Suicide Squad Vol. 2, Elseworlds Omnibus, Wonder Woman: War of the Gods, Justice League by Jurgens, Aquaman Omnibus by Geoff Johns, Gotham Central Omnibus, Azrael, Black Lightning, Batman Noir: Black Mirror, more in DC Comics Spring 2016 solicitations

It's DC Comics's Spring 2016 trade paperback and hardcover collections! This list is now complete and updated with my comments, barring any late-breaking additions.

Great long-awaited collections on this list like Wonder Woman: War of the Gods, Superman and the Justice League America by Dan Jurgens (the "Death of Superman"-era run), and a new solicitation of the previously-cancelled Suicide Squad Vol. 2: The Nightshade Odyssey (plus a third volume!). We also see a collection of DC Comics's Elseworlds stories, the new Tony Isabella Black Lightning collection, an Aquaman by Geoff Johns collection, a Gotham Central Omnibus, Batman Noir: Black Mirror, and new numbering for the regular-series Superman trades. Read on for more!

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Note that all of this information is subject to change before publication.

• 100 Bullets Book Five

• 100 Bullets Book Four

• Absolute Transmetropolitan Vol. 2

Collects through the end of the sixth trade paperback.

• Absolute Y: The Last Man Vol. 2

Collects through the middle of the seventh trade paperback. I'd guess just one more Absolute collecting Vols. 7-10.

• American Vampire Vol. 8

• Aquaman By Geoff Johns Deluxe Edition

Said to collect Aquaman #0-16 and Justice League #14-16, which is not actually all of Johns's Aquaman run, just through "Throne of Atlantis," omitting issues #17-25, "Death of a King" (this could, of course, change).

• Aquaman Vol. 6: Maelstrom

• Aquaman Vol. 7

• Art Ops Vol. 1

• Astro City Vol. 12

• Azrael Vol. 1

As I discussed previously, I really enjoyed the Dennis O'Neil/Barry Kitson take on Jean Paul Valley all those years ago, weird and quirky and introspective. If you only know Azrael from Knightfall, give this a try; it's one of my long-time favorite series.

• Bat-Mite

• Batgirl Vol. 2

• Batman '66 Vol. 4

• Batman '66 Vol. 5

• Batman Adventures Vol. 4

• Batman and Robin Vol. 7: Robin Rises

• Batman Arkham: Scarecrow

• Batman Beyond Vol. 1: Beyond the Bat

• Batman by Ed Brubaker Vol. 1

Said to collect Batman #582-586 and #591-594, which includes conflicts with the Penguin, Deadshot, and Zeiss, the "Batman Dies" mini-event, a tie-in to "Our Worlds at War," and skipping the Officer Down issue and some issues written by Brian K. Vaughn (obviously). Brubaker wrote Batman into the #600s, so there's some material at least for a second volume.

• Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus

• Batman Noir: Black Mirror

Solicitations have this as Batman #871-877, which I don't believe is right, and I don't believe they'd favor Jock here specifically over Francesco Francavilla. My guess it's indeed the whole Black Mirror, and this wonderfully creepy tale, one of Scott Snyder's best, would be dynamite in just black and white.

• Batman Vol. 7: Endgame

• Batman Vol. 8

Interesting that Batman apparently isn't being re-numbered in trade, at the same time that books like Batgirl and now Superman (see below) are. Maybe this is just for books with new creative teams or books that were otherwise previously in trouble (renumbering such to separate), neither of which is true for Batman.

• Batman: Arkham Knight Genesis

• Batman: Arkham Knight Vol. 2

• Batman: Europa

Long-stalled miniseries by Brian Azzarello, with at least one issue by Jim Lee. I don't know what to tell you except I'm looking at a listing for a collection of the four issues, due out "forthcoming."

• Batman: Legacy/Contagion

Say it with me now: It should actually be Batman: Contagion/Legacy. Respectfully I informed you of this at an earlier juncture. Contents currently listed are Batman: Shadow of the Bat #53-54, Batman #533-534, Detective Comics #700-702, Catwoman #36, Robin #32-33, and Batman: Bane, which is just Legacy, so I'm guessing these aren't actually the full contents. (Update: Title seems to have been changed to just "Legacy," and the contents listed were only the ones in Legacy. Here's hoping a new Contagion trade will be along sometime to round out the set.)

