Absolute All-Star Superman Tops DC Fall 2010 Trade List, Batman: Widening Gyre, and Levitz/Giffen Legion

New trade paperback solicitations starting to roll in for the end of 2010! Let's see what we've got ...

* Absolute All Star Superman

We've been predicting this one ever since DC released All-Star Superman in separate hardcovers; finally All-Star Superman gets the oversized treatment it deserves (and I can finally read it!).

* Batman: The Widening Gyre

The next volume of Kevin Smith's current take on Batman arrives in September, along with the paperback of Batman: Cacophony. I've heard mixed reviews of these books, but obviously DC seems content to let Smith have a go at it for a while.

* Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1: Prologue to Darkness

I had thought this was the beginning of a series collecting the Keith Giffen "five years later" Legion series, but I see now this is a collection of the Paul Levitz and Giffen run prior to the acclaimed "Great Darkness Saga." (But a collection of the "five years later" stories would be good, too). My other theory was that Giffen could shortly be joining Levitz on the new Legion of Super-Heroes series, and this could be the first collection of that.

* Luthor

Following their successful Joker graphic novel, Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo return with Luthor. The two already did a take on Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, with which I wasn't terribly impressed; maybe with the success of Joker, DC will give them a longer leash on this new book. Part of Joker's success, I thought, was proximity to the Dark Knight movie; I wonder if Luthor can stand on its own without an equal push.

* Starman Omnibus Vol. 5

Writer Sterling Gates congratulated DC Comics Collected Editions editor Anton Kawasaki on the Starman Omnibuses the other day, and indeed the praise is well deserved -- these books are beautiful, and these books are complete. Probably the fifth volume collects the trade paperbacks A Starry Knight and Stars My Destination, issues #47-60, before the sixth volume finishes it out.

* Superman: Nightwing & Flamebird Vol. 2

* Superman: Mon-El - Man of Valor

* Supergirl: Death and the Family

As I speculated the other day, here's the final Nightwing and Flamebird and Mon-El volumes that, along with Superman: New Krypton Vol. 4, close out the "New Krypton" storyline. Next up, "Brainiac and The Legion of Super-Heroes," "The Fall of New Krypton," and "War of the Supermen."

* Batman: Streets of Gotham Vol. 2: Leviathan

* Batman: Life After Death

* Red Robin: Collision

I might pass on the "substitute Batman" stories for now, short of Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin, but I'm sorely tempted to get Batman: Life After Death by Tony Daniel, since he single-handedly wrote and drew Batman: Battle for the Cowl, and I'm interested to see how he follows it up. Likely Red Robin: Collision includes Batgirl issues after the first trade of that series.

* Secret Six Vol. 3: Danse Macabre

* Power Girl Vol. 2: Aliens & Apes

* Wonder Woman: Contagion

* JSA All-Stars: Constellations

* R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol. 3: The Son and the Stars

Trade collection of ongoing series as expected. Wonder Woman now firmly in paperback; JSA All-Stars gets its first collection, but I continue to wonder if the JSA franchise can support two titles.

So, Absolute All-Star Superman, eh? A bevy of Bat-books to choose from? What's on your to-buy list (and for that matter, what have you dropped lately)?