Batman 89 and Superman 78 comics coming from DC Comics Digital first than physical

[Autbot_Benz]

DC
@DCComics
Return to iconic cinematic visions of Gotham and Metropolis in BATMAN '89 and SUPERMAN '78, out this July Clapper board https://bit.ly/3qiaNGR #DCDigitalFirst

https://i.imgur.com/jLl4Rw1.jpg

Continuing the twisted adventures of DC’s Dark Knight from Tim Burton's seminal classic Batman movies, Batman ’89 brings in screenwriter Sam Hamm (Batman, Batman Returns) and artist Joe Quinones (Dial H for Hero) to pull on a number of threads left dangling by the prolific director. The gothic mentality behind the world, while still rooted in a sense of realism, helped inform many of DC’s global fans’ first impressions on the Dark Knight's Gotham. In the new Batman ’89 comic, Hamm and Quinones will help usher in the return of Selina Kyle/Catwoman and will debut a new Robin! Plus, Quinones has a vision for Harvey Dent/Two-Face that is as close to movie magic as a comic can get!

https://i.imgur.com/Fc1TSR5.jpg

And in the vein of DC’s plans for Batman ’89, Rob Venditti (Hawkman) and Wilfredo Torres (Batman ’66) will collaborate on Superman ’78 to tell stories set within the world Richard Donner and Christopher Reeves created in Superman: The Movie. In Superman ’78, bystanders are surprised and delighted by Superman’s abilities, and Lois Lane doesn’t (yet!) know that Clark Kent is secretly Superman. The sheer thrill of seeing a man fly, leap, or stop a bullet will be reflected in this environment where Superman has just been introduced! Inspired by Donner’s classic, timeless style of superhero storytelling, in Superman ’78 Venditti and Torres will show fans that a man can truly fly.

[ZariusTwo]

Clark looks like he's trying to figure out if he left the stove on in that cover....

[oldmanwinters]

Glad to see DC/Warner finally gave this the green-light.

[ZariusTwo]

Glad to see DC/Warner finally gave this the green-light.

It just sucks that the Superman stories are set in between I and II. I mean, I get that Superman Returns and Superman III exist as (contradictory) follow-ups, and I love III, but they're not exactly popular. I'd love for there to be a story that follows the Salkinds' pitched third movie with Brainiac, Mxy and Supergirl.

[Leo656]

That pitch was terrible from a different direction, though.

As a kid I was intrigued by it and it certainly would have been better or more faithful than "Richard Pryor vs. The World, Guest-Starring Superman", but it's still probably for the best that it never got made. It would've maybe been "less-bad" of a story but it wasn't "good", either.

I'unno. I'm over Reeve-era Superman. Might be intriguing to see them actually develop some comic-book elements into that universe, though, since the movies themselves never had the budget for it. But it could possibly turn out just as bad and hokey as when "Smallville" tried to do the same.

[IMJ]

On board with these books if I remember to order them or find them. Not on board with digital.

[Autbot_Benz]

here are some sketches for the batman one looks like its burton/tas looks

https://i.imgur.com/zYFfhrj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/95Kf7Sg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gHjBkUn.jpg

They are big pics hence the spoiler and I am sick of resizing pics because this forum is archaic.

[Jester]

Interesting they "borrowed" one of the Kenner Batman figures for that Bruce design.

Is one of those Jokers designed to look like Prince?

[Autbot_Benz]

Is one of those Jokers designed to look like Prince?

I think so

[neatoman]

Will the Batman comic ignore the Joel Schumacher movies?

[Jester]

3rd and 4th movies will be ignored by both comics.

[ZariusTwo]

I'm sure the Schmacher films will get their own books eventually.

Is one of those Jokers designed to look like Prince?

Yeah, that's definitely "Party Man"

[frank_one]

I don't get it, what's the point in blending the '89 and The Animated Series versions?

[mrmaczaps]

These look fun. I'm down for some Keaton & Reeve Bats & Supes.

[AquaParade]

Feels too late to be all that exciting. The sweet spot for this was a decade ago. Especially since we are getting the movie version back now and don't need an 89' shaped carrot on a stick to chase.

Not to judge the book in and of itself. Could be great work from great creators. I'm just not intrigued.

[IMJ]

Feels too late to be all that exciting. The sweet spot for this was a decade ago. Especially since we are getting the movie version back now and don't need an 89' shaped carrot on a stick to chase.

Not to judge the book in and of itself. Could be great work from great creators. I'm just not intrigued.

