Beginning in the summer of 2007, nearly a decade after their original publication and on the eve of the return to the universe, DC Comics collected all 18 books from the original Tangent waves from 1997 and 1998 in a series of three trade paperbacks. If you’ve been enjoying Shawn Engel’s and my coverage of the books on your own, but are more of a trades-only person, here’s a closer look at the trades that are available.

Each edition featured a brand new cover by Dan Jurgens and Kevin Conrad featuring some of the characters in that specific volume. Even though the Flash, the Green Lantern, the Joker and individuals from Nightwing each are featured in two separate volumes (as they headlined two books), only the Green Lantern gets two cover appearances on the trades. Regardless, as a bonus, since those front covers of the trades are easy to find at online retailers and comic indexes across the Internet, I’ll be offering a look at the back cover of each edition, which are composed using artwork from the comics’ original covers.

Tangent, Vol. 1

Released: Aug. 29, 2007
Cover price: $19.99
Pages: 208
Edition editor: Peter Hamboussi

Contents: The Atom #1, Metal Men #1, Green Lantern #1, The Flash #1 and Sea Devils #1
Note: All five books are from the 1997 wave.

Tangent, Vol. 2

Released: Jan. 23, 2008
Cover price: $19.99
Pages: 192
Edition editor: Peter Hamboussi

Contents: The Joker #1, Nightwing #1, Secret Six #1, Doom Patrol #1 and The Batman #1
Note: All books except Batman are from the 1997 wave.

Tangent, Vol. 3

Released: June 25, 2008
Cover price: $19.99
Pages: 208
Edition editor: Sean Mackiewicz

Contents: The Superman #1, Wonder Woman #1, Nightwing: Night Force #1, The Joker’s Wild #1, The Trials of the Flash #1, Tales of the Green Lantern #1, Powergirl #1 and JLA #1
Note: All books are from the 1998 wave. The shorter page counts in the second-wave books allowed them to collect more in one edition.

But what about Tangent: Superman’s Reign, the follow-up series that began in 2008? It’s been collected, too, in two volumes. The first featured a new cover by Dan Jurgens and Trevor Scott that paid homage to the iconic cover to FLASH #123. The second used artwork by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, recycled from issue #11 of the series.

Here’s a closer look at each volume.

Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Vol. 1

Released: Feb. 4, 2009
Cover price: $19.99
Pages: 160
Edition editor: Sean Mackiewicz

Contents: Tangent: Justice League of America (Vol. 2) #16 (first story only) and Superman’s Reign #1 through 6

Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Vol. 2

Released: Sept. 9, 2009
Cover price: $19.99
Pages: 144
Edition editor: Sean Mackiewicz

Contents: Tangent: Superman’s Reign #7 through 12

To date, none of the original Tangent books or issues of Superman’s Reign have been collected in hardcover form. However, the Justice League of America story also was collected in the trade paperback and hardcover editions of Justice League of America: The Injustice League.