As I said, I had only read a couple of them when they were originally released and generally enjoyed the ones I did. Looking into it, I see there were a lot more of them than I remembered, and I was now pretty curious about the ones I had left on the racks while shopping for new comics at Books Galore in Erie, Pennsylvania 30 or so years ago.
The majority of them have not been collected. In fact, only the previously mentioned Supergirl Plus, Flash Plus and Superboy Plus #1 have been collected, in books devoted to Supergirl, The Flash and The Power of Shazam.
That, of course, means if one wants to read any of the other Plus books at this point, one has to track them down in back issue boxes or online. DC could make reading them much easier though. They could always collect them altogether. I'm not sure what one might call such a collection. Maybe DC Plus or DC Comics Plus...?
Let's imagine DC does decide to do so. What would such a collection include? Well, here's a rundown of the various Plus books...
By Dennis O'Neil and Vince Giarranno
I didn't read much of Denny O'Neil's 1995-20003 run on the Azrael character, which spanned 47 issues of Azrael and then 54 more issues under the updated title Azrael: Agent of the Bat. Just the first issue, the disappointing Tommy Monaghan team-up and issues that were parts of crossovers like Underworld Unleashed or "Contagion". This special thus wasn't on my radar at all...in fact, I didn't even know it existed until a few days ago.
The selling point is no doubt O'Neil writing The Question again, after his well-regarded, 1987-1990 run on a Question ongoing with artist Denys Cowan, but that was before my time. I would have been more interested in the presence of artist Vince Giarranno, an incredible stylist I have mentioned repeatedly on the blog before (The cover of the one-shot was penciled by Barry Kitson, who penciled the regular Azrael series).
The selling point is no doubt O'Neil writing The Question again, after his well-regarded, 1987-1990 run on a Question ongoing with artist Denys Cowan, but that was before my time. I would have been more interested in the presence of artist Vince Giarranno, an incredible stylist I have mentioned repeatedly on the blog before (The cover of the one-shot was penciled by Barry Kitson, who penciled the regular Azrael series).
I actually found a copy of this available online and ordered it...even though the cost of the shipping was greater than that of the book itself. So, I'll probably be reviewing this one soon-ish.
Green Lantern Plus #1
By Ron Marz, Scott Kolins and John Lowe
I did read this team-up between then GL Kyle Rayner and The Ray, two characters with somewhat similar powers who were also relatively young men. Here they team-up against Doctor Polaris. I don't remember much beyond the cover though, which tells me it wasn't that great (Like, I didn't read it over and over like I did some comics from those years). But I also don't remember it being poorly made, either. I generally enjoyed Marz's GL comics, which I found satisfying if not always inspiring.
You probably can't tell—I certainly couldn't!—but apparently George Perez inked that cover.
Robin Plus #1
By Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid, John Royle and Rob Leigh
It looks like this was the last of the Plus specials published in 1996. I always liked seeing DC's various—and, at that point, still relatively new—teen heroes meeting and teaming up. This was 1996, remember, which means it was a couple years before Young Justice: The Secret #1 and the ongoing series teaming Robin, Impulse, Superboy and others on a monthly basis. Again, I don't remember much about this one. The cover is penciled by Mike Wieringo, though that was the extent of his contributions here.
By Devin Grayson, Rodolfo Damaggio and Robert Campanella
Was this the best of the Plus specials that I read...? I have to assume so, as it is the one I remember best. I liked that it features what seems a fairly random team-up and the book cemented my admiration for the work of writer Devin Grayson and my affection for the Roy Harper character. This takes place during the brief-ish period in which Roy was just wearing some body armor in lieu of a costume (Between the purple get-up in New Titans and the hat-less "Red Arrow" costume that Dan Jurgens gave him in Teen Titans).
Set during the time in which Green Arrow Oliver Queen was dead, I remember Grayson having Batman saying something along the lines of "I miss him too, Roy" at one point, in response to Roy's bad attitude toward his friend Dick Grayson's old mentor throughout. I don't think it was until that point that I even recognized the real hook of the book, which was that it featured Batman teamed up with another hero's grown-up former sidekick. And one that was resentful that he had lost his own mentor while Batman was still around.
Catwoman Plus #1
By Chuck Dixon, Anthony Williams and Andy Lanning
Okay, so I am just posting these by the year in which they came out, and then alphabetically, rather than the order in which they were released.
This one is, obviously, an attractive package: A fully-painted Dan Brereton cover featuring Catwoman at her...Jim Balentiest and a buxom goth girl.
This one is, obviously, an attractive package: A fully-painted Dan Brereton cover featuring Catwoman at her...Jim Balentiest and a buxom goth girl.