This is pretty on the mark. I'm in for these for at least a few issues, but to be honest I got bored with Batman '66 after 4 issues. Then later on I bought the Omnibus and haven't been able to bring myself to even read it yet.

On another note entirely, isn't speaking volumes regarding where we are at with the hobby when the entire hobby is being carried by pure nostalgia releases at this point?

Batman '89
Superman '78
NECA Fred Wolf TMNT / 90's Movie
Hasbro Studio Series Transformers
MATTEL MOTU re-releases
Marvel Retro line in both the 6" and 3 3/4" formats
Sports cards are released with old design schemes and reprints in foil are prolific

I mean honestly the list goes on? And we are supporting it, which is fine if that's what consumers are looking for. But why isn't it fine?

It further draws the line that the hobby widely ends with us too.

[Leo656]

Complicated issue, which to me comes down to a combination of "Telling new stories is Hard" and "People like Status Quo" with a hefty dose of Nostalgia Blanket.

It's not impossible to tell new stories, or even to move the plot forward, but in the late-90s and early-2000s, DC had a bad run of attempting to do both of those things with results that weren't always so great. So people start openly petitioning for things to "Go back to how they were Before", as sales start to slip when the New Stuff isn't grabbing the proper attention. So the publisher gives in to demand, sales spike upon the return of Hal Jordan or Barry Allen or Superman's old costume or the yellow oval on Batman's chest, and they run with that for a while. But eventually, you have to try and move things forward again but people remain resistant; they're happy to see what's familiar again, but when things start to change even a little bit, they get nervous. Sometimes the new stories are good, but sometimes they're bad, and that makes people even more skittish about things progressing in any appreciable fashion. So you're forever in this state of two steps forward, one step back, and eventually two MORE steps back and the whole dance starts again.

So when in the absence of any idea how to proceed, and with the audience at large being anxious about new ideas or story progression, the writers and publishers are all but forced to go back to the last time there was any sort of positive consensus about the characters. The last time there was NO divide in the audience and everyone more or less agreed, "Yeah, this is good", with only about a 1% margin of error.

For Superman and Batman, that becomes the Reeve and Keaton versions, respectively (and in my opinion, regrettably, but that is after all only My Opinion). We're also seeing it on the other side with Tobey's Spider-Man and all the people clamoring for more of That, 20 years after the fact. Same thing; A Thing comes out, it's almost universally acclaimed, and then New Things come out that are more divisive. There's more and more discord amongst the fans, and so they all retreat into the warm blanket of Nostalgia and "simpler times".

I get it. I don't particularly like it, but I understand it. I absolutely favor the Cavill Superman movies and the Bale/Affleck Batmans, but the fact is, nobody's ever going to be making any comics of those movies because the opinion on those movies is so split, with everyone on either side being so tribal about it. If they were to hypothetically make a comic book about, say, Affleck's Batman, or even a book set in the Schumacher Batman "universe", the arguments in the Comments sections of every news article would completely overshadow the project itself, like what we see any time a DC movie comes out, period. You'd have people who were excited, but also people shouting them down with "WHO even wants this? Blech!" And that's bad ink.

What they're trying to do with these nostalgia projects, is please the mythical "Everybody". Reeve Superman and Keaton Batman are the proverbial "sacred cows" for each of those characters; you're more or less not allowed to say they're anything less than great, and when in doubt, you can trot them out again anytime and people will unanimously cheer. They're a "safe" bet for any project. "If THIS doesn't make people happy, then nothing possibly can."

Mark my words, when sales on the IDW TMNT book dip below 3,000 copies, OR the book gets outright cancelled, they'll announce a "TMNT '88" comic book set in the Fred Wolf cartoon universe. It's absolutely going to happen at some point. It all depends on how desperate they get, and when.

I get it. I personally don't feel the same way most do about wallowing in nostalgia; I love to revisit the past but I don't necessarily want to live there, and I'm not of the opinion that what we had Then was in any way "Better" than what we have Now. Frankly, with regard to these two projects, I've written novels' worth of words about everything I think is wrong with Burton's Batman movies and the Reeve Superman flicks. I grew up with them, they're "Fine", but they're not sacrosanct to me the way they are to some and part of me even resents them a bit for the way people cling to them the same way they cling to FW TMNT, and never letting the characters move past that interpretation even decades after the fact, when objectively better things have come along.

BUT, at the end of the day, it's just ink. Like I said, I get it. And it doesn't hurt me in any way, it's not even a bad idea in and of itself, although like Aqua said, a better time probably would have been 10 or more years ago. But am I excited about either? Eh. Like IMJ said, if a collected edition comes out I might buy it.

