni Ba, Vanesa Del Rey, Ricardo Ortiz, Christopher Mooneyham and others, as The Joker lays down his clues in the Gotham Central interrogation room.

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Superman takes on Lobo in a new Black Label title

‘Superman vs. Lobo’ by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie and Mirka Andolfo will kick off in August.

If you’re a fan of Money Shot, the excellent, very adults only comic published by Vault Comics, then you’ll be happy to know its writers, Tim Seeley and Sarah Beattie, are working on a Black Label title for DC featuring Superman and Lobo.

It’s called, naturally, Superman vs. Lobo, because why would they ever get along? And it features art by Mirka Andolfo, artist of Punchline, Mercy and Hex Wives, among other titles, with Arif Prianto.

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