Bookshelf #8

This week's bookshelf consists of my Archie Comics trades and the start of my modern (that is, those from 2012-2014-ish) DC books, beginning with those featuring the hero one would expect at the vanguard of DC characters.

I should note that, at some point during this period, Archie was sending me review copies, which accounts for some of those Archie books (I did read 'em all, though, and would be happy to discuss any specific ones with any of you.) 

My favorite of these was probably that 200+-page digest collection of She's Josie, featuring as it does tons of superb cartooning from Dan DeCarlo on a comic that has long since been eclipsed by the Josie comic that followed it, Josie and the Pussycats. Speaking of which, I also really enjoyed Marguerite Bennett and company's Josie and The Pussycats Vol. 1, and those three collections of the Jughead book by Chip Zdarsky, Erica Henderson, Ryan North, Derek Charm and company.

As for the Superman side of the shelf, I think that Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics: Superman collection is probably the most "valuable" to me. Its 400+ pages collect Superman crossovers with Tarzan, Mike Allred's Madman and two different Aliens crossovers. It's of course out of print now, and while I'm not sure who happens to hold the Tarzan license (or is the big guy public domain at this point?), Marvel currently holds the Aliens license and is thus unlikely to republish those crossovers. 

This little corner of the bookshelf also holds 2018's Superman: Blue Vol. 1, collecting the first chunk of the "Electric" Superman saga of the '90s that I failed to follow in singles at the time, and that same year's Superboy Book One: Trouble in Paradise, featuring the first ten issues of the '90s Superboy and the #0 issue. 

I was hoping both would lead to second volumes, eventually collecting the entire Electric Superman storyline (I would really like to read the entirety of the Millennium Giants story that concluded it, when a new "Supeman Red" joined the Electric blue Superman) and the rest of Superboy...or at least much of the rest of it (Oh, and Superboy and The Ravers too, please...?)

Unfortunately, like the collections of other '90s series Robin, Catwoman, Aquaman and Green Lantern starring Kyle Rayner, DC seems to have started collecting them but abandoned doing so quicker than I would have liked. 

Finally, seeing those collections of the New 52's Action Comics by Grant Morrison, Rags Morales and company makes me think that it might be worthwhile to revisit those comics at this point, now that the New 52 period is over (and, in terms of DC history, papered over), and they can perhaps be read as a discrete, standalone work, rather than as part of a grand publishing initiative being sold as something meant to replace all that had come before...