Bullets: Criminal, Incognito, & Gotham Central.

I was hoping to blog before yesterday, but it's been another busy week, so another Thursday post will have to do.

• Criminal Trade Paperback. Buying a copy from my local comic shop yesterday, I confirmed Ed Brubaker's announcement that the trade paperback of Criminal: The Sinners is now in stores. The story improves with every reading, and this fifth volume includes the cover art for the five monthly issues and an introduction by crime novelist Ian Rankin.
  
  
• Incognito Sequel in Monthly Issues. September solicitations for the major publishers are rolling out, and those who share Brubaker's enthusiasm for the recent trend of one-dollar reprints will be happy to know that Dark Horse is jumping on the bandwagon. The first set was announced for August, and their "1 for 1" program continues in September with licensed properties like Star Wars, Buffy, and Serenity.
  
  More importantly, those who have been waiting for more from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips should be very interested to know that the debut issue of Incognito: Bad Influences has finally been solicited.

  One of the biggest Hollywood options of the year, nominated for THREE Eisner Awards, INCOGNITO is finally back for more! It’s apocalyptic pulp noir at its finest!
  
  It’s been over a year since Zack Overkill came out of Witness Protection to build a new life. But working for the government isn’t that different from being controlled by them, and his new secret identity is becoming more trouble than it’s worth... So what will Zack do when tasked with a mission that sends him on a hunt into darkest corners of the super-criminal underworld where he was raised? Also returning with Incognito are the exclusive Pulp magazine essays by Jess Nevins, Professor of pulp history, only available in the single issues of Incognito.

  The first issue is scheduled for a September 15th release date.
  
  
• Gotham Central Hardcover. Finally, with the third volume just hitting stores, it appears that the final hardcover collection of Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka's DC police procedural may be released early next year.
  
  On June 3rd, the blog Collected Editions posted a list of advance solicitations for DC collections, for early 2011. The list includes Gotham Central Book Four: Corrigan and a trade paperback release for Book One: In The Line of Duty. The story links to an Amazon page currently listing a February 8th release date for the hardcover, and the current Wikipedia page for the critically acclaimed series claims (without attribution) that the book will complete the 40-issue collection and even include excerpts from Infinite Crisis and 52.

Whether a complete collection of the series ought to include those excerpts is a subject for another time. For now, there's Gotham Central Book Four and Criminal Volume 5.


Buy Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips comics from Amazon.com

Gotham Central Volume 3, In Stores Now.

I had forgotten that it was scheduled for a June 9th release, but the third hardcover collection of Gotham Central was released just yesterday.

I confirmed that the solicitation was mistaken -- and the listing at DCcomics.com is still inaccurate -- in suggesting that the story "Dead Robin" is being collected in this volume. That arc, from issues #33-36, will presumably be found in the final hardcover that I would expect to see next year.

This book continues the complete reproduction of the award-winning series, as it collects issues #23-31. Greg Rucka now has top billing, as I believe Ed Brubaker contributes only one two-part story, "On the Freak Beat," which fittingly features Catwoman.

The series was one of my favorite ongoing series from the "Big Two" superhero universes, and so I continue to recommend the hardcover collections.