Following the six cancellations in DC Comics’ August 2014 comic book solicitations, and those titles’ last hurrah as part of the September 2014 core super-hero line-wide 3D event rooted in The New 52: Futures End, comes October 2014 offerings directly from DC Comics.
DC Comics’ October 2014 comic book solicitations sees us at the New 44 in terms of ongoing series for DC Comics; that’s eight books shy of their New 52 target. Plus, even if DC counted their three finite weekly series – as they are asking us to now do – of Earth 2: World’s End, that debuts in October, Futures End, and Batman Eternal they’d be at the New 56 if we count them as four books each (weekly) or the New 47 if each count as one. (These three weeklies, as well as Grant Morrison’s opus Multiversity all either end or take a pause in Batman: Eternal’s case, seemingly for the launch of a April 2015 event for DC timed with the 30th anniversary of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.)
So, any which way we count it, we’re still not at New 52 despite that moniker emblazoned on all of DC Comics’ core super-hero line of books. With that revelation, I’ll go back to DC’s original intent behind the New 52 and say that they’re eight behind their own target.
DC Comics hasn’t been the New 52 in some time. In August, it became the New 38 with the six cancellations and prior to that its still struggled to get to 52 ongoing series:
- In July 2014 it was the New 42.
- In June 2014 it was the New 43.
- In May 2014 it was the New 39.
- In April 2014 it was the New 41.
- In March 2014 it was the New 41.
- In February 2014 it was the New 45.
- In January 2014 it was the New 44.
Unfortunately, September 2014’s Booster Gold: Futures End #1 was a one-shot as it didn’t join the below six series as ongoing “New 52” series.
Here are October 2014’s new ongoing series from DC Comics with their covers and solicitation information. They’re either rooted in the Batman-verse of the villainous Forever Evil side of the DCU.
Arkham Manor #1
- Written by GERRY DUGGAN
Art and cover by SHAWN CRYSTAL
1:25 Variant cover by ERIC CANETE
On sale OCTOBER 22 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
When catastrophe strikes Arkham Asylum, where will Gotham City house the world’s most dangerous criminals, and when inmates are found murdered, what is Batman prepared to do in search of justice? Arkham’s madness comes home in ARKHAM MANOR! A bold new series brought to you by the mad minds of Gerry Duggan (Deadpool, Nova) and Shawn Crystal (Deadpool, Wolverine and the X-Men).
Gotham Academy #1
- Written by BECKY CLOONAN and BRENDEN FLETCHER
Art and cover by KARL KERSCHL
1:25 Variant cover by BECKY CLOONAN
On sale OCTOBER 1 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
WELCOME TO GOTHAM ACADEMY! Gotham City’s most prestigious prep school is a very weird place. It’s got a spooky campus, oddball teachers, and rich benefactors always dropping by…like that weirdo Bruce Wayne. But nothing is as strange is the students!
Like, what’s up with Olive Silverlock? Is she crazy or what? Where did she go last summer? And what’s the deal with her creepy mom? And how come that Freshman MAPS is always following her around? And is she still going out with Kyle? P.S. Did you hear the rumor about the ghost in the North Hall?!
GOTHAM ACADEMY is a new, monthly teen drama set in the shadow of Batman and the craziness of Gotham City, with new characters and old plus a secret tie to Gotham’s past…
New Deathstroke #1
- Written by TONY S. DANIEL
Art by TONY S. DANIEL and SANDU FLOREA
Cover by TONY S. DANIEL
1:25 Variant cover by ANDREA SORRENTINO
On sale OCTOBER 22 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
The DCU’s deadliest assassin stars in his own ongoing series by writer/artist Tony S. Daniel! See him as never before in this explosive new series, with one surprise after another as we see Slade Wilson in the fight of his life!
Klarian #1
- Written by ANN NOCENTI
Art and cover by TREVOR McCARTHY
1:25 Variant cover by FRAZER IRVING
On sale OCTOBER 8 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Klarion the Witch Boy makes his New 52 debut and stands for the forces of chaos in this new ongoing series!
New Lobo #1
- Written by CULLEN BUNN
Art by REILLY BROWN
Cover by AARON KUDER
1:25 Variant cover by BEN OLIVER
On sale OCTOBER 1 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
The all-new Lobo brings the ultraviolence to his new ongoing series! If the first few blood-soaked pages of this issue don’t shock you – nothing will!
Trinity of Sin #1
- Written by J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art by YVEL GUICHET and JASON GORDON
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH
1:25 Variant cover by CULLY HAMNER
On sale OCTOBER 15 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
Pandora, The Phantom Stranger and The Question have hated each other for centuries…and nothing has changed! Now the Trinity of Sin are forced to work together to save humanity and uncover the darkest secrets of the universe in this new ongoing series!
And…
In addition to these six new ongoing series – Arkham Manor #1, Gotham Academy #1, Deathstroke #1, Klarion #1, Lobo #1 and Trinity of Sin #1 – as I noted earlier, DC’s third weeklies series in Earth 2: World’s End also debuts in October 2014. The below are the solicitations for the first four weekly issues of that limited series.
Earth 2: World’s End #1
- Written by DANIEL H. WILSON, MARGUERITE BENNETT and MIKE JOHNSON
Art by ARDIAN SYAF, JORGE JIMENEZ, EDDY BARROWS and PAULO SIQUIERA
Cover by ARDIAN SYAF and JAIME MENDOZA
1:50 Variant cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
On sale OCTOBER 8 • 48 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will arrive in stores with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times best-selling author of Robopocalypse and Robogenesis, delves into the world of EARTH 2 for the start of a new weekly series that will see the origins of a world much like the New 52 Earth, but yet so different. A world that saw its greatest heroes die – and new ones take their places. A world where Superman became it’ greatest villain, and a man named Zod seeks to save it, along with Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash and other heroes. A world they can only save from the forces of Apokolips through great personal sacrifice! Death and destruction will follow each week, and you’ll never know who will live and who will die! It all begins with this extra-sized debut issue!
Earth 2: World’s End #2
- Written by DANIEL H. WILSON, MARGUERITE BENNETT and MIKE JOHNSON
Art by EDDY BARROWS, TYLER KIRKHAM and PAULO SIQUIERA
Cover by ARDIAN SYAF and VICENTE CIFUENTES
On sale OCTOBER 15 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Huntress and Power Girl returned to Earth 2 to help save it from the threat of Apokolips, but even their combined power isn’t enough to protect against the first of four furies from that deadly world: the girl known as War.
Earth 2: World’s End #3
- Written by DANIEL H. WILSON, MARGUERITE BENNETT and MIKE JOHNSON
Art by EDDY BARROWS, TYLER KIRKHAM, ED BENES and JORGE JIMENEZ
Cover by ARDIAN SYAF and JONATHAN GLAPION
On sale OCTOBER 22 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
With Earth 2’s United Kingdom falling under the rule of one of Apokolips’s invaders, Hawkgirl and Doctor Fate race to London. But with Nabu in control, Fate’s motives might not be as pure as they seem.
Earth 2: World’s End #4
- Written by DANIEL H. WILSON, MARGUERITE BENNETT and MIKE JOHNSON
Art by EDDY BARROWS, TYLER KIRKHAM, ED BENES, JORGE JIMENEZ and PAULO SIQUIERA Cover by ARDIAN SYAF
On sale OCTOBER 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Aquawoman returns to Atlantis – too late! THE NEW 52
So…
What are you most tickled about from DC Comics’ October offerings?