Writer Royal McGraw and artist Marcos Marz kick off a new CONFIDENTIAL arc titled “Blackhawk Down,” as we see Wayne Industries collaborator Blackhawk Industries lose valuable information right under Batman’s nose. The Dark Knight’s investigation leads him to Poland and an unexpected team-up to try and find out who’s behind the information swipe. Oh, and did I mention a giant robot? Well, there you go.

BATMAN: CONFIDENTIAL #36 hits 11/4.

Hola, folks!

I wish I could be like my ultra-trendy pal Michael Siglain, and give you a nice Halloween theme here, but let’s face it: on New Krypton, everyone wears a costume 24/7, and they don’t have candy there. (Notice none of the Kryptonians are overweight—well, except for Kal’s lawyer, but that’s genetic.) You’d think having been trapped in a bottle for decades they’d all be out of shape—or at least have invented Malomars. Whatever.

In celebration of not celebrating Halloween in space this year, here’s a shot from WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON (WONK to you insiders) #9, featuring Kal-El, some bodiless heads that are really big, and a couple of people I really wish were just dressing up, courtesy of James Robinson, Greg Rucka, Pete Woods and Nei Ruffino.

You can get the full horrific scoop of what’s going on here next Wednesday, the 4th, which is not just the first Wednesday of November, but about the time I’ll be trying to figure out a “What Superman’s Thankful for This Year” theme for the next column. Continuing our non-scary tour of the DC books, check out this upcoming page from ACTION #883, which comes out November 11th.

Wow, who knew Flamebird’s super-power was a knockout kiss? And hey, that Brimstone dude’s kinda Halloween-like, right? At least Rucka, Eric Trautmann, Pere Pérez and Javier Mena think so.

Check out this page from November 18th’s SUPERGIRL #47. Guess we know what Alura Zor-El thinks of Halloween, huh?

And if you want to see something that’s really scary, just imagine this day which Alura has been both eagerly anticipating and dreading simultaneously, as she at last comes face-to-face with the man who murdered her husband—Reactron!

Bet you wish you knew what they were saying, huh? My thanks to Sterling Gates, Matt Camp and the aforementioned Nei Ruffino for these glimpses into Supergirl’s future—well, her book’s future, anyway. Which brings us to November 25th, Thanksgiving eve, and SUPERMAN #694. Anyone remember Javi Pina? He teamed up with James Robinson to bring you this past summer’s SUPERMAN ANNUAL. Well, the scream team is at it again, this time for SUPERMAN #694, a.k.a. “Man of Valor” part 1, the arc which will bring Mon-El back in time to the very day Halloween was conceived, and… okay, it has nothing to do with Candy Day, but Bizarro is pretty scary, right? Huh? Please?

Wow, that’s some heady stuff, particularly with Blond’s coloring in place! Why, I—er, what? Oh, okay. That was Alex Segura on the phone, telling me I have failed utterly in my Halloween themage. Maybe I’d better get an early start on the Thanksgiving column. Anyone have a good suggestion for words that rhyme with “Turkey”?

I’m sure many of you dedicated readers picked up on the most recent DC NATION column in the back of the books this week, where our very own Simona Martore gave the page some international flavor. And, because we’re completists here at The Source, we’ve got the translation of Simona’s original text, to help those who couldn’t translate it on their own. Take it away, Simona:

As it is my turn, honor and duty to deliver a memorable DC Nation, I would like to approach this task in a peculiar manner. As you all know, we have so many exciting projects to discuss that I don’t even know where to begin, and the fact is that I don’t want to reveal too much! That’s why I came up with another interesting path to follow that will make my words harder for you to understand. Yes! Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Thus, I will transform myself into the multilingual African Deity Orumnila for a couple of paragraphs, and will discuss some of these projects in other languages.

Ready?

