Your Thoughts on DC's YA/MG Books (Ink/Zoom)?

[BCDC]

More than two years ago on February 4th of 2018, following months of hinting and speculation, DC made it official in the pages of The New York Times: They were getting into the Kids OGN business.

Collectively known in-house as DC Books for Young Readers, the new initiative would house two imprints: DC Zoom (now DC Books for Kids or DC Kids for short) to publish books for the middle-grade crowd, and DC Ink (now DC Books for Young Adults) to publish books for the young-adult crowd.

The goal of both lines is pretty simple: create standalone, evergreen stories that serve as the bridge for younger audiences to cultivate a love of DC and comics in general.

The strategy, or one of the main strategies: recruit some of the biggest names in YA/MG fiction, from established giants to up-and-comers, to craft those stories alongside a bevy of rising artistic talent from across the comics industry.

Fast-forward to today, where after a year and a half of baking in the oven, the first titles were released into the world in April of last year.

Here’s a chronological list of those books, broken down according to the imprint they were published in (Zoom and Ink for simplicity), with their creative teams and the month they dropped (LCS dates here).

DC ZOOM

April

• Super Sons: The Polarshield Project by Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez

June

• DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out by Shea Fontana and Agnes Garbowska

August

• Dear Justice League by Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte

September

• Superman of Smallville by Art Baltazar and Franco

October

• The Secret Spiral of Swamp Kid by Kirk Scroggs

• DC Super Hero Girls: At Metropolis High by Amy Wolfram and Yancey Labat

• Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot and Cara McGee

• Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru(*)

DC INK

April

• Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne

May

• Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle and Issac Goodhart

July

• Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo

September

• Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh

October

• Batman Nightwalker by Stuart Moore and Chris Wildgoose (Based on Marie Lu’s novel)

So now that we have before us a solid overview of what was essentially the first year of DC Young Readers, I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on these books if you have read any of them?

What are your favorites? Any least-favorites? What are they doing right with these lines and what else could be done better?

And hey! If you have any kids or cousins or nephews who are reading one of these books, I more than welcome you guys to share their opinions with everyone here.

So…blast away!

(*Superman Smashes the Klan is being published as a three-issue, prestige-format miniseries. The collected edition will drop in May).

[HubCityQuestion]

I haven’t read any of these yet, but this year I’m very excited for Superman Smashes the Klan, The Oracle Code, and Shadow of the Batgirl

[Jay_Kay]

So far I’ve only read the Catwoman book and the first issue of Superman Smashes the Klan and enjoyed them both.

[arkhamassassin]

I’m outside the age range they’re shooting for, so I haven’t really had any interest in reading any of the titles myself. That said, I completely support DC putting more effort into getting more kid-friendly stories out there. I definitely like how the main comics are more adult-friendly, but it does leave out a lot of younger readers, so Ink and Zoom are good for engaging kids/teens that wanna read comics

[Vroom]

I’ve read most of the Ink and Zoom books (Super Sons v2 and Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass being the two I’ve not read) and enjoyed most of them.

Super Sons v1 was somewhat dull, but the others have been alot of fun, especially Dear Justice League, Mera: Tidebreaker and Superman of Smallville.

Superman Smashes The Klan is a good read, and Green Lantern: Legacy looks interesting as well.

[BCDC]

I’m outside their age range too, but it’s definitely a testament to the talent assembled for most of these that there are books I can point at and say ‘That looks like something I want to read’.

It also helps that there’s a LOT of genuine effort and artistry being put forth. They are not shortchanging on anything, and that’s great to see from a major comics company.

[BCDC]

Agreed on Super Sons being dull. For me, while not terrible (I’ve read some real stinkers in middle/high school so I should know), they just pale in comparison to all the great stuff that has come out since then. Swamp Kid and Superman Smashes the Klan are just two highlights in particular.

[Vroom]

Swamp Kid was fun, and more enjoyable than I was expecting it to be.

[BCDC]

I concur with you and @Vroom on Superman Smashes the Klan.

Yes, Yang is a generational talent as a graphic novelist, but he’s also become a exceptional superhero writer and SMTK represents the apex of that.

[Vroom]

In addition to Superman Smashes The Klan, Gene Luen Yang’s work on Superman (2011-2016), New Super-Man and The Terrifics is also quite enjoyable.

