It’s been a busy week here, and I’m sure it’s been equally hectic everywhere else. But it is Friday, which means a few minutes should be taken to scan the wide expanse of the Internet for some interesting early afternoon reading. Ask and ye shall receive.

• We debuted four pages from the first issue of WEDNESDAY COMICS this week, and so far the response has been resoundingly positive.

• This week’s NYT Graphic Best Seller list features BATMAN R.I.P., BATMAN: HEART OF HUSH, BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, JOKER, ALL STAR SUPERMAN v2, SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC and BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

• IGN has an early look at Batman in July, while NEWSARAMA runs down the Superman titles for the same month.

• Comic Book Resources reviews GREEN LANTERN CORPS #35, SECRET SIX #8 and ACTION COMICS #876.

• Dan DiDio answers fan questions at NEWSARAMA, and, most notably, reveals that artist Mark Bagley will be joining the BATMAN creative team in July. NEWSARAMA caught up with the artist today.

Ah, dawn in the city. I start going through emails. Renato Guedes has sent us pencils for pages 9-10 of SUPERMAN #688. Wow, these are gorgeous! Renato has been nice enough to draw this critical scene first, as we’ll be flashing back to it in SUPERMAN ANNUAL #14 a couple of months later.  Some more gorgeous pencils are in from guest-penciller Fernando Dagnino for SUPERGIRL #41—man, he’s SO good. Looking at our schedule, however, I’m thinking it might be more logical to ask Fernando to draw the upcoming SUPERGIRL ANNUAL rather than ACTION #878-879.

Dan pops his head into my office and wishes me a good morning. Communicate with Fernando’s agent, David, by email and put forth my suggestion. He’ll get back to me. Most of the other emails are either updates on work progress or artists stating their availability.

I go through the lettering for SUPERMAN #687 one last time in preparation for the book to be sent off to the printer, then look over the latest inked pages from Pere Pérez for June’s ACTION ANNUAL. Really, really great stuff! Man, I’m lucky. Get an email from Greg Rucka saying how happy he is with the pages as well. Greg’s up early this morning—must be ‘cause he has kids.

Jamal Igle drops me an email—he’s back from two weeks in France with his wife and daughter. I should have been a penciler. Enjoy a chat with Gary Frank regarding SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN #2 and the cover he’s working on for SUPES: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #5.

While on the phone with Gary, Pete Woods submits a design for a new character who will be playing a progressively larger role in the Superman books over the summer. All I can say is, “WOW!” I don’t know how he does it time and again, but Pete nails it on the first try.

Assistant Editor Wil Moss strolls in with some last-second questions regarding the SUPES #687 coloring, specifically involving a scene deep in the heart of Metropolis’s sewers, were Atlas currently hangs his hat. As usual, he raises an excellent point, and splits to let colorist David Curiel know what we’re thinking. Then he returns with Editor Liz Gehrlein and affable Associate Editor Sean Ryan—must be time for our daily group meeting. We review the state of our respective books, running proposed solutions by each other, then get to discussing the various pitches we’re considering for a very-down-the-road 80-page book.  In the process, we eliminate a few repeating beats in a couple of the stories and see a theme for the overall book emerging. Also in the process, a good twenty more emails show up.

The lunch hour arrives, which means eating at my desk and attempting to catch up on email. I also spend a bit chatting with James Robinson, who is putting the finishing touches on a Captain Atom story he is co-writing with Greg. He, Greg and I then share our thoguhts—via email—on the initial designs that come in from the Captain Atom artist, CAFU. Simply stunning! We explore steering some of the architectural designs in a slightly different direction.

All of the sudden it’s 1:30, which means it’s time for the weekly Superman writers’ chat. Liz, Sean and Wil reemerge from their offices to join me, and we phone up Greg, James and SUPERGIRL writer Sterling Gates and begin a very focused discussion on our next crossover between the Super-books in August. What these guys have come up with is simply amazing, and I’m getting more and more excited about the event. About five minutes in, Geoff Johns joins us—in person!  Geoff’s taken up temporary residence in our fine city while constructing the upcoming BLACKEST NIGHT epic. I choose not to ask Geoff who’s feeding his dog, just in case he’s forgotten about that.  The call ends at around 2:45, but that’s only because we editorial people have a meeting coming up which we need to prepare for.

