The popular Mike’s Amazing World website — the indispensable repository of historical comic-book information — is finally back in action after a weeks-long layoff.

The situation had sent fans of comics history into a bit of a tizzy when it went offline mysteriously in October. It turned out that it was related to the the PHP havoc that tore through the internet last month.

The operators of the site have been working since to get the site up and running. For weeks, readers were greeted with an alarming message that read, “Sorry, you have been blocked.”

By Friday morning, the site was back to verifying if users were human — before sending them to a screen that read, “Site temporarily offline for maintenance. Check back for updates…”

Finally, it was fully restored by Tuesday.

Long may it stand.

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MORE

— RETRO HOT PICKS Index. Click here.

— BRONZE AGE BONANZA Index. Click here.

By ROB KELLY

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (the 1970s) Marvel Comics published treasury editions. While DC was first out of the gate with them, Marvel caught up quickly and, in a lot of ways, surpassed DC’s efforts.

While DC basically rotated the same four or five characters to headline their treasuries (Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Tarzan, and… Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, with Wonder Woman not getting her own treasury until this month), Marvel was a lot more democratic: Lesser-knowns like the Defenders, Howard the Duck, and Shang-Chi all got oversize collections. They also created some truly fantastic supplementary material, when they had an extra page or two to fill.

By the 1980s, the treasuries were dying out and Marvel relegated the format to licensed characters like G.I. Joe, the Smurfs, and Annie, the kinds of books more suited to be sold in department stores, aimed at a broader audience, not die-hard comics fans. So while the Marvel treasuries came in with a bang, they went out with a whimper.

Other than a brief flirtation with the format in the 2010s, Marvel has resisted bringing the treasuries back, even after DC has seemingly had huge success doing so. 13th Dimension in particular has been beating the drum to get Marvel to change its mind, and I’ve tried my best to put the idea out into the ether on my podcast devoted to the format, TreasuryCast.

But with the very welcome news — broken by 13th D — that Marvel is commemorating the 50th anniversary (OMG, am I old) of Star Wars with a treasury-size reprint of Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars #1, it appears that the House of Ideas has finally seen the dollar sign-shaped light.

And while us treasury comic fans are very, very grateful, all this means is that we want more, more, more! So in case Marvel needs some ideas, here are 13 MARVEL TREASURIES WE’D LIKE TO SEE — RANKED:

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13. Marvel Treasury Edition #1: Spider-Man (Reprint). Considering the last Spidey movie made, oh, 2 billion dollars, this is the obvious place to start, just like Marvel did back in 1974.

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12. Deadpool. I’m not even a Deadpool fan, but a collection from the thousands of merc stories to pick from would sell like hotcakes.

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11. Marvel Treasury Edition #11: The Fantastic Four (Reprint). It’s surely too late to get this out in time for Avengers: Doomsday, but a Doctor Doom-centric treasury is a no-brainer.

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10. Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars. It’s not too late for this! Collect the first three or four issues of the landmark mini and get it in stores for the movie next year.

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9. Special Collector’s Edition Featuring Savage Fists of Kung-Fu (Reprint). For some reason Marvel gave this book its own one-shot instead of slotting it in as an issue of Marvel Treasury Edition, making it a book a lot of fans don’t even know exists!

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8. Return of the Jedi. While Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back got the treasury treatment back in the day, Return of the Jedi never did. Let’s fix that in 2033!

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7. Marvel Special Edition Featuring the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (Reprint). Another treasury strangely published as a one-shot, this Sinister Six-centric collection would be, again, a license to print money.

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6. For Your Eyes Only/Octopussy. OK, stay with me here. Marvel published magazine-size adaptations of two Bond films, and with the launch of a new 007 in 2028, the time could be right!

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5. Marvel Treasury Special: Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (Reprint). Marvel and DC have been doing new holiday-themed collections for years. This fits right in with those efforts.

