Trade Perspectives: DC August 2011 Solicitations: JLA and other concerns

A couple of collected comics items from DC Comics's August 2011 solicitations have garnered discussion in the Collected Editions comments sections and elsewhere, such that I wanted to take a specific post to address them. First up is the paperback release of JLA Volume 1.

The solicitation for this book, which for all intents and purposes should match that of the JLA: Deluxe Edition Volume 1 hardcover published previously, does not mention specific issues, but does mention the JLA's "Hyperclan" adventure found in the JLA: New World Order trade paperback. That's true for the original solicitation for the hardcover as well, and based on page count, we can take for granted that the paperback contains at least New World Order and JLA: American Dreams, much the same as the deluxe hardcover did.

What's at issue is the final line of the paperback solicitation, which reads:

This new trade paperback includes several issues written by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Ultimate Fantastic Four) that were not collected in the hardcover JLA DELUXE EDITION series.

One tenet of the JLA Deluxe series has been that it only collects the Grant Morrison-written issues of JLA, and not the rather well-regarded fill-in issues by Mark Waid and others. The hardcover JLA Deluxe actually does contain an issue (co-)written by Mark Millar, the "Star Seed" story from the JLA Secret Files and Origins #1. It does not include Millar's other stories from Secret Files, about Superman and Martian Manhunter, despite that the original solicitation for JLA Deluxe credits the artist of those stories, Don Hillsman. Hillsman's stories do not appear in JLA Deluxe.

Therefore, when talking about "several issues by Mark Millar" to be included in the JLA Volume 1 paperback, it's my speculation that this refers to the Superman and Martian Manhunter stories from Secret Files. Perhaps the "was not/was" in regards to Hillsman's credit indicates these stories were considered for the original hardcover edition; interestingly, DC has both volumes listed with the exact same page count.

Of concern here is that fans spent $30 for the JLA Deluxe hardcover under the reasonable assumption that this was DC Comics's new, definitive edition of the largely out-of-print original JLA trade paperbacks, only to now find that DC is releasing a $20 paperback with additional issues -- a less expensive edition with more content, only three years later. There is an unspoken contract among readers and publishers, I believe, that a primary hardcover release of a book is the "definitive" edition, and the following paperback will contain the same or less material, and this violates that contract.

The difference between including or excluding two short Mark Millar stories is, I grant, not all that great. This precedent of returning stories excluded from the JLA Deluxe volumes to the JLA paperbacks will become much more significant one book hence, however, as JLA Deluxe Volume 2 excluded JLA #18-21 by Mark Waid, and the paperback JLA Volume 2 could now bring those back. This would make the difference between the second hardcover and paperback JLA volumes much more significant, and increase the possibility that someone who collected the JLA Deluxe hardcovers is going to feel cheated.

Other August 2011 Anomalies
There are certainly books of interest in DC's August 2011 solicitations, including Birds of Prey: The Death of Oracle and Flash: The Road to Flashpoint, and I'm still riding high on DC for continuing their Suicide Squad reprints, and for collections like Infinity Inc. and Legion Lost.

But at the same time, their complete Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War paperback emerges as something of a disappointment, since the solicitation suggests the Tales of the Sinestro Corps material won't be included. Having read Tales separate from Sinestro Corps War, I can tell you it does fill in some necessary, otherwise-confusing holes in the main stories. This seems to me a missed opportunity for DC to release a single, comprehensive edition of Sinestro Corps War, and it's a pity.

Another head-scratcher is DC's Showcase Presents: All-Star Comics Volume 1, a black and white reprint of the two color Justice Society trade paperbacks from a few years ago. I understand DC releasing Showcase Presents: Booster Gold, for instance, when Booster's series isn't otherwise available in trade, but this seems needless duplication of already-released material. Worse, this is "Volume 1"; will volume 2 collect further adventures of the Justice Society at this time, like All-Star Squadron, in black and white format instead of continuing the color trade paperbacks? Another disappointment, in my opinion, for readers of those early trades.

Right now there's not anything else on the horizon I can think of that's directly related to a collection already released -- that is, I don't see anything else coming up that I think bears the risk of disappointing the way the above do. However, I think DC has muddied a bit of reader/publisher trust with these volumes, and with some shifts going on in DC's collections department, that's not a great foot to be starting on.

[Felt this was important enough to interrupt our regular review schedule; new reviews coming here tomorrow and later in the week.]