[Andrew NDB]

DC is incentivizing digital over physical? AT&T really can't wait to stop publishing comics.

[Leo656]

Not necessarily, could just be "covering all bases".

Allegedly, sales of digital comics went down and sales of physical comics went up, over the last year. Not sure how/why but that's apparently the story. So things are apparently more complicated than they may seem at a glance.

[Andrew NDB]

Not necessarily, could just be "covering all bases".

Allegedly, sales of digital comics went down and sales of physical comics went up, over the last year. Not sure how/why but that's apparently the story. So things are apparently more complicated than they may seem at a glance.

I know that DC has been counting their "young adult novels" as comic book sales. Which is dishonest.

[Leo656]

Allegedly sale of print comics went up across the board, not just at DC (with digital going the other way). But I don't have the numbers in front of me.

[oldmanwinters]

Interesting they "borrowed" one of the Kenner Batman figures for that Bruce design.


Yeah, I noticed that right away. I wasn't entirely certain if there was any scene in the movies that showed what he wore under the Bat-suit... and now I feel like I'm steering into Schumacher territory.

[Leo656]

Lots of people are annoyed that Gary Frank isn't drawing the Superman '78 book.

I have to concur with that. He's made his entire gimmick for over a decade as sticking Reeve's head onto comic book-Superman, to the point where people found it immensely distracting and actually made him tone it down. But distracting or appropriate or not, he does draw a damn good Reeve likeness.

To do a book like this and NOT have him draw it is just... baffling. Like, that should be the entire point of the project, to have him "officially" drawing a comic book of Chris Reeve Superman, and not merely staple his head onto a completely unrelated version of the character. Total missed opportunity.

Doesn't help either that, as many people have mentioned all over the place... that "Reeve" likeness they've shown us is kinda "derpy".

I'unno. Maybe the guy's busy or whatever but in my humble opinion they should make getting him onto the book the highest priority, and hold off on producing it until he can commit to it. There's no point in doing a comic about Chris Reeve Superman with anyone but him drawing it.

[Coola Yagami]

I know that DC has been counting their "young adult novels" as comic book sales. Which is dishonest.

Even worse, everytime people say comics are dying, the comic pros point at the huge numbers saying they're not.... even though they're counting manga into those huge numbers which are the majority of those huge numbers.... THAT'S dishonest.

[Galactus]

Lots of people are annoyed that Gary Frank isn't drawing the Superman '78 book.

I have to concur with that. He's made his entire gimmick for over a decade as sticking Reeve's head onto comic book-Superman, to the point where people found it immensely distracting and actually made him tone it down. But distracting or appropriate or not, he does draw a damn good Reeve likeness.

To do a book like this and NOT have him draw it is just... baffling. Like, that should be the entire point of the project, to have him "officially" drawing a comic book of Chris Reeve Superman, and not merely staple his head onto a completely unrelated version of the character. Total missed opportunity.

Doesn't help either that, as many people have mentioned all over the place... that "Reeve" likeness they've shown us is kinda "derpy".

I'unno. Maybe the guy's busy or whatever but in my humble opinion they should make getting him onto the book the highest priority, and hold off on producing it until he can commit to it. There's no point in doing a comic about Chris Reeve Superman with anyone but him drawing it.

I imagine the powers that be think he's too big an artist for a project like this but yeah this is the comic he was born to draw.

[ZariusTwo]

Darksied will be in it

https://twitter.com/mightyfineline/status/1366827040507314177

[sdp]

I doubt we would've ever seen Darkseid in the superman movies, so it'll just be fanfic like instead of actually trying to do something that would fit that continuity.

[neatoman]

I'm not against using characters like Darkseid for a comic book sequel to the 1978 movie. Considering the villains of those movies just Lex, Zod, their OC sidekicks, some computer that could have been Brainiac but isn't and a Superman clone who could have been Bizarro but isn't... I can't honestly criticise the creative decision to use Darkseid.

But I do wonder, if Mario Puzo had still been alive, what would he have written?

[Galactus]

I doubt we would've ever seen Darkseid in the superman movies, so it'll just be fanfic like instead of actually trying to do something that would fit that continuity.

I don't hate them or anything but given what the Superman movies did after the second one is that really such a bad thing. I imagine Darkseid and any Apokolips people will fit the tone of the movies.

[ZariusTwo]

Brainiac and Lex confirmed

https://13thdimension.com/dc-sets-dates-for-superman-78-and-batman-89-hardcover-collections/

[ZariusTwo]

https://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SM78_Cv1-1332x2048.jpg

[mrmaczaps]

That cover looks decent enough...