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4. Spider-Man: Editorial La Prensa. I know this list is very Spidey-centric, but I want Marvel to make money here! In the 1970s, the Mexican publisher got special permission to do original Spidey stories, with continuity diverging from the “official” canon (an alive Gwen Stacy, anyone?). How fun would it be to see these collected, big as life?

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3. Marvel Treasury Edition #25: Spider-Man vs. the Hulk at the Winter Olympics (Reprint). The United States will host the Olympics in 2028 (even if it’s the summer kind). Get this goofy adventure (featuring movie star the Mole Man as villain!) out there.

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2. The Empire Strikes Back (Reprint). If Star Wars turns fifty in 2027, then I think (I’m not good at math) that means Empire turns fifty in 2030.

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1. The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. I ask for this book on every single treasury-related list I have ever written, but since this one-shot was actually published by Marvel, it’s probably more likely to come from them than DC. This book just missed the end of the treasury format, and it cries out for the deluxe treatment. Art by Walt Simonson and Terry Austin! What are we doing here?!?

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MORE

— EXCLUSIVE! MARVEL Finally Jumps Into TREASURY EDITION FACSIMILES With 1977’s STAR WARS. Click here.

— 13 MARVEL TREASURY COVERS to Make You Feel Good. Click here.

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ROB KELLY is a podcaster, writer, illustrator, and film commentator. You can find his work at robkellycreative.com. He writes the REEL RETRO CINEMA column for 13th Dimension.

The return of Limited Collectors’ Edition is almost here, and while the basic contents have been announced — the first three issues of George Perez’s seminal 1980s run on Wonder Woman — the extras have not.

Well, this EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK gives you the answers: columns by George Perez and Karen Berger, from Issues #1 and #3, respectively, as well as the first three issues’ covers, and a classic pinup.

Dig the inside front and back covers for Limited Collectors’ Edition #64: Wonder Woman — The Princess and the Power:

The issue, which has been moved back a week to Nov. 25, marks the 40th anniversary of Perez’s run, and is Wonder Woman’s first-ever classic-style treasury. The standard issue lists for $14.99. The foil edition is $19.99.

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MORE

— Dig This FIRST LOOK at LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #64’s Trade Dress. Click here.

— WONDER WOMAN Gets First-Ever Classic TREASURY EDITION — and It’s by GEORGE PEREZ. Click here.

A couple weeks ago, DESPOP TUESDAYS was devoted to Des Taylor’s groovy print celebrating the Batman: The Animated Series episode The Laughing Fish. It was one of six licensed prints that Des sold through Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn a few years back. Those went as quick as the Batmobile, but artist’s proofs are available at the Despop website.

Here’s the thing, though: Des did six other prints that were never produced — and we’re showing them off, one by one, across several weeks, in a li’l series dubbed THE UNSEEN DESIGNS.

We started off with Robin’s Reckoning, and this week we give you Feat of Clay, because people are talking about Clayface right now. The 1992 two-parter was written by Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves, and directed by Dick Sebast and Kevin Altieri.

Dig this:

For the artist’s proofs for the six prints that were produced — each measuring 18″ x 24″ — click here.

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Want more DESPOP TUESDAYS? Come back next week!

Want a commission? Buy prints? Buy Des’ comics? Check out his Despop Art website!

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MORE

— ROBIN’S RECKONING: Dig This Fab, UNSEEN BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Episode Print. Click here.

— THE LAUGHING FISH: Always a Classic — in Comics or Animation. Click here.

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DES TAYLOR is the man behind creator-owned comic properties Scarlett Couture, The Vesha Valentine Story, The Trouble With Katie Rogers and a new property in the works The Blue Lotus Strikes. His client list includes DC Comics, La Perla, FHM, Cosmopolitan, Universal Music, ITV Studios America and many more. When he’s not working on his own properties or churning out commissions, Des spends his spare time… working some more, hating Arsenal and raising his two baby daughters, Scarlett and Leia-May.

