DC’s October slate represents a lot of announcements from San Diego Comic Con, which wrapped up just over a week ago. However, in the interest of representing DC as a whole and not just a Bat-machine, I’ve chosen to ignore both the new Punchline miniseries and the atrociously titled “The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing” because, honestly, nothing I could say about those titles would tell you anything you didn’t already know about them just by the fact that they exist. Let’s get to these.

10. The Batman and The Scoob Redux

Back in March, the creators behind this new series, “The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries,” released “The Batman and Scooby Doo Mysteries” #12, the final issue of that series. Is it comforting or maddening to know that all-ages titles are subject to the exact same relaunching nonsense that the rest of Big-2 comics are? The first two volumes of that book are really easy to buy for kids, as they’re clearly labeled Vol 1 and Vol 2. Since this is clearly aimed at two markets – impulse parent purchases to keep a kid quiet and the trade market – wouldn’t it have made much more sense to just continue the series with #13? Is there that much of an uptick in sales even for an all-ages relaunch?

THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES #1 Written by SHOLLY FISCH Art and cover by DARIO BRIZUELA $2.99 US | 32 pages ON SALE 10/11/22 THE TEAM-UP SERIES YOU DEMANDED IS BACK! A strange mystery pulls Batman, Robin, the Batmen of All Nations, Scooby, and the gang into a jet-setting race to some of the most haunted places on Earth. Even scarier, the trail leads straight to Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins!

9. [singing behind glass for no reason]

This is a title that I literally cannot predict. Paul Dano, to my knowledge, has never written a comic before, and Stevan Subic has never had a comic published in the States before. This is as close to a baby team as DC does, though it’s not exactly that. I liked The Batman quite a bit, but I think that all we really needed to learn about the Riddler was what was on the screen. So the combination of the ‘pointless’ feel of the title, the celebrity writer, and the continued hard on for ‘dark and edgy’ Bat-stories leads me to believe that this title won’t be up my alley. But hey, prove me wrong DC.

THE RIDDLER: YEAR ONE #1 Written by PAUL DANO Art by STEVAN SUBIC Covers by BILL SIENKIEWICZ Variant covers by JIM LEE and STEVAN SUBIC 1:25 variant cover by GREG RUTH 1:50 variant cover by TULA LOTAY 1:100 variant cover by KOUTA SASAI 1:250 variant cover by JIM LEE $4.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | (All covers card stock) ON SALE 10/25/22 As depicted in Matt Reeves’s hit movie The Batman, the Riddler wasn’t simply an amusing eccentric with an affinity for wordplay and baffling clues, but as terrifying a villain as any in the annals of the Dark Knight. Here you can see Edward Nashton evolve into the menace known as the Riddler. How did an unknown forensic accountant uncover the dark secrets of Gotham’s underworld and come so close to bringing down the entire city? This six-issue miniseries is an immediate prequel to The Batman—the detailed, disturbing, and at times shocking story of a man with nothing to lose. Artist Stevan Subic makes his American comics debut, including a variant cover that is the first of six interlocking covers. This collaboration with Dano delivers a shadowy and gritty tale of a society’s forgotten man who refuses to go unnoticed any longer. Subic’s recent Conan the Cimmerian for French publisher Glénat has brought him great acclaim in Europe, and he’s about to break out globally with a Batman series unlike any you’ve seen before.

8. Resisting the Urge to Make a “Time Warp” Joke

Another month, another DC anthology that looks like a lot of fun. I like the idea of these stories being set in different DC time periods, and some of the talent listed here (Jeremy Haun! Kelley Jones! Juan Doe!) don’t get enough DC work, so they are welcome additions.

DC’S TERRORS THROUGH TIME #1 Written by PAUL LEVITZ, KARLA PACHECO, JEREMY HAUN, TIM SEELEY, ZAC THOMPSON, and others Art by PETER NGUYEN, JUAN DOE, KELLEY JONES, ANDY MacDONALD, and others Cover by JOHN McCREA VHS variant cover by STEVE BEACH 1:25 variant cover by KARL MOSTERT $9.99 US | 80 pages | One-shot | Prestige ON SALE 10/11/22 October is here, and that means it’s time for fables of fear, time for stories of suspense, and time for tales of…time? Join us for a terrifying tour across the ages from some of comics’ top talent! Witness zombies menace the JSA in the 1940s. Experience the haunting of the Gotham City Sirens in the 1990s. Watch as Swamp Thing goes up against an irradiated monstrosity in the far future. These are just a taste of the time-hopping terrors we have in store for you in our fright-filled Halloween anthology!

I am glad that the Milestone titles are not dying out after their “Season One” stories wrap, though I am a little perplexed why you do an entire line of “Season One” titles, and then instantly drop the ‘season’ designator, unless it will be super clear on the trade dress, just not the solicitation text. I’m also glad that it looks like the creative teams are getting to continue their stories as well, and not just make these series of unconnected minis.

