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Aquaman Gets A Recap Page… Will Other DC Comics Titles Follow Suit?

Aquaman gets a recap page this week... will other DC Comics titles follow suit?

Published Mon, 07 Jul 2025 08:57:04 -0500

Article Summary

Aquaman #7 debuts a recap page, reviving a storytelling tool rarely seen in DC Comics.
Recap pages were long discouraged under Dan DiDio’s leadership at DC, despite success at Marvel.
Notable exceptions at DC included Brian Bendis’ titles and a brief attempt with Coffin Hill.
With Aquaman introducing a recap, could this signal a new trend across other DC Comics titles?

Marvel Comics introduced regular continuity recap pages into their comics in the nineties, storytelling devices summing up the "Story So Far" on the first page of a comic book that help bring new readers up to speed and keep unnecessary exposition out of the story pages which would look clumsy when collected. And it became commonplace.

Then in 2011, then-DC Comics publisher Dan DiDio said, "My goal is never to have recap pages, but I understand the people's desire. I always call the recap page lazy writing because I always felt that it always gave someone an easy way to do an essay about what's going on in the book rather than what's going on in the storytelling. So I think we'd rather try to find a way to make our stories as dramatic as possible, so we don't have to rely on things like that."

In 2015, editor Ellie Pyle moved from Marvel Comics to DC Vertigo. And, on her first book Coffin Hill, she ran a recap page, flagged up on the cover as a Story So Far button. Pyle was congratulated internally on bringing the recap pages to DC, but not for long. Despite it being greenlit, DiDio was enraged and told Pyle she should never do this ever again. Next issue, there was no recap page to be seen. She rapidly left the publisher and became Senior Comics Editor at Riot Games, creating League of Legends comics and is now Director, Content Development, Marvel New Media.

There have been a very few exceptions to this ruling. Superman: Doomed used website pages as semi-recaps. And when Brian Bendis came from Marvel to DC Comics, he brought recap pages with him, disguised as desktops, notebooks and the like.

But with Dan DiDio fired from DC Comics, and Brian Bendis' taking over Justice League and relaunching Superman, the recap page became common for his titles.

But, as Brian Bendis at DC Comics, it soon sputtered out. And the recap page has not reared its head since. Until this coming week with the new Aquaman comic…

: Aquaman #7 recap page

Might this begin to spread amongst DC Comics Editorial like a tidal wave? Or just splutter out? Aquaman #7 by Jeremy Adams and Michael Shelfer is published this Wednesday by DC Comics. With Michael McCalister and Paul Kaminski as editors…

AQUAMAN #7
(W) Jeremy Adams (A) John Timms (CA) Gleb Melnikov
KING DAGON–VICTORIOUS! The confrontation with Dagon looms as Aquaman and his band of fighters near the end of their quest, revealing a heartbreaking reality that will change Aquaman forever. $3.99 07/09/2025

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