[Autbot_Benz]

Batman 89 Variant cover for #1
https://i.imgur.com/5W3yXTy.jpg

First look at Billy Dee Williams Two Face in Batman 89 #2 Cover

https://i.imgur.com/CXNBJJ6.jpg

Also looks like DC changed the release it will be print and digital August 10th

[Coola Yagami]

Batman 89 Variant cover for #1
https://i.imgur.com/5W3yXTy.jpg

First look at Billy Dee Williams Two Face in Batman 89 #2 Cover

https://i.imgur.com/CXNBJJ6.jpg

Also looks like DC changed the release it will be print and digital August 10th

IDK.... The Superman movies just take place in an era where the non-comic reader thought the ONLY villain he ever faces is Luthor and just nameless thugs or whatever. IDK.... Seeing Reeves Superman face Braniac and Darkseid just feels way too fanficy. Like just thinking how they would have even done the effects back in the day makes it sound like one big fanfic.

But like Batman for example.... at least seeing the Billy Dee Williams Two-Face feels more legit, like the comic will be based on a movie script that was lost to time. As long as the comic stays grounded to Keaton Batman (no Batman acknowledging other heroes, nothing too insane), the Batman comic feels much more 'authentic'.

I know both series are 'what could have been' fanfics, but the Batman concept feels much more legit.

[CyberCubed]

Was there any backlash to Harvey Dent/Two-Face being black back in the day? He's white in all other versions.

[frank_one]

Was there any backlash to Harvey Dent/Two-Face being black back in the day? He's white in all other versions.Billy Dee is not black, he is Lando. Come one, everybody loved him back then. He would have been a great Two Faces, I don't think anyone would have questioned it.

[CyberCubed]

Billy Dee is not black?

[frank_one]

Of course he is. But I guess people wouldn't have seen it as an issue considering how much they loved him.

[frank_one]

IDK.... The Superman movies just take place in an era where the non-comic reader thought the ONLY villain he ever faces is Luthor and just nameless thugs or whatever. IDK.... Seeing Reeves Superman face Braniac and Darkseid just feels way too fanficy.I agree, it's weird. It doesn't feel like a legit sequel to the movies.

[Coola Yagami]

Was there any backlash to Harvey Dent/Two-Face being black back in the day? He's white in all other versions.

I'm pretty sure back in the day no one even knew who Harvey Dent was, that didn't read the comics anyway. The only villains the media at large knew were the ones from the Adam West show. They could have thrown King Tut in the sequel and no one would have complained back then.

Comics weren't mainstream as they would become later on. Back then if you were that one guy to be like 'well actually.... Harvey Dent was white in the comics' people would look at you like 'NEEEEERRRRRD!!!!!11'.

[Coola Yagami]

I agree, it's weird. It doesn't feel like a legit sequel to the movies.

Like you see stupid things like Superman's S shield turning into a giant... plastic bag or whatever to wrap itself against Zod and then bunch... I kinda don't see how they possibly could have pulled off the effects of Brainiac's ship back then.

[sdp]

Tommy Lee Jones was such a bad Two-Face, I liked the make up but he just played a horrible villain. It's one of those things that despite race changing it would've been the better alternative, I can see Billy Dee Williams being great two-face.

I also think it doesn't make sense for reeve's superman to fight braniac but at least they seem to get the tone right for the batman comic.

And yeah back then no one knew who two-face was, it seems that batman's rogues gallery that wasn't featured in the 60s show only started to become well known starting with Batman The Animated Series. Even back then comics were seen as for dweebs. Funny how the first two movies influenced BTAS but it was BTAS that influenced the later two films.

I guess we can say the same for Superman, who knew of Superman's rogues gallery before Superman TAS? I sure didn't. Braniac was a literal no body in the Superfriends cartoon, he might as well been foot soldier. Even today, we don't know who his rogues are, I mean his most famous foe Darkseid is not even originally his, just a random DC villain that happens to be matched with Superman, not specific to him.

[Leo656]

Darkseid's first appearance was in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 and most of his early appearances had him fighting Superman.

He's since become more or less the main antagonist of the entire DCU but he was more or less mostly a Superman villain from the beginning.

[ZariusTwo]

Anyone read the first issue of Superman'78?

[Autbot_Benz]

I just got my first issues of each today

https://i.imgur.com/v62q9Wy.jpg

[mrmaczaps]

Anyone read the first issue of Superman'78?

