A while back, I got into an interesting twitter conversation with David F. Walker about how companies measure the success of a comic book by the pre-orders of the monthly book. I’ll talk about collected editions in a bit.
 
For the uninitiated, pre-orders of comic books are solicited 3 (or more) months before the book is available for retail sale. As such, there are no reviews nor are there many previews available for stores and consumers to research. Because these are monthly books, you’ll have purchased issues 1, 2, 3, maybe even 4 before you can read #1. The Atlantic Monthly published in-depth article about this process http://theatln.tc/2sgcGZR

So for my nickles and dimes to affect publishing, they need to be spent pre-ordering books and hoping that they’ll be good. I do not like to operate this way. Traditionally, I prefer to heavily research purchases, and I like me a bargain. A creator is pretty much never going to make a dime off of any of my bargain bin or used purchases. (The same is true for “normal” books. Your used book purchases don’t help an author in an direct way.)
 
What especially confounds me is that, according to Walker, my purchases of collected editions come too late to help the actual creators. A book is either approved or cancelled long before a collected edition comes into play. According to http://nyti.ms/2s4bV6r Black Panther crew was cancelled after less than a month of retail sales. No trade paperback sales are going to help that situation.
 
What lead me to tweeting questions to Walker was this article http://bit.ly/2qX2W2w .
 
So here is a draft of my JUN17 pre-orders:

Please note, these are not recommendations. I've not read them nor have I read reviews of them. I'm selecting them based on the writers and/or the solicitation blurbs.

ADVENTURE FINDERS #1
(W) Rod Espinosa
JUN171199
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171199

AMERICAN WAY THOSE ABOVE AND BELOW #2
(W) John Ridley
(A/CA) Georges Jeanty
JUN170415
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170415

ARYA #1
(W) Sofia Davila, Minjun Chen
JUN171198
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171198

BANKSHOT #3
(W) Alex De Campi
(A/CA) Chris Cross
JUN170090
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170090

BLOOD BROTHERS #3
(W) Fabian, Jr. Rangel
(A/CA) Javier Caba
JUN171540
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171540

CATALYST PRIME ACCELL #3
(W) Joe Casey
(A/CA) Damion Scott
JUN171787
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171787

CATALYST PRIME INCIDENTALS #1
(W) Joe Casey, Ramon Govea
(A/CA) Larry Stroman
JUN171779
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171779

CATALYST PRIME NOBLE #4
(W) Brandon Thomas
(A/CA) Roger Robinson
JUN171792
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171792

CATALYST PRIME SUPERB #2
(W) David Walker, Sheena C. Howard
(A) Ray-Anthony Height & Various
(CA) Ray-Anthony Height
JUN171783
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171783

DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #3
(W/A/CA) Howard Chaykin
JUN170746
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170746

HI-FI FIGHT CLUB #1
(W) Carly Usdin
(A/CA) Nina Vakueya
JUN171291
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171291

SHEENA #0 CVR A LUPACCHINO
(W) Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo
(A)Moritat
(CA) Emanuela Lupacchino
JUN171444
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171444

VICTOR LAVALLE DESTROYER #4
(W) Victor Lavalle
(A) Dietrich Smith
(CA) Micaela Dawn
JUN171314
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN171314

In celebration of Jack Kirby’s 100th birthday DC is releasing a set of specials. Oddly enough, Marvel’s offering is rather lackluster; maybe they’re feeling sore about how the Kirby estate had to take them to court for Captain America creation credit...

BLACK RACER & SHILO NORMAN SPECIAL #1
(W) Reginald Hudlin
(A/CA) Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz
JUN170375
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170375

DARKSEID SPECIAL #1
(W) Mark Evanier, Sam Humphries
(A) Scott Kolins, Steve Rude
(CA) Chris Burnham
JUN170374
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170374

MANHUNTER SPECIAL #1
(W) Keith Giffen & Various
(A) Nick Bradshaw, Klaus Janson
(CA) Bruce Timm
JUN170373
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170373

NEW GODS SPECIAL #1
(W) Shane Davis, Walter Simonson
(A) Shane Davis & Various
(CA) Shane Davis, Michelle Delecki
JUN170370
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170370

NEWSBOY LEGION & BOY COMMANDOS SPECIAL #1
(W/A/CA) Howard Chaykin
JUN170371
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170371

SANDMAN SPECIAL #1
(W) Dan Jurgens, Steve Orlando
(A) Jon Bogdanove, Rick Leonardi
(CA) Paul Pope
JUN170372
http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUN170372