The Confusing World of DC Trades (help!)

[jive-talking-robot]

Thanks to the irresistibility of hardcover collected editions and my proximity to a massive Borders book store (I live in downtown Chicago), I found myself back in comics after a nearly 20 year break. Marvel, Image and Dark Horse made it damn easy to hit the ground running... if I wanted to start fresh with an on-going series like "The Walking Dead" or "The Immortal Iron Fist," I simply located the volume number and worked my way up. Further, online retailers like Amazon do a good job of listing the issues contained in the collected editions so I never worry about missing anything in the run.

I wanted to expand my collected editions pu-pu platter by adding some titles from the DCU (due largely to all the Geoff Johns and Paul Dini love on the podcast). I thought I could go about it the same way I did with every other publisher, but I was surprised at how difficult DC makes this: there are no volume numbers, no issue listings on major retailer's websites, and the trade titles aren't the same as their comic counterparts (i.e. no "Action" or "Detective" collections). And when I do manage to scrape the issue listings together from various sources, I find gaps in the run.

Ug.

So I am asking for a little help. Now I did my homework where I could (including on this forum), but I need some assistance filling in the gaps and answering a few odds and ends. Hopefully this proves helpful to others as well.

NOTES: I list the trade on top and the collected run on the bottom (l left out the cross-title issues that show up in collections like "THE RESURRECTION OF RA'S AL GHUL"). I verified the collected run against the (poorly organized) DC website. Sometimes they didn't have the issues listed, and I had to go elsewhere... if I have anything wrong, please correct me and I will update the list. If I have a “???”, I couldn’t find the issues the trade collected.

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GREEN LANTERN: No Fear
Green Lantern 1-6

GREEN LANTERN: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Collecting issues 7-13

GREEN LANTERN: Wanted - Hal Jordan
Green Lantern 14-20

GREEN LANTERN: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 1
Green Lantern 21-22

GREEN LANTERN: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 2
Green Lantern 24-25

GREEN LANTERN: Secret Origin
Green Lantern 29-35

GREEN LANTERN: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Green Lantern ???

QUESTION: Where are issues 23, 26-28 collected?

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BATMAN: DETECTIVE
Detective Comics 821-826

BATMAN: DEATH AND THE CITY
Detective Comics 827-834

BATMAN: THE RESURRECTION OF RA'S AL GHUL
Detective Comics 838-839

BATMAN: PRIVATE CASEBOOK
Detective Comics 840-845

BATMAN: THE HEART OF HUSH
Detective Comics ???

QUESTION: Where are issues 35-37 collected? And does anyone know of any plans to make "Detective" and "Death and the City" in to a hardcover edition?

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SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC
Action Comics 866-870

SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON VOL. 1
Action Comics 871

SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON VOL. 2
Action Comics ???

QUESTION: I saw “New Krypton Vol 1” was a cross-title collection, not necessarily a continuation of “Action Comics”. Does anyone know if “New Krypton Vol 2” is going to be more "Action" centric, or simply another cross-title collection?

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: THE NEXT AGE
Justice Society of America 1-4

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: THY KINGDOM COME PART 1
Justice Society of America 7-12

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: THY KINGDOM COME PART 2
Justice Society of America 13-18

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: THY KINGDOM COME PART 3
Justice Society of America 19-22

QUESTION: Where are issues 5 & 6 collected?

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JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: The Tornado's Path
Justice League of America 1-6

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: The Lightning
Justice League of America 0 and 8-12

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: The Injustice League
Justice League of America 13-16!

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: Sanctuary
Justice League of America 17-21

QUESTION: Where is issue 7 collected?

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FINAL QUESTION: Does DC actually number their volumes on the spine and dust jacket? i.e. "Immortal Iron Fist Vol 1" will have a volume number "1" on the spine of both the hardcover itself and the dust jacket. However, I recall seeing some Green Lantern and JSA hardcovers where this was not the case.

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A sincere "thank you" to anyone who slogs through this and offers a helping hand.

And the obligitory first post "thanks" to the iFanboys for producing such a solid show. Regarding the drive for funds… as soon as the tax refund is in hand, I promise to subscribe. I have been listening to the podcast most of the year (and just started my way through the video show). Nice work gents and I am happy to do my part. Besides, nothing says "Husband of the Year" like giving the ol' lady an iFanboy tee shirt. In the JTR household, the 6th anniversary is "cotton."

