FLASH QUESTION: Will The Flash and his new allies be able to fix the world?

Throughout the day today, we’re going to debut the first look at the July issues of FLASHPOINT. Keeping coming back to THE SOURCE for more throughout the day.

FLASHPOINT #3

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by ANDY KUBERT and SANDRA HOPE
Cover by ANDY KUBERT and SANDRA HOPE
1:25 Black and white variant cover A by ANDY KUBERT
Variant cover B by IVAN REIS and GEORGE PEREZ
On sale JULY 6 • 3 of 5, 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T

The Eisner Awards announced their 2011 nominees today. DC Comics received the most nominations of any publisher, with fourteen nominations (and three shared nominations).

Without further ado, here are the DC Comics and Vertigo nominees:

BEST NEW SERIES:
American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)
iZombie, by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred (Vertigo/DC)
Superboy, by Jeff Lemire and Pier Gallo (DC)

BEST LIMITED SERIES:
Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)
Joe the Barbarian, by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy (Vertigo/DC)
Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love, by Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus (Vertigo/DC)

BEST CONTINUING SERIES:
Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra (Vertigo/DC)

BEST SINGLE ISSUE (or one-shot):
Fables #100, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and others (Vertigo/DC)
Unknown Soldier #21: “A Gun in Africa,” by Joshua Dysart and Rick Veitch (Vertigo/DC)

BEST SHORT STORY:
“Batman, in Trick for the Scarecrow,” by Billy Tucci, in DCU Halloween Special 2010 (DC)

BEST PUBLICATION FOR KIDS:
Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM REPRINT:
Wednesday Comics, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)

BEST WRITER/ARTIST:
Joe Kubert, Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 (Joe Kubert Library/DC)

BEST COVER ARTIST:
Dave Johnson, Unknown Soldier (Vertigo/DC);
Yuko Shimizu, The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC)

BEST COLORING:
Dave Stewart, Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young’s Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC)

BEST LETTERING:
Todd Klein, Fables, The Unwritten, and others (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (WildStorm/DC)

Congratulations to all the nominees. For a full list click here. The winners will be announced this July in a ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con International, the largest and oldest comic convention in the United States.

If you haven’t read BRIGHTEST DAY #23 and haven’t seen any of the press coverage about the big reveal, you might want to stop reading here. A few weeks back, we announced a new miniseries called BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH: THE SEARCH, written by Jonathan Vankin and drawn by Marco Castiello. Today we can announce the book’s actual title: BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH: THE SEARCH FOR SWAMP THING.

As for who that blacked out figure is, we can’t say … yet.

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The War of the Green Lanterns will forever change the lives of Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner in ways that nobody could predict. In the first chapter of WAR OF THE GREEN LANTERNS: AFTERMATH, a two-part event, GREEN LANTERN CORPS writer Tony Bedard explores the shocking consequences the war had on the Corps and its central members. With art and a variant cover by Miguel Sepulveda, a cover by Dave Johnson, WAR OF THE GREEN LANTERNS: AFTERMATH #1 hits stores this July.

This July, a new storyline kicks of in the TITANS ANNUAL #1 and continues into the regular TITANS series. (Those are the covers to the Annual and issue #37 by Fabrizio Fiorentino above!)

Why should Titans fans be excited about “The Methuselah Imperative”? Writer Eric Wallace explains why:

First of all, this is our biggest story yet since Deathstroke took over the team. Some of the action in the TITANS ANNUAL (part one of “The Methuselah Imperative”) is pretty intense. Readers are going to love when they see what artist Cliff Richards has accomplished. The only way to describe it is “epic.”  It’s exactly why we all love it when big superhero teams like the JLA meet up with a group of nasty villains like our current roster of Titans. You just know carnage will ensue.

But “The Methuselah Imperative” isn’t just one massive slugfest. What I love most about this storyline is that the emotional stakes for the characters—both heroes and villains—is just as big and epic as the action surrounding it. This is especially true for Ray Palmer, who finally catches up with Deathstroke to arrest him for the murder of Ryan Choi. Now Ray’s been on this quest for a long time, so he’s chomping at the bit to bring Slade down. Needless to say some major baggage is going to get jettisoned the hard way.

Also, Ray’s not the only character whose emotional journey comes to a peak during this storyline. There’s also Roy (Arsenal). Ever since the death of Lian, he’s been on a downward spiral. His friend Dick (Batman) is determined to pull him back into the light. Roy has resisted this up until now, but that’s going to change when the two former teammates go head-to-head in one brutal, grisly battle. This leads Roy asks some tough questions about what it means to be a hero and whether or not he can ever become one again. I won’t tell you what his answer is, but I will say that it changes the future of the Titans irrevocably.