3:00 on Wednesdays means it’s time for our weekly staff meeting. Part of the focus each week is on the general status of the many books coming out from now through about 12 weeks down the line. Dan also goes through a couple of top-secret items with the full staff, then fills us in on his trip to Seattle’s Emerald Con. Sounds like a great show, and the fan response he got is really gratifying to hear.

The rest of the day is divided between returning emails, finding reference for artists, taking stock of the status of our covers and solicits for the next catalogue cycle with Wil, and preparing as best we can for what awaits us tomorrow.

5:30 rolls around and I head for my long train ride home, during which I’ll be reading Greg’s latest script pages for the ACTION ANNUAL and a short story by James for the upcoming SUPERMAN SECRET FILES detailing the humble beginnings of a certain Project 7734.

It’s Friday. You’re probably thinking about the weekend and hopefully enjoying some nice weather (it’s surprisingly nice here at 1700 Broadway in the NYC). We have more good news for you: A preview of THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #1, by writer Gerry Conway and artist Chris Batista, featuring an amazing cover by the legendary Brian Bolland. You may recall his work on ANIMAL MAN. If not, shame on you.

In a not-too-distant future, Animal Man finds himself on the verge of losing, well, everything. His marriage is failing, his children are grown and growing distant and, worst of all, his powers are failing. Great time for his arch-foe to show up? And is there a Buddy Baker when everything he holds dear is slipping away? Oh, and click on that Bolland cover again. It’s nice, huh?

THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #1 hits 5/27.

Of course not. You got a look at SUPERMAN and BATMAN yesterday, and today we unveil a look at Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred’s METAMORPHO tale, plus a page from Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook’s lovely KAMANDI strip.

Part of the fun that comes with working on The Source is the chance to see cool art pop into my inbox from the hardworking DCU editors. As I was wandering around the sixth floor earlier this week, R.E.B.E.L.S editor Brian Cunningham let me know that artist Claude St. Aubin will be stepping in for regular artist Andy Clarke on R.E.B.E.L.S, with writer Tony Bedard. Instead of just rephrasing what Brian told me, I’ve decided to quote him directly. It’s like live-blogging, except not at all:

An artist of Andy Clarke’s caliber needs help on a monthly book. The level of detail in his work takes time. Thankfully, we can spot Andy with Claude St. Aubin, who is doing the strongest work of his career. Joined by inker Scott Hanna, Claude’s work ramps up with issues #5 and #6. Andy returns in issue #7 and #8 — which I’m sure you’ll see pages from right here on The Source.

Well said, Brian. Check out St. Aubin’s handiwork below.

You just saw the first four pages from DETECTIVE COMICS #853 over at IGN, but why stop there? It’s Neil Gaiman, New York Times bestselling novelist, winner of more awards than we can list and one of the true trailblazing creators in the industry. Artist extraordinaire Andy Kubert. Batman. Here, for your continued reading pleasure, are two more pages from the issue — which concludes the two-part “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” story — picking up where IGN left off.

The brainchild of DC Comics Art Director Mark Chiarello, WEDNESDAY COMICS is a unique and groundbreaking storytelling method — 16 pages, printed on broadsheet-size newsprint, featuring weekly stories by the best and brightest creators out there. It’s gotta look great, right?

We have your first peek at a page from writer John Arcudi and artist Lee Bermejo’s SUPERMAN strip, along with a page from the 100 BULLETS team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, re-teaming on the Dark Knight for the first time since their acclaimed “Broken City’ arc.

As Wednesday comes to a close, it’s a good time to pop in and see what’s happening on the Superman side of the DCU, specifically, SUPERGIRL, where the creative team of writer Sterling Gates and artist Jamal Igle continue to redefine the Maid of Might. Easy for me to say, sure, but the cover to July’s #43 and a few pencils from #41 should help convince any doubters as well. The pencils, by guest artist Fernando Dagnino, are pretty snazzy, to say the least.

IGN already gave us a look at the inked version, but here at The Source, we’re all about sharing. So, on that note, here’s the color version of the cover, by Mr. Frank Quitely and Alex Sinclair. BATMAN AND ROBIN #2 hits in July.

Not only is Jim Starlin a writer who knows his way around a universes-spanning space epic, but he’s drawn his fair share over the years. He gets the chance to do it one more time starting with STRANGE ADVENTURES #5, as the writer/artist takes on both roles. Check out some pencils from July’s STRANGE ADVENTURES #5 to see a bit of what’s in store for the rest of the epic mini-series.