The “Council of Spiders” arc kicks off as Ra’s al Ghul goes from hunter to hunted. What is the Council of Spiders, exactly, and why have they been offing assassins left and right? Everything shifts into high gear as Red Robin finds himself entangled in one of the deadliest games on the planet, courtesy of writer Chris Yost and artist Ramon Bachs.

RED ROBIN #5 hits 10/14.

As some of you know, the Baltimore Retailer Summit is in full swing. We’ve got some news breaking during our presentation, so what better place to unveil it than here, on The Source?

Glad you agree. Our very own Dan DiDio has the info, so we live the rest of this blog entry in his more-than-capable hands. Take it away, Dan:

How big is Blackest Night?

So big that its power to make the dead rise has now moved from expired characters to old, canceled series.

That’s right, this January, the BLACKEST NIGHT mini series skips a month to make room for a very special Blackest night event. Eight classic titles from DC’s past will return from the dead for one month only to celebrate this mega-crossover throughout the DC Universe. Each series will pick up on its original numbering and feature characters from their original runs as they deal with the events currently unfolding in the DC Universe. And I have to say, this has been one of the more fun projects we’ve put together.

We scoured the list of series from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today to find the right titles to bring back from the dead. They are, in no particular order, as follows;

- POWER OF SHAZAM #48 Eric Wallace tells the tale in which Osiris returns from the dead to “chew the fat” with a very powerless Billy and Mary Batson.
- CATWOMAN #83 Fabian Nicieza has the original Black mask explaining to Selina why shooting him in the head was a bad idea.
- SUICIDE SQUAD #67 Gail Simone and John Ostrander are ringside for the epic fight between a very dead Suicide Squad and a possibly soon-to-be dead Secret Six.
- QUESTION #37 Greg Rucka has the one answer for when two Questions meet.
- PHANTOM STRANGER #42 Pete Tomasi reveals what Blackest Night means to the Phantom Stranger.
- WEIRD WESTERN TALES #71 Dan DiDio (weirdly talking about myself in the third person) lets you know what all the dead old west characters are doing in the new west today.
- ATOM AND HAWKMAN #46 Geoff brings you the double date from Hell, The Black Lantern Hawks work to reunite Atom with his long dead love, Jean Loring.
- STARMAN #81 James Robinson returns to the book he made great and visits some old haunts.

So there you have it! Eight great issues to show the amazing reach of this amazing story. And in case you are wondering why we skipped a month BLACKEST NIGHT, well, that’s just to give the immensely talented, and immensely overworked Ivan Reis a chance to prepare the over-sized final issue of this series out this March.

How’s that for fun?

To be continued…

DD

You’ve heard rumblings here and there, but we’re happy to put the “official” stamp on this one. Next year, Warner Bros. Pictures will release the major motion picture JONAH HEX, starring Josh Brolin in the title role, along with Megan Fox and John Malkovich. To celebrate the release of the feature film DC will simultaneously unveil an original JONAH HEX graphic novel, created by the acclaimed JONAH HEX writing team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti paired with legendary HEX artist Tony DeZuniga.

We cornered the writing team for their thoughts on the news. Take it away, guys:

“Jonah Hex has a brother,” Gray revealed. “That’s the idea that came up decades earlier in discussions between writer John Albano and Tony DeZuniga. Tony casually mentioned this to us and that idea has been brought to life in the hardcover. Bold, brazen violent and surprisingly tender, this is the consummate tale of the Wild West’s greatest bounty hunter.”

“This is the first all original Jonah Hex graphic novel and a dream project for us,” Palmiotti said. “Jonah is one of the coolest and most unique characters we have ever had the pleasure to work on. He’s an icon for all ages and his untamed manner appeals, on a visceral gut level, to just about everyone who reads it. In this, Hex’s first original graphic novel, we unleash the beast like you have never seen before.”

The OGN, titled JONAH HEX: NO WAY BACK, will hit in May, clock in at 136 pages and retail for $19.99.

WEDNESDAY COMICS, the groundbreaking weekly series featuring the all-star talents of Neil Gaiman, Joe Kubert, Lee Bermejo, Brian Azzarello, Kurt Busiek and many more, was a critical and commercial success across the board, featuring DC’s greatest characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern, in stories from the most talented creators in the industry. For 12 weeks, fans were treated to an historic and energized collection of newspaper strips compiled by editor Mark Chiarello that ranged from standard and captivating superhero drama to the surreal and innovative. But wait, there’s more?