• Batman: Road to No Man's Land Vol. 2

Second lead-in volume to No Man's Land is said to contain Batman #560-562, Detective Comics #727-730, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #80-82, Batman Chronicles #15-16, and Azrael: Agent of the Bat #47-49. These were the actually-labeled "Road to No Man's Land" issues (as opposed to Road Vol. 1's "Aftershocks" issues, though happy to see them collected), with stories by Dennis O'Neil and Chuck Dixon (including Bruce Wayne himself trying to prevent "No Man's Land" politically in Washington).

• Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Vol. 3

• Batman: War Games Vol. 2

Seems to collect Detective Comics #798, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #183, Nightwing #97, Batman: Gotham Knights #57, Robin #130, Batgirl #56, Catwoman #35-36 and Batman #633, which is Act Two and part of Act 3 of War Games, so either these contents are incomplete or we can expect a third volume (with Stephanie Brown's ultimate resurrection, perhaps, thereby re-shaping War Games?).

• Birds of Prey Vol. 2

Continuing the re-collection of Chuck Dixon's Birds of Prey (a common theme on these recent lists is more previously-uncollected Chuck Dixon stuff). Birds of Prey is collected only in crossovers, etc. from issue #7 to about #55.

• Bizarro

• Black Canary Vol. 1

• Black Lightning Vol. 1

As you've read about elsewhere, Tony Isabella and DC have seemed to reconcile, culminating to start with the publication of this collection. Collects mostly likely ten or eleven issues of the 1970s Black Lightning series.

• Blackest Night Unwrapped

With Ivan Reis's un-inked and un-colored pencils, as opposed to Batman Noir where it's inked but un-colored.

• Catwoman Vol. 5

• Catwoman Vol. 7

• Constantine; The Hellblazer Vol. 1

• Cyborg Vol. 1

• DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 1

• DC Comics: Elseworlds Vol. 1

No word yet on what this will contain (and it looks to be a paperback volume one, not an omnibus as my headline mistakenly suggests), but I'm hoping it's a publication-order re-collection of all of DC's Elseworlds specials, specifically the old Prestige Format ones. Hardly do we need another collection of the Batman: Red Rain books, but a collection of books like Batman: In Darkest Knight and Superman: Speeding Bullets would be great.

• Deathstroke Vol. 2

• Deathstroke, the Terminator Vol. 3

Wow! I overlooked this in my list of headliners! Hey, Hix! This is said to collect issues #14-20 of Marv Wolfman's Deathstroke, the Terminator, which means just the Deathstroke parts of the "Total Chaos" crossover with New Titans and Team Titans (and I'm not even upset about that) and then also the no-longer "Uncollected Edition" "Nuclear Winter" (also starting Arsenal).

• Demon Vol. 2: The Longest Day

What's funny about the solicitation for this collection of Demon #49-58 by Garth Ennis is that the copy touts "tons of appearances by Hitman!" Poor Etrigan -- upstaged in his own collection. These are actually the last issues of the 1990s Demon series.

• DMZ Book One

• Doctor Fate Vol. 1

• Doomed

• Earth 2: Society Vol. 1

• Egypt

• Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book Twelve

• Fables: The Wolf Among Us Vol. 2

• Flash By Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato Deluxe Edition

Collects to issue #25, so through Flash: Reverse but not the issues with Deadman that were just by Buccellato in History Lesson.

• Flash by Geoff Johns Vol. 2

• Flash by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar

Not that it's not nice to have these back in print, but this is just a re-collection of Flash: Emergency Stop and Flash: The Human Race, even possibly (if the solicitations are to be believed) missing some issues that were just by Millar and not both authors. See also Wonder Woman by Mike Deodato; it's not that I'm not glad per se, it's just that we've seen this before (also Supergirl by Peter David and Gary Frank).