Parts two and three of “The Methuselah Imperative” (TITANS #37 & #38) continues the story of Deathstroke’s master plan coming to final fruition. As you can see from the cover of TITANS #37, Jericho’s back and I couldn’t be happier. Not only is this something Deathstroke has been engineering since Day One, it’s also something I pitched to DC way back when we were creating this new direction for the Titans. I’ve always loved the character of Jericho and wanted to see another “classic” member of the Titans back on the team, but not necessarily one of the characters you might expect. At the same time, I didn’t want him to just show up. I wanted his return to be special. So in addition to his return to the Titans fold, we’ll also learn where he’s been, what he’s been up to, and how rejoining the Titans again just might end up saving his soul.

In addition to all this, there are also some big surprises for Marvel Family fans in “The Methuselah Imperative.” Osiris, whose primary obsession now is to bring back Black Adam, will see his relationship with Isis change. This is because they’ve returned to Kahndaq and now must somehow find a way to rule their kingdom together. And yes, it’s going to be a very rocky journey. Oh, and you might have also noticed Marvel Family villain Dr. Sivana on the cover of TITANS #37. How he’s mixed up in all of this, including Jericho’s return, is pretty wild. Let’s just say we’ll once again see Sivana putting the “mad” in “mad scientist” to full effect, and leave it at that.

As for Deathstroke and where he ends up at the end of “The Methuselah Imperative,” he’ll have gone through hell and back by that point. Therefore, he’s going to be ready for changes in his life. Massive changes, I might add. Stay tuned.

What’s more dangerous than a rampaging Doomsday? Yesterday’s Superman/Batman Annual #5 answers that question for you.

Spoilers after the jump…
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If you haven’t read your copy of BRIGHTEST DAY #23 yet, then whatever you do, do not click on the jump (major spoiler alert!).

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As you’ll pick up from last week’s Jimmy Olsen Special (and from countless other Jimmy Olsen stories over the decades), being Superman’s pal has its share of pratfalls. But what if you’re Batman’s closest confidant?

Terry McGinnis’s friend and intelligence expert, Max, explains what it’s like being Batman’s best friend in BATMAN BEYOND #4, in comic shops (and our digital store) today.

Today sees the release of BRIGHTEST DAY #23, the series’ penultimate issue. As a fan, I’ve got push-pull issues with endings. An an entertainment junkie, I often hurry to the end for the big reveal. Who lives? Who dies?

Oh, her father was the killer. The super advanced robots are dead.

A great ending is satisfying, but there’s a sadness, too. We’re never going back to the island. Our favorite hero or our favorite villain is dead. Their stories are over.

The end.

BRIGHTEST DAY #23 is written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, with art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Norm Rapmund and Oclair Albert. It hits stores today and discloses certain dark secrets in the heart of the forest, including the identity of the Dark Avatar.

The characters’ journey that we’ve followed for 23 issues is nearing it’s conclusion. Once the series concludes, I’ll miss it. It’s been a great ride.

So, you’re wondering, is there a big payoff?

Oh, yeah…

The cover for July’s XOMBI #5 by Frazer Irving

The first issue of John Rozum and Frazer Irving’s XOMBI arrived to a lot of great reviews from the comics press. What did the critics have to say about XOMBI #1?

Here’s a sampling…

“I haven’t read a book this intriguingly and engagingly weird since I first dropped into Grant Morrison’s THE INVISIBLES.”
-Ain’t It Cool News

“We’re getting into Grant Morrison-esque avant-garde weirdness here, and somehow, the nanite-injected, super-powered, and immortal David Kim is the calm epicenter at the eye of this weirdness, and the reader’s doorway into the world. I love it.”
-Newsarama

“The team-up of John Rozum and Frazer Irving, for this book, makes it a must read. It’s a refreshing break from all the super-hero books swarming the shelves, and it will captivate you from the get-go.”
-Comic Vine

“The story that Rozum has begun to craft is intriguing, and should engage readers old and new alike … Everything has a sense of the surreal, and Irving’s knack for creating disturbing facial imagery is put to great use.”
-IGN

“Irving can draw the dark and gloomy, but more importantly the crazy and fantastic. So when a Rustling Husk shows up out of nowhere, it’s creepy and surprising, and his depiction of Mr. Hyde is gruesome. But at the same time, Irving’s people are rooted firmly in reality, looking remarkably life-like. I think that’s a perfect touch for “Xombi,” since it makes the nastiness rising up around them feel that much more dangerous.”
-Comic Book Resources

“Xombi is away to the races with a first issue that’s gorgeous, gripping and something different to everything else in my weekly stack.”
-iFanboy

“Rozum does a great job at reintroducing the character to both new and old audiences, and Irving’s artwork is amazing … a great starting point.”
-Platform Nation

“I’m going to recommend picking up Xombi #1. The groundwork is firmly in place for an adventure and some solid storytelling. I believe wrier John Rozum and artist Frazer Irving will take us readers on a great ride.”
-ScienceFiction.com

“We could have a real winner on our hands.”
-Comics Bulletin

It’s not too late to jump on board – XOMBI #2 hits stands later this month.

We have an extra treat for Frazer Irving fans here: his variant cover to BATMAN INC. #6, on sale in May!