DC released their trade solicitations for June 2012 yesterday, and as has become pretty much the norm lately, there's a whole lot of DC New 52 material and not much else. I am excited to read the New 52 books, but I hope that after the first round is collected, we begin to see more balanced collection offerings from DC -- not just new stuff and second printings of old collections, but newer and richer collections as well.
* Absolute Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn
DC's big offering for the month is the Absolute-sized collection of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin. This'll be a beauty, no doubt, though I'm hesitant to trade in my deluxe volumes for it (would I feel differently if DC had released just regular hardcovers and not deluxe?). Either way, looks like the only extras this includes are the same as were in the hardcovers -- this was been a topic of some debate on the Collected Editions Facebook page, whether by virtue of being Absolute these volumes should always carry some extras not found elsewhere.
* The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns Vol. 3
I'm surprised, but it looks like this is the last Flash Omnibus. For some reason I thought the Flash Omnibus series was definitely four volumes, but this book collects through issue #225 (at least according to solicitations), and that's the end of Geoff Johns's run writing Flash Wally West, at least. Again, according to solicitations at least, this volume collects Flash: Ignition (one of my personal favorites), Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen (with ties to Identity Crisis) and Flash: Rogue War.
(I'm perhaps even more curious to see how much New Teen Titans will be collected in those omnibuses. To "Siege of the Zi Charam?" ... Probably not.)
* The Invisibles Omnibus
If you missed Zach King's series for Collected Editions on the Invisibles, take a moment to catch up. I didn't know much about Invisibles beforehand, but Zach's enthusiasm had me eager to check it out, and it sounds like it's required reading before picking up Grant Morrison's Supergods. Only, hopefully DC has their binding issue worked out by then, because this is a super-thick book (over 1,500 pages) and it don't want it to be more difficult to read than it has to be.
* Superman - Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel
* Batwing Vol. 1: The Lost Kingdom
* Demon Knights Vol. 1: Seven Against the Dark
* Grifter Vol. 1: Most Wanted
* Men of War Vol. 1: Uneasy Company
* Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Kicked in the Teeth
The next round of DC New 52 books. Action Comics is the star there, of course, the one I'm most highly anticipating, though Demon Knights is also high on my list. Men of War is a "done in one," essentially, now being cancelled; I'll be giving Suicide Squad one book to see if it impresses. I'm eager for Grifter mainly because I like the general idea of the Wildstorm universe merging with the DCU. And of course, I keep on rooting for former Outsiders writer Judd Winick, so we'll see how Batwing goes.
* DC Comics Presents: Superman/Supergirl #1
After we didn't see any DC Comics Presents volumes for a couple months, I thought these were more or less dead, but here's another (timed, perhaps, to coincide with Super Best Friends Forever on Cartoon Network, though I fear we'd have another "character in the comics is weirder and more sexualized than character on TV" on our hands). Superman/Batman #19 and Supergirl #1 are essentially Supergirl #0-1, the start of the character's new series. Superman #176 is a curious inclusion, a story in the wake of "Our Worlds at War" that doesn't include Supergirl at all (she wasn't around then; it's Superman talking to a counselor), but is written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Ian Churchill, the team on the Supergirl issues.
* Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors
As I mentioned before, this 1970s storyline returned Wonder Woman to her classic look after the Diana Prince era. Had I the choice, I'd as soon see DC's collection release list filled with items like this -- notable but maybe relatively unknown stories from DC's history that illuminate current events, rather than new collections of material that's already been collected a dozen times over. To wit ...
* JLA Vol. 2
I'm sure Justice League books sell pretty well, what with the Doom movie and all, and especially Justice League books with Grant Morrison's name on them, but we've already seen this material collected in paperback and hardcover and now here it is in paperback again. Surely this will sell, but it seems like an also ran on this list of mostly "run of the mill" collections.
The sole bright spot in this one, to correct myself, is the inclusion of the JLA/WILDCats crossover. Irrespective of Grant Morrison's writing, I always thought Val Semeiks art was too stilted for this, and it's struck me as more wooden of a DC/Wildstorm crossover than I would have expected from Morrison. However, with characters like Grifter now appearing in the DC Universe proper, surely the "first meeting" of these teams must hold some interest.
* Showcase Presents Rip Hunter, Time Master Vol. 1
1960s stories from Showcase and the Rip Hunter, Time Master series, including Rip's first appearance.
* Green Arrow Vol. 1: Into the Woods
* Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors Vol. 1
* Wonder Woman: Odyssey Vol. 1
Your paperback re-releases for the month. Some ambitious reader should look at what books from this DC did and didn't release in paperback after the hardcover publication -- that we lost the paperback of Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1, for instance, speaks to DC letting go of that Justice League International in favor of the new one. On the other hand, JT Krul's now out-of-continuity Green Arrow stories seem to warrant paperbacks -- we can't say that's entirely because of the Brightest Day crossover since, again, Generation Lost didn't make it to paperback. Another thing to watch is exactly how many of these make it to publication.
So, another month, another slew of DC New 52 collections and not much else (not, entirely, that there's anything wrong with that). What're you buying this month?
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