Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 5, Batman & Robin Deluxe HC Continue DC 2010 Collections

 ·  23 comments

Just learned we can expect Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 5 -- first solicited in 2007 and long considered the holy grail of missing DC Comics collections -- coming April 2010.

Also, the first hardcover collection of Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly's Batman & Robin, "Batman Reborn," will be in deluxe format to match Batman RIP.

Now more details:

* Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 5

In April 2007, DC Comics solicited Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 5, the next volume in a series collecting the classic JLA/JSA team-ups the preceded Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the time, the book was to include Justice League of America #159-160 ("Crisis from Yesteday" and "Crisis from Tomorrow," where the JLA/JSA meet the Black Pirate, Enemy Ace, Jonah Hex, Miss Liberty, and the Viking Prince); 171-172 ("Crisis Above Earth-One," the death of the original Mr. Terrific); and #183-185 ("Crisis on New Genesis," "Crisis Between Two Earths," and "Crisis on Apokolips," where the JLA/JSA encounter the New Gods).

* Batman & Robin Vol. 1: Batman Reborn Deluxe HC

I'm pleased to see the first collection of the Morrison/Quietly series get the deluxe treatment not only for the better view of Quietly's art, but also that it'll fits on my shelf right next to Batman RIP.

* Superboy: The Greatest Team-Ups Ever Told

Sure, any number of people may be looking for classic Superboy team-ups collected in this volume, but I'd like to see the two issues generally known as Superboy/Robin: WF3 (or "World's Finest Three," following Dave Gibbon's World's Finest and Walt Simonson's Legends of the World's Finest. Published in the heyday of the new Superboy (later Kon-El) and Tim Drake Robin series, these were written by respective series writers Karl Kesel and Chuck Dixon, with art by Tom Grummett who had worked on both series. Like my all-time favorite team-up, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, this story teams not just the heroes, but their supporting casts, and it's well worthy of being collected.

* JLA Deluxe Edition Vol. 3

The second JLA Deluxe volume collected issues #10-17. If this one skips #18-21, which were Mark Waid-written issues (and good issues, but I don't know if this is just a Morrison series collection), then it might collect #22-23 (with the Sandman), #24-26 (Ultramarine Corp and the new Shaggy Man), and #28-31 ("Crisis Times Five" with the JSA). DC One Million falls in there, too, and it'll be interesting to see how DC handles that.

* DC Comics Classic Library: Justice League of America By George Perez Vol. 2

I thought this was the last of two volumes, but there's a lot of Perez Justice League still to collect (I count 21 issues: #195-197, 199, 200-205, 207-209, 212-215, 217-220). Maybe a third volume will follow?

* Gotham City Sirens Vol. 1: Union HC

* Red Robin: The Grail

I'm rather surprised to see Gotham Sirens in hardcover even as Red Robin appears in paperback. I certainly enjoyed Paul Dini's work on Detective Comics, but not enough to purchase what's a truly ancillary title (not even one of Batman's assistants, but a gaggle of villains) in hardcover.

* Superman: Codename Patriot HC

For a hardcover, hopefully this will collect more than just the four issues of the Superman titles crossover (plus the Jimmy Olsen Special.

* Teen Titans: Child's Play

The title of this reminds me of Teen Titans: A Kid's Game, which I consider both a great Titans story and a fantastically well-collected trade (you can barely tell where one issue ends and another begins) -- and how little I've been enjoying Titans lately as compared to when the title began. It's sad, really, that a title that begins with such steam can fall so far; it makes me concerned for the day the same might happen to Green Lantern, for instance.

And one to grow on ...

* Power Girl: A New Beginning

See our thoughts on the other DC Comics' 2010 trade paperback and collected edition solicitations, including DC Universe: Origins and more!

Comments ( 23 )

  1. Excellent. And Here I was excited about the DC Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents v1 in the DC solicits today...but Multiple 5 is better news. I wonder if that means the contents of the Perez JLA Classics Library are changing. (Last I'd heard, it was to include the 2 parts of the New Gods crisis he drew, as well as the entire SSSV one. At least the first of those should fall in CME 5, though.)

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  2. There's almost 21 issues of Perez left to collect by my estimation. I thought that was just a two-volume collection, but maybe it'll be more.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 21, 2009

    Perez only did covers on most of the issues you mention above; a lot of those interiors were by Don Heck and possibly Chuck Patton.

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  4. Are the collected issues just ones Perez drew, or ones he wrote, or both? Anyone know which then would be the ones on which he did interiors that would be included in the hardcover?

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  5. 195-197 are in Perez Vol. 1, aren't they?

    Looking at them closely in comics.org, none of the others have Perez interiors apart from the framing/intersticial sequence in 200. So what the heck is in Volume 2? That, a bunch of covers, and JLA/Avengers?

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  6. AnonymousJuly 21, 2009

    Vol 1 features 184-186, 192-194, and the JLA postcard set. The SSOV storyline will be in Vol. 2 - they shouldn't have used the cover of 197 as a placeholder since it will be in vol 2.

    You can see the real cover and content info on the DC Comics site.

