Hola, folks!

I wish I could be like my ultra-trendy pal Michael Siglain, and give you a nice Halloween theme here, but let’s face it: on New Krypton, everyone wears a costume 24/7, and they don’t have candy there. (Notice none of the Kryptonians are overweight—well, except for Kal’s lawyer, but that’s genetic.) You’d think having been trapped in a bottle for decades they’d all be out of shape—or at least have invented Malomars. Whatever.

In celebration of not celebrating Halloween in space this year, here’s a shot from WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON (WONK to you insiders) #9, featuring Kal-El, some bodiless heads that are really big, and a couple of people I really wish were just dressing up, courtesy of James Robinson, Greg Rucka, Pete Woods and Nei Ruffino.

You can get the full horrific scoop of what’s going on here next Wednesday, the 4th, which is not just the first Wednesday of November, but about the time I’ll be trying to figure out a “What Superman’s Thankful for This Year” theme for the next column. Continuing our non-scary tour of the DC books, check out this upcoming page from ACTION #883, which comes out November 11th.

Wow, who knew Flamebird’s super-power was a knockout kiss? And hey, that Brimstone dude’s kinda Halloween-like, right? At least Rucka, Eric Trautmann, Pere Pérez and Javier Mena think so.

Check out this page from November 18th’s SUPERGIRL #47. Guess we know what Alura Zor-El thinks of Halloween, huh?

And if you want to see something that’s really scary, just imagine this day which Alura has been both eagerly anticipating and dreading simultaneously, as she at last comes face-to-face with the man who murdered her husband—Reactron!

Bet you wish you knew what they were saying, huh? My thanks to Sterling Gates, Matt Camp and the aforementioned Nei Ruffino for these glimpses into Supergirl’s future—well, her book’s future, anyway. Which brings us to November 25th, Thanksgiving eve, and SUPERMAN #694. Anyone remember Javi Pina? He teamed up with James Robinson to bring you this past summer’s SUPERMAN ANNUAL. Well, the scream team is at it again, this time for SUPERMAN #694, a.k.a. “Man of Valor” part 1, the arc which will bring Mon-El back in time to the very day Halloween was conceived, and… okay, it has nothing to do with Candy Day, but Bizarro is pretty scary, right? Huh? Please?

Wow, that’s some heady stuff, particularly with Blond’s coloring in place! Why, I—er, what? Oh, okay. That was Alex Segura on the phone, telling me I have failed utterly in my Halloween themage. Maybe I’d better get an early start on the Thanksgiving column. Anyone have a good suggestion for words that rhyme with “Turkey”?

It seems like we had some technical difficulties yesterday, so apologies for that. We know how tough it is to get through a Monday without your usual Source goodness. Moving on, though…

Not too long ago, we announced that rising star artist Francis Manapul would be teaming with writer Geoff Johns on a new FLASH ongoing series. But because I was foolishly traipsing around the Florida Keys, we didn’t show any art. Well, it’s high time we remedy that. As you can see above and below, Francis has a great handle on the Scarlet Speedster — and we’re only in the sketch stage. We’ll post more once we see them, but in the meantime, take a look at these lovely images. We also cornered Francis in to giving us a little background on his work. Take it away, Francis:

“These were done a while back near the end of my Legion run. I tried to make a go at the Flash and these were the sketches I did as a pitch to try and get the book. It was nixed as Geoff and I decided to do Adventure Comics (which I love and will miss very much). However the opportunity to get on the scarlett speedster arose and so here we are. I’ll actually be doing my own inks and watercolor on the new ongoing (much like Adventure Comics) so this is just a tease of sorts. Enjoy.”

As promised, we’ve got a look at the Batwoman feature from DETECTIVE COMICS #857, as Batwoman faces off against Alice in an attempt to stop the villainess from unleashing a toxic death cloud over all of Gotham. But Alice has more up her sleeve than just poison, and Batwoman’s life will never ever be the same again. What more do you need? Oh, right. Artwork. Well, here you go. From the team of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III, DETECTIVE COMICS #857 hits 9/23.

