[A series on DC’s animated tie-in comics collections by guest reviewer Zach King. Zach writes about movies at The Cinema King and about comics on Instagram at Dr. King’s Comics.] In my own way, what I’ve been stumbling to say becomes entirely apparent with Superman Adventures Vol. 4, the final volume. What holds these ten issues together is the question of relationship and belonging: this is a Superman who does not live in a vacuum but rather in a Metropolis (and sometimes a Smallville) filled with supporting characters who have their own rich lives, inflected and irrevocably altered by their ..read more

Though clearly too relevant to the rest of the DC Universe to skip, I begin to wonder if Punchline stories are not for me. I believe Punchline’s major writers to this point see greater societal truths in the character, but so far that hasn’t been enough to raise Punchline to the level of a compelling anti-protagonist. Punchline seems at first glance the most typical kind of 1990s male-gaze comics creation, and while I don’t think that’s what James Tynion and Sam Johns or Tini and Blake Howard intend to write, neither do they seem to be able to escape it — hackneyed dialogue, juvenile sexual i ..read more

Honestly I’m not so surprised that Catwoman Vol. 2: Cat International doesn’t measure up to the level of the book that preceded it. I’ve recently given my “endings are harder than beginnings” spiel here so I won’t repeat it, but it seems like that’s where we are with Tini Howard’s run. I’ve heard rumors of scheduling issues, and certainly this volume lacks the singular art vision of Catwoman Vol. 1: Dangerous Liaisons. Also, though I enjoy how this volume is running parallel to Howard’s Punchline: The Gotham Game, I’m wondering whether some aimlessness in International doesn’t indicate having ..read more

I Am Batman Vol. 2: Welcome to New York is John Ridley’s best volume of I Am Batman so far, further cementing my suspicion (as with Batgirls) that a lot of these titles were better off with Fear State out of the way. In moving the cast out of Gotham and into the relative blank-slate of fictional New York, Ridley fulfills the promise of a “Next Batman” character — a book that has recognizable “Batman” elements, but that at the same time offers a new take on the Batman paradigm, an answer to 80-plus years of Batman or a glimpse of what Batman might be like were he created today. This second vol ..read more

As you’ve heard, comics creator Keith Giffen died this past week. He is not the first comics figure to pass in the tenure of this site, but this one is particularly affecting. Undoubtedly that’s due to Giffen’s distinct and distinctive voice; reading a Keith Giffen book, you never had any doubt you were reading a Keith Giffen book, with sudden swings from humor to pathos and back again. It’s also because Giffen was everywhere; from Legion of Super-Heroes in the early 1980s to Justice League International in the late 1980s, through to working in the New 52 relaunch and then DC Rebirth after t ..read more

Geoffrey Thorne’s Green Lantern Vol. 2: Horatius lacks a bit of the previous book’s shock and awe, and in that way doesn’t quite rise to its predecessor’s level. I also felt things wrapped up a little too neatly, conspiracies within conspiracies, which perhaps (I’m only guessing) betrays a too-sudden wrap-up. But mostly I’ll say Thorne’s Green Lantern tenure was impressive and just too short. For a writer certainly not new to the industry but new to DC to write so well John Stewart — a character with many portrayals and a lot to sift through — and Jo Mullein — a character appearing in only on ..read more

Foremost, thank you to everyone who reads Collected Editions and especially who stops by and leaves a comment. As I’ve said before, there might be a Collected Editions without you all, but it wouldn’t be near as much fun. Thank you, thank you, thank you. No one’s more astounded by 18 years than me. I appreciate you all, and I’ve no intention of stopping now. All best. The last time Collected Editions had a major template update was 2013, and 10 years later, I started thinking about a new template timed for the blog’s 20th anniversary in two years. But once I reacquainted myself with the site ..read more

Aside from the instant classic Ed Brubaker Catwoman run, among my favorites since that great revival was Genevieve Valentine’s DC You run, and that’s true even though Valentine’s tenure only lasted two volumes and one of those I didn’t read until seven years later. Selina Kyle as mob boss was neither quite a logical outgrowth of the character nor wholly without precedent (as the Batman: The Long Halloween books and Catwoman: When in Rome suggested she might very well be a mobster’s daughter), but it worked. A Selina Kyle neither on the side of angels nor senselessly cruel equaled a criminal o ..read more

After a bumpy second volume, Superman Adventures Vol. 3 hits its stride with its third volume, collecting nine issues that knock Superman, Metropolis, and the supporting cast right out of the ballpark. Writer Mark Millar is back, scripting five (and among them the best) of the nine issues, and Millar has lots of fun rooting these stories within the DCAU at large and into the subtle loose threads of Superman Adventures itself. I have used the phrase “meat and potatoes” to describe these DCAU tie-in comics, but Superman Adventures especially took advantage of a streamlined continuity to give us ..read more

Seven years later and now I’ve finally read the DC You-era Catwoman Vol. 7: Inheritance, the second part of Genevieve Valentine’s short run on the series. (There are good reasons for finishing reading this run that I left behind in the advent of DC Rebirth, which will become apparent soon.) I’ve opined many times that comic book endings are hard. Beginnings are full of ambition and all the grand schemes writers can cook up, but by the time crossovers and the needs of other titles have had their way, many a good book limps toward the finish line. Inheritance fares well, actually, but the absen ..read more