• Flash: The Silver Age Vol. 1

• Flinch Book Two

• Gotham Academy Vol. 2

• Gotham by Midnight Vol. 2

• Gotham Central Omnibus

I still find omnibuses to be an awkward reading experience, but if there was ever a book that deserved better and better formats, it's this one (meanwhile I'm not sure there's an audience for another collection of Kingdom Come).

• Graphic Ink: The DC Comics Art of Jim Lee

• Green Arrow by Kevin Smith

• Green Arrow Vol. 5

Continuing the Mike Grell collections, and with Black Canary, Eddie Fyers, and Shado. Support your Mike Grell collections!

• Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 3

Collects through the end of the pre-Flashpoint Geoff Johns/Green Lantern series and the entirety of the New 52. This doesn't, at present, seem to include the non-Green Lantern parts of "Rise of the Third Army" and "Wrath of the First Lantern," but maybe those are coming (or I can't recall; they may not be that essential).

• Green Lantern Vol. 6: The Life Equation (The New 52)

• Green Lantern Vol. 7

• Green Lantern: Lost Army Vol. 1

• Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead

• Harley and Ivy: The Deluxe Edition

• Harley Quinn and Power Girl

• He-Man: The Eternity War Vol. 2

• Immortal Doctor Fate

Collects a variety of early to 1980s Dr. Fate stories, including by Paul Levitz and J.M. DeMatteis.

• Injustice Year One: The Complete Edition

• Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four Vol. 1

• Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Three Vol. 2

• Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Three Vol. 2

• Invisibles Book One

• JLA: Gods and Monsters

• John Constantine: Hellblazer Vol. 13

• Joker: Endgame

• Justice League 3001 Vol. 1

• Justice League of America Vol. 1

The new Bryan Hitch series, in hardcover.

• Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. 1

• Justice League Vol. 6: Injustice League (The New 52)

• Justice League Vol. 7: Darkseid War

• Justice League: Gods And Men (Darkseid War)

This would appear to be the collection that has elsewhere been listed as DC Comics: Darkseid War.

• Kill Your Boyfriend/Vinamarama Deluxe

Two Vertigo books by Grant Morrison together.

• Kingdom Come 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

• Lobo Vol. 2

• Lucifer Vol. 1

• Manifest Eternity

• Martian Manhunter Vol. 1

• Midnighter Vol. 1

• Mortal Kombat X Vol. 3

• New Suicide Squad Vol. 2

• Newsboy Legion by Simon and Kirby Vol. 2

• Nightwing Vol. 4

Said to collects issues #27-34 of the Chuck Dixon series, spanning Love and Bullets and Darker Shade of Justice.

• Omega Men Vol. 1
• Omega Men Vol. 1

Happily but confusingly, the upper listing is the new Tom King series, and the lower listing is a collection of classic 1980s Omega Men appearances. This is said to collect Green Lantern #141-144, #161, Action Comics #535-536, New Teen Titans #24-25, New Teen Titans Annual #1, and Omega Men #1-4, which includes the debut appearance of Lobo.

• Prez Vol. 1

• Quarantine Zone

• Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1

• Robin Vol. 2

Said to collect Robin issues #6-10 by Chuck Dixon, which collects that series's parts of Knightquest and KnightsEnd (this may be an odd collection). The next volume, if it gets the Prodigal material out of the way, would then be the re-introduction of Spoiler into Dixon's Robin series.

• Robin: Son of Batman Vol. 1

• Scalped Deluxe Edition Book Four

• Secret Six Vol. 1
• Secret Six Vol. 4

The former is the first collection of the new Gail Simone series (kind of seems awful late, doesn't it?); the latter would seem to collect part of Cats in the Cradle and part of Reptile Brain from the original Simone series, but I'm skeptical that it's parts and not the whole.

• Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Vol. 3

• Sinestro Vol. 3

• Smallville Season 11 Vol. 8: Chaos

• Starfire Vol. 1

• Suicide Squad Vol. 2: The Nightshade Odyssey

Once solicited and then cancelled, with the forthcoming movie this collection of the John Ostrander series is back on the schedule again. It's not often we get a second chance; buy this one like crazy, kids.