That goth girl, as the cover says, is Scream Queen, part of the titular rock band in the short-lived, 1996 series Scare Tactics. DC apparently tried to promote the Len Kaminsky-written, Anthony Williams-penciled series by pairing the book's characters with more popular ones in a series of four Plus books, each with a Brereton cover. It obviously didn't work, as Scare Tactics ended up only lasting12 issues anyway. (My belated apologies to Kaminsky and company for not buying it; while the book looks like something Present Caleb would enjoy reading, College Caleb had much less time and money to spend on comics).
The lead story was only 27 pages, and but it followed by an 11-page story by the Scream Tactics creative team. This was the case for all of the Scare Tactics-related Plus books.
By Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Eduardo Barreto and Gerry Fernandez
I liked this one a lot, too...starting with the very cool, very dramatic cover. I believe it was this issue that I first learned The Flash Wally West's best friend was Nightwing Dick Grayson; having read so few Titans-related books, I pretty much never saw the two in the same comic for very long (I was far more used to seeing Wally paired with Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who was initially quite cool on, though, being the two young, legacy members of the JLA after Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell relaunched the book, they were often paired together and gradually seemed to become friends).
In the story, Dick Grayson and Wally West embark on an annual road trip, but end up having to suit up as Nightwing and The Flash to solve a murder mystery and save the world from an alien inasion.
As noted above, this one actually been collected. It appears in Flash By Mark Waid Vol. 6.
By Len Kaminski, Anthony Williams and Andy Lanning
Impulse apparently graduated from being a guest-star in someone else's Plus special to getting his own. This is obviously another of the Scare Tactics specials, pairing the young speedster with someone named Gross-Out. The regular Scare Tactics creative team handled the team-up portion, which also has a back-up like the other of the Scare Tactics-related Plus specials.
By Chuck Dixon, Len Kaminsski, Anthony Williams and Andy Lanning
One of only two examples of a #2 for a Plus book, this one paired Robin with the werewolf character from Scare Tactics. The creative team seems ideal for the book, as it is the regular writer of Robin's series plus the regular creative team of Scare Tactics.
By Chris Claremont, Derec Aucoin, Roger Robinson, Dexter Vine and others
I was actually surprised to find out this even exists.
Sovereign Seven was a title starring an original superhero team created by Chris Claremont and Dwayne Turner...and, unusually for DC characters, the team was also owned by Claremont and Turner. Which likely explains why you don't ever see them anymore (And/or why Geoff Johns never brutally killed them off in a crossover event).
Their title lasted 36 issues, which is honestly about three times longer than I had thought it had. I only read a single issue, #26, which guest-starred "Hitman" Tommy Monaghan (and made that fact rather obvious on the cover, with members of the team dressing in sunglasses and green coats like Tommy). It was, if I recall correctly, terrible. (Although, to be fair, most Hitman appearances not written by Garth Ennis were pretty terrible; I think the Resurrection Man crossover might have been the exception that proved the rule.)
Anyway, here they team with the Legion of Super-Heroes, who I am almost as uninterested in as I am the Sovereign Seven. I guess if DC really were to try to collect their Plus books, they would have to negotiate with Claremont and Turner if they wanted to include this in it. Or they could just not include it. I wouldn't mind, personally.
Superboy Plus #1
By Ron Marz and Andy Smith
The cover makes it look like the title of the book is Superboy Plus The Power of Shazam!, the second half of the equation being the actual title of the Captain Marvel book of the time, but Superboy here teams up with Captain Marvel, Jr., not Captain Marvel or the rest of the Marvel Family.
I honestly can't remember if I read this one or not, which doesn't seem like a very good endorsement of its quality, but then again, that was almost 30 years ago. I suspect I did; it certainly seems like something I would have bought at the time, and I do have vague memories of these two teen heroes interacting.
Apparently, this cover connects to that of Supergirl Plus #1.
By Len Kaminski, Anthony Williams and Andy Lanning
I don't much care for this Slither fellow's look—are reptile people dreads worse than white people dreads are nah?—but I have to imagine he looks better painted by Daniel Brereton than he might look depicted by others. But I don't think even Brereton's brushes can make that outfit work (Look how cool Brereton's Superboy looks, though!).
This is the last of the Scare Tactics-related Plus books....at least alphabetically, as I've been listing them there.
By Peter David, Mike Manley, Bret Blevins and John Nyberg
I already discussed this one, obviously. Honestly, if DC did decide to collect all of their Plus comics but decided to leave this one out, I wouldn't blame them. I doubt they would though, as they so recently published it in DC Finest: Supergirl: Body & Soul.
