Just got off the phone with Brian. He’s gotta make a few simple adjustments on the next FIRST WAVE script.

• Gotta call Rags Morales. Let him know everybody in the office is slapping me on the back for the looks of the first issue, as if I drew it. Might as well ring him up and share the, er, credit.

• Gotta call Nei Ruffino, same reason.

• Pardon my sharing my “to-do” list like this, but it’s the only way I can remember it all.

• Gotta call Howard Porter, make sure we’re getting more DOC SAVAGE pages like the one here.

• Gotta call Paul Malmont, thank him for calling me “legendary” in a recent interview (Is that a nice way of saying I’m history?), and ask after the next DOC rewrite.

• Gotta call Moritat and thank him and Gabriel Bautista for the amazing SPIRIT #1 art job.

• Gotta call Bill Sienkiewicz to see the first phenomenal SPIRIT BLACK AND WHITE story.

• Gotta call Kyle Baker to see if he called Harlan Ellison about the second one. Wait, do I have that backward?

• Gotta make sure that everybody’s still jazzed about seeing “The Bat-Man” in FIRST WAVE and that he’s in it enough.

• Jeez! That means I gotta call Brian again!

If that lengthy preview this morning wasn’t enough for you, then we have another piece of lovely art to make Friday all the more fun.

Courtesy of cover artist extraordinaire J.G. Jones, here’s a peek at The Bat-Man, from the cover to FIRST WAVE #3. And for those of you that missed it the first time, we’ve included Lee Bermejo’s lovely FIRST WAVE #3 variant.

What better way to get through a Friday? As we teased a few days ago, we’ve got the inks for Jim Lee’s cover to ICONS: The DC Comics & WildStorm Art of Jim Lee, featuring the work of inker Scott Williams. Some of you may have seen the pencils already, but we’re including them here, too, as you can never go wrong with more Jim Lee art. I also suggest you take a few minutes to check out Jim’s unused ICONS cover, posted earlier.

In a world without super powers, there are still those men and women who merit the name “hero.”

In the long shadow of The War and amidst the rubble of a shattered world, humanity’s last hope may be a handful of masked vigilantes with only their fists and wits at their disposal against a shadowy cabal known only as The Golden Tree.

Enter Doc Savage, a veritable super man plagued by the loss of his father and a nagging suspicion that something evil lurks around the corner.

Enter the mysterious Spirit, a man once thought dead now protecting the streets of Central City from the corruption and decay that’s already pushed it to the brink of destruction.

And what of the caped crime fighter known as “The Bat-Man”? Needless to say, he isn’t what you’ve come to expect from the Dark Knight: Brash, cocky, inexperienced and daring.

This is the pulp, neo-noir setting of FIRST WAVE, a six-issue mini-series that springs from the mind of acclaimed, Eisner Award-winning writer Brian Azzarello and featuring art by versatile master Rags Morales.

Azzarello brings his knack for realistic dialogue and hard boiled narrative to the forefront from the first panel of the first page, presenting a world very rooted in reality but also evocative of the fantastical tales and adventures that were at the crux of the pulps’ popularity years ago. Paired with Morales, who’s arguably creating some of the best work of his career and you have an unbeatable formula for adventurous and just plain exciting comics featuring some of the most iconic characters to grace the sequential page, re-energized for today’s reader. Who can argue with that?

We managed to catch Azzarello for a quick word. Take it away Brian:

“It’s exciting to be part of this. Everybody involved has really worked their tails off building this world, and as it rolls out in the next few months, you can expect more than a few surprises. The most important thing for us as creators is to make readers care about the characters. I think they’ll find themselves caring in ways they haven’t before. It should be fun.”

The proof is on the page, gang. And we’ve got four colored pages from the first issue along with colored pages from the scene we previewed a few weeks back. Be warned, though: Once you enter the world of FIRST WAVE, it’ll be near impossible to escape.

Sounds like a plan to me, folks. Here it is, masterfully presented by Mr. Frank, who continues to amaze fans with his rendition of the Man of Steel in SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN.

SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN #5 hits 3/31.

Check it out, DC Nation! Rising star Marco Rudy summoned up his inner Steranko and channeled it all into this fantastic double-page spread for the Shield #7. Awesomely inked by the Mighty Mick Gray and beautifully colored by the amazing Art Lyon, the powerful scene that the excellent Eric Trautmann wrote has been brought to life in a big, big way!

One word, people. One word. WOW!

Spinning right out of the last page of BLACKEST NIGHT #7, I’m proud to present you with these two jaw-dropping GREEN LANTERN #52 cover images, courtesy of artists Doug Mahnke and Shane Davis. Be sure to wipe the drool off your desks.

Have you all read BLACKEST NIGHT #7? I’d hope so. If not, step away from your computers and sit down with a copy. I don’t mind waiting.

Back? Ok, great. How awesome was that last page? Take a moment to collect your thoughts, because we’ve got a nice bit of news to go with that amazing double-page spread.

Ready?

With BLACKEST NIGHT #7 on sale today, we’re happy to announce a new, White Lantern promotional ring, tying into retailer orders for BRIGHTEST DAY #1. Want one to complete your set? Then make sure to mention this to your local retailer:

For every 25 copies of BRIGHTEST DAY #1 ordered by 4/15, retailers can order one bag of 50 White Lantern rings, at $8 a bag.

Cool? Well, that’s not all. In addition to the promotional rings, our friends at DC DIRECT have made no secret of their plans for a BLACKEST NIGHT POWER RING SPECTRUM SET, featuring every Lantern ring with light-up capability. And because we’re aware it’s not the full spectrum without all the ring colors, the White Lantern ring will be included at no extra cost.

Like the other wearable rings in the set (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and black), the white ring instantly lights up with a long-lasting LED bulb when you slip the ring on your finger — depending on your mood, of course. You can also turn the rings off, but why would you?

And because we’re all about visuals here, take a look at both the White Lantern promotional ring and the DC DIRECT SPECTRUM SET, below.

I wanted to follow the Co-Publisher’s blog with a more personal update of my own creative work. For fans of my art–fear not, drawing comic books is actually a part of my new job description, and I actually plan on increasing the frequency of which you will be seeing my work. It’s important to me not only on a personal level that I continue with a hand in the actual creation of new comics but also for a broader mission.

The mission?

To energize the DCE editorial group through a two-pronged approach. Working with Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and writer/Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, I hope to establish new, exciting directions for the DCU working with the current editorial teams: re-imaging long forgotten, obscure characters, updating classic ones, and introducing yet new ones. That’s the prong from the top down: defining direction and spearheading innovation. Then, down in the trenches, working on actual titles, creating excitement amongst the fans, leading by example from the ground up.

DC would be shortsighted to enlist some of the top talents in the business and keep them from doing their best creative work. So please expect to see renewed productivity in the near future. Oh, and an update on All-Star Batman and Robin after I get to chat with and hear out my collaborator, Frank Miller.

‘Til then, enjoy some of my recent work for the upcoming ICONS: Art of Jim Lee book from Titan Books. Oh, and for the curious, this is NOT the final cover. In fact, I rejected it and decided to redo it (I kept the Trinity composition but changed the angle of the shot and pushed the lighting a lot more).

Best,
Jim

Looks great, huh? There’s more. Come back tomorrow for the final ICONS cover and don’t forget to swing by GRAPHIC CONTENT and THE BLEED for two more pieces of amazing Jim Lee artwork.

Things aren’t looking too relaxing for Guy, eh? Courtesy of GLC artist supreme Patrick Gleason.