Over at WIRED.com’s UNDERWIRE blog, Scott Thill interviews acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman about “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”, his two-part story with artist Andy Kubert, which concludes today in DETECTIVE COMICS #853. The entire interview is worth a close read, but here’s a sampling, as Gaiman reminisces about The Dark Knight:

Wired.com: Reading Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? one gets the idea that Batman has lived in your heart for a while.

Gaiman: When I was 5, I was in a car with my dad and he mentioned that there was this Batman TV show in America about a man who dressed up in a costume and fought crime. The only bat I ever knew was a cricket bat, so what I thought he looked like was rather odd, based on that. Months later, the series hit the U.K., and I remember watching and being affected by it. Really worrying, genuinely worrying, on a deep primal level, “Will he be OK?” That is the way it was with every deathtrap. If I missed the end of an episode, I’d get my friends to tell me he was OK.

If I were an Orange Lantern, I’d probably go around grabbing as many other blogs as possible. That’s avarice, isn’t it? An insatiable desire for wealth. And avarice is what drives Agent Orange and his gang, so much so that they’ve foregone a wordy oath and summed up what their goals, needs and hopes are with one word:

MINE.

So, enjoy this, our third “Corps 101″ installment, before Agent Orange tries to swipe it for himself.

Sometimes you’re just better off showing the art. On July 22, the Deluxe Edition of NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Neil Gaiman and artist Andy Kubert’s two-part “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” story will hit, and will also feature an all-new cover from Kubert. Consider this an early Christmas gift.

THE SHIELD image we debuted yesterday was pretty close to final. It’s hard to really tinker with such an iconic costume, so why try? But with a few more of the Red Circle characters available, it was a no-brainer to let an artist of J.G. Jones’ caliber take a stab at redesigning some. Here’s a look at Jones’ character sketch for INFERNO. Come back tomorrow for another sneak peek at the newest members of the DCU.

Oh, and because I’m in a giving mood, we’ve thrown in Jesus Saiz’s final take on the character, which will also serve as a cover, come August.

Yesterday, you got a breakdown of all the key members of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. But as we head into BLACKEST NIGHT, from mega-stars Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, how familiar are you with the rest of the colors of the emotional spectrum? Yeah, thought so. That really annoys me. Some might say, it makes me angry — and we all know what happens when you get really angry? Rage. Yes. See what I’m trying to do here?

Enough with the emotional joking, though. Here’s the basics on Atrocitus and his crew of rage-fueled monsters, put on the page by the amazingly talented Doug Mahnke.

We’ve previewed the first two parts of the TITANS/VIGILANTE/TEEN TITANS crossover “Deathtrap,” but why stop there? Kicking off right after the events of VIGILANTE #5, the issue finds our team getting roped into Jericho’s insane plot to take out the other Titans team. But how do you defeat someone that can control your very actions? We don’t have the answers for you here, but we do have some pretty Joe Bennett art and Sean McKeever words. Ain’t that enough?

TEEN TITANS #70 is on sale 4/29.

Good afternoon, clock watchers. Monday is almost over and you’re probably already wearing your coat and loading your bags. But there’s one more thing we want to show off before you hop in your cars or respective modes of transport.

As most of you know, come August, we’ll be publishing a number of books spotlighting the Red Circle characters, specifically The Shield, The Web, The Hangman and Inferno, under the watchful eye of writer J. Michael Straczynski. But before we get into all the specifics, let’s look at some cool art, shall we? Here’s a peek at THE SHIELD, from artist Jesus Saiz. Check back tomorrow for more. Enjoy the commute.

Yes, I know. The weekend is over. But not to worry — some stuff happened over the weekend that will help make this, the first day of the work week a bit more bearable. Here are few links to pass the time with:

• Josh Elder, over at THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, gives the two ALL STAR SUPERMAN collections high marks, calling the series “a superbly crafted and meticulously structured work.”

• IGN has a sneak peek at any and all GREEN LANTERN-related info for July, and in case you forgot, that’s when a little thing called BLACKEST NIGHT launches. So, yeah. You may want to click on that.

• Newsarama has their weekly TRINITY preview up and Comic Book Resources’ Robot 6 blog chimes in with their weekly annotations for the latest issue.

BLACKEST NIGHT #0, which hits on 5/2 (Free Comic Book Day, meaning it is, yes, free at participating comic shops) provides readers with the first concentrated glimpse at this summer’s mega-event, from writer Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis. As we move closer to BLACKEST NIGHT #1, we thought it’d be helpful to give readers a quick course on the spectrum of colors populating the universe and wielding power rings of varying power levels and emotional focus. Here, to kick things off is a two-page spread from incoming GREEN LANTERN artist Doug Mahnke, with the quick basics on Hal, Kyle, Guy and more.

Well, this is it.

In case you haven’t heard, JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #26 is the final issue from writer Geoff Johns, who has spent the better part of a decade chronicling the adventures of the JSA. But not to worry, as some of you are already well aware of, Johns has a ton of stuff in the pipeline. Namely, FLASH: REBIRTH and BLACKEST NIGHT.

And as for the JUSTICE SOCIETY, just last week we previewed pages from incoming artist Jesus Merino, who is teaming with writer Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges to pen the next chapter of the team’s history.

So, check out the pages, have a good cry, but also, stay tuned for the cool stuff in the works.