Vous êtes prêt? Avez-vous un dictionnaire multilingue proche de vous? Très bien! Je commence par écrire en français, la langue la plus belle. Je voudrais vous parlez d’une nuit noire, la plus noire de toutes les nuits, quand des anneaux noirs provoque l’enfer dans l’univers des super-héros. Il y était une fois un super-héro, son nom : l’Homme des Etoiles. Apres la mort de Ted Knight, Starman s’est incarné plusieurs fois. Je suis donc heureuse d’annoncer que l’une de ces incarnations sera de retour dans l’univers de DC. Mais cette fois, il y aura quelque chose d’étrange et de terrifiant ! Notre ami se conduira d’une façon bizarre et aura un rendez-vous peu agréable avec une vieille amie irlandaise et avec un personnage obscur à la fois. Cette nouvelle histoire de Starman sera écrite par la main magique de James Robinson qui connait parfaitement l’univers de l’Homme des Etoiles.

TRANSLATION: Do you have a multilingual dictionary with you? Very good! Let’s begin, then. I will start writing in French, which is the most beautiful language in the world. What I’d like to do is to tell you something about a night, the darkest of them all, when some black rings caused hell in the heroes’ world. Once upon a time, there was a superhero named Starman. After his death, he came back several times under different names. I am very happy to announce that one of his incarnations is coming back, but this time, he will do something strange and terrifying! Our superhero will behave in a peculiar manner and will have an interesting encounter with an old, Irish friend and another character who’s very dark in his own way. This new Starman episode will be written by the magic hand of James Robinson.

E con l’italiano, come va la cavate? Meglio di me? Puo’ darsi; tuttavia, essendo la mia lingua madre, mi sento in dovere di onorare la patria degli spaghetti e degli imperatori romani e di annoiarvi ulteriormente imprimendo qualche pensiero su carta in quello che alla maggior parte di voi potrebbe sembrare Latin gibberish.

A proposito di “Notti piu’ oscure”… Sono sempre entusiasta all’idea di leggere una storia dall’intreccio solido e originale e penso proprio che questo sia uno di quei fortunati esempi. Si da’ il caso, infatti, che una nuova avventura avente come protagonista Catwoman e in qualche modo associata ad una “notte buia”, sia in procinto di essere immortalata su carta da Fabian Nicieza. Questa volta la nostra felina preferita si trovera’ alle prese con un vecchio nemico che ostenta da sempre una passione poco ortodossa per artefatti generalmente usati a scopo protettivo od ornamentale.

TRANSLATION: And what about Italian? Do you speak it better than I do? Perhaps. However, as it’s my mother tongue, I feel obliged to honor the country of spaghetti and Roman emperors and to annoy you even further by writing something in a language that probably sounds like Latin gibberish to many you. Let’s start then. Speaking of blackest nights again…I am always very excited at the idea of reading a story that has a solid and original plot, and I think that this time I am dealing with something like that. In fact, a new adventure featuring Catwoman, associated somehow to a “dark night” and written by Fabian Nicieza, is going to be presented to you very soon. This time, our favorite feline will have to face an old enemy who is known for his passion for artifacts generally used ornamentally.

How do you like them apples? Shouldn’t we play U.N. more often? It’s fun! Thank you for your patience! Zai jian!

Few people have more skeletons in their proverbial closets than Niles Caulder, founder of the Doom Patrol. And with BLACKEST NIGHT doing a bang-up job of bringing those skeletons back in the form of Black Lanterns, you can only imagine how complicated things are going to get for the Doom Patrol. Caulder’s been playing god for years, and the time for a reckoning is at hand. Check out a few pages from this BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in issue below, from writer Keith Giffen and artist Justiniano, with a few pages from the METAL MEN co-feature, by Giffen, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire.

DOOM PATROL #4 hits 11/4.

It’s been a long week, Source gang, so we’ll try to keep this simple. The DCU titles make a regular habit of having some cool and different variant covers, so why not show off a few here from time to time. Makes sense, no? Here goes.

DETECTIVE COMICS #859 variant by JOCK.

And a lovely variant by SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN artist Gary Frank, for the third issue of the series.

Want more? Sure, we all do. How about the variant cover to WORLD’S FINEST #2? That’s doable. All you need to do is sign up for DC MOBILE NATION by texting ‘DC NATION’ to 62407. And, voila, pictures.

Source-rers!

At long last, the day has finally arrived: All Hallow’s Eve…eve’s eve. (All right, so it’s not the big day, but it’s in my own best interest to write this tomb today, and not tomorrow, during DC’s Halloween festivities, as there is a very good chance that I will be covered in blood tomorrow. I may also be in costume, but that’s another story.)

