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!

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.

As some of you know, artist Michael Turner died from complications of cancer last summer. He left a lasting legacy with not only the Maid of Steel, but comics in general. We thought it would be a great honor to spotlight his career and this milestone issue, SUPERGIRL #50 by having a cover from the artist that helped usher the modern version of Supergirl into the DCU.

We hope you agree and join us in celebrating the character, and this great artist.

• Over at EW.com’s SHELF LIFE blog, writer Ken Tucker puts the spotlight on the BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL. Not only does Ken call the book “the best comic book team-up of the week,” but he also gives props to writer Brian Azzarello and artist Phil Noto by tabbing the issue “a swift, clever murder mystery wrapped in an adventure tale.” High praise indeed.

• Additionally, both CRAVE ONLINE and THE OKLAHOMA GAZETTE had kind words for Scott Ian and artist Sam Kieth’s LOBO: HIGHWAY TO HELL #1.

Lots of fun stuff going on around the web, so let’s hop to it, shall we?

• The gang at MTV SPLASH PAGE have an interview with BATGIRL writer Bryan Q. Miller discussing the first few issues of the series, with preview pages from BATGIRL #4. Worth a read.

• IGN previews pages from GREEN LANTERN CORPS #42. Stay tuned for more on that issue and #43 later today right here on The Source.

• NEWSARAMA’s got their latest installment of 10 Questions Plus One Answer with our very own Dan DiDio, and Dan gives some interesting teases about what’s in store for some key characters in 2010.

• And, in case you missed it, culture and entertainment site POP MATTERS has a lengthy and engaging essay on writer Grant Morrison’s run on BATMAN AND ROBIN. Perfect lunch break reading material.

What is MILESTONE FOREVER, you ask? Well, we can take a guess, but why slow down the process? Since it’s part and parcel of what we do, being The Source and all, we talked to Milestone founder and MILESTONE FOREVER writer Dwayne McDuffie for the scoop on the new project, along with some essential back story to bring you newbies up to speed. Take it away, Dwayne:

16 years ago this month, industry giant DC Comics and upstart Milestone Media entered into an unprecedented creative partnership, producing 14 interlocking, creator-owned titles including Hardware, Icon, and the multimedia hit that would best be known as Static Shock. The story Milestone chose to tell was an audacious one, larger than life on its surface, character and story-driven at its base, Humanist and multicultural at its heart. For over 250 issues, fans explored a superhero universe like no other.

Today, nine Parents Choice awards, four Eisner Award nominations and one Emmy and Humanitas award-winning hit TV series later, Milestone is back, its continuity mysteriously merged with the DCU. While we saw the DC side of the story in “Justice League: When Worlds Collide,” Milestone Forever gathers the original artists from Milestone’s launch titles: John Paul Leon, Mark Bright, Chris Cross and Milestone Founder Denys Cowan, to complete the tales told in the original runs of STATIC SHOCK, ICON, HARDWARE, SHADOW CABINET and BLOOD SYNDICATE. Milestone Editor in Chief Dwayne McDuffie reveals the final fate of each of Milestone’s launch characters in a bittersweet tale that chronicles the literal end of a universe, and the birth of something new, with major consequences for the future of the DC Universe.

Happy Monday, Source gang. It’s been a while since we updated you on the Wonder Woman #600 postcard tally, mostly because we’ve been inundated by the response from fans. And while we’re holding off on giving you the final number, I do want to let you know that we’re ending the call for postcards. So, if you got to send one, great. If not, the gig is up.

And I know what the next question is — “Did we make it?” Well, we’re not telling yet. And I know what the question after that will be — “If we did make it, will the numbering go back to #600?” We’re not telling there, either. But rest assured we’ll have some interesting news for you in the coming weeks. Many thanks to all that participated, and stay tuned.

Well, as we promised yesterday, we’re back. How ’bout those last two pages of FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: INK? Cool, huh? Writer Eric Wallace and artist Fabrizio Fiorentino did a great job of ending the mini-series with a bang — an unexpected one at that, too.

And if you’ve been paying attention to our very own Dan DiDio’s interviews of late, those pages give a clear sense of what the future holds for our hero the Tattooed Man.

Wait, you haven’t read the issue yet? Yeesh. Well, we’ll wait here a sec so you can go buy it and come back.

Done? Great. Now you can click below and see the pages we’re talking about. Things just got very interesting…

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Friday, Source gang. It’s been a long week, so why not take a few minutes from your busy day and unwind with a few interesting interviews and reviews?

• NEWSARAMA’s Chris Arrant talks shop with DETECTIVE COMICS writer Greg Rucka about all things Batwoman in this all-encompassing and insightful read.

• IGN’s Dan Phillips talks up JMS and artist Jesus Saiz’s second issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, noting that “JMS and Saiz have crafted two timeless, poignant, entertaining and very moving adventure stories that make profound statements on DC heroes of both the iconic and obscure varieties. This is the type of superhero series I always yearned for but never thought enough of to demand.”

• AIN’T IT COOL NEWS reviews the latest issue of writer Chris Yost and artist Ramon Bachs’ RED ROBIN series.

• And last, but certainly not least, CBR’s Doug Zawisza talks up the final issue of the BLACKEST NIGHT: SUPERMAN mini-series, calling artist Eddy Barrows’ art “ raw and gritty, perfect for the battle between reanimated corpses and our heroes.”

As some of you know, the Baltimore Retailer Summit is in full swing. We’ve got some news breaking during our presentation, so what better place to unveil it than here, on The Source?

Glad you agree. Our very own Dan DiDio has the info, so we live the rest of this blog entry in his more-than-capable hands. Take it away, Dan:

How big is Blackest Night?

So big that its power to make the dead rise has now moved from expired characters to old, canceled series.

That’s right, this January, the BLACKEST NIGHT mini series skips a month to make room for a very special Blackest night event. Eight classic titles from DC’s past will return from the dead for one month only to celebrate this mega-crossover throughout the DC Universe. Each series will pick up on its original numbering and feature characters from their original runs as they deal with the events currently unfolding in the DC Universe. And I have to say, this has been one of the more fun projects we’ve put together.

We scoured the list of series from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today to find the right titles to bring back from the dead. They are, in no particular order, as follows;

- POWER OF SHAZAM #48 Eric Wallace tells the tale in which Osiris returns from the dead to “chew the fat” with a very powerless Billy and Mary Batson.
- CATWOMAN #83 Fabian Nicieza has the original Black mask explaining to Selina why shooting him in the head was a bad idea.
- SUICIDE SQUAD #67 Gail Simone and John Ostrander are ringside for the epic fight between a very dead Suicide Squad and a possibly soon-to-be dead Secret Six.
- QUESTION #37 Greg Rucka has the one answer for when two Questions meet.
- PHANTOM STRANGER #42 Pete Tomasi reveals what Blackest Night means to the Phantom Stranger.
- WEIRD WESTERN TALES #71 Dan DiDio (weirdly talking about myself in the third person) lets you know what all the dead old west characters are doing in the new west today.
- ATOM AND HAWKMAN #46 Geoff brings you the double date from Hell, The Black Lantern Hawks work to reunite Atom with his long dead love, Jean Loring.
- STARMAN #81 James Robinson returns to the book he made great and visits some old haunts.

So there you have it! Eight great issues to show the amazing reach of this amazing story. And in case you are wondering why we skipped a month BLACKEST NIGHT, well, that’s just to give the immensely talented, and immensely overworked Ivan Reis a chance to prepare the over-sized final issue of this series out this March.

How’s that for fun?

To be continued…

DD