DC Comics August 2017 Solicitations Analysis

Just as the summer months come to a close DC Comics is ramping things up for the second half the year. Not only are we finally getting Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal event start but also the possible return of fan favorite Ray Palmer returning to the DC Universe. Along with that we are getting Superman joining the dark side, Nightwing going Captain America on the DCU and much more. Let’s take a look at all the notable things happening in the DC Universe come August 2017.

DC’s Dark Nights: Metal Finally Begins

After a few months of build-up Dark Nights: Metal is finally beginning in August. From the quotes by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo it looks like there is no limits to where the pair that had an epic run on Batman will go. As much as we do not know about how Dark Nights: Metal would work within the current DC Universe, it is surprising to learn that will have greater sci-fi elements than we have normally seen from the pair. But with the opening issue of Dark Nights: Metal mentioning the Justice League as the main headliners this isn’t surprising.

What I’ll be interested to see is how Dark Nights: Metal works within the greater story being told since DC Rebirth. In his quote, Snyder mentioned that Metal is tied into the events of DC Rebirth. With Geoff Johns’ Doomsday Clock taking place around the same time as this event there could possibly greater ties that show us how other characters beyond Batman, Flash and Superman factor into whatever Doctor Manhattan and Mr. Oz are planning individually.

Superman Faces Mr. Oz Before Doctor Manhattan

Speaking of Doctor Manhattan and Mr. Oz, it looks like the latter will be making his presence known to Superman once again before the big main event in Doomsday Clock. The fact that Action Comics is teasing Mr. Oz is making his final move against Superman does provide plenty of questions as to how it relates to Doomsday Clock. Since it has been hinted many times that Mr. Oz is Ozymandias “Eve of Destruction” may in fact reveal this to be a fact.

Adding further interest into this new arc is the possibility of Lex Luthor meeting Mr. Oz as well. Up until this point Mr. Oz has only interacted with Superman and those he has imprisoned. With Lex learning the existence of Mr. Oz we may get an even greater hint at the plans for the DCU when it relates to Watchmen’s integration into the universe.

Batgirl And Nightwing Relationship Changes

I have made it no secret that I am someone the ships the Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon relationship. So as soon as I saw the solicitation for Batgirl #14 I got immediately excited for the new story arc. We have seen the two interact plenty in the pages of the Nightwing ongoing and it’ll be a nice change of pace for Dick Grayson to guest star in Batgirl now. Though I don’t expect Dick and Barbara to become a couple again, especially since Dick currently resides in Bludhaven and has relationship with Shawn Tsang that’s in the “complicated” status. Still, I’m very intrigued at where Hope Larson goes with “Summer of Lies.”

At the same time, I do hope this is the last time we deal with another romance plotline in Batgirl. We have seen the ongoing Batgirl series deal with that a lot since it started at the beginning of DC Rebirth. Hopefully following story arcs deal more with how Barbara settles into more of her personal life with friends and family alongside her Batgirl life, similar to runs preceding this one.   

Green Lantern Corps Help The New Gods Back Into The DCU

After all the battles with other Lantern Corps it is a good change of pace to see the Green Lantern Corps meeting the New Gods. This is something that immediately feels like uncharted territory for the Green Lantern Corps, which is always a good thing. With so many big things going on in other DC ongoing comic books re-introducing the New Gods in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps adds further importance to the series.

JLA Finally Find Ray Palmer?

I’ll be honest in saying that the last arc of Justice League of America completely killed my excitement for purchasing the series on a monthly basis. The arc felt very repetitive and just showed how similar it is to it’s big brother title in Justice League. If Steve Orlando is trying to separate his JLA from Bryan Hitch’s Justice League we need to see the team do different things beyond fighting massive invasions.

Luckily that is exactly what Orlando seems to be doing with “Crisis in the Microverse.” The Microverse being the location of the new story arc already gives JLA a unique setting to explore. Adding in the reveal of the true fate of Ray Palmer should add plenty of incentive for fans of the character to pick up the new Justice League of America story arc.

Superman Joins The Sinestro Corps

Superman is a very busy guy starting in August. Not only is he dealing with Mr. Oz and Lex Luthor over in Action comics but Peter Tomasi is bringing the Sinestro Corps to the Superman ongoing series. For as fantastical as Superman is with his incredible power we rarely see the Man of Steel deal with the cosmic side of the DC Universe. Bringing in the Sinestro Corps to be antagonists that force Superman into that realm is an intriguing way to do this. Though Sinestro is not around anymore, there are plenty of interesting members of the Yellow Lanterns for Superman to interact with. In particular, I’m interested to see how Superman possibly interacts with characters like Soranik, who hasn’t met Superman face-to-face.

Mister Miracle Goes Solo

Tom King is one of my favorite writers currently working in the industry. His work on Batman, Grayson and Vision have been stellar so far. Now it looks like DC Comics is showing even greater trust in King’s current stock by giving him Mister Miracle as his new title to work on. This is something that will be completely different from what we see from King in Batman and Grayson. That challenge is something I fully expect King to step up in perfectly as he showed during his run on Vision that he is not scared of being weird and doing different things than you expect.

What I’ll be interested to see is if King uses any of the elements of the Darkside War as part of the Mister Miracle comic. Because at the end of that major story arc we saw that Big Barda has returned to being part of the Furies and has left Mister Miracle behind. It would be an interesting place to pick things up from and gives Mister Miracle something else to chase.

Nightwing’s Secret Empire Reigns

Kyle Higgins had an incredible and underrated run on Nightwing during the New 52 before Forever Evil changed Dick Grayson’s status quo. Now it looks like Higgins will have a chance to return to a character he has an extensive history in writing. With Secret Empire currently going on over in Marvel and this new mini-series having a lot of similarities to said event I do wonder how Higgins will do things differently.

One thing that does stand out from this initial solicit is that The New Order does not feel like it fits with Nightwing. This would be much more fitting if Higgins used the version of Dick Grayson from the ‘Grayson’ ongoing. We already saw how in the alternate future of Futures End that the ‘Grayson’ version of the character went into a completely different direction because of his time in Spyral. Still, I am willing to give Nightwing: The New Order a shot as I have full trust in Higgins to deliver a compelling story involving Dick Grayson reigning over the DC Universe.

These are just a few things that stood out to me from DC Comics August solicitations. What stood out to you? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: CBR