Marvel Epic Collections revolutionized comic book collected editions in the mid-2010s with a commitment by Marvel Comics to collect their entire line in a thick trade paperback format with matching spines across the line to make for a beautiful collection. DC Collected Editions has lagged behind, often floundering in recent years with incomplete collections, but now, DC Comics is committing to DC Finest to create their own thick trade paperback brand.
Announced on their website, DC Comics unveiled the first five books for their DC Finest featuring some of their line’s best works. The website said:
DC also announced DC Finest, a new line of comprehensive collections of the most in-demand periods, genres, and characters from across DC history. Scheduled to launch in November, these affordably priced, large-size paperback collections start at $34.99, and will take full advantage of DC’s extensive backlist and appeal to casual and completist fans alike. Focusing on characters and storytelling genres instead of creators or prior series will give casual fans the chance to discover full continuities for their favorite characters, while offering completist readers an affordable option to build out their ultimate collection of stories based on their favorite DC Super Hero or genre.
Character-focused collections will spotlight multiple iterations of fan-favorite DC Super Heroes throughout the decades; for example, a “Robin” collection may include volumes featuring Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, or Jason Todd, depending on chronology, while a “Green Lantern” collection may include classic stories featuring Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Alan Scott, or other fan-favorite ring slingers. Genre fans can curate collections of their favorite tales from specific genres, which may include of science fiction, romance, war, westerns, horror, and other genres; many of these volumes will feature material reprinted for the first time, by some of comics’ greatest storytellers.
The first wave of DC Finest collections include:
DC Finest – The Flash: The Human Thunderbolt: Collects classic adventures of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, including 1956’s iconic Showcase #4. Also includes Silver Age Flash stories that include the first appearances of famous Flash rogues, including Captain Cold, Mirror Master, and Gorilla Grodd.
DC Finest – Batman: Year One & Two: Collects the Dark Knight’s adventures following the game-changing crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, including Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli and Batman: Year Two by Mike W. Barr and Todd McFarlane, plus more mid-to-late-’80s Batman stories from Barr, Max Allan Collins, Norm Breyfogle, and others.
DC Finest – Wonder Woman: Origins & Omens: This collection spotlights fan-favorite writer Gail Simone’s run on Wonder Woman, starting with 2007’s “The Circle,” with artist Terry Dodson, plus celebrated story arcs “Ends of the Earth,” “Rise of the Olympian,” and “Warkiller,” featuring art by Aaron Lopresti.
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DC Finest – Catwoman: Life Lines: Selina Kyle steps out of Batman’s shadow and becomes a protagonist in her own right in this collection featuring Catwoman’s 1989 solo debut by Mindy Newell and J.J. Birch, Peter Milligan and Tom Grindberg’s Catwoman Defiant from 1992, and the first year of DC’s Catwoman ongoing series, by writer Jo Duffy and artist Jim Balent.
DC Comics has been notorious in the past for starting new collected edition lines and then abandoning them before completion, but insiders have told fans already that the company will be committed to following through with DC Finest.
What do you think of DC Comics new collected editions DC Finest? Will it be able to compete with Marvel Epic Collections? Leave a comment and let us know.
About freakin time. Collecting DC continuity has been such a pain in the ass!