Welcome to my preview of the 1989 DC comics I’ll be reviewing. I’m pretty much sticking with the same titles as 1988, although there are a few changes. Young All-Stars and Legion both end this year, but a new Legion series starts (the so-called “Five Years Later” Legion) which I will be adding. Justice League Europe also started in 1989, so I’ll add that to my list. As in 1988, some of the titles (notably the Batman ones, Green Arrow, and Suicide Squad) published extra issues in 1989 and I’ll be reviewing all of them. I’m using Mike’s Amazing World of Comics as my reference for which issues came out in which month, so I’ll group things according to what it says there. (As always, I’m going by cover date, not when the comics would’ve been on the stands.) There’s one notable exception: according to Mike’s Amazing World, there was no Suicide Squad issue for October 1988, but two (34 and 35) in November. I moved issue 34 back to October to even things out a bit.
Batman, Detective Comics, Legends of the Dark Knight: The Batman titles have some iconic storylines in 1989 (Year 3, Mudpack, Lonely Place of Dying), so I’m looking forward to finally reading them. In addition, there are a couple of big anniversary issues for Detective, and a brand-new title at the end of the year. Legends of the Dark Knight tells stories that are set at various times during Batman’s career, some even before he became Batman.
Justice League International, Justice League Europe, Legion of Super-Heroes, New Titans: JLI changes its name back to Justice League America this year, but I’m going to keep tagging it the same
way, to make searches on my site easier. The League gets some new members, some new villains, and even a whole new team based in Paris (with some great characters on the team, like Flash, Power Girl, and Elongated Man). The Legion series ends with the Magic Wars storyline, but starts up again in a darker setting. The new series is set five years after the previous one, when Earth has been attacked by hostile aliens and the Legion has been outlawed. The Titans deal with Donna Troy’s new origin, the return of the Wildebeest, and a crossover Batman as we meet Tim Drake, who’s destined to be the next Robin.
Green Arrow, Young All-Stars, Suicide Squad: Green Arrow deals with some 
more street-level crime, as well as his own personal demons. We get a few notable guest stars like Shado, Hal Jordan, John Constantine, and even Travis Morgan. Young All-Stars ends its run with a couple of multi-part stories (Atom & Evil and Sons of Dawn). In Suicide Squad we’ll see the return of the Jihad, some trouble with Apokolips when Duchess (aka Lashina) finally makes her move, and a big storyline called the Janus Directive, which crosses over with titles like Firestorm, Checkmate, Manhunter, and Captain Atom (although I’ll only be reviewing the Suicide Squad and Firestorm issues).
Wonder Woman, Firestorm: Wonder Woman deals with the return of the
Cheetah and delves into Amazon history as she meets some renegades in the city of Bahna-Mighdall. Steve and Etta finally get to visit Themiscyra and Hermes causes up more trouble for Diana. Firestorm learns of his elemental origins and takes on a new look, while Ronnie tries to bond with Professor Stein and Mikhail struggles to repair his failing marriage.
I haven’t read too many of these comics before (only the two Justice League titles), so I’m looking forward to checking them out. I hope you’ll join me, starting on Monday with my first 1989 reviews (Batman 429 and Detective 596).