Trade winds: DC Comics puzzles me when it comes to issuing collected editions. Although the publisher has long had a reputation as being sluggish and erratic when it came to releasing trades, in the past year or so, it seems to have implemented some sort of coherent collected-editions program. I just can't figure out what it is.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to buying comics. I'm one of those freaks of nature who actually likes the single issues -- I refuse to say the "P" word -- and typically only pick up trades when I'm late learning about an ongoing or miniseries. In short, I don't suffer from Wait-For-The-Trade Syndrome.

That being said, I still puzzle over DC's trade policies, wondering when or if certain series would be collected. Take "Gotham Central," for instance -- a book deserving of a larger audience that a tpb likely would bring. Now, at least some of my puzzlement has ended.

In an apparent press-release purge, DC runs down the collected editions being collected in spring 2004. Among them, the trade collecting "Gotham Central" #1-5 for $9.95.

Other titles of note: "Teen Titans: A Kid's Game," collecting #1-7, for $9.95; "Formerly Known As The Justice League" for $12.95; "Green Arrow: Straight Shooter," collecting #26-31, for $12.95; and "JSA: The Liberty Files," for $19.95.

There's also the "Shazam Archives: Vol. 4" hardcover for $49.95, for anyone looking to get me a Christmas gift. Or you can go with the deluxe hardcover "Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity" for a mere $24.95.