So this is pretty dumb, and also one of the reasons I’m binding my own Blackest Night issues. I knew they were going to screw up the collections the same way they kind of screwed up Sinestro Corps War (No Teen Titans or Blue Beetle issues, and that third trade is really awfully put together from a chronological perspective).

Here’s how the seven trades will shake down:

• Blackest Night - the main eight-issue miniseries
• Blackest Night: Green Lantern - the Green Lantern tie-in issues
• Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps - the GLC tie-in issues
• Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1 - the Blackest Night Batman, Superman and Titans miniseries
• Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 2 - the Blackest Night JSA, Flash, and Wonder Woman miniseries
• Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns - the eight “resurrected” titles
• Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps Vol. 1 - the three-issue miniseries

I think this method of trading is dumb and completely misses the point. This event is so intensely chronological you’ll end up reading everything out of order. There’s a reason why Geoff Johns but GL #43 before Blackest Night #0 and #1, just like there’s a reason why Blackest Night #4 comes in before Green Lantern Corps #42. If you read them completely out of order like these trades look like — just from the three main series alone — you’ll probably end up more confused than anything else.  Believe me, it’s hard enough to tell where the issues go on a weekly basis, wait until they’re all jam packed together!

Sigh. I really am too big of a comic nerd for my own good, if I’m actually a little peeved about this.