Beginning this month DC Comics begins releasing book collections of The New 52, the wildly successful relaunch of DC’s monthly superhero comic book line, with hardcover editions of Justice league of America Vol. 1: The Origin by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee and Batman Vol. 1: Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, in addition to a trade paperback edition of Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt by Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman.
In a phone interview with DC Comics executive v-p of marketing John Cunningham and senior v-p sales Bob Wayne, Cunningham said hardcover and paperback editions collecting the first years storylines will go on sale in general book stores this week, after being released in the direct market comics shop last week.
Cunningham said the release of the book collections will coincide with a new series of TV ads directed at the general book trade with revised book cover art, though based on the online ads created for the original New 52 launch back in September in the direct market. “That’s how we planned [the marketing campaign] from the beginning,” Cunningham said, “it’s meant to attract new readers and the widest market possible.”
Wayne and Cunningham said that store orders for the books are high and the two hardcover releases, Justice League of America Vol. 1 and Batman Vol. 1, are both on second printings.
Wayne also said to expect to book collections of the forthcoming (and controversial) Before Watchmen prequels during the summer of 2013. Despite the controversy surrounding the project, the Before Watchmen preguels—regularly denounced by Moore—will begin to be released this summer and are a hit with retailers who are said be impressed and ordering in big numbers. The Before Watchmen prequels are seven new comic book series created by an all star cast of DC creative talent and based around iconic characters from Watchmen, the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons superhero epic.
