DC Trade Solicitations for January 2014 - Batman by Moench and Jones, Trinity War, Ostrander's Martian Manhunter, Hawkworld

Break out your party hats -- you wouldn't know it from the calendar, but according to DC Comics's latest trade paperbacks and collections solicitations, it's already 2014! DC's ringing in the new year with an early solicitation for the Trinity War crossover trade, the eagerly-awaited Batman by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones collection and Martian Manhunter by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, plus a bunch of wrap-up trades for cancelled titles: Deathstroke, Dial H, Ravagers, and Threshold.

Before we dig in, by the way, Bleeding Cool had an interesting article noting the potential cancellations of Katana and Sterling Gates's Vibe, later confirmed by DC; the site points out that each series' first collection seems to have been re-solicited, now to include the entirety of each series in one book respectively.

And now for January 2014:

• Justice League: Trinity War HC

Solicited now to take advantage of all the hullabaloo, but this book doesn't actually come out until next March. All the issues collected here can also ostensibly be found in other collections: Justice League #22-23 (Justice League Vol. 4), Justice League of America #6-7 (Justice League of America Vol. 1: World's Most Dangerous, out in November), Justice League Dark #22-23 (Justice League Dark Vol. 4), Constantine #5 (Constantine Vol. 1: Spark and the Flame, solicited this month), Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1-3 (Trinity of Sin: Pandora Vol. 1) and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #11 (Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger Vol. 2 or 3). That's a longer wait -- the Justice League book won't be out until April -- but that's the situation if you don't want to buy the same material twice.

I have seen other solicitations that suggest the "Trinity War"-based DC Free Comic Book Day 2012 issue will be in here, though this is not mentioned in DC's official solicitation.

• Constantine Vol. 1: The Spark and the Flame TP

Collects Constantine #1-6, #5 of which is a "Trinity War" tie in.

• Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange TP

This second and final Dial H collection includes the final issues, #7-15, plus the Villains Month issue, Justice League #23.3: Dial E.

• Deathstroke Vol. 2: Lobo Hunt TP

As I keep saying, I'm probably about the only one looking forward to this book, which collects Deathstroke #9-20 and the Zero Month issue (so thirteen issues, which is a lot for a trade). I am not expecting Shakespeare; rather I'm looking forward to the wild, outlandish, misshapen fun of a Rob Liefeld story that involves Deathstroke, Lobo, and some of the 1990s greatest Wildstorm creations, followed by Justin Jordan's Team 7-styled take on Deathstroke, the Teen Titans, and the Ravagers. This is going to be a blast, I'm sure of it.

This overfull trade, by the way, crosses over with the "Hawkman: Wanted" storyline, though (probably wisely) it doesn't collect any issues from the other series. Savage Hawkman Vol. 2: Wanted, an equally-large trade due out in December, will have the Hawkman issues; Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow has Green Arrow's contribution plus one of the Hawkman issue.

• Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 3: The Fatal Five TP

Another sizable trade -- Paul Levitz's Legion works best in big chunks, and this collects issues #15-23, nine issues. This also marks the end of this Legion iteration, ahead of the new Justice League 3000.

• Ravagers Vol. 2: Heavenly Destruction TP

The second and final Ravagers collection includes issues #8-12 plus the Zero Month issue.

• Supergirl Vol. 3: Sanctuary TP

The third Supergirl collection includes issues #13-19. Issues #14-17 are part of the "H'el on Earth" crossover with Superman and Superboy; those issues can also be found in the H'el on Earth collection. For the whole story in individual trades, you'll want Superman Vol. 3: Fury at World's End and Superboy Vol. 3: Lost.

• Threshold Vol. 1: The Hunted TP

All of Keith Giffen's nascent space series Threshold is collected here -- issues #1-8 and the Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #1. The DC solicitation doesn't mention the Larfleeze back-ups, suggesting they might not be collected, though the Amazon solicitation does mention them.

• Wonder Woman Vol. 4: War HC

Issues #19-23; completes Brian Azzarello's first Wonder Woman storyline. I felt a little let down by Vol. 3, but I'm excited for the twists and turns in Azzarello's conclusion.

• Dc Universe Presents Vol. 3: Black Lightning and Blue Devil TP

Though labeled as a collection of the Black Lightning/Blue Devil story, issues #13-16, this trade actually collects through #19, the end of DC Universe Presents, including Arsenal and Starfire stories.

• Batman by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones Vol. 1 HC

This is one we've been waiting for a while now. Check out our original breaking announcement for the full details, but this book collects Batman #515-525, 527-532, and 535-536, stretching from just after Knightsend to Underworld Unleashed and Legacy. A great set of supernatual, self-contained Batman stories.

• Martian Manhunter: Son of Mars TP

If you were only going to order one trade this month, this is the one I'd recommend. We've been waiting forever for DC to start collecting John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake's Martian Manhunter, and now they're collecting both this and the team's Spectre. This trade collects issues #0-9; the book ran for 38 issues, so there's plenty more volumes for DC to publish if we support this one!

• Hawkworld (New Edition) TP

No idea why DC's reprinting Hawkworld at this point, except that it remains the best Hawkman origin around (after which Hawkman continuity trends toward entropy, inevitably). I reviewed this one a few years ago.

• Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga (New Edition) TP

Maybe we can take from this that Legion isn't "dead" dead at DC quite yet. This reprints the 2010 deluxe hardcover, which expanded the "Great Darkness Saga" collection beyond its shorter, original collection.

• Power Girl: Power Trip TP

Collects JSA Classified #1-3 and Power Girl #1-12 by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (with Geoff Johns on the JSA issues), and Amanda Conner. These are enjoyable stories that present Power Girl well, if a little breezy for my tastes. This seems to me a strange reprint choice given how far out of continuity these stories are from the main DC universe, though I know the creators remain popular on their own.

• Jla Vol. 4 TP

The original hardcover collection of this book included JLA #34, #36-41, and JLA Classified #1-3. Unusually, the paperbacks have had slightly different contents. I'm surprised issue #34 isn't here (in fact I suspect that might be a typo); this book omits Grant Morrison's JLA Classified stories, but includes the beginning of Mark Waid's run, the "Tower of Babel" storyline (which is a good switch in my opinion).

• Justice League of America Omnibus Vol. 1 HC

You'll recall DC had solicited a Justice League of America Chronicles Vol. 1 paperback, which would have collected just Brave and the Bold #28-30 and Justice League of America #1-3. This Omnibus volume (replacing the canceled Chronicles) includes Brave and the Bold, Justice League of America through issue #30, and Mystery in Space #75.

• Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives Vol. 3 HC

This is not for me particularly, but there's someone who gets mad in the comments whenever I don't mention DC's Archives releases. Collects Superman #132-139 and parts of Action Comics #255-266. Enjoy!

That's a little taste of what I'll be picking up this January. What's on your pick list? Sound off in the comments!