Wednesday, November 9, 2011

First Savage Hawkman Collection Announced

DC has announced the first round of collected editions of the New 52 (well, mostly... Wonder Woman is missing for some reason...Frank, get on this!), including The Savage Hawkman!  

THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN VOL. 1 TP
Writer: Tony S. Daniel and James Bonney
Artist: Philip Tan
Collects: THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #1-6
$14.99 US, 144 pg

Collecting six issues for $15 is pretty standard, so that's no surprise.  Makes me wonder if the zombie threat introduced in #5 will be wrapped in #6, thus not ending in the middle of a story.  Or perhaps #5 and #6 are stand-alone stories?  (Also note that Jim Bonney is listed as a writer; according to solicits for #5 he is credited on that issue.  We'll have to see if he continues on beyond that.)

For what it's worth, the first collection of Hawkman v.4 featured 6 issues for $15, and was a 4-part story followed by a 2-part story.

Besides the omission of Wonder Woman (which by most accounts seems to be a popular title), the strange part of this announcement to me is the mix of softcovers and hardcovers.  14 of the 51 are hardcovers, and most of them are the usual suspects: Justice League, Batman/Detective, Superman/Action, Green Lantern, Flash.  Clearly these are the big "money maker" titles for DC so putting them into the more prestigious HC format makes sense.  What's worth mentioning is some of the other titles which make the HC cut, including Aquaman, Batwoman, Batgirl, and nearly all of the supporting Bat-Family and GL-centric books.  Clearly DC still has faith in the Bat and GL brands and feels they can sell these HCs.

I also wonder if the books will have similar trade dress (something related to "New 52") or will each one be branded uniquely?  Maybe some combination thereof?  And will the HCs eventually be put out in TP format as well (seems like a no-brainer to me).

What are your thoughts on how DC is collecting the New 52?

2 comments:

Juss said...

As I've written before, I was dreaming of a HC collection, with copious background notes and developmental drawings. This is disappointing but not surprising. I guess my dream might be revised now-depending on both sales and the direction Hawkman may go, that if the series continues beyond 6, say to 12 or 16 or 20, that someday we may get another hardbound Omnibus edition, with all that stuff that I want.

Juss said...

(Advance quelling, I hope, of criticism before it can even be expressed. I don't need any captious critics spoiling my good mood-they come so seldom, you know): I'm an old-time fan of the Liefeld characters Glory and Supreme. That really doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of them, him, or my bad or good taste.

But I wanted to provide this link, to authorial commentary on the first pages of the new Glory. This is exactly the kind of thing I'd hope to see, well, for *any* deluxe HC--Why, oh, why, Grant Morrison, didn't you do it for All Star Superman? But this is what I'd like to see for that super-nice Hawkman Omnibus of the present run someday:

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/2011/11/exclusive-preview-glory-23-with-creator.html