First of all, Joshua Hale Fialkov's I, Vampire, the first trade of which I really enjoyed, was announced as cancelled yesterday. Not only did Fialkov write an intricate story, but artist Andrea Sorrentino bucked the trend of weirdly oversexualized New 52 art (I had just read New Guardians with art by Tyler Kirkham right before it), making the book a gem I enjoyed for a number of reasons.
Sorrentino will work on Green Arrow with Jeff Lemire, which is great (could be the best Green Arrow has been in years) and Fialkov hinted on Twitter that he might have more DC stuff coming up -- here's hoping! I'd also be glad to see I, Vampire's Andrew Bennett show up somewhere else in the DC Universe, as they've done with OMAC and others.
The other cancellation is that of Impulse: Runs in the Family, meant to be the start of a new series of collections of the Mark Waid series. This is another one solicited but cancelled before release due to low pre-orders. Speed Force said exactly what I was thinking, that it's not hard to see why this collection struggled when it collects just ten issues of Impulse (with no promise of a volume two necessarily) and alternatively almost 50 issues of Impulse are available with no waiting over on Comixology.
Irrespective of how digital and print compete month to month on single issues, I wouldn't be surprised if we see strong reaction to digital availability among collection releases -- between releasing a second collection of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad or Roy Thomas's Infinity Inc. in print or making them available digitally with much less risk, I imagine digital will win. I expect what we will start to see in collections is either new, immediate books like the New 52 titles, or else more spectacular collections like the Absolutes and omnibuses (and the April 2013 collections are no exception), with less of the middle ground.
(Also I think it's worth considering whether, if the Young Justice cartoon hadn't gone on a sudden hiatus at the end of the year, whether Impulse's prominence on that series might've helped any; it seems to me that's why DC floated this collection in the first place.)
(Also also, I should mention that Superman Family Adventures is cancelled too, unfortunately. Anj eulogizes it well at Comic Box Commentary.)
* Absolute Superman/Batman Vol. 1 HC
* Solo Deluxe Edition HC
* Watchmen Deluxe Edition HC
* Stormwatch Vol. 2 HC
Case in point, among DC's April listings is the Absolute Superman/Batman and two deluxe books, both Solo and Watchmen, as well as the start of a Golden Age Superman omnibus series.
Like many of you, I was holding out hope that this final, official solicitation for the second hardcover collection of Warren Ellis's Stormwatch series would finally include WildCATS/Aliens, but no dice. And that's even with a solicitation that says "When disaster strikes in the form of alien creatures, can the team survive?" Ah, well.
* Batman and Robin Vol. 2: Pearl HC
* Demon Knights Vol. 2: The Avalon Trap TP
* Grifter Vol. 2: Newfound Power TP
* Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2: The Dominators TP
* Superboy Vol. 2: Extraction TP
* Superman Vol. 2: Secrets and Lies HC
* The Phantom Stranger Vol. 1: A Stranger Among Us TP
* The Ravagers Vol. 1: The Kids From N.O.W.H.E.R.E. TP
For those playing along at home, the Batman and Robin, Demon Knights, Grifter, Legion, Superboy, and Phantom Stranger collections all include their zero issue. Both Superman and Ravagers had one, but they're not included here.
Comings and goings: Demon Knights Vol. 2 doesn't finish out Paul Cornell's run (it collects through issue #12, Cornell remained to #15), but I wouldn't be surprised if DC upped the contents so as not to have the next trade only contain three of Cornell's issues. On the other hand, the Jurgens/Giffen Superman collection also includes Scott Lobdell's Superman Annual, so technically his run starts with this trade.
Superboy: Extraction's contents are a little weird -- issues #0, 8-12, and Teen Titans #10. Titans #10 is not a "Culling" crossover issue necessarily, and since Extraction lacks the other "Culling" issues anyway (so it'll need text pages or something to explain what's going on), it's strange that Titans #10 is included and not just explained away, until it has some specific tie to the Superboy issues that I don't realize. I'm bugged a bit how DC is repeating some issues in multiple collections, something I'll get into another time.
That's my take on DC's collected editions for April 2013 -- what're you buying?
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