The BLACKEST NIGHT darkens the skies over the Justice League in this important tie-in issue by the new team of James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley. Can the team get it together in time to survive the return of the undead Dr. Light? Or will his now-shadowy evil strangle everybody where they stand? Good, valid questions that we won’t answer here. But we do have a few Bagley pages to kick the week off.

Anthrax guitarist and LOBO: HIGHWAY TO HELL writer Scott Ian will be signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe’s Manhattan location. Swing by, get a few books signed and chat with Scott. What more could you want to end the week?

Details:

Who: Scott Ian!

What: Signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe

Where: 4 W 33rd St.

When: 6pm - 8pm

Why?: Because it’s going to be fun.

See you there!

Wonder Woman’s world is turned upside-down as she finds herself branded a criminal by her own people. And who are the Crows, and what awful secret do they carry that will affect Diana forever? I can’t reveal it all here, of course, but I can show off a few pages from WONDER WOMAN #38, courtesy of Gail Simone and artist Aaron Lopresti, which hits 11/25.

You know, these days, with the Internet and all, lots of DC’s business is conducted through e-mail and on the telephone. So it IS unusual to see the hallways of DC’s offices bustling with writers and artists!

This used to be normal back when I entered the business—before fax machines!!!—as the writers and artists would actually hand deliver material on a weekly basis. Shortly after Fed Ex became a factor artists and writers started moving away from the big bad city that the comics publishers resided in—probably just so they could breathe some fresh air, though more likely because it was harder for us to grab them when we needed something ASAP!

Nowadays with everyone able to post high resolution scans of the art for any given title—we work with people all over the globe and we don’t even touch the physical art boards here in New York City anymore. (Man, THAT’s weird for a guy whose first gig in comics was photocopying Jack Kirby’s actual penciled art for KAMANDI and/or Walt Simonson’s pages for the Batman/Manhunter team-up back in the early 70s!!! Yup… I was a High School Intern at DC back in the day!)

So, not touching art, or seeing writers and artists in person makes it a real event when the talent comes into town to meet with us about the future!

In these two weeks before Thanksgiving we have Geoff Johns, Pete Tomasi, James Robinson, Sterling Gates, Eric Trautman, Tony Bedard, Keith Giffen, Judd Winick and more coming through the hallowed halls to help plan, with their editors and Dan DiDio, all of 2010– and beyond– in the DC Universe!

These meetings for a couple of new series as well as Superman and Justice League related titles are some of my favorite part of making the comics. They bond everyone involved to the goals and concepts shaped and honed TOGETHER and everyone leaves feeling like they are part of the family and that they matter to making the agreed upon stories “the best ever”! (And yes, Families sometimes have “feuds” but even THAT passion can help fuel the Never-ending Battle between the covers!)

I was in on instigating some of these so-called Summits back when I was editor of SUPERMAN… and they all came about because of a dinner a bunch of us had at a convention in Cleveland, IL during Superman’s 5oth anniversary in 1988.

There were a bunch of us Superman types on hand to help celebrate. Jerry Ordway and Roger Stern were there… George Perez was about to join us on the return of Superman TO ACTION COMICS… and the master himself Curt Swan even joined us at this legendary dinner. Together we all went out to discuss an ACTION ANNUAL that would bring George into our team… and would have Curt returning to the Man of Tomorrow as well! The dinner was fun and productive with everyone contributing ideas to the mix—including Curt who was only to draw a few pages in the annual.

When the dinner was over I asked Curt how this “plotting session” compared with the ones he’d done in the old days. He said that it was great—because he was never invited to join in the plotting back then. He was clearly excited to have been involved.

This got me to thinking… excitement behind the scenes always makes for excitement on the page… so we quickly scheduled the first real Super-Summit for shortly after that. And the meetings have stayed a staple of the creative process since then in one form or another.

The excitement in the halls this mid-November promises to translate well for next year… so let them keep inventing ways to keep us all apart—we’ll still find a way to get together and blow everyone away with what we can come up with!

The one thing I’ll never understand is how anyone did comics (or ANYTHING) before Post-It notes were invented! (But even those work best when everyone’s all in the same room!)

Kicking off a new 5-issue storyline, writer James Robinson sets the stage for the monumental SUPERMAN #700, with some help from artist Javier Pina. Mon-El makes his triumphant return to Metropolis with a new look and a determined manner just in time to combat the unstoppable fury of Bizarro. But with his powers phasing in and out, will the new Mon-El be able to save his city even with the help of the Guardian and Metropolis’s Science Police?

SUPERMAN #694 hits 11/25.

A new arc titled “Blackhawk Down” from writer Royal McGraw and artist Marcos Marz begins with a bang as Wayne Industries collaborator Blackhawk Industries has valuable information stolen right under Batman’s nose. An investigation leads him to Poland and a giant robot, but The Dark Knight will have to enlist the help of Lady Blackhawk to solve the case.

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #37 hits today.

Writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Ramon Bachs present the second issue of the new ongoing Azrael series, as the White Ghost presents a trial to the new Azrael: save an Angel or condemn a Devil. While it may sound like a simple choice, Azrael has to decide if the perceived saint is a sinner or if the sinner is an innocent man. And what if the architect of the experiment, Ra’s al Ghul, is secretly testing all those involved to see who can best serve as his ultimate Dark Knight?

Writer Chris Yost continues his guest writing stint, as the Huntress and Man-Bat are held captive by a priest driven to the edge of insanity by Gotham itself. And, let’s just say the message Gotham is relaying to our dear, demented villain doesn’t bode well for our heroes. Check out a few pages below.

BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #6 hits today.

Supergirl has finally brought Reactron back to New Krypton so he can be held accountable for murdering her father, Zor-El. While the debate about what to do with him rages among the people of New Krypton, the planet’s ruler – and Supergirl’s mother – remains unsure. Should Alura have Reactron executed? And will Supergirl allow it to happen if her mother decides to go that route? We can’t spoil that for you here. But we can give you a glimpse at the issue, from writer Sterling Gates and guest artist Matt Camp.

SUPERGIRL #47 hits 11/18.

As noted in today’s New York Times feature, Joe Kubert, author and artist of the award-winning original graphic novel Yossel and founder of The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, will be publishing DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 to be released by The Joe Kubert Library in May 2010.

DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 tells the story of a team of Special Forces soldiers who were on what was to be a simple assistance and observation mission in the village of Dong Xoai that suddenly turned deadly. Written as an original graphic novel with text and illustrations, DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 is based on extensive first hand information from the surviving members of the Special Forces group involved.

“When I learned of this occurrence from one of the principles involved, I could not keep my mind (or my pencil) from putting it into a graphic form. An incredible story of bravery and camaraderie that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.” –Joe Kubert

Stay tuned for more info in 2010.