Spider-Woman — created by Archie Goodwin and Marie Severin — made her debut 50 years ago, on Nov. 9, 1976, in Marvel Spotlight #32. The House of Ideas is celebrating the milestone later this month with a Facsimile Edition of the ish and the character’s first-ever omnibus, but we like to hit anniversaries as they happen.

So dig these 13 COVERS from Jessica Drew’s original, 50-issue Bronze Age series (plus Marvel Spotlight #32).

Right on.

Gil Kane pencils, with inks by Dick Giordano and John Romita

Cover by Joe Sinnott. Released as a Facsimile Edition back in 2019.

Frank Springer pencils, Frank Giacoia inks

Jim Mooney

Carmine Infantino pencils, Steve Leialoha inks

Frank Miller pencils, Klaus Janson inks, plus stock photographs

Dave Cockrum

Cockrum pencils, Ernie Chan inks

Infantino pencils, Bob McLeod inks

Infantino and McLeod

Brian Postman pencils, Sam de la Rosa inks

Miller and Sinnott

And we finish with what is (very allegedly) the most expensive comic-book cover ever made:

Eliot R. Brown photograph, with Bob Layton touch-ups. Marvel secretary Lynn Luckman is Spider-Woman. For all the (many) credits, click here.

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MORE

— SPIDER-WOMAN’s First Appearance Gets 50th ANNIVERSARY Facsimile Edition. Click here.

— First-Ever SPIDER-WOMAN OMNIBUS to Collect Entire Original Series — and Much More. Click here.

We’ve seen a lot of really groovy Spider-Man variant covers of late — we mean you Mark Chiarello, Mark Buckingham and Mark Spears — and here’s another, from the great Steve Rude, for The Amazing Spider-Man #1003:

The original image hails from 2001, but art like this is timeless, and I like that Marvel has been using Rude’s older stuff for variants.

The ish is out Wednesday.

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MORE

— SPIDER-MAN #21: Why, This Is a Beauteous STEVE RUDE Variant Cover. Click here.

— DUDE! Check Out STEVE RUDE’s DAREDEVIL and FANTASTIC FOUR 60th Anniversary Homage Variants. Click here.

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UPDATED 11/9/26: Comics writer Bill Mantlo was born 75 years ago. Perfect time to reprint this piece from his birthday in 2023. Right on. — Dan

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By CHRIS RYALL

I’ve been re-reading a lot of Bill Mantlo comics of late. In part, because I often revisit his stuff. Bill always told fun, accessible, and consistently interesting stories in the superhero comics he wrote. But he also had a great handle on bringing in science-fiction elements that further enhanced and informed his comics.

After Marvel’s very welcome announcement earlier this year that, decades after both series last saw print, my beloved Rom, Spaceknight and also Micronauts – both brought to comics and written by Bill – were finally going to be collected in deluxe omnibus formats. (Marvel asked me to write introductions for each volume.)

Rom Omnibus, George Perez cover

So I had an excuse to re-read both series, not that I ever needed one. I used this research to also put together 13 FAR OUT ROM COVERS for 13th Dimension back in May, and in my Micro-Omnibus piece, I mused about all the great Michael Golden covers (far more than 13!) that the artist created for the Micronauts series.

My original intent today, seeing how Nov. 9 is Bill Mantlo’s 72nd birthday (he was born in 1951), was to offer up 13 good examples of covers from each series. But not only does that run the risk of being repetitive, it also doesn’t provide a proper look at so many of the other great series Bill has written.

And so, instead, here are 13 GREAT BILL MANTLO STORIES — along with their covers. (All are from Marvel):

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0. Tales to Astonish #90. OK, I know I tend to bend the “13” rule as much as I can when I do these tributes but there’re just so many good comics to show. This one doesn’t necessarily count as one of the 13, especially since I’ve never read the comic itself, but also because it’s not a comic that Bill wrote. However, it is the right starting place since this issue’s letters page features a letter from fan, not-yet-pro, Bill Mantlo. And it’s fitting that Bill’s letter focused on the Hulk story since he went on to write so many great Hulk comics over the years.