    These are just issues with interiors by Perez never wrote any DC books until his tenure on Wonder Woman, many years after JLA.

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  7. lilbaggieJuly 21, 2009

    Vol 1 was 176 pgs so Vol 2 should contain 195-197 and the triple sized 72pg 200- that's about 144 pgs so maybe a cover gallery to round it out (?)

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  8. Perez only drew about half of 200. I suspect that just his part will be incoherent, but that tracking down all of the other various creators and getting them to waive the post-70s reprint royalty rate would be impossible, so It'll probably be just that part. So I'd say a big cover gallery/sketchbook...

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  9. lilbaggieJuly 22, 2009

    hmmm if that's the case with 200, i wonder if they'll omit Keith Pollard's pages from 197. i think he drew most of that issue.

    i also just remembered New Teen Titans 4 was a JLA vs Teen Titans story, which would fit into this book's theme...

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  10. Are these the accurate solicited prices?

    If so, it seems as if hardcover pricing really is jumping up, and quite steeply too at $5 a book. That's extremely frustrating.

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  11. Matthew: which hardcover in particular are you talking about? $24.99 looks pretty standard to me, especially for a popular series like Superman or Batman. And an oversized Batman book at that price is a pretty good deal.

    To the topic at hand: it's strange that we have to wait until April next year for our Morrison Batman fix. What's up with that?

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  12. It just seems as if these books lack the thickness of the usual $25 hardcover. Codename Patriot seems like something that should've been listed for $20, and I'd say the same for Batman & Robin if it wasn't deluxe sized.

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  13. AnonymousJuly 24, 2009

    OMG... this website works for the first time in.... months.

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  14. Codename Patriot does seem expensive for five issues, but thus is the way with hardcovers these days. Superman: The Coming of Atlas was $19.99, so maybe the price of Patriot will drop to be commensurate. If books weren't discounted, hardcovers would be well out of price range.

    @Anonymous - Has the site not been working for you? Recently update your browser or make any changes? Collected Editions cares!

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  15. AnonymousJuly 25, 2009

    No.... the site hasn't been working, from home or work. *Sometimes* the homepage would open, but never the comments or archives. And in the last week it has started working again.

    New browser - went from IE7 to 8 a few weeks ago, but continued to have problems with the site - don't think the site working again was connected to that.

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  16. Plenty of comments, so the site must be working for some people, but still I'm sorry to hear that (and the timing sounds like around when the new template went up). If your browser ever gets "stuck" again, be sure to go to the activity menu and see if you can determine what's causing it, and let me know so I can fix it.

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  17. I discovered this site about a month ago, and check it practically every day. Never had a problem with it loading. Using Firefox 3, have never tried with IE.

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  18. I just tried the site with IE8/WinXP, and the top of the page loads (down as far as the search bar), then after a few seconds there's a reload/refresh (I can hear the "click" sound in IE) and then the rest of the page loads. The interesting thing is, if you turn off javascript, the full page loads right away! But then certain sections on the right (notably "recent comments") are empty.

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  19. It will be a shame if the 3rd volume of JLA Deluxe Edition skips the excellent fill-in issues by Waid and Millar. I guess I won't get rid of my "Strength in Numbers" and "Justice for All" TPBs anytime soon.

    I was also hoping it would include DC One Million #1-4 and JLA #1000000, which I consider integral parts of Morrison's run. In fact, since the last 2 pages of JLA #23, which lead right into DC One Million, were cut from the "Strength in Numbers" TPB, this deluxe hardcover volume was my last hope to seem them reprinted.

    And if volume 3 will already collect Crisis Times Five, I wonder what will be left for volume 4. Maybe World War III plus Earth 2, rounding out Morrison's run. I'd like to see Waid's run (including Heaven's Ladder) get the deluxe treatment, too, but I guess it's a long shot.

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  20. I think JLA: Earth 2 in JLA Deluxe Vol. 4 is highly likely, especially since they reprinted JLA/Wildcats.

    If they omit the DC One Million pages again, that probably means they'll skip right over it in the deluxe collections. I'll be interested to see this, too ...

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  21. DC could make up for such oversight if they released a DC One Million omnibus collecting the whole mini series plus all major tie-ins in their entirety. And the last two pages of JLA #23, of course.

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  22. AnonymousJuly 30, 2009

    FWIW, I just came back from SDCC where I asked Bob Wayne about the Perez JLA run in HC, to which he replied that DC fully intends to release his ENTIRE JLA run in HC over time... also, he answered a fan's Hitman TPB question by replying that DC will be releasing the entire series in TPB. Good news!

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  23. Man, these JLA Deluxe HCs take FOREVER to come out. I actually just got JLA Deluxe Vol.2(Rock of Ages and Promethus, woot!), and I was hoping they were just collecting Morrison issues(which they are), but April 2010? I already got the trades, but it would have been great to have all the run in Deluxe form. I think Vol. 4 is probably gonna be World at War/JLA Classfied #1-3, although I wouldn't mind JLA Earth-2. They're both fantastic crazy pop stories that Morrison does so well(and the artists are much better than Howard Porter :D).

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