DC Trade Solicitations for January 2017 - Knightfall Omnibus, Batman: Night of the Monster Men, Rebirth Wonder Woman: The Lies, Batgirl 50 Years

DC Comics's January 2017 hardcover and trade paperback solicitations include the first in-family crossover of the Rebirth era, Batman's "Night of the Monster Men," though no new information about how the story will be collected in the individual titles. We've also got a couple new Rebirth collections, notably the first for Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman, Action Comics, and Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Finally there's a Batman: Knightfall Omnibus, which might be significant cause for celebration if we knew what it does and does not contain, but those details as you'll see are murky for now.

Dig into it with me, won't you?

• Batman—Detective Comics Vol. 1: Rise of the Batmen TP

First collection of James Tynion's well-regarded Rebirth series. Collects issues #934-940, so the question of whether the individual Rebirth trades will collect "Night of the Monster Men" continues for another month.

• Batman: Night of the Monster Men HC

Collects Batman #7-8, Nightwing #5-6, and Detective Comics #941-942. The trades of all three of these individual titles have halted just before (or skipped) the "Night of the Monster Men" issues; the question remains whether the second volumes will collect them or not.

• Batman Beyond Vol. 3: Wired For Death TP

The final collection of the pre-Rebirth Dan Jurgens series collects issues #12-16 and a "sneak peek" of the Rebirth special. It has often seemed to me the best way forward for "future" books like Batman Beyond and Legion of Super-Heroes in this day and age is to be very interactive with the present DCU, much in the way the post-Zero Hour Legion books were toward the end; that's what I'd suggest here too.

• Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1: Sinestro’s Law TP

Collects issues #1-7 and the Rebirth special. I just noticed Ethan Van Sciver riffing on some of his earlier Green Lantern covers for the cover of this one, which is a fun nod.

• Superman -- Action Comics Vol. 1: Path of Doom TP

Collects issues #957-962 of the post-Rebirth series.

• Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies TP

Previous solicitations had Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Lies collecting the odd-numbered issues of this series through issue #9; this new solicitation says it collects issues #1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, plus of course the Rebirth special.

• Batgirl: A Celebration of 50 Years HC

Writers for this one include Gardner Fox, Chuck Dixon, Kelley Puckett, and Gail Simone, so that suggests to me Birds of Prey/Oracle, Cassandra Cain, and the New 52 Barbara Gordon. I'm hoping Bryan Q. Miller's Stephanie Brown Batgirl gets a nod, too.

• Batman: Knightfall Omnibus Vol. 1 HC

Curiously the solicitation says it collects issues of Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Robin, Catwoman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight "and more -- watch for more details soon!" My fervent hope is that this is finally the one, true Knightfall collection(s) that includes all the pieces omitted from previous trades.

• Batman and the Outsiders Vol. 1 HC

Collects Brave and the Bold #200, New Teen Titans #37, and Batman and the Outsiders #1-12, which is a little short of the black and white Showcase Presents that collected through issue #19. This one ends with a timely Katana spotlight. Still 26 issues to collect, excluding the issues that reprinted the earlier material.

• Cosmic Odyssey: The Deluxe Edition HC

If you haven't read Cosmic Odyssey, Jim Starlin in his heyday and art by Mike Mignola, deluxe size certainly seems to me the way to do it.

• Earth 2 Vol. 6: Collision TP

As we've been discussing on the Collected Editions Facebook page, for a while it looked like Earth 2 Vol. 6: Collision would only be released in hardcover and not paperback, but we'll now finally see the paperback more than a year after the hardcover came out. This isn't an earth-shattering collection as it goes, but our discussion reflects that different people collect differently, and there's a want for the paperback regardless of how important the trade is, just as there's a want for the hardcover. Frankly I'm surprised that DC went back for the paperback at all (especially at the cusp of relaunches, trades have a tendency to appear in one form or to be cancelled), but I know some readers are glad they did.

• Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys TP

I'm a little surprised this paperback of the Harley Quinn miniseries wasn't hardcover first, as if perhaps there's a ceiling on Harley-mania. Anyway, no lack of Harley Quinn material out there for you to read if that's what you're looking for. Who'd of thought we'd live in a time where there was a live-action Harley Quinn in a Suicide Squad movie?

• New Teen Titans Vol. 6 TP

This volume does not go any farther than the New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 2, but it does collect New Teen Titans #38 chronologically, whereas the second omnibus omitted that issue and put it in the third volume (which broke from chronological collecting altogether to jump ahead about forty issues). Though obviously it's slow-going, that this volume includes issue #38 where it's supposed to be maybe suggests the seventh or eighth volume will begin collecting uncollected material (after all, it looks like we're getting a second Wonder Woman by George Perez omnibus collecting the uncollected issues of his run there).

• Superman/Batman Vol. 5 TP

This volume, collecting issues #50-63 of the pre-Flashpoint series, mashes up all of Vol. 8, Finest Worlds and part of Vol. 9, Night & Day in order to get the last of Michael Green and Mike Johnson's stories all together. Among other things, Batman gets Superman's powers, there's a Robin Tim Drake/Supergirl team-up, plus an important epilogue to their Search for Kryptonite story. Also included is Len Wein's never-before-collected Annual #3, which riffs on the classic Composite Superman-Batman.

• Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall TP

The final issues of the second New 52 Teen Titans series, #20-24, plus the Annual #2 and a "preview" of the Rebirth special (I'm curious to see how much material these "previews" include; my sense is that what was at one point the entire Rebirth specials being stuck into the final post-Flashpoint trades has now become "previews.")

• Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles TP

No exact word on the contents, but writers include George Perez, John Byrne, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Geoff Johns and Brian Azzarello, so you can basically piece together which eras those are, plus probably Wonder Woman's introductory issue of Justice League.

Is it January yet? I'm excited for the Rebirth trades and I'm not even through the "DC You" books yet. What are you looking forward to? Also don't miss this post on the Collected Editions Facebook page -- I'm looking for holiday gift suggestions!