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1. Rom, Spaceknight #32. I know I said just above that I wouldn’t focus on only Rom and Micronauts and yet, my first pick is a Rom cover (to be followed by a Micronauts cover). Just getting it out of my system. And this comic isn’t one I featured before, but it is an important one, since it’s the issue where Evil Mutant Rogue kisses Rom’s living armor and manages to absorb some of his inherent goodness. Which sets the character on a totally different, and better, redemptive path in future issues of Uncanny X-Men. And while Chris Claremont is the writer who really guided Rogue into the light for years in that book, it was Bill’s comic here that first set her on the right path.

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2. Micronauts #41. It’s not the greatest Gil Kane cover, and Gil was always a sorta-odd fit for this title, but the cover does feature some solid floating-head work, always an approach I like. But I picked this one not for the cover but for the story, which is a great example of something Bill always did well. Bill was occasionally the go-to fill-in writer on various series written by others, I’m sure for his speed but also because he was always adept at telling stories and writing characters that fit perfectly with what other writers were doing. He did so here by revisiting “Liddleville,” a tiny town built by Doctor Doom in John Byrne’s Fantastic Four #236. And not only did he pick up the story in a smart, fitting way for this series that also featured tiny characters, but he ended it by handing the baton back to Byrne with a development that Byrne would run with in Fantastic Four #246, too.

They didn’t make my cut here but another example of Bill filling in for another writer in convincing fashion was his work dialoguing X-Men #96, very early on in the “All-New, All-Different” era, and again in Issue #106.

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3. Invincible Iron Man #103. Bill came aboard this series a few issues prior, and he did steer Issue #100, which features an amazing Jim Starlin cover. But this issue stood out to me more for two reasons: one, Bill brought in his creation, Jack of Hearts, as he often did every chance he got. Jack was a fun and visually interesting character and Bill did all he could to make the character into something special.

This issue also starts a multipart story that really allowed Bill to do what he did well, which is move things along while also managing a broad supporting cast. In this case, Whitney Frost and Jasper Sitwell finally had big things to do in the series. And so began the last great storyline in this book before Michelinie and Layton took over a year later.

As for Jack of Hearts, well, Bill did get to spin the character off into his own miniseries a few years after this issue, and even now, the character has become an important part of Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk run. Bill did finally manage to make “fetch” happen after all!

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4. The Human Fly #1. “The Wildest Super-Hero Ever—Because He’s Real!” proclaimed the cover. Well, maybe not quite, not as portrayed here, but The Human Fly is certainly an interesting comic for something licensed from a real human, the mysterious daredevil called the Human Fly. One of ‘em, anyway.

Bill did all he could with this somewhat one-note character, integrating him into the Marvel Universe and also introducing a supporting cast who, like the title character, transcended their various physical limitations, which was an important thing for kids to see in such a front and center way. Marvel, if you ever do finally collect these 19 long-out-of-print issues into an omnibus, I’d be happy to sing this series’ praises, too.

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5. Marvel Team-Up #41. Marvel Team-Up, in an effort to fulfill its mission to constantly rotate its cast, most often pairing someone new with Spider-Man every issue, tended to stick to one- or two-part tales. But this issue kicks off a great multipart storyline that spans from the Salem Witch Trials of the past to various points in Marvel’s future, all tied together in a way that never felt forced. Before the great Claremont/Byrne run on this series that would come, this was, and still is, one of my favorite issues and Team-Up storylines.

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6. Super-Villain Team-Up #12. This series was, admittedly, a bit of a mess. I think the series’ first four issues were written by something like a half-dozen writers (only a slight exaggeration), and one of its issues was even drawn by Marvel EiC/non-artist Jim Shooter(!). Yet it was one of the first series I ever dug into as a kid, so I loved it then and still have a fond spot for it (as you’ll see later in the month when one of this series’ splash pages appears in a Keith Giffen birthday celebration).

