Gotham Central, Death in the Family in July 2009 DC Comics Solicitations

A couple notes this morning on some DC Comics collection solicitations for July 2009:

- DC Comics Classics Library: Batman — A Death in the Family
When Collected Editions first announced this hardcover collection of Death in the Family, we all wondered how four issues could justify a hardcover. Here's our answer: this book collects not only Death in the Family, which saw the (now temporary) offing of the second Robin Jason Todd, but also the Lonely Place of Dying story that introduced current Robin Tim Drake (and included that era's New Titans).

- Gotham Central Vol. 2: Jokers and Madmen
Shooting to the top of my to-buy list is this new round of Gotham Central hardcovers. The first hardcover, Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty, collected the first two trade paperbacks (the first with the same name, and the second, the Eisner award-winning Half a Life), containing the first ten issues of the series. This new hardcover collects issues #11-22, of which #11 (a day in the life of Stacy, who runs the Bat-signal) and #16-18 (single-issue stories, includes appearance by the Huntress) are previously uncollected. This is the news we've been waiting for, because it means these new Gotham Central hardcovers will indeed be the definitive collection of the series.

Other notables:

- Brave and the Bold will be paperback from here on now that Book of Destiny is out in softcover. Ditto for Booster Gold: Reality Lost.

- Nightwing: The Great Leap and Robin: Search for a Hero finish off those two series. I guess the last issues of Birds of Prey will end up collected with Oracle: The Cure.

- Glad to see Duncan Roleau's Metal Men in trade paperback now; I'll have to pick that up before the co-feature trades.

What's on your to-buy list for this month?