I think that DC is really trying to get Milestone right, not just for the direct market, but for their entire marketplace. The documentary, the emphasis on the book store market, these are moves that could establish Milestone as something more than just an imprint of DC, but a mover in a variety of markets. Good for DC realizing what they have in their corner.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA #1 Written by NIKOLAS DRAPER-IVEY and VITA AYALA Art and cover by NIKOLAS DRAPER-IVEY Variant cover by CHASE CONLEY and OLIVIER COIPEL 1:25 variant cover by DAN HIPP 1:50 foil variant cover by CHASE CONLEY 1:100 foil variant cover by OLIVIER COIPEL $3.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 10/4/22 Static is back! Though Virgil and his friends might have been able to stop the government’s off-the-books prison operations in Dakota, a powerful new threat lurks in the shadows. The mysterious Ebon is cutting a bloody swath through the underworld on a single-minded quest to find his brother. Against this backdrop of exploding violence, innocent people are finding themselves in the crossfire. The breakout creative team of Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala have returned to make Static’s life, and Dakota City, very complicated indeed—you’ve never felt shocks like these!

6. The End [of the “Future State”] is Nigh

Let’s be absolutely real: no one, and i mean no one expected “Future State: Gotham” to last 18 issues. Similarly, no one expected the book to continuously look this good or be this interesting. With “Dark Crisis” coming to an end, and the promise that “worlds will die,” I can’t help but wonder in the “Future State” Earth is one of those on the chopping block, and so this series had to close up shop in order to facilitate that.

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #18 Written by DENNIS CULVER Art by GEOFFO Cover by SIMONE DI MEO Variant cover by CARLOS D’ANDA 3.99 US | 32 pages | Black and White | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 10/11/22 FINAL ISSUE! It’s the last Batman standing versus Gotham’s greatest threat! Who will ultimately win the war of the Batmen? And what will be left of the city when it’s all said and done? It doesn’t look good for anyone.

5. This Sounds Like a Name for an October-specific Weed Variant

Swamp Thing needs to be a bigger part of DC’s mega events. As one of its most powerful heroes, as well as one that allows so many interesting storytelling possibilities due to the relationship with the Earth, DC is silly to not dispatch Swampy in all Crisis-ish books. I’m glad this one-shot is happening, I’m glad that writers like Dan Watters and Ram V are part of it, but I honestly have no idea why this book needs 4+ writers. I suppose its format will answer that for me, but right now, it just seems like overkill. Give Ram V a chance to kill this.

DARK CRISIS: THE DEADLY GREEN #1 Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, DAN WATTERS, RAM V, and others Art by DANIEL BAYLISS and others Cover by GOÑI MONTES Variant cover by FELIPE MASSAFERA 1:25 foil variant cover by STEVE BEACH $5.99 | 48 pages | One-shot ON SALE 10/4/22 SUPERMAN AND SWAMP THING UNCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE GREAT DARKNESS! During the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, Swamp Thing encountered and formed a truce with the Great Darkness, but this ancient force has been awakened by Pariah and now its influence is felt across the Multiverse. Now the Avatar of the Green must work together with new allies to investigate how far it’s spread and why it would work with Pariah. If they want to stop the Great Darkness from swallowing the Green, they need some extra help…ENTER: SUPER SWAMP THING.

In theory, a book set in a pre-Batman world is fun. In theory, seeing Slam Bradley, the original “Detective Comics” mainstay, do something again at DC is a cool idea. In theory, a neo-noir drawn by Phil Hester is dope. But adding Tom King to this mix is almost an instant turn off for me, as that means that this will likely be as overwrought and ‘cinematic’ as can be, and it will become bloated and sink.

That said, the idea of Bradley as a lead and Hester as the artist will get me to check this out, at the very least. Also, it’s a bit of a relief that the series won’t be King’s usual drawn out 12 issue series, but only make me suffer through half that length.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #1 Written by TOM KING Art and cover by PHIL HESTER and ERIC GAPSTUR Variant cover by RYAN SOOK 1:25 variant cover by DAVID MARQUEZ $4.99 US | 40 pages | 1 of 6 ON SALE 10/4/22 There once was a shining city on the water, a home for families, hope, and prosperity. It was Gotham and it was glorious. The story of its fall from grace, the legend that would birth the Bat, has remained untold for 80 years. That’s about to change. Superstar creators Tom King and Phil Hester team up for the first time to tell the definitive origin of Gotham City: how it became the cesspool of violence and corruption it is today, and how it harbored and then unleashed the sin that led to the rise of the Dark Knight. Two generations before Batman, private investigator Slam Bradley gets tangled in the “kidnapping of the century” as the infant Wayne heir disappears in the night…and so begins a brutal, hard-boiled, epic tale of a man living on the edge and a city about to burn.

