We’re right in the thick of the holidays, but for the Superman books, it’s the dawn of a new day. James Robinson and Greg Rucka are in the same boat, balancing their holiday shopping with writing WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #12 and turning the other Superman books on their respective heads in anticipation of… but I’m getting ahead of myself. WONK #12 (gosh, I’m going to miss that name) is the finale, the wrap-up, the cherry on the sundae that has been WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON for the last year. A very devious conspiracy has been afoot on New Krypton, one that could change the balance of power in our solar system, and not in a good way! Because we were all raised not to do things in a simple, easy way, that means change abounds in the related Super-titles as well. Since we’re not in a position yet to show you any interiors, check out this variant cover by Ladrönn, who handled the variant for the first issue of the series! (And as a bonus, check out this page by Pete Woods from WONK #11!) smwnk-1117600 kripton_cvr_sketch-1bink While WONK is doing its death dance, in SUPERMAN James is bringing Mon-El front and center once more in a story that could only be called “Man of Valor.” Check out these pages from issue #695, due out in time for Christmas. Man, that Bernard Chang and Blond make a heck of an artist/colorist team, don’t they? sm695_0sv sm695_0n sm-695stecmyk1 Meanwhile, Greg and the one writer who truly understands him, Eric Trautmann, are feverishly bringing the story of Nightwing and Flamebird to a head. Check out what they’re making the book’s artist, Pere Pérez, draw. Yikes! (And yes, that is indeed Guardian and Mon-El, along with their pals the Science Police—this is part one of a two-part crossover between ACTION #885 and SUPES #696 that will reveal, among other things, yet another of General Zod’s sleeper agents!) action_885_02-03 So we’ve covered the middle of the month and the end of the month, but what about the middle? Well, that’s where you’ll find SUPERGIRL. Doing his own juggling act, writer Sterling Gates is keeping me on my toes with issues #49 and #50. Matt Camp, who did an amazing job with issue #47, is back for another go-around (where things take a turn for the worse for poor Lana Lang!). And your pal and mine, Jamal Igle, returns for our big, shocking, oversized issue #50, where, among many other things, we pick up on the story of the not-so-nice Superwoman and her even-more-not-so-nice father, General Lane! sgl-4902 supergirl50-pg-3003 But I’ve digressed, I fear. I started this off talking about balancing the present with the new day in the Superman titles. Come March, a brand new miniseries (emphasis on the “mini”) will arrive, taking the place of the dearly departed WONK. You’ll be learning a lot more about this in a few short weeks, but what I can tell you is that James and Sterling are teaming up with a recharged Pete Woods for this story. And weighing in at 30 pages per issue, it’s one heck of a page-turner for the Superman line. Oh, and I might as well mention that a certain colleague of Lex Luthor’s will be showing up. And if that weren’t enough, said miniseries will be roping in SUPES, ACTION, SUPERGIRL aaannnnddd… ADVENTURE COMICS! (And check out Wil Moss’ recent blog post for more clues to all of this!) Can you feel the excitement? If not, you will! All of this -- these events, these changes -- are just the table-setter for what’s to come. Man, when May rolls around, readers and non-readers of the Superbooks alike will be very, very tickled. And, yes, I did just say “tickled.”