The Great Disaster Is Almost Upon Us!

Almost as long as I can remember this collection has been discussed on the internets. I found posts from 2007 anticipating its arrival and I personally remember hoping to get a copy of this sprawling volume which features the Atomic Knight stories and the Hercules Unbound stories from DC's Silver and Bronze Ages respectively. Also there seems to be some Kirby in the form of his one-off character Atlas. Now it seems it's almost here, scheduled to drop next month. Here's the full solictiation from DC's own site:

"In these stories, heroes including the Atomic Knights, Kamandi and Hercules must face a post-apocalyptic future brought about by the mysterious “Great Disaster” in the run of Atomic Knights tales from STRANGE ADVENTURES, plus 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #1, HERCULES UNBOUND #1-10, KAMANDI #43-46, WEIRD WAR TALES #22, 23, 30, 32, 40, 42-44, 46-49, 51-53, 64, 68, 69 and 123, HOUSE OF MYSTERY #318, SUPERMAN #295, HOUSE OF SECRETS #86, 95 and 97, THE UNEXPECTED #215 and 221 and AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #12."

Much of the material is derived from back up stories in various volumes including Kamandi. The Amazing World of DC Comics material is apparently an article discussing the Great Disaster.

Sadly this arrival might be the harbinger of sad things to come. I've absolutely adored the Essential volumes from Marvel and the Showcase volumes from DC, but with the recent demise of the Essential line (replaced by handsome but more expensive Epic Collections), the fact that DC is pushing this long-delayed collection out might suggest they going to close out their bargain reprint line as well. I hope not, but I fear for the worst.

The "Great Disaster" might well be upon us in more ways than one.

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