It wasn't bad and jumps right into things. So thats a plus but I am waiting for them to woke fvck it up...

[Autbot_Benz]

Just read Batman Its great. Bruce looks like Keaton Dent looks like Billy Dee Williams Alfred looks like Michael Gough with a mustache. Bullock and Gordon look like their TAS versions.

Babs Gordon is just in there from the start no introduction whatsoever. No mention of the events of Batman/Batman Returns which I hope is later touched on.

Can't wait for issue 2

[Autbot_Benz]

read issue one of Superman pretty good. Felt like it fit in the movie perfectly. Can't wait to see what brainiac is up too.

[Autbot_Benz]

They brought back the infamous cellophane S from Superman 2 in Superman 78 #2. Supes uses it to stop some Brainiac drones

https://i.imgur.com/z6AmkKe.jpg

[Leo656]

F*cking terrible. :lol: Jesus Christ.

[IMJ]

They brought back the infamous cellophane S from Superman 2 in Superman 78 #2. Supes uses it to stop some Brainiac drones

https://i.imgur.com/z6AmkKe.jpg

I loved it as a kid.
Now I'd like to think it's some awesome, non-lethal Kryptonian tech.

[Leo656]

It's stupid nonsense and I hate it. I've always hated it.

And I hate huge giant chunks of that movie to begin with. Remove Terrence Stamp and that thing's almost as bad as Part III.

[ZariusTwo]

Funny how DC dedicated the first issue to Donner, then the second issue immediately establishes this as belonging to Lester's universe:lol:

Anyone been reading Batman '89? It's pretty much a Harvey Dent story guest-starring Keaton at this point. It's take on Bat/Cat is really cute though

[Andrew NDB]

It's stupid nonsense and I hate it. I've always hated it.

And I hate huge giant chunks of that movie to begin with. Remove Terrence Stamp and that thing's almost as bad as Part III.

Agreed, all the way.

[Leo656]

Agreed, all the way.

It's really quite amazing how tastes and opinions can shift as we age.

Me at Age 5: "Superman II is the best movie ever! It's like the first one, but more fights! YEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Me pretty much anytime after I turned 15, having seen Superman II hundreds of times: "Jesus, this storyline is complete ass and the 'fights' are mostly pie-face slapstick gags. What a dropoff from the original."

I like the Donner cut better for cutting most of the "humor" out of it, but it's still a deeply, DEEPLY flawed movie.

MoS is the movie Superman II wished it could've been, if the SFX technology was there and the people making it had any balls. Or understood the characters.

Terrence Stamp is amazing in everything, though. But replace him in Superman II and nobody's still talking about that movie decades later, that's my honest opinion. There's so, SO much wrong with that movie but he's arguably the best thing.

[Autbot_Benz]

Really enjoyed Batman 89 #3 some nods to Batman Returns and Harvey becoming Two Face

With Batman and Catwoman meeting on top of Shreck's Dept Store where they first met in the movie.

Also Harvey becoming Two face the end of the issue was cool too.
https://i.imgur.com/hKOBkFU.jpg

I Just hope they explain how Selina survived her taser kiss with Shreck

[Leo656]

I Just hope they explain how Selina survived her taser kiss with Shreck

Dental dams, obviously. :lol:

[Autbot_Benz]

So Superman 78 #3 it turns out Braniac captured Kandor before Krypton exploded so Jor El and Lara survived and Superman was put in the Kandor Jar when captured.

https://i.imgur.com/nsG8F3M.jpg


Also Thangar is canon in the reeves verse Braniac captured it too

https://i.imgur.com/kzNzdjL.jpg

[ZariusTwo]

Batman'89#4 sees Harvey escape hospital, becoming more unhinged and relocating to an underground substation. Selina may have killed Max Shrek, but she still works for his company. She also gave Bruce one of her cats.

[oldmanwinters]

Selina may have killed Max Shrek, but she still works for his company.

What a Team Player! :tlol:

[Autbot_Benz]

Superman78 #4 Luthor planted something on superman to communicate with him inside Kandor's shrunken state in Braniac's Ship. Braniac found out and went back to earth and has now shrunken Metropolis to study and preserve it.

Jor-El thinks he can rework the receiver lex planted on superman to make superman normal sized again to escape and stop Braniac.

Luthor is having a bit of dick swinging contest with Braniac to try and one up him because only Luthor will be the one to stop Superman.

[ZariusTwo]

The penultimate issue has one panel with a slew of cameos, including Gus and Lana from Superman III and even Shaggy from Scooby-Doo