As often happened, Bill came in off the bench to give a somewhat unsteady series the stability it needed. And the best of what he did in this series happens in this issue. I’d describe it in more detail but the gist of it is, a brutal, last-man-standing battle between the Red Skull and Doctor Doom on the surface of the moon. Truly, a ‘Nuff Said description of a compelling comic, I think.

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7. Fantastic Four #172. This issue is another great example of how Bill could step into another writer’s storyline in a way that never felt anything less than cohesive to fans. At the start of what would become a big Galactus/Counter-Earth storyline written by Roy Thomas, Roy took a break here and let Bill get the team off-planet and propel the story along. It surely helped that the issue featured great George Perez art but Bill’s script never missed a beat, either.

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8. The Incredible Hulk #261. I considered featuring Hulk #270, which brings Bill’s co-creation (with Keith Giffen), Rocket Raccoon, into the series, but I prefer this issue and it’s oddly compelling Frank Miller cover. (And I did find a way to give a little love to Hulk #270 at the end of this piece, too.) The Hulk washes ashore on Easter Island and runs afoul of a barely-with-it Absorbing Man, who ends the issue in an even worse place than it started. One trivia note: In talking to him for a deluxe collection of his best Hulk stories, artist Sal Buscema once told me that this was also his single favorite issue of his time on the series.

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9. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #72. Bill wrote a great many issues of this ponderously named comic, and many were more serious, and maybe technically “better” than this one (like Issue #64, where he introduced Cloak and Dagger), but this is my favorite issue in the run. It makes Doctor Octopus both menacing and a goof, as we meet a kid who emulates Ock and ends up running afoul of Spider-Man in a toy store. It’s a lot of fun, and the Ed Hannigan art (which features little cameos from Frank Miller, squatting on a rooftop near a Miller-esque water tower, as well as the Rom, Spaceknight toy) is a joy to behold. Hannigan contributed some amazing covers for the series and this one is the best of ‘em all.

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10. Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1. Marvel’s first-ever limited series, where Bill had a chance to write a huge array of Marvel characters, no doubt because he was so good at capturing so many of their voices. He also included some new international characters that are maybe, uh, a bit facile, let’s say, but at least Marvel tried to make this series more broadly inclusive. And one more Rom trivia note: The character appears here in a single panel (flirting with the robot Jocasta, it looks like) but doesn’t get any play in the series beyond that moment.

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11. Rocket Raccoon #1. Bill and young artist Mike Mignola took what was a bit of a silly animal character and really brought him and his world to life in this fun miniseries. Mignola certainly wasn’t the artist we love from Hellboy yet but I have such a fond spot for the work he did with Marvel during this period. While he certainly got even better, you could tell from every page of this series that he was already something special.

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12. Cloak and Dagger #1. Like Rocket Raccoon, C&D were characters Bill co-created who were then elevated to their own miniseries. This series, and a follow-up by the same team, features one of the best pairings of writer and artists in the form of Bill and Rick Leonardi and Terry Austin. A really gorgeous series.

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13. Swords of the Swashbucklers. Part of Marvel’s oversize Marvel Graphic Novel line, this one is a high-adventure story by Bill and Jackson “Butch” Guice, and it’s also just beautiful to look at and fun to read. I also could’ve included any number of great Micronauts covers that Guice created when he and Mantlo were paired up on that series, but this cover deserves the spotlight.

Still, if you do want a look at Butch Guice’s Micronauts work, here’s one additional image to celebrate Bill and to show off Guice’s great stuff: It’s not cheating since this is the back cover of Micronauts #58, Bill’s final issue on the series and a fitting note to (almost) end on here.

