To celebrate the release of SUPERMAN: THE BLACK RING (now available in comic shops and bookstores everywhere), we asked associate editor Wil Moss about his experience working with Paul Cornell and Pete Woods as Lex Luthor took center stage in the pages of Action Comics:

Last year, with the Man of Steel busy walking the country in the Grounded storyline in SUPERMAN, Matt Idelson and I knew we’d need another hero to temporarily take over ACTION COMICS. Many characters were in contention, but we soon realized we had one of the most fascinating characters in the DC Universe right under our noses, someone who had just played a key role in a big event mini-series and now had a sea of story possibilities open before him — except he wasn’t a hero. (Well, he thinks of himself as a hero, it’s just that no one else does…)

So we wanted to have Lex Luthor take over ACTION and explore the fertile story ground that his role as an Orange Lantern in BLACKEST NIGHT had created, taking him on a tour of the top villains of the DC Universe — a premise so ripe with potential that even über-busy superstar artist David Finch couldn’t turn us down when we approached him about drawing the covers!

OK, so the setup for the new direction was in place, but who could write a character like Lex in such a way that would stay true to the character’s villainous nature while at the same time making him someone readers could get invested in and cheer on?

Enter the brilliant Paul Cornell. Paul is, hands down, one of the nicest, most polite and enthusiastic people working in the industry today — which is why it’s a little strange that he writes a character like Lex Luthor so well. It’s not my place to say so (‘cause I’m obviously biased), but I think the case could be made that Paul has told the definitive Lex Luthor story here.

Paul has taken a character who is known mostly for two things — 1) he’s bald, 2) he hates Superman — and he’s fleshed him out into a three-dimensional protagonist, one with more depth and motivation than most heroes show in entire series. Read these stories and you’ll learn things about Lex’s conscious and subconscious mind. Read these stories and see Lex learn things about his conscious and subconscious mind. This Lex isn’t just brilliant and evil — this Lex hesitates; this Lex gets his hands dirty; this Lex explores; this Lex gets lost in his own thoughts; this Lex wants companionship; this Lex learns; this Lex grows; this Lex tries (and usually fails) to overcome his worst habits. Yes, he’s still brilliant and evil (and he’s definitely still bald, and he definitely still hates Superman) — it’s just that this time that’s not all he has going on.

And Paul brought so much more to the title than just a well-written lead! We’ll never forget the phone call with him where we were discussing potential guest stars and he casually threw out there, “What about Death from SANDMAN?” “Haha, yeah sure, Paul, good one.” But apparently Paul was serious! So we investigated, made all the proper inquiries (big thanks to Vertigo’s Karen Berger!), and eventually made it happen, culminating with Neil Gaiman personally giving Paul his blessing to use the character.

No discussion of THE BLACK RING could be complete without talking about the invaluable Pete Woods. I say “invaluable” because Pete is the kind of artist who doesn’t simply illustrate a writer’s script and call it a day; he immerses himself in the world of the story, creating designs not just of the cast, but of the settings, too. Lex’s armor, his lab, his office, his helicopters, even the portraits on the walls of LexCorp — the designs just pour out of Pete. And Paul’s ACTION scripts allowed Pete a lot of leeway in terms of panel descriptions and layouts, which is the kind of environment Pete flourishes in, resulting in these gorgeous issues, some of the absolute finest work of his career. (Ably aided by the sublime colors of Brad Anderson, of course!)

The perfect summation of Paul and Pete’s collaboration is The Black Ring’s leading lady, RoboLois. Turning what could have been a simple gag (“What if Lex had a robot sidekick who looked just like Lois Lane? Superman would hate that!”) into an actual character — one who both provided readers a way to connect to the more human side of Lex and one who could be counted on to provide a visual splash at any moment (check out those gun arms in the first chapter!) — RoboLois ended up becoming the favorite character of all of us who worked on the title. And judging by your letters, it seems like she struck a chord with you readers, too!

We’re thrilled Paul and Pete’s story has been so well received by all of you out there in the DC Nation. But hey, you guys ain’t seen nothing yet — wait until you read the 51-page epic they’ve cooked up to conclude The Black Ring in this month’s ACTION COMICS #900! It’s a story so packed with wicked twists and turns, even Lex would be pleased! (Not that he’d ever admit to admiring someone else’s work, mind you …)

- Wil Moss, Associate Editor

Popular gaming site GameSpot posted the exclusive fist look at next month’s BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY #1, the comic book miniseries that bridges the storyline gap between the critically acclaimed BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM video game and the highly anticipated sequel, BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY, which hits stores this October.

Check out the preview to get your first look at Paul Dini’s script and Carlos D’Anda’s stellar interior work!