[gabeja]

Ok, I don't know much, but I can tell you that Green Lantern Rage of the Red Lanterns was a one shot that came our fairly recently, so you can probably find it at a comic store, or even maybe at your borders if they have a spinner rack. Some DC books do in fact have volume numbers, but for the most part they go by the name of the arc that they collect. I believe that the main reason for this is that many DC characters are often retconned, so volume 1 of Johns' run, might be, oh, say, volume 8 of GL in general. In DC's defence, they have been around longer that Marvel, and a hell of a lot longer than Image, also, GL and Batman are old characters, where as Iron Fist (the current version) is quite new. Either way DC really has to get their shit together. And for some of those missing issues, I can only assume that some of them are from other arcs, or just filler one shots that interupt the current arc, and that DC do not deem appropriat for the trade. New Krypton is a large scale superman event, spanning from action comics, superman and supergirl. For example, part three may come out in action, four in Superman, and 5 in Supergirl. It will continue this way for the rest of the run. Also, quick GL tip. Read Secret origin before anything else. After that, you only really need to read Sinestro corps, the rest is good, but unnessissary to the current run. Also, Heart of Hush was the last 5 issues of Detective comics, and if you wish to read it, you must read Batman:HUSH. (skip Hush returns) It is collected in two trades or an absolute (with beautiful Jim Lee art) It seems to be reviled by many fans, but I think it is fantastic, and posseses everything a great batman story needs. If you are just getting into DC, I would strongly recomend the long halloween, Superman for all seasons, batman year one, All Star Superman, Superman Red son, and the DC UNiverse stories of Alan Moore. Hope I was some help
Gabe

[neb]

GREEN LANTERN: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Green Lantern ???

QUESTION: Where are issues 23, 26-28 collected?

Rage of the Red Lanterns was a Final Crisis one shot that ties into the current GL storylines. Most LCSs should have issues still in stock. If not, an online service (like DCBS) will.

The issues you listed were most likely one shots or fillers, but I don't remember them specifically enough. Another thought is that they could be related to Blackest Night, which would postpone their release.

HEART OF HUSH
Detective Comics ???

QUESTION: Where are issues 35-37 collected? And does anyone know of any plans to make "Detective" and "Death and the City" in to a hardcover edition?

Heart of Hush just finished last month, so that will be collected in a few months I'm sure. As for the issues, I don't know for sure, but Detective is not one that they collect every issue of in trade. Usually a storyline, a link to another Batman event or a writer (ala Dini) is what gets the stories into trades.


QUESTION: I saw “New Krypton Vol 1” was a cross-title collection, not necessarily a continuation of “Action Comics”. Does anyone know if “New Krypton Vol 2” is going to be more "Action" centric, or simply another cross-title collection?

New Krypton is taking place across Action, Superman, Supergirl and various one shots. It will be collected much like the Sinestro Volumes. I would wager that at some point, the two volumes will be put together into one volume, but as for when that would happen, only DC would know.

QUESTION: Where are issues 5 & 6 collected? QUESTION: Where is issue 7 collected?

No where so far. DC collects by story, not by issue number.


FINAL QUESTION: Does DC actually number their volumes on the spine and dust jacket? i.e. "Immortal Iron Fist Vol 1" will have a volume number "1" on the spine of both the hardcover itself and the dust jacket. However, I recall seeing some Green Lantern and JSA hardcovers where this was not the case.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. A majority of them do not, like Green Lantern, Green Arrow, JLA, JSA, Batman, etc. Some of them do though, like Gotham Central.

I should note for you that DC's trade program is f'ed up, so many of these things probably won't be changed any time soon. Hope this helps.

[jive-talking-robot]

Thank you both very much... that goes a long way to clearing things up for me, so I really appreciate your insights. It is helpful know the "DC Mentality" and their approach to their trades actually. While I prefer (or rather, I am “used to”) collections with consecutive issues, at least I understand I am not missing anything pertinent to the story.

I have BATMAN: PRIVATE CASEBOOK, BATMAN: THE HEART OF HUSH (release date is a ways off), GREEN LANTERN: Secret Origin and SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC on order.

The Long Halloween / Dark Victory are already on my shelf, but I wanted to get a taste of what was "new" in the DCU (especially Johns and Dini's work) and this seems to be the best way to do it.

I am happy to see the rise of the trade... where it not for their existance, I certainly would never have got back in to comics.

Thanks again, and if anyone else has any current DC collected runs to suggest, I am certainly all ears.

[gabeja]

Neil Gaiman is about to do a batman story, i think sometime in January. It will be in the current Batman book. I'd pick that up.

[jmstump]

It annoys me how trades are done in general. It shouldn't be hard to put a fucking vol number on them along with making it pretty clear what issues they include. I can't tell you how many times I've had to look all across the net to figure out which trades I need that include what issues for something because they're not on the book or amazon doesn't list them.

[cadgers]

I think what I hate the most is the small hardcovers with less then 200 pages DC is doing with the Green Lantern trades. There like $20 each or as high as $30 I believe.

