Prelude to Infinite Crisis thoughts

So DC has announced the Prelude to Infinite Crisis collection, and I, for one, am super-excited, because I'm eager to see the new text pages/captions that tie the whole thing together. It's kind of like the "what went before" episodes of The Apprentice, only, well, good. (And may I just say, go Tana!)

At the same time, I'm not sure Prelude is good for the "wait-for-traders," if you will; it's a whole lot of comics that I haven't read the issues leading up to yet, so I'll probably be buying Prelude and then storing it until the right time to read. Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen doesn't come out until July, and that seems to lead right up to the Flash issues that's in Prelude, though it does make one wonder which trade the Flash/Wonder Woman crossover will end up in (though crossover trades seem to be all the rage these days, between Batman: War Games and JSA: Black Reign. So long as they don't reprint the issues in both Flash and Wonder Woman trades. That's just annoying. On the other hand, maybe Prelude is the solution, and that's the only place those two issues will appear. Who knows?) Personally, I might've been happier with a "Prelude to Infinite Crisis trade paperback month" ... hey, a blogger can dream, no?

The other item of note is the lead story from the Superman 2004 Secret Files. You all picked that up when it first came out, didn't you? Because it seems now like there was a whole bunch of Infinite Crisis stuff going on in all that political intrigue, and we'll see that story both in Prelude and in Superman: That Healing Touch coming out in July.

As for what else is in there ... I was a bit disappointed to see that the cover looks like yet another Countdown to Infinite Crisis miniseries advertisement, a la, well, Countdown itself. Yep, all four miniseries are represented. Hopefully Prelude will read a bit more fluidly.

And I wonder, are we looking at a floppy spine, or a trade spine? For 96 pages, I imagine the latter. In fact, this could closely resemble the Young Justice/Titans: Graduation Day trade from a while back, that quickly-printed thing that actually had an advertisement on the back. I'm actually not so opposed to this, if it would mean that trades would come out faster, though Marvel seems to be able to accomplish quick trades with wrap-around art. But we'll see; I'd love to know what's in Prelude ahead of time if that's ever revealed.

Which does beg the question: has anyone found an online store that's selling Prelude? Because so far, I haven't, and I'd like to order it with my August comics.

So that's my take. Unfortunately, it looks like DC August 2005 solicitations are not coming out tomorrow, despite the fact that it's the second Monday of the month; I guess it's the second Monday on or after the 15th of the month instead. Eh, well. Look for a Green Arrow: City Walls review soon, as well as some May price comparisons.