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One final note in Bill’s honor: After I produced the Sal Buscema Hulk book that I mentioned above, I got a copy to Bill’s family and they presented it to him in his long-term care facility. (For those who don’t know, Bill was the victim of a hit-and-run in the early ‘90s that left him with permanent, very serious brain damage. Bill’s no longer intellectually a functionally capable adult, leaving left the man who was so good at putting words in characters’ mouths functionally speechless, a really heartbreaking turn.) They sent me the below photo of Bill holding the book and smiling, which will forever be one of the all-time best moments I’ve ever experienced working in comics.

Happy birthday to you, Bill! And thanks again for the inspiration and all the great comics.

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MORE

— Classic ROM Returns to MARVEL With OMNIBUS Collections and Facsimile Edition. Click here.

— First ROM, Now MICRONAUTS Is Getting MARVEL OMNIBUS Collections. Click here.

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Chris Ryall is the co-owner/publisher of Image Comics imprint Syzygy Publishing. His latest series is Tales of Syzpense, out now. Subscribe to his Substack of the same name!

By BILL MORRISON

We live in a timeline in which there are lots of made-up holidays and observances for every day of the year, and though many of them are ridiculous and contrived, I really like one of the observances for today, November 9. It’s National Go to an Art Museum Day!

I think as a society we tend to take art museums for granted. So, a day that reminds us that they exist, and urges us to visit and support them because they contain incredible artworks that we can see in person? That’s a worthwhile thing.

I once drew a cover for a Simpsons poster book, pretentiously titled The Simpsons Masterpiece Gallery, that I think serves nicely as an image to promote this special day. It’s also an homage to Norman Rockwell’s painting for the January 13, 1962, edition of The Saturday Evening Post, titled “The Connoisseur.”)

The oversize book is out of print, but for Simpsons fans in need of wall décor, it’s well worth the hunt. It’s full of Bongo Comics covers and other splashy art, presented without logos or any kind of trade dress, and suitable for framing.

To further inspire a visit to your local art museum, I’ll share a story from my art school days.

I attended college at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, which is now the College for Creative Studies, where I’m currently an adjunct professor. The Detroit Institute of Arts, a world-class museum that contains important works, such as “Self Portrait With Straw Hat” by Vincent Van Gogh, “The Wedding Dance” by Pieter Bruegel, and several Diego Rivera murals, is located very conveniently right across the street from the school. As a young art student, the close proximity of the museum to the school made it possible for me to visit the DIA at will.

One day, while roaming the museum galleries on my lunch hour, I saw a large group of people circled around a very tall man who was speaking and gesturing toward a painting. The man was obviously conducting a guided tour, but he didn’t seem like a typical tour guide. I had the sense that he was an art historian of some sort who had brought a group to the museum to show them around and talk about some of the notable pieces in the collection.

As I moved closer to the group, I realized that I recognized the tall man. His voice was very familiar and unmistakable, and I could now see and identify his face. The man was Vincent Price!

I wondered why a celebrity of the caliber of Mr. Price was giving a private, guided museum tour in Detroit. That seemed odd to me. But I later learned that he was an avid art collector and historian, and loved to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts whenever he had the opportunity.

So, visit your local art museum today, or at least put it on your schedule. You’re liable to discover some awe-inspiring artwork, and you never know who you may run into there!

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Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below!

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MORE

— Saluting STEVE DITKO’s CAPTAIN ATOM… With RADIOACTIVE MAN. Click here.

— Oh, Boy! I Got Me a ‘New’ 1960s BEN COOPER BATMAN Play Suit! Click here.

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Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has changed.

Bill is on Instagram (@atomicbattery) and Facebook (Bill Morrison/Atomic Battery Studios), and regularly takes commissions and sells published art through 4C Comics.

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Dan Greenfield, editor, 13th Dimension

Batman and Robin: Year One — Dynamic Duos #4, DC. Ah, yes. Robin’s worst nightmare. A gag that goes all the way back to Catwoman’s first appearance in 1940’s Batman #1.