In addition to that DC Finest: Supergirl volume, it was previously collected in 2023's The Power of Shazam! Vol. 2 (along with Superboy Plus #1) and 2016's Supergirl Vol. 1, making this the most collected of any Plus book.
By Tom Peyer, Bernard Chang and Bob McLeod
Here's another one that I don't remember even existing, but given that it had the Legion of Super-Heroes on the cover, I wouldn't have been interested, which might explain my having no memory of it. Tom Peyer's a pretty great writer, though, and I was able to follow and enjoy his use of the then time-lost Legionnaires in Supergirl Annual #2 (Well, most of them do little more than cameo, while Brainiac gets the majority of the panel-time).
The above cover is by Chris Sprouse, by the way.
By Christopher Priest, Brian Augustyn, Mike Collins and Tom Palmer
Like the Azrael, Sovereign Seven and Superman specials, this is another one I don't think I knew even existed. It's an interesting character pairing, and now I'm having trouble recalling Wonder Woman and Jesse Quick ever appearing together; I feel like she replaced Wally on the League very briefly at one point (not in JLA, but in The Flash) where they might have, but I'm coming up blank on any particular interaction between the two.
Wondy looks a little wonky on Mike Collins' cover above, but I would be interested to check this one out. Priest is obviously a great writer (Augsutyn is credited with a plot assist, so presumably Priest did the lion's share of the writing), and neither of these are characters I think I've seen him write before.
So, adding up the page counts for all of these stories and their covers, would mean a trade collecting them would have to be at least 492 pages long. If DC decided they didn't it was too complicated to collect a Sovereign Seven team-up in there, then that would knock it down to 453 pages. That seems like an awfully big page count for a trade paperback collection...although they could easily fit them all in a DC Finest collection. Although if they did so, I can't imagine what they would call it: DC Finest: Plus...? Or would they go with the title of the first story, as they seem to do with some of their DC Finest collections, and it would end up being something like DC Finest: The Anger, The Terror and The Question...?
Considering these comics as a whole, though, I wonder if they are perhaps just too much of their era for DC to consider collecting them...? I mean, all of these characters are still around in some form or another (Well, not those from Sovereign Seven and Scare Tactics, I guess), but the vast majority of them no longer star in their own books, or are even the prime heroes with that name.
For example, instead of being the only Green Lantern and the only Flash, Kyle Rayner and Wally West are now both one of many. Tim Drake was retiring from superhero-ing in the last story featuring him that I read, but even before doing so he was a Robin, not the Robin. That version of Supergirl has been replaced by the Kara Zor-El version...and I thought maybe retconned away, but I think Sophie Campbell is bringing Matrix back in the pages of Supergirl soon-ish. Those particular incarnations of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. would rebooted away in The New 52; Mary's back and active, although I'm not sure what they're even calling Junior these days.
For example, instead of being the only Green Lantern and the only Flash, Kyle Rayner and Wally West are now both one of many. Tim Drake was retiring from superhero-ing in the last story featuring him that I read, but even before doing so he was a Robin, not the Robin. That version of Supergirl has been replaced by the Kara Zor-El version...and I thought maybe retconned away, but I think Sophie Campbell is bringing Matrix back in the pages of Supergirl soon-ish. Those particular incarnations of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. would rebooted away in The New 52; Mary's back and active, although I'm not sure what they're even calling Junior these days.
That said, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are obviously all still around and all still starring in a book or three or six (even if Bats and Wondy dress a bit differently now), and Nightwing and Catwoman are also still stars (Do note Nightwing's shaggy hair above, though, and Catwoman hasn't worn the purple costume in forever now).
As for the creators, there are a lot of great ones involved here, but I think Mark Waid might be the only one among those above that one might consider a name, sells-a-book-just-by-being-attached-to-it. Maybe Preist, too, I suppose. I'm not so sure about Claremont and the late O'Neil and David; do books they've written still have a lot of currently in today's market...?
Anyway, I would certainly buy a DC Finest collecting all of these between a single set of covers. But then, I (quite obviously) don't speak for the entire market.
As for the creators, there are a lot of great ones involved here, but I think Mark Waid might be the only one among those above that one might consider a name, sells-a-book-just-by-being-attached-to-it. Maybe Preist, too, I suppose. I'm not so sure about Claremont and the late O'Neil and David; do books they've written still have a lot of currently in today's market...?
Anyway, I would certainly buy a DC Finest collecting all of these between a single set of covers. But then, I (quite obviously) don't speak for the entire market.
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