DC Comics to publish New 52 Zero Issue Omnibus

 ·  21 comments

In all the news of DC Comics's September plans to release zero issues for all their New 52 titles, don't overlook some specifically collected editions-related news.

See this, from the Associated Press via the Washington Post:
After zero, all the titles will go back to their regular numbering, though each of the 52 “zero” issues will end up in a bound omnibus edition in fall.
And in this interview with DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio from Comic Book Resources:
We've talked a lot about the new series launching alongside the #0 issues in September. What are the zero books you're most excited to get on the stands from the series we've already got ongoing?

What I'm looking forward to is that in "DC Universe Presents," we're doing a ten-page origin beat for OMAC with Brother Eye that I'm really looking forward to, as you can only imagine. A lot of these stories are coming in now, and really we started the process of working on the zeroes back at the beginning of the year. And we've been spending an inordinate amount of time writing and rewriting and thinking these books through. We want these issues to feel as special as the #1s. We know they're going to be compared to the #1s, so they've got to be as good or better. They've got to create mysteries and that level of excitement that we had last September again this September. That's the real challenge right now because we've got to capture lightning in a bottle for the second time. And I believe we can, so much so that not only are we looking to do the zero month, but we're looking to again like with did the giant compendium with all the #1s to do a big book with all the #0s for December as well. [Emphasis added]


The original "giant compendium," of course, refers to the massive 1,216-page DC Comics: The New 52 hardcover we originally discussed here last July. The size of this tome made me think it was a rather unlikely seller, but it ultimately ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. Also the fact that each DC New 52 #1 issue included an appearance by the mysterious Pandora helped to tie the issues together into a connected, if still disparate, reading experience -- does this suggest maybe the DC New 52 zero issues will have some connective tissue, too?

Of the entire New 52 Third Wave, I'm most looking forward to Justin Jordan and Jesus Merino's Team Seven -- sounds like a spy thriller a la Checkmate, with a great mix of DC and Wildstorm characters in there (this would be DC's excuse, soon as they want, to start collecting in a more straightforward manner the entirety of Wildstorm, maybe numbered in a kind of reading order -- Team Seven, DV8, Sleeper, and on and on.

Also, this explains the Showcase Presents: Amethyst, Princess of Gemword that's been on the schedule a couple months, doesn't it? I note that DC's called the book Sword of Sorcery, however; I wonder if that means teams might rotate out and we could see, for instance, new Claw the Unconquered or Warlord stories.

So, are you making space next to your DC The New 52s hardcover for the collection of the zero issues? What're you looking forward to in DC's Third Wave?

Comments ( 21 )

  1. I like the idea of filling in the New 52's murky backstory, but it just makes me wish DC would get its main writers in a room to work out a proper timeline for the new DCU, like the one we got at the end of Zero Hour.

    Also, I wonder what will be the content of Batman, Inc #0, which probably wasn't a part of Morrison's original 12-issue plan for the current series. Maybe he'll tell one of the stories that were intended for the first "season", but had to be cut when it was shortened to 10 chapters.

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  2. I have a feeling that Sword and Sorcery is going to be a consistent $3.99 book along the lines of All-Star Western, Men Of War, and G.I. Combat. That is, probably a "headliner" to the series (in this case, Amethyst), and then backup stories that rotate through various similar style characters. So yes, that could mean Claw or Warlord. Just my guess though.

    I would have considered getting that All-#1 book if I hadn't switched to digital; as it was, I did buy all of the New 52 #1 issues to try them all out, and then decided what I wanted to keep buying based on that (tossing out my preconceptions of how I felt about the characters in the old DCU). That resulted in me buying the first "collection's worth" of titles I wasn't expecting to buy, like Swamp Thing and Resurrection Man.

    The #0 issues interest me similarly, in that as "origin-style" issues they are likely to fill in more information about the New 52 as a whole (I would expect with lots of cameo appearances by "previously unseen in the New 52" characters). I'm still kind of torn on if I want to get them all, or just the ones for series that I have been buying. If I was still buying TPB's, I would certainly consider a huge compendium, certainly if I had the matching #1's collection.

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  3. Another Stephanie Brown Batgirl series? I'm happy to see it but my timeline might fall apart trying to make it work.

    Seriously, good question how Morrison will make it work, though it seems to me there's plenty of untold tales of Batman recruiting various Inc. members, including the mystery person under Wingman's mask.

    I love that Zero Hour timeline and I'd be happy to see one for the DC New 52. Reading some of the articles on the zero issues today, though, it does sound like Dan and company have a good idea how it all fits together -- that these zero issues have been planned almost since the beginning, and that things are mapped out through at least Trinity War next year. Also I imagine titles like Team Seven can't come together without some planning, telling stories in the "five year gap" as they are.