Just announced at the Baltimore Retailer Summit, we’ve got the details on the WEDNESDAY COMICS collection, a topic that’s been hotly debated and prognosticated by fans since the inception of the series.

The hardcover collection of the series, which will retail at $49.99, will clock in at 11 x 17 inches, which will present the series in a deluxe, big-screen format befitting the series, which was originally printed on broadsheet newspaper pages.

So, there you have it. WEDNESDAY COMICS, presented in oversized and deluxe glory. Not too shabby, huh?

Thanks for staying up late with The Source tonight, gang. We’ve got a bunch of interesting news spinning out of the Baltimore Retailer Summit, so sit back and enjoy.

Did you think the BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL was all we had in the works for the good Doctor and company? Of course not. In fact, we’ve got a ton of stuff to roll out.

First up (you’ll get the joke in a second), we have THE FIRST WAVE mini-series, which hits early next year from writer Brian Azzarello and artist Rags Morales, with variant covers from superstar artist J.G. Jones. The series sets the stage for the new world that houses not only Doc Savage, but the Spirit, Batman, Black Canary, the Avenger and a host of other heroes with a gritty, modern noir backdrop that Azzarello does best.

We’ve got some lovely Morales art here for you, too. In case you’re not convinced. But that’s not all.

Later on in 2010, we’ll have two, new ongoing series – DOC SAVAGE and THE SPIRIT, tied directly to the new status quo created in the BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE special and FIRST WAVE mini-series. But why let all the cats out of the bag at once?

So, sit back, enjoy the art and stay tuned here to The Source for more details.

I’m back! My journey across the country on behalf of DC Nation came to an end today as I dragged my luggage into my office. Baltimore Comic Con was even better than I expected it to be and we had a fantastic time. On Saturday I was joined on DC Nation by Pete Tomasi, JT Krul, Jamal Igle, Mr. Bob Wayne and Rachel Gluckstern. We laughed, we cried, there were party hats and I hugged a guy…it was great. Then on Sunday Len Wein and Franco joined us for Sunday Conversation where we managed to talk about some DCU stuff between long stories about pro football and overeating (let’s hope JT has learned a valuable lesson about trying to keep up with me at the all you can eat Brazilian place). I’d like to give one more seriously huge THANK YOU to all the fans I saw over the last two weeks. You guys are the best and I hope to see even more of you when we head back out on tour in 2010.

I’ve gotta get back to work now, starting out with reading the final proof of Lobo: Highway To Hell by Scott Ian & Sam Keith (out November 4th!!!)

• Over the weekend, the 2009 Harvey Award winners were announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Congrats to all the winners, with a special pat on the back for Grant Morrison, who won for Best Writer for his work on ALL STAR SUPERMAN, which also won as Best Continuing or Limited Series.

• The team at IGN continues their BLACKEST NIGHT coverage, with a preview of the final issue of BLACKEST NIGHT: BATMAN.

• Speaking of BLACKEST NIGHT, NEWSARAMA’s Vaneta Rogers sits down to chat with BLACKEST NIGHT artist Ivan Reis about his work on the series.

• And, in case you missed it over the weekend, at the DC NATION panel in Baltimore it was announced that Matthew Sturges will be stepping in as the new regular writer on THE WEB, replacing Angela Robinson after a one-issue cameo by Marc Guggenheim. Check back Friday for more on the new team.

But that’s not all the news we have percolating in Baltimore, folks. Check back here around 9pm EST tonight for some major news that’ll make coming to work tomorrow that much easier.

As crime in Gotham continues to escalate, the newest member of the Batman family vows to wear the mantle of the Bat and fight alongside the Dynamic Duo in their war on crime. Just one problem: She hasn’t mentioned that to Batman and Robin yet. Join writer Bryan Q. Miller and artist Lee Garbett as they continue the adventures of the new Batgirl, Stephanie Brown.

BATGIRL #3 hits on 10/14.

Last month, we showed you a few penciled pages from superstar artist Tony Daniel, who as you all know, is taking over the writing and artistic duties on BATMAN. But why stop there? We managed to wrangle a few final, colored pages from the Bat-office this morning and we’re itching to show them. So, here goes. Enjoy.

How’s it going DC Nation? Not a ton of time to post today, as I’m about to get on a flight from LA to Baltimore. Make sure to check back on Monday for a full update from the 10th annual Baltimore Comic Con. We’ll be doing DC Nation and Sunday Conversation and I will probably talk about pro football. Just a hunch on that last one. The one good thing about the length of this flight is that I’ll have time to watch the new Superman/Batman animated DVD. See ya back East!