3. He’s not a Batman, He’s a Bat, Man

When a title is so synonymous with one creator, seeing someone else take up that title always seems a little off. Now, Grant Morrison would probably love seeing their idea used and continued at DC, as that is what they did here: take other creators ideas and repurpose, expand, and recontextualize them, so this isn’t me saying “no one should touch Morrison’s toys.” What I am saying is that “Batman Incorporated” is a title that will never not be suggesting Morrison’s original run, and that Ed Brisson and John Timms have a tall order ahead of them to do something that lives up that legacy. Given what Brisson has done with these characters so far, that order seems even taller.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #1 Written by ED BRISSON Art and cover by JOHN TIMMS Variant cover by JORGE MOLINA 1:25 variant cover by DERRICK CHEW 1:50 variant cover by JEFF SPOKES $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 10/11/22 From the pages of Batman comes an all-new, all-exciting adventure for Ghost-Maker and his Batman Incorporated team! The team’s trust issues and detective skills are immediately put to the test when someone from Ghost-Maker and Batman’s recent past is brutally murdered…Is this an isolated event, sending a message to the two? Or is this the start of something darker and more sinister? (Hint—it’s sinister and dark!) The all-star creative team of Ed Brisson and John Timms chart a new future for Batman Incorporated in this exciting new ongoing series, loaded with adventure, excitement, and amazing new members and villains!

2. This Entry Is Going to Get Me in Trouble

OK, so let’s get the big part out of the way: many superhero comics are borderline copaganda, and Batman books are especially blindly pro-law enforcement and, specifically, pro-law enforcement that beat the shit out of people. To read a Batman comic is to be, at least in this fictional world, okay with petty crooks getting their teeth knocked out by a billionaire who has a personal toymaker in the name of “justice.” Calling a book “The Blue Wall,” there is an implied slant that isn’t normally seen in Batman comics, which is an admission that there is the ‘blue wall of silence,’ in where cops shut their mouths to protect other cops. This could be an interesting story, especially one told by John Ridley, whose screenplays have shown nuance and thoughtfulness.

The problem is that Ridley’s DC scripts have not exactly been as nuanced or thoughtful as many of us had thought, and it seems like a stretch to imagine Ridley really taking the idea of police silence to its most logical conclusion at DC. I hope that I will be proven wrong, but that hope isn’t exactly overflowing right now.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #1 Written by JOHN RIDLEY Art by STEFANO RAFFAELE Cover by REIKO MURAKAMI Variant cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA 1:25 variant cover by JORGE FORNES 1:50 case file variant cover $3.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 10/18/22 Still relatively early in her tenure as GCPD commissioner, Renee Montoya sets out to rebuild her department and restore public faith in the historically troubled PD during some of the worst conditions it’s ever seen. But Renee can’t do it alone—in order for her plan to work, everyone from the topmost officials all the way down to the most fresh-faced new officers must contend with the harsh realities of being a symbol of law and order in a city of super-powered saviors and superhuman lawlessness. DC is proud to present GCPD: The Blue Wall by the stellar team of Academy Award-winning writer John Ridley and artist Stefano Raffaele. This six-part miniseries is a thought-provoking and riveting story of everyday people trying to do good in the midst of a flawed system. No one said protecting a city like Gotham would be easy.

1. You’ll Go Down in Historia!

The first two “Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons” titles were among the best comics DC has published in a decade, and that’s not exaggeration. Beautiful and intricate, Phil Jiménez and Gene Ha did exceptional work on those issues. Now, it’s Nicola Scott’s turn to blow us away. As a longtime Scott fan, I can’t wait to see what she has in store, visually, or what Kelly Sue DeConnick is going to do to close this chapter of the story. This is some truly incredible comic booking; do yourself a favor and savor it when it comes out.

WONDER WOMAN HISTORIA: THE AMAZONS #3 Written by KELLY SUE DeCONNICK Art and cover by NICOLA SCOTT Variant cover by YANICK PAQUETTE 1:25 “Library” faux-leather design variant $7.99 US | 72 pages | 3 of 3 | 8 1/2″ x 10 7/8″ | Prestige Plus ON SALE 10/25/22 The third and final chapter of the critically lauded and Eisner-nominated secret history of the Amazons crescendos with the inevitable—an all-out war against the gods. When Zeus discovers the goddesses defied him by creating the Amazons, seemingly nothing can stop his fervor to eliminate their warriors…not even Hera herself. But the Amazons’ numbers have grown, and there is a distinctly and unpredictably human element among their ranks now in Hippolyta and the tribe she leads. Their very fight for existence will alter the course of history itself and bring about one of the greatest protectors the world has ever known!

For the full solicitations, check out Newsarama.

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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