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  4. As much as I am excited for the #0's coming out, it does pose to make some properties stand in question.

    Stories like Wonder Woman where many people felt it it was missing something from issue #1 will work for the 0's. But something like Green Lantern really doesn't need issue 0 at all.

    I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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  5. Given what I think Geoff Johns has planned for the Green Lantern Annual, a #0 might very well make sense.

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  6. JoeMolotovJune 09, 2012

    I wonder if these #0's will also be collected in the trades of their respective series or if they'll only be collected in this volume. Or if it will be a case by case basis.

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  7. I would be very surprised if DC didn't collect all the zero issues with their respective series. They seem pretty ccommitted to making the entire DC New 52 available in collected form. Now whether that Free Comic Book Day issue will be collected is another question.

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  8. AnonymousJune 09, 2012

    'Another Stephanie Brown Batgirl series?'
    Which websire did this get mentioned at?

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  9. First time around, I misread this as a 0 issues Omnibus by which I mean the 1994 0 issues....I was ecstatic.

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  10. Anonymous, I think CE was referring to the possibility of leftover Batman Inc "season one" stories (in which Stephanie Brown appeared).

    I full expect DC to collect the 0 issues with the regular trades as well as this omnibus edition (as they did with the #1 issues).

    The Free Comic Book Day story will certainly show up somewhere...if I had to guess, I would say in the Trinity War collection, as it seems largely a prequel to that.

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  11. I just read the solicits for the 0-issues on the DC site, and I think there's a strong chance I'll be getting all of them.!

    Did anyone out there buy the #1 Omnibus? Is it difficult to read?

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  13. I'm surprised that Chris Burnham is not only pencilling Batman, Inc #0 (I thought the editors would give him a breather so that he can keep hitting his deadlines), but also co-writing it. And instead of a lost tale from "season one" as I speculated, it's actually a "gathering of the team" type of story.

    And Justice League of America: The Rise of Eclipso has finally been re-solicited... as a TPB. I guess the collections of Robinson's run weren't selling enought to justify the hardcover treatment, but they're at least collecting it all the way to the end.

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  14. So it seems the DCnU will keep on going - a year after. Do we still new the tagline "The New 52" on the books though? Sounds redundant. It's not so new anymore - apart if they intent to revert to "The Good Ol' DCU" some day - and it's going to be over 52-weeks/a year.

    All this sounds to me a bit too much like Zero Hour's YEAR ONE Annuals....

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  15. I guess by doing it as 0-issues instead of Annuals, you get the regular creative teams? Although a lot of series are ALSO having Annuals this year.

    I've also been wondering how long they'll keep the "New 52" banner. I think I read somewhere that in advertising you can call something "new" for up to 12 months. Maybe they'll drop it after these 0-issues?

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  16. AnonymousJune 14, 2012

    I'll buy the Zero Omnibus!

    But I'd like to add that I hate the Wildstorm characters in the DC Universe.

    The way they were introduced wholesale seemed so bloody forced and inorganic. I rather hope all the titles with Wildstorm toons fail across the board.

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  17. David, how do you feel that the Wildstorm introduction was forced? For a new reader coming to The New 52, would they really notice that the Wildstorm characters are different from the traditional DC characters? Or that these characters were never part of the DCU before?

    I read the first issues of Grifter, Voodoo, and Stormwatch, and really Stormwatch was the only one that felt like there was way more history behind it. In fact, I didn't even know that Voodoo was a Wildstorm character instead of a brand new character until after I had read the issue.

    For me, the Wildstorm characters being introduced post-Flashpoint is not unlike the Charlton and Fawcett characters being added to the DCU post-Crisis.

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  18. Just for another perspective, I agree with Mark on this. Wildstorm being integrated with the DCU is one of my favorite things about the New 52. The relaunch is one thing, but the inclusion of the Wildstorm characters forces the DC writers to go in different directions than they might have before; also Wildstorm has always seemed more modern and "with it" than the DCU, and that's an infusion the DCU desperately needed.

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  19. I wish that they could publish seperate hardcovers for the #0's that are origin stories, and those that aren't. That way, I don't get stuck paying for some weird story that picks up in the middle of some title I'm not reading.

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  20. My wish is that DC would publish one of these every month, collecting all of their monthly series in each volume. Think about it: the entire DC line for cheaper than buying individual issues and in oversized hardcover format.

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  21. This is an interesting idea, though one I imagine that isn't economically feasible for DC (except for those who get hooked on the hardcovers, I imagine the vol. 7 wouldn't sell as well as vol. 1). Also if you wanted to read just Frankenstein, for instance, that's a lot of heavy books to lug to the couch. But some monthly collection (or like DC Presents Dark each month, DC Presents Edge, etc.) or a monthly digital bundle might be another option.

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