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have had a great roster of artists to work with on their Jonah Hex run, and issue #69 will continue that trend when Jeff Lemire takes on art duties for the western series.

Between writing and drawing Vertigo’s SWEET TOOTH and working on scripts for SUPERBOY and FLASHPOINT: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE CREATURES OF THE UNKNOWN, Jeff’s got a ton of great work coming down the pipeline. (Did I mention an appearance in next month’s STRANGE ADVENTURES from Vertigo?)

JONAH HEX #69 hits comic shops in July.

My admiration for Fiona Staples may be more publicly documented than the personal lives of most reality stars, but that respect is certainly well-earned. I’ve been looking forward to previewing Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s JONAH HEX #66 since we announced Fiona would be handling the art duties for the issue earlier this year.

Here’s what Fiona had to say about her experience drawing the issue:

I love Westerns and this was my first time getting to draw one, so I really enjoyed tackling the scarred faces, period clothing and harsh environment. This particular story had a bit of a horror aspect too, so it was right up my alley! Of course, the best part of all was drawing Jonah’s famous messed-up face and contorting it into different expressions (mostly variations of “stoic” and “disgusted”) as he reacts to the weirdness going on around him.

JONAH HEX #66 lands in comic stores this week. (If the creative team weren’t already enough, it also features cannibals!)

Stay tuned for another exciting Jonah Hex art announcement coming soon…

This summer, Warner Home Video will be giving all five live-action SUPERMAN films the Blu-Ray treatment. For the first time, all four Christopher Reeve movies, both Richard Donner extended cuts, and Superman Returns will be packaged together in newly remastered high definition. Spanning over eight discs, this collection includes 20 hours of bonus features.

This past weekend at WonderCon, VP of Sales, Bob Wayne, announced RETRO-ACTIVE. Published throughout July and August 2011, these are exactly the kinds of one-shots people often associate with summer. RETRO-ACTIVE reunites classic writers and artists with classic characters Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Justice League of America, returning to the interpretations they are best known for. Each of these series will have 3 one-shots that pay homage respectively to the‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

Curious to know who will be writing these?

The 70’s

Superman: Martin Pasko

Wonder Woman: Dennis O’Neil

The Flash: Cary Bates

Justice League of America: Cary Bates

Green Lantern: Dennis O’Neil

Batman: Len Wein

The 80’s

Superman: Marv Wolfman

Wonder Woman: Roy Thomas

The Flash: William Messner-Loebs

Justice League of America: Gerry Conway

Green Lantern: Len Wein

Batman: Mike W. Barr

The 90’s

Superman: Louise Simonson

Wonder Woman: William Messner-Loebs

The Flash: Brian Augustyn

Justice League of America: Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis

Green Lantern: Ron Marz

Batman: Alan Grant

Each title in the series will feature 26 new story pages with 20 pages of classic stories, running at $4.99 a piece. Keep checking back to THE SOURCE as we reveal full creative teams, artwork, and more details about RETRO-ACTIVE in the coming weeks and months.

Have you heard? WonderCon’s been about all things GREEN LANTERN this weekend.

And now there’s new GREEN LANTERN movie footage to be seen! Watch it here.

Tonight’s episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (which we gave a sneak peek of here first), couldn’t be more appropriate, given that it’s April Fool’s Day. In “Bat-Mite Presents: Batman’s Strangest Cases!”, Bat-Mite hosts a series of Batman’s most bizarre adventures including the Mad Magazine-inspired Batboy and Rubin and a Japanese-influenced Bat-Manga story. And to up the weird factor just a bit more, the episode will feature guest appearances from the Scooby Gang and Weird Al Yankovic!

This new episode debuts tonight at 6:30 on Cartoon Network.

Designing a new costume and look for Wonder Woman or Aquaman is one thing, but an entirely new character like the Canterbury Cricket requires a few extra steps, even for a superstar artist like Andy Kubert.

“I had no idea who or what this was…but he’s in the story. Geoff described him as a humanoid insect along the lines of…a cricket. I researched crickets, bugs and arachnids which are all cut-throat nasty little creatures but crickets in general are really not that menacing looking. They have big, round eyes that are soulful (to me, anyway). I tried to give him a bit of an attitude with some heavy, pointed brows along with some rigid body armor. A couple of spiky things off of his long, skinny arms and elbows, legs and anywhere else I thought worked. All this stuff brings out the fighter in him. Also an ultra thin thorax type of waist and I thought always being in a crouched position would be a good character niche. Canterbury is also pretty short…maybe about 4 feet tall. Lots of spots on him as I picture his color scheme to being like a just pulled from the ocean lobster.”