So are all of you boils and ghouls ready for the frightening festivities? Do you have your horror movies all picked out? Are your bags of candy ready to be opened and devoured? And what about your comics? Wanna read something that’ll make you go bump and Bwah-ha-ha in the night? In that case, check out this all-new preview page from BOOSTER GOLD #26:

Spooky. Next up is another interior page, this one from the upcoming BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT (due out this December), in which a blizzard of unimaginable proportions blankets fair Gotham in a bed of icy white death. This frigid little tale comes courtesy of artist extraordinaire Rafa Garres and writer Kevin Shinick (of “Robot Chicken” fame…check out his “The Arkham Redemption” bit—it’s fantastic). Their tragic tale focuses on Commissioner Gordon and is called, “What Falls Below.” Take a peek:

But what’s Halloween without Doug Moench & Kelley Jones, and their moody, atmospheric, pointy-eared Batman? Here’s a page from issue four of their current BATMAN: UNSEEN mini-series, which hits in a couple weeks:

Want more gratifying gruesomeness to tide you over? Well, might I then suggest SUPERMAN/BATMAN #65, which was our horrifying Halloween issue, or the jam-packed extravaganza and sure-to-be instant classic known as the DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2009.

Rumor has it that the nefarious HOUSE OF MYSTERY character I…VAMPIRE makes an appearance in this little ditty, and I, for one, would like to commend the obviously brilliant and undoubtedly handsome writer who resurrected this classic creature of the night. Well done, sir!

Of course, for those of you who are looking for something you can really sink your teeth into (you know, just the other day I said I’d stop using that gag, but old habits die hard), there’s the trade paperback of SUPERMAN & BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES from the Kevin VanHook and Tom Mandrake, each of whom is a master of horror in their own right. And speaking of MASTERS OF HORROR, this trade comes with a hauntingly good introduction from film director John Landis, whose AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON can’t be shown enough at this time of year. Enjoy!

All right, gang. That’s it for now. Gotta get some books to the printer (BATGIRL #4, I’m looking at you!), gotta talk to a few writers (have to speak with Peter Tomasi about his final issue of OUTSIDERS), and gotta start planning my Halloween costume (it’s gonna be very last-minute this year, and not nearly as intricate as some of my other years…sorry, folks).

So until next time, gang, have a Happy Halloween and try to enjoy the daylight…

Well, as we promised yesterday, we’re back. How ’bout those last two pages of FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: INK? Cool, huh? Writer Eric Wallace and artist Fabrizio Fiorentino did a great job of ending the mini-series with a bang — an unexpected one at that, too.

And if you’ve been paying attention to our very own Dan DiDio’s interviews of late, those pages give a clear sense of what the future holds for our hero the Tattooed Man.

Wait, you haven’t read the issue yet? Yeesh. Well, we’ll wait here a sec so you can go buy it and come back.

Done? Great. Now you can click below and see the pages we’re talking about. Things just got very interesting…

Read the rest of this entry »

Who is this guy? What’s his deal? Well, fine. We’ll do a little legwork for you. We swung by Batman Group Editor Michael Marts’ office to get the skinny. So, what gives, Mike?

“If you think you’ve met Batman’s most dangerous, psychopathic, murderous foe…think again. Meet the ‘new crime’ in Gotham City—the FLAMINGO!”

Well, there you go!

It’s the end of the line, as secrets are revealed and the true threat to Liberty Hill and the Tattooed Man is unveiled in this final chapter of the mini, from the incoming TITANS creative team of writer Eric Wallace and artist Fabrizio Fiorentino. Learn the true meaning of heroism and find out just what the DCU has in store for TM.

Also, make a point to swing back tomorrow morning for a glimpse at the startling conclusion to this very issue. Right after you buy it, of course.

FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: INK #6 hits today.

The duo of writer Paul Dini and artist Guillem March allow the Joker’s former assistant Harley Quinn to take center stage as the girls deal with the aftershocks of Hush’s deadly manipulations. But, more importantly, who’s the surprise guest star? Well, you’re in luck. Not only do we have a few pages for you to scan below, but GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #5 hits comic stores today. Easy, right?