[nu52]

I’ve spoken about Black Canary: Ignite and things I liked about it. Mainly, it was a fun read and a solid origin story. It showcases a lot of elements from Black Canary’s mythos and presents them in a way that makes them all fit rather nicely. I also am a fan of that style of art. It reminds me of stuff you’d see from BOOM! Studios.

[millernumber1]

Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo’s Teen Titans series continues (#4 of a projected 6 volumes) today with Robin! Hopefully it drops on DCUI here soon - dunno what the graphic novel timeframe is. They have two special variant covers coming - one from Barnes and Noble, one as part of a four part connecting cover edition in August of this year. Plus they’ve announced Starfire is coming next year - thankfully less than the 1.5 years between Beast Boy Loves Raven and Robin!

Anyone checking out this delightful series that I’ve decided to start calling “street clothes-punk”?

[millernumber1]

Also, I know @Nobody.bladesmith is checking this out - you should post your thoughts here!

[Row.Harper]

Thanks for posting this! I didn’t realize this was out. I loved the first 3 books in this series, I can’t wait to read this one!

[millernumber1]

Yessss. Let us know here what you think when you do! I got my copy with the Barnes and Noble exclusive cover this evening, and read through it - it’s wonderful! A worthy sequel to the first three!

[StrangeVisitor]

I’m thrilled Gabriel Picolo is getting professional work and hope it leads to bigger and better things for him. The art I’ve seen on those books looks nice, but that version of Teen Titans/Titans have never interested me (blame the cartoon and probably that fact that teen angst never has appealed to me; my Teen Titans are the Bob Haney Silver Age version):

Yang has always been an excellent YA writer and for those who aren’t familiar with his non-DC work, I would recommend you check it out. So obviously Superman vs. the Klan would be the top tier, albeit it’s more a family friendly book than a true part of the YA/Ink/Zoom imprints. Super Sons just looked boring that I didn’t get past a part of the first one but one of these I will force myself to so do. However, it’s an example where someone added a totally unnecessary OC.

Mera was a nice read, Dear Justice League could have used more work - it reads like some of the Scholastic/Capstone chapter book/readers I used to buy for the nieces and nephews because they were too young for comics. Likewise, Superman of Smallville.

OTOH, while I understand why some people complained, and it did have some of the same problems you find in badly conceptualized fan fiction, Under the Moon was also very nice overall.

Anything not commented on here I have yet to look at. By and large, I think it’s an excellent idea on the part of DC, especially to go after this audience since by and large - up until recently - no one else was going after it in this format. Sure, BoomBox and some other things exist, and yes they get collected, but they aren’t really doing the same thing. I enjoy the idea of giving me an essentially complete story, versus something that was decompressed and written for 4-6-8 issues but then collected as sold as if it was a finished and, more importantly, complete thing (looking at you here, Fences). Often, I feel like I read those things and still have no real closure.

The Zatanna book and Constantine book didn’t get mentioned, other than a comment by someone else I may have missed, but they were also nice additions. Particularly the Zatanna book.

[Zontar_of_Pellucidar]

DC once had a thriving line of romance comics, and I see some of these graphic novels filling that niche, to a degree. It’s great when anything that’s outside the norm manages to thrive these days. And just telling one self-contained story almost feels like a rarity these days. Agree that they are putting some great effort into these.

[millernumber1]

Interesting comments about the self contained story - because I think the success of Garcia and Picolo’s Teen Titans line indicates that we need more ongoing content, rather than the one shot graphic novel approach. Of course, I also think the vast majority of these stories are pretty weak and unsuccessful, and there’s a few really bright spots. But it’s a complex picture to analyze, for sure, and I think you draw out a really good point with the romance heavy nature of many of these books.

[Samsonkillingtime]

I’m going to read a lot of Ink and Zoom books listed here to get a better impression of them all. But after skimming and reading through Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass. I’ll just say that so far, The Joker here is easily the best villain in all these books.

He is straight up terrifying to look at, and despite being for a younger audience. This joker is dangerously close to sounding like the real one in the mainline books.

Definitely better than Jack Napier in Gotham High.

[r1ad]

I’m not a huge YA fan but gave l Mister Miracle: Great Escape a try . I liked the art and liked the story they told.Would recommend to those who like Mister Miracle or the fourth world stuff.