By Todd Allen

The November solicitations for DC have been released.  As I was scrolling through them, I thought to myself, “that sure is a lot of crossovers.”  How many crossovers does DC have in November?  Let’s count them:

1. “Hawkman: Wanted” – Hawkman, Green Arrow, Deathstroke

2. “H’ell on Earth” – Superman, Supergirl, Superboy

3. “Death of the Family” – Batman, Batman and Robin (“lead-in”), Batgirl, Catwoman, Nightwing (“leads directly into”), Suicide Squad

4. “Rise of the Third Army” – Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Red Lantern, Green Lantern: The New Guardians

5. “Rot World” – Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein

6. Titles with a plot concerning the Black Diamond (Eclipso returning?) – All-Star Western, Team 7, Demon Knights

7. Titles leading into Trinity War – Justice League, Phantom Stranger (if Pandora is what’s promoted, that’s Trinity War build-up)

That’s 5 formal crossovers, 2 build-ups and a total of 24 titles.  That’s very nearly half of the New 52 line that’s spilling into a shared storyline.  It does seem like there’s a little bit of “in for a penny, in for a pound” going on with families of titles.

Three Joe Kubert titles were solicited for November.  The second issue of Joe Kubert Presents, which will have Kubert’s “The Reedemer,” which was originally supposed to have been a mini-series in 1983.  Also solicited was a Showcase edition of Weird War Tales, which will have some Kubert material.  And he’s inking that Nite Owl comic that got a bit of attention this morning.

1 COMMENT

  3. I think I’ll cancel most of my pull list with the #0 issues. Right now DEMON KNIGHTS seems the only title I want to continue reading after ANIMAL MAN got weaker with every month.

    Oh, and Animal Man will get a visit from John Constantine, so I guess we can count in JL DARK in the whole Rot business too. Lemire seems to love crossing over all the titles he’s working on in the DV universe. Too bad, he looked like talent a year ago.

  7. My favorite thing about crossovers (back when I still read a bunch of superhero comics every month) was the money it saved me, because of the issues I’d skip until the crossover was done.

  8. Well excuse the heck out of me for finding it interesting when the character of one book teams up with the character in another book.

  9. I don’t think anybody objects to the occasional team up. (and that’s team-up, not heroes hitting each other instead of the real threat because their written as too stupid to see their on the same side).

    It’s the never ending stream of multi-title spanning convoluted crossover clusterf**ks that needlessly break whatever natural story telling momentum the title had on its own that are the problem.

    You can’t have COIE and Secret Wars happen all the freakin time. Plus for the love of god there are better ways to establish to feel of a shared universe than having the damn big bloated events.

  10. I always used to enjoy the crossovers. This time, I’ll only be getting one. A couple of them feature titles I hadn’t been getting, at least one features titles I’m dropping, and the rest only have one title each that I’m still interested in continuing with but won’t be getting the crossover chapters elsewhere.

  11. This is why I dropped superhero titles. All the darn crossovers and events and reboots and relaunches — they’re never going to change.

    I remember the first crossover I ever read. It was “Kraven’s Last Hunt” and it felt awesome to have the story crossover into all three then-current Spidey titles. It was just not done back in those days, so it was really cool to see that. Now? It’s like eating pizza for dinner everyday for years — I just got tired of it.

    I now buy Independent books and I have no regrets. One title, one story.

  12. Well it makes sense that the ever dwindling numbers of most DC titles is the only way to boost them is to have the remaining readers buy the books to replace them in crossovers, if temporarily.

    It’s too bad the quality of the books is so bad it will probably end up chasing more readers away anyhow.

    After Morrison announced he’s leaving Action & Bat Inc., I lost the last remaining DC books I kept up with. Oh well..

  13. So how does this affect the collections? Will the crossovers be so tight that they will need to make a special collection, like with the Green Lantern stories?

    Or will they be so loose that it really doesn’t matter, it’s more like a brief meeting?

    I do read all of the DC52 titles.
    It seems that DC wants to establish a universe, but I think it would be better to have “walled gardens” with just the hero, and then work in the new versions of the 5000+ characters we haven’t seen yet, like The Creeper, Waverider, or Nutsy Squirrel

  15. Wow. I hate the fact that almost half the line is in crossover mode. We just got done with Court of Owls in the Batverse and would have liked time for it have a lasting impact on the stories in that group. As most said above, makes it easier for me to purge more of the New DC 52 as it goes on.

  16. Torsten: Here’s a hint of how DC will handle the collections.

    http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2012/06/20/dc-entertainment-reveals-dc-universe-titles-for-spring-2013

    Some highlights:

    The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers TP
    Collects: LEGION LOST #8-9, SUPERBOY #8-9, TEEN TITANS #8-9 and TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1

    Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown TP
    Collects: Justice League International #7-12, THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #9 and Justice League International #1 (I think this is a typo. They probably meant JLI #0.)

    Batman: The Night of the Owls HC
    Collects: BATMAN ANNUAL #1, DETECTIVE COMICS #9, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #9, BATWING #9, BATMAN AND ROBIN #9, RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #9, BIRDS OF PREY #9, BATGIRL #9 and ALL-STAR WESTERN #9 (Catwoman #9 should be included here. Probably another mistake that will be corrected when they release proper solicitation.)

    Blue Beetle Vol. 2: Blue Diamond TP
    Collects: BLUE BEETLE #7-12 and GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #9

    Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Vol. 2: Son of Satan’s Ring TP
    Collects: Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #8-11 and MEN OF WAR #8

    Stormwatch Vol. 2: Enemies of Earth TP
    Collects: STORMWATCH #7-12 and RED LANTERNS #10

    Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Basilisk Rising TP
    Collects: Suicide Squad #8-12 and RESURRECTION MAN #9

    I, Vampire Vol. 2: Rise of the Vampires TP
    Collects: I, VAMPIRE #7-12 and JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #7-8

    Red Lanterns Vol. 2: The Death of the Red Lanterns TP
    Collects: RED LANTERNS #8-13 and STORMWATCH #9

    Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Family Tree TP
    Collects: SWAMP THING #8-12 and ANIMAL MAN #12

    Someone who buys both Stormwatch Vol. 2 and Red Lanterns Vol. 2 may be annoyed for having to pay for some of the same content twice. (Stormwatch #9 and Red Lanterns #10 issues are included in both collections.)