[gabeja]

Yeah that really pisses me of al well. And the thing is the TPB versions don't come out until months and months after the hard cover. I really is almost impossible to jump onto a DC book if you arn't reading it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a DC guy, and love them beyond belief, but when you see that the image, and even the vertigo and wildstorm trades are only 3 or 4 issues behind the series it saddens me. :(

[mrmister]

Those Green Lantern issues are the Alpha Lantern storyline, I know because I am catching up via hardcover and need those issues too!

[neb]

This is why so many people say that DC trade program is broken. They HC stuff that doesn't need to be and the turnaround from HC to SC is ridiculously long.

My thought is that they do this to encourage people to buy the monthly issues, but it could be that they just fear changing it into a new system.

[cadgers]

Yeah that really pisses me of al well. And the thing is the TPB versions don't come out until months and months after the hard cover. I really is almost impossible to jump onto a DC book if you arn't reading it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a DC guy, and love them beyond belief, but when you see that the image, and even the vertigo and wildstorm trades are only 3 or 4 issues behind the series it saddens me. :(

I know how you feel. I would love to jump on Green Lantern but those trade's are just so expensive.

[neb]

Green Lantern should be at a jumping on point right now. The Secret Origins storyline just finished, and the new storyline starts in the newest issue. The only thing you would need is the Rage of the Red Lanterns one-shot.

[cadgers]

Alright I'll pick em both up tomorrow.

[conorkilpatrick]

My thought is that they do this to encourage people to buy the monthly issues, but it could be that they just fear changing it into a new system.

Every time I've seen Dan Didio asked about this at a con he says they want people to buy the single issues. Which is fine, it's their funeral.

[mrmister]

Secret Six trade doesn't appear to be coming out until August .... awesome ...

[jive-talking-robot]

Every time I've seen Dan Didio asked about this at a con he says they want people to buy the single issues. Which is fine, it's their funeral.

Dragging out release schedules certainly hurts them with long time readers, but their bewildering presentation doesn't do much for new readers either.

Prior to the Summer, I hadn’t picked up a comic in years. I saw Iron Man and I loved it. Sometime after I was in Borders and I stumbled upon the graphic novel section... I had been in a "comicsy" mood post Iron Man, so I picked up a copy of Iron Fist Vol 1 and Conan Vol 1 (I liked both titles back in the day). This, in turn, reignited my interest in the medium.

Now I admit I got lucky with some good books, but when I looked at the bewildering array of TPBs and hardcovers on the shelf, I knew a) "Vol 1" is always a good place to start and b) Marvel's and Dark Horse's books looked cool lined up on the shelf. Shallow, I know, but what can I say... it seemed like every other volume from DC had a different size or spine treatment (or even logo) and they shared no common order.

I liked Green Lantern as a kid as well, but I didn't have a clue where to start, so I left with something from Marvel and something from Dark Horse. I can't imagine this scenario is terribly unique. While I had the gumption to track this info down, I imagine most wouldn't.

[jon_samuelson]

I liked Green Lantern as a kid as well, but I didn't have a clue where to start, so I left with something from Marvel and something from Dark Horse. I can't imagine this scenario is terribly unique. While I had the gumption to track this info down, I imagine most wouldn't.

This is the sort of thing that DiDio needs to hear in order for DC to pull their heads out of their asses. I've been a lifelong Marvel guy, and only in the last year or so began to prefer DC, and I would have bought TONS more stuff in trade if it weren't such a pain in the kiester to figure out the order of things. Especially obnoxious is the seeming randomness of things that are out of print. I wanted to get the trades of Johns' run on The Flash, but I think it's the third and fourth trades are out of print, and going for stupid amounts on Amazon. Lame.

[neb]

DC just doesn't think like collectors. A lot of people like to have stuff from #1 to whatever, but DC collects stories, not issues. It's something you have to wrap your brain around.

It is annoying though when volumes 3 and 4 of a series are out of print when the others are still in print.

[six-gun]

Say what you will about DC's trade scheduling, but their Hardcovers kick ass. I got Batman: The Black Glove, two Green Lantern HC's and Booster Gold volume 2. And the quality on all of them is through the toof

[jon_samuelson]

Oh yeah, their quality is nice. It's just their timing and their volume labeling that kind of stink.

[gabeja]

The quality varies. Does DC really expect anyone to shell out 25 bucks for the resurection of Ra's al guel HC?

[thenextchampion]

The quality varies. Does DC really expect anyone to shell out 25 bucks for the resurection of Ra's al guel HC?

How about they have the first trade of Geoff John's JSA (the current one) 'The New Age'....with one four issues in it....FOR 16 DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


*head explodes*