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Superman #199 Facsimile Edition, DC. The first Superman/Flash race! A Silver Age classic! Yay!

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Action Comics #1104, DC. Part 2 of Lex Luthor: Year One — and dig this Jerry Ordway homage cover by Ryan Sook, one of a run he’s doing for this arc.

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Emperor Doom, Marvel. Doom! Doom! And more Doom! Marvel is all about Doom! This is a reprint of  1987’s Marvel Graphic Novel #27. Not considered a Facsimile Edition because the original was printed at a larger scale and this is standard comic-book format.

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Back Issue! #171, TwoMorrows. Speaking of Doom…

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Barbara Gordon: Breakout #7, DC. I’m actually a couple issues behind, but just for kicks I’ll point out that I prefer Two-Face’s scarred side green, even if it’s not particularly realistic.

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Josie and the Pussycats Rock On! One-Shot, Archie. The popular annual Josie issue. I’m getting Matt Talbot’s Black Hood cover because I will always support the MLJ heroes. (Black Hood’s in the issue.)

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The Amazing Spider-Man #1003, Marvel. You oughta check out the Steve Rude variant!

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Dick Tracy: Veteran’s Day Special One-Shot, Mad Cave. Dick Tracy in World War II, by our pal Alex Segura, Michael Moreci and co.

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The Complete Tales From the Crypt: The EC Archives, Dark Horse. The whole damn series! More than 1,000 pages in a $150 paperback collection.

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The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #1 Facsimile Edition, Marvel. Celebrating the movie’s 45th anniversary — and promoting the recently released (vegan) leatherbound, two-book set of the entire 34-issue series, plus the adaptations of the original three films. This ish is by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

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Godzilla vs. America: New York City One-Shot, IDW. The big guy’s travelogue of destruction brings him to the greatest city on the planet. I’d wager this issue is a lot better than the 1998 Matthew Broderick flick.

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Scott Tipton, contributor-at-large, 13th Dimension

Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four Trade Paperback, Marvel. I do love me a crazy Planet of the Apes crossover.

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DC Finest: Superman — The Man of Steel, DC. John Byrne’s landmark relaunch of Superman was a huge deal at the time, and certainly is worth looking at again.

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Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang Compendium, DC. I can never get enough of Cliff Chiang’s work.

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MORE

— HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week! — Nov. 4. Click here.

— HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week! — Oct. 28. Click here.

2026 has been a banner year for DC’s Facsimile Edition program. We’ve gotten a whole bunch of comics that we’ve been asking for (and predicting) here at 13th Dimension, as well as many wonderful surprises.

Time to gear up for 2027, then. We already know what’s coming in January, and the February solicitations will arrive before you know it, which means the drumbeat begins… NOW!

You should clip and save this, because we have a really strong record with these annual columns. For the record, we’ve called for/predicted 18 Facsimiles that have come to fruition over the last few years. Not too shabby.

SIDE NOTE: I’m not going to waste selections on four comics that we most definitely should be getting: 1963’s The Flash #135; 1970’s Green Lantern #76; 1975’s Man-Bat #1; and 1979’s Batman #321. All four were cancelled by COVID and, for reasons still unexplained, never returned to the schedule. C’mon DC, let’s get with it: Green Lantern #76 — the landmark issue by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams that I cannot believe wasn’t released to promote Lanterns — is an especially egregious oversight.

OK, rant over.

Beyond those, here are 13 DC COMICS FACSIMILE EDITIONS WE’D LIKE TO SEE — 2027 EDITION.

In alphabetical order:

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Action Comics #544, DC. DC is down to reproduce its extra-size anniversary issues now (see Detective Comics #500), so with Man of Tomorrow coming — featuring Brainiac and Luthor in his battle suit — I can definitely see this killer 1983 issue that debuted Ed Hannigan’s design for Brainiac and George Perez’s for Lex.

