DC Comics June 2019 Solicitation Analysis

June 2019 from DC Comics is going to be headlined by the first big event being written by Brian Bendis. That month begins the major Event Leviathan story that Bendis has been constructing during his Superman run. Along with that we are going to see a reunion between Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Batman spending quality father-son time with Flashpoint Batman, Mera status quo cleared up, Frank Miller’s new DC prokect and much more. Let’s take a look at all of DC Comics big plans for the future that we got a peak at in their June 2019 solicitations.

BRIAN BENDIS FIRST DC COMICS EVENT IS ‘EVENT LEVIATHAN’

Brian Bendis first major event at DC Comics will officially kick off in June. This event will be called ‘Event Leviathan.’ It’s not necessarily the most creative name that screams big event but given how big of a role Leviathan have played in his Superman run it is fitting.

Based on the solicitation and the characters on the cover it looks as though Bendis is going to be connecting this version of Leviathan to Batman again. That’s appropriate given that Leviathan was the group that Talia al Ghul, who is also mentioned in Event Leviathan #1 solicitation, led while trying to take down Batman. Given that the solicitation mentions that Leviathan is taking out all its competition this puts into question what other organizations, like ARGUS, Cadmus, League of Assassins, Court of Owls, Checkmate and HIVE, will do during this event.

The one trepidation that I do have with Event Leviathan is Bendis himself. Bendis has a bad record when it comes to writing successful. House of M, Siege, Secret Invasion, Civil War II, Ultimate Power and Avengers vs X-Men were all events with intriguing concepts that Bendis failed to properly execute when the time came to publish. Maybe it will be different now that he is with DC Comics but given his track record I will be waiting to see how Event Leviathan turns out rather than it be an immediate buy.

SUPERMAN: YEAR ONE BY FRANK MILLER AND JOHN ROMITA JR.

Frank Miller is back with DC Comics and for the first time in quite a while it is not for another Batman related project. This time around Frank Miller is writing Superman Year One. What makes this an interesting move is the fact that Superman Year One will be part of the DC Black Label publishing line. Being under the DC Black Label umbrella means that Miller will have much more room to write a darker Superman than fans may be used too.

Not having the restrictions of the normal DC Universe does put into question how Miller will write Superman. Afterall, Superman is not Batman so he is not known for darker stories, which Miller normally tells. To Miller’s credit he does have some experience writing Superman in his Dark Knight Returns Universe. So maybe that will give us a good idea of what his Superman will be like. Though that may not be good news for Superman fans given how that version of the Man of Steel has been presented.

TEENAGE HARLEY QUINN BREAKING GLASS

DC Comics will continue to explore the young adult sector with a brand new Harley Quinn trade paperback. Seperate from the normal DCU, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass will see the character transformed into a 15-year old. Having this series continues the trend of Harley Quinn being one of DC’s more important characters. Tapping Mariko Tamaki is a good move as she is familiar with this type of storytelling.

MERA MARRYING SOMEONE THAT IS NOT AQUAMAN

I had high hopes for Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run on Aquaman. Her work on Captain Marvel and Bitch Planet were excellent and set a high bar for the quality expected from something with DeConnick’s name on it. Unfortunately that high bar has not been met with her first story arc on Aquaman. The Unspoken Water story is just not connecting the way it should as it has gotten to far away from who Aquaman is and what readers were expecting to read after the movie elevated the character’s profile.

That said with Aquaman nearing its 50th issue maybe the Unspoken Water story arc can turn around finally. The solicitation for Aquaman #49 highlighting Mera possibly marrying someone could lead us back to Atlantis sooner rather than later. That is much needed since the island Aquaman is trapped on isn’t cutting it for grabbing new reader interest.

FLASHPOINT THOMAS WAYNE BONDS WITH BRUCE WAYNE

There are a lot of questions as to what role Flashpoint Batman will serve in Tom King’s run. Last we saw him he looked like he was ready to attack Batman in the Batcave after joining forces with Bane. His team-up with Bane does not look like it is all it seemed. From the solicitation for Batman #73 it looks like Flashpoint Batman has his own motives. Those motives may be to help his son from another universe overcome Bane and his army. Though given how King’s Batman run has gone so far that is only one of many ways this meeting between Bruce and Flashpoint Thomas Wayne could go.

DEATHSTROKE RIP

Both the solicitations for Deathstroke #44 and Teen Titans #31 heavily push the fact that Slade Wilson is dead. Given that the story starting in Deathstroke #44 is called “Deathstroke: RIP” that is the idea that DC Comics wants us to believe is fact. But since DC isn’t making a big deal about one of their biggest villains death and are continuing the Deathstroke series this is all likely not true. If anything this could very well all play into a plan Deathstroke has to make everyone believe he is dead. Especially since Deathstroke is not a legacy character it should not be expected Rose Wilson or someone else to pick up his mantle.

SPECTRE RISES IN DETECTIVE COMICS

Spectre is one of those characters that is not seen very often. Which makes his appearance even more special since he isn’t popping up in a comic book every month. So for him to show up in Detective Comics #1006 means that the attempted assassination of Detective Jim Corrigan is a big deal. How Batman and Spectre team-up to find this secret assassin will be very interesting. Especially with Batman just coming off from fighting the newly introduce Arkham Knight what kind of shape he is in could make this case even more difficult.

GREEN LANTERN AND GREEN ARROW BECOME SPACE JUNKIES

Green Arrow recently had his ongoing series canceled. And without a new series starring Green Arrow not announced yet Oliver Queen is something of a free agent at the moment. Since he has history with Hal Jordan seeing Oliver appear in The Green Lantern may help Green Arrow fans get their fill.

With Grant Morrison writing Green Arrow this will be an excellent team-up between the two long-time friends. This could very well fill the buddy cop void that DC Comics is missing. And maybe it could give us an idea of what is next for Green Arrow. Maybe a new Green Lantern/Green Arrow series?

JUSTICE LEAGUE STANDING ON EARTH

The Justice League have been incredibly busy with the Source Wall crisis. That has meant that their attention has been taken off protecting the Earth in order to save the entire universe. Because of how often they are off-planet it does put into question how the people on Earth view the Justice League. That is something Scott Snyder and James Tynion look to be tackling with upcoming issues of Justice League. With Lex Luthor plans coming together quickly the team may not like the answer they get in Justice League #26.

SUPERMAN AND SUPERGIRL CROSSOVER

While they may be family it is rare to see Superman and Supergirl interact with each other. This is an odd thing given that Jor-El returned a year ago. You would think that Supergirl would be interested to find out that her Uncle Jor-El was in fact alive. That will change with Supergirl #31 and Superman #12, which begins a crossover between the two series. How Supergirl will interact with her cousin’s rapidly aged son and father is more interesting than whatever threat they are facing. Though with Krypton coming back into play for that crossover there may be bigger things in the future than just a family reunion.

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