Dear DC Colleagues and Friends,

As hopefully each of you now know, this morning Warner Bros. announced the formation of DC Entertainment, and I’ve been entrusted with the honor of heading up this exciting new venture, reporting to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

DC Entertainment’s mission is to deeply integrate the DC brand and characters into all of Warner Bros.’ creative production and distribution businesses, while maintaining the integrity of the properties and DC’s longstanding commitment to and respect for writers, creators and artists. The founding of DC Entertainment is about Warner Bros. taking DC to the next level and giving DC an even greater degree of focus and prioritization in all the businesses in which we operate—films, television, home entertainment, digital, consumer products and videogames.

You are all an integral part of the success DC has achieved to date and your expertise and support will be essential moving forward – as we raise this brand and collection of characters to even greater heights. Together we can make the next 75 years even more successful and productive than DC’s illustrious 75-year history.

Jeff and I will be in the DC offices next week and will say hello personally at that time. Until then, thank you in advance for your support and continued contributions to DC Comics and the new DC Entertainment.

Best regards,

Diane

It’s the conclusion to the two-part “Birds of Paradise” arc, as a gaggle of super-powered cage fighters find themselves in the worst possible place to be — Wonder Woman and Black Canary’s bad side. Also, find out the final resolution between Diana and Nemesis. What more could you want? Oh, alright. Here are a few pages.

WONDER WOMAN #35 hits today.

You saw the preview of ADVENTURE COMICS #1 over at IGN, but the fun doesn’t stop there. We’ve got a first-look at that series’ co-feature, THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, from some guy named Johns and artist Clayton Henry.

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed Geoff’s taken a fancy for all things Legion of late, from his work on LEGION OF THREE WORLDS and his SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES arc in ACTION COMICS, among other things. So, here you have it.

ADVENTURE COMICS #1 hits tomorrow.

We decided Brian Azzarello put it best, so why try and spruce things up with a cheeky headline?

Yesterday, we caught a look at J.G. Jones’ amazing cover to the BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL, which kicks off a new era for the Doc, and and provides the springboard for more stories focusing on characters like The Blackhawks, Rima and more. Oh, and Batman.

And, as we promised yesterday, we’ve got comments from Azzarello, who’s masterminding the whole shebang. Take it away, Brian:

“Cities are urban jungles– and there’s also unchartered mysterious countries with their own jungles as well. It’s world where you’re guilty before being proven innocent– something that rarely happens. Little people make big mistakes and suffer the consequences. Life is cheap, and everyone has their price. Where part of the thrill of being rich, is watching the poor suffer. Y’know, my kind of place.”

But that’s not all. Both Azzarello and cover artist J.G. Jones will be at the Chicaco Comic-Con this weekend, talking up the special with Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler. If you’re in the area, be sure to swing by and say hello.

And, because it’s Friday and we want to send you off with a smile on your respective faces, here’s artist Rags Morales’ variant cover for the BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL, which hits in November.

It’s chaos on Kandor, as the “Codename: Patriot’ storyline kicks off, courtesy of writers Greg Rucka and James Robinson, with artist Pete Woods. Someone’s been shot, and Superman is tasked with finding the culprit. But when the shooter flees to Earth, can Superman play hero without pitting the planets against one another? The story continues in ACTION COMICS #880.

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #6 hits on 8/5.

So, you saw the news, right? Yup, starting 7/8, USA TODAY will be syndicating the SUPERMAN strip from WEDNESDAY COMICS by writer John Arcudi and artist Lee Bermejo. Cool, huh? We think so.

Special thanks to io9, THE BEAT, BLOG@NEWSARAMA and COMIC BOOK RESOURCES’ ROBOT SIX for picking up and spreading the news.

And, in our continued efforts to make every day feel as fun as Wednesday, here’s a page from the SGT. ROCK WEDNESDAY COMICS strip, with words by Adam Kubert and artwork from living legend Joe Kubert.

We take great pride in the fact that it’s taken us over a month to use these two words: Spoiler. Alert.

You’ve read FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #4, right? If not, please shut down your computer, walk briskly to your nearest comic shop and buy it. Then read it. Understand why we’re doing this? Excited? I hope so. Now click on the headline — or that handy “More…” link below — for some art that will blow you away. Do not say we didn’t warn you. Because we did. Numerous times. I’m saying it again because, by nature, I’m a paranoid creature: SPOILER ALERT.

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