Chase by Dan Johnson and JH Williams comes to trade paperback

There's been a lot of post-con chatter lately about how DC Comics management may not listen to or appreciate fan concern, or fan appreciation for some characters.

I've got to say, however, this one is a mark in DC's favor.

Chase, the much-loved series by Dan Curtis Johnson and JH Williams III, comes to trade paperback.

Early solicitations have this book by Johnson and also Doug Moench, which suggests the book will not only collect aspects of the Chase series, but also Chase's first appearance in Batman #550 (with art by Kelley Jones).

The book lists at 352 pages, so my hope is that's enough to collect all ten issues, plus the DC One Million crossover issue, of this series starring DEO special agent Cameron Chase. The book has any number of things going for it -- strong female protagonist, federal-agency-tracks-metahumans X-Files-type vibe, and of course art by Batwoman's JH Williams III. Chase would go on to appear in Marc Andreyko's Manhunter series, among other places.

Not to mention, a couple issues of Chase were part of the inaugural round of DC's new DC Comics Presents books, what I've taken to calling "newsstand trades" -- 100-page books, square bound, about half the price of a trade and published like a monthly issue. If we can intuit that sales of DC Comics Presents: Chase were such to make a Chase trade worth DC's while, then my esteem for the DC Comics Presents books goes way up. I heartily approve of DC Comics Presents as a testing ground for potential trades (so long as we don't get teased by a DC Comics Presents attempt that never manifests in collection).

In other good news, REBELS: Starstruck is also coming down the pike; that's the fifth collection of the Tony Bedard series. The last volume, Sons of Brainiac, ended with issue #20, so there's a better-than-good chance that this book will collect issues #21-28, and finish out the end of the series with the book's final issues. Again, good news.

The Chase and REBELS news comes amidst a spate of releases about DC's end-of-2011 trade collections plans. Don't miss our previous posts on the Hawkman by Geoff Johns Omnibus, Batman, Inc., the Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Omnibus, the complete Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War volume, and much, much more.

Chase! In trade paperback! Hooray!