• Suicide Squad Vol. 3

But wait, there's more! This appears to be a third collection of the John Ostrander series, collecting issues #16-22. This is almost, but not quite, Oracle's first appearance (that's in issue #23, which is also an Invasion! crossover). Keep 'em coming!

• Supergirl by Peter David & Gary Frank

Also as we've discussed previously, this is basically just a reprint of the previously-published Supergirl trade. David has expressed he's not thrilled, though the story here is pretty top-notch.

• Supergirl Vol. 1

Collecting Jeph Loeb's issues starting with Superman/Batman.

• Superman & the Justice League America

I've said before that this is my favorite Justice League team -- Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, and Guy Gardner, plus Superman, Maxima, and Bloodwynd. As written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, this book was often a fifth "Triangle Title," especially in its crossover with Death of Superman. Glad DC hasn't forgotten about this and glad to see it getting recognition.

• Superman Adventures Vol. 2

• Superman Vol. 1

Here's a sticky widget. The new post-Convergence storyline "Truth," by Gene Luen Yang and John Romita ... with a new Vol. 1 renumbering. Now, Aquaman, for instance, is getting a new writer in Cullen Bunn, but Bunn's first collection is solicited (above) as Aquaman Vol. 7. Who can tell what books get what numbers these days? Is there a pattern? I'd think it makes it hard for readers and vendors to keep it straight -- Superman Vol. 1 is concurrent with Aquaman Vol. 1 but then also Superman Vol. 1 is concurrent with Aquaman Vol. 7?

• Superman: Secret Identity Deluxe Edition

• Superman: The Golden Age Vol. 1

• Superman: The Men of Tomorrow

• Swamp Thing Vol. 7: Season's End

The final collection of Charles Soule's Swamp Thing, ending before Convergence.

• Sweet Tooth Deluxe Book Two

• Teen Titans Vol. 2

• Vertigo Quarterly SFX

• We Are Robin Vol. 1

• Wonder Woman by Mike Deodato

Kind of funny William Messner-Loebs doesn't get a credit, since I believe he wrote all of these. Astoundingly, according to the solicitations, this is not even a "giant-size" collection of the previously-collected The Contest and Challenge of Artemis; it's just Contest, suggesting there's a volume 2 around the corner. It seems strange to me to re-solicit an out-of-print book with a different name but essentially the same contents, now linked to the artist; the up-side is, 1990s extreme art aside, this was actually an interesting Wonder Woman story and introduced the fan-favorite character.

• Wonder Woman Vol. 7

• Wonder Woman Vol. 8

• Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1

Seemingly a hardcover release, which we've seen solicited before, so maybe it's been delayed or maybe this is the paperback even though it says hardcover.

• Wonder Woman: War of the Gods

If I had to choose just one book on this list ... OK, that would be hard, but War of the Gods would be pretty high up there. I have waited forever for this book, a collection of the 1991 crossover that was the first in-title crossover DC had done in a couple of years, starring Wonder Woman and marking the beginning of the end of George Perez's run on the title. We've talked about this a little bit before already; as I said then, the crossover included Superman versus Quetzalcoatl in Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove's Man of Steel; Flash racing Hermes; a pretty bloody issue of Suicide Squad; a good Maxie Zeus story in Batman; Lobo versus Captain Marvel in LEGION and then variously Wonder Woman versus Lobo and the Demon Etrigan; a New Titans issue roundabouts "Titans Hunt"; Pariah from Crisis on Infinite Earths; Captain Atom and Hawk and Dove issues that ended both comics before Armageddon 2001; and Wonder Woman's budding friendships with Dr. Fate Inza Nelson and Hawkwoman Shayera Thal.

Again, I expected none of this to be included in the collection, and indeed it is only said to collect War of the Gods #1-4 and the Wonder Woman tie-in issues, #58-61. I'll take it, and gladly.

• World's Finest: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1

• World's Funnest

Some nice books here, and especially good to see DC continuing to fill out their 1980s and 1990s collections. You try it now -- if you could pick just one book from this list, what would it be? (Good thing you don't have to!)