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All-Star Comics #8. Here’s what I wrote in 2026: “Everybody thinks of Sensation Comics #1 and Wonder Woman #1, but don’t forget the Amazing Amazon premiered here in a back-up story.” 2026 was Wonder Woman’s 85th anniversary and the publisher has declared 2027 to be the Year of Wonder. This is a no-brainer. (By William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter, 1941.)

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Black Lightning #1, DC. DC in January is releasing DC Power: Black Lightning 50th Anniversary Special, with a story co-written by creator Jenny Isabella, and a variant cover by BL’s designer Trevor Von Eeden. After the story broke, I wrote that I was “(ahem) shocked” that Black Lightning #1 wasn’t among the month’s Facsimile offerings. I also noted, however, “But there’s time: 2027 will still be the groundbreaking hero’s anniversary year.” I’d put money on this one.

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Detective Comics #457, DC. Here’s one of those — by Denny O’Neil and Dick Giordano — that has to happen at some point: There Is No Hope in Crime Alley!

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Detective Comics #476 and Justice League of America #22. I am really not a fan of “orphans” — Facsimile Editions that include only one part of a multipart story. We’ve gotten the first installment of The Laughing Fish from 1977’s Detective Comics #475 by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin (twice), and 1963’s Justice League of America #21, but in both cases, we haven’t gotten the conclusions. These are just two examples of this phenomenon. (Hell, Englehart’s run turns 50 this year, and I’d love a full set of Facsimiles. I don’t see it happening but I’d be very happy to be wrong.)

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Famous First Edition #C-26: Action Comics #1, DC. The publisher cannot get enough of reprinting Action Comics #1 as a Facsimile Edition. The next logical step would be to reprint the first Famous First Edition treasury, from 1974 — especially with Man of Tomorrow coming out this year. DC also hasn’t reprinted any of its Bronze Age FFEs yet, and this is the perfect place to start.

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Flash Comics #92. Next year will be Black Canary’s 80th anniversary. She debuted in a Johnny Thunder back-up feature in 1947’s Flash Comics #86. But I’d lay better odds that DC will go with this issue — featuring her first cover appearance and first solo story — that came out later in the year.

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Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-31. The first Superman LCE came out in 1974 and I was pretty dang surprised that DC didn’t bring it back for James Gunn’s Superman two years ago. (We did get that groovy new treasury, though.) Anyway, with that famous H.J. Ward cover — which would look dynamite in foil — and Neal Adams’ four-page design for a Superman theme park, this is a natural to promote Man of Tomorrow.

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The New Teen Titans #2. Here’s what I wrote in 2023: “The first appearance of Deathstroke the Terminator, who has become one of DC’s A-List villains. There was a Dollar Comics edition but that doesn’t count because it’s just a story reprint, not an issue reprint, with the ads, etc.”

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Strange Adventures #207, DC. Deadman’s 60th anniversary is coming; his first appearance was in 1967’s Strange Adventures #205, by Arnold Drake, Carmine Infantino and George Roussos. DC could go for that, except the Facsimile program cannot get enough of Neal Adams, so I’d wager we’ll see the issue that boasts his first Deadman cover — one of his most famous ever — and his first complete interiors for the character. That cover in foil would be especially strong.

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Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #106, DC. There is no way DC will ever do this. Ever. But it would be balls to re-release this 1970 embarrassment — probably the most misguided comic book in the company’s history.

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Superman #76. How has DC not done a Facsimile of Superman and Batman’s first meeting yet? This is from 1952 — 75 years ago in 2027, so…

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MORE

— 13 DC COMICS FACSIMILE EDITIONS We’d Like to See — 2026 Edition. Click here.

— 13 More DC FACSIMILE EDITIONS We’d Like to See — RANKED. (2024) Click here.

— 13 FACSIMILE EDITIONS We’re Surprised DC COMICS Hasn’t Published Yet — RANKED. (2023) Click here.

— 13 DC FACSIMILE EDITIONS We’d Like to See. (2022) Click here.