Greetings, Source-rers, 
 
Editor Michael Siglain here, back to tempt and tease you with the latest tantalizing tombs from my little corner of the DC Universe. 
 
Labor Day has come and gone, there’s a crisp chill in the air, and the kiddies are all finally back in school. September is upon us, and that means that Halloween is on its way. Yes, it’s true, I’m rushing the season, but Halloween is more than just one day out of the year. For me, All Hallow’s Eve is a state of mind, so let’s not waste time, let’s make with the creepy!
 
First up is a glimpse of the cover to Booster Gold #27, which is part II of our Blackest Night tie-in. Here, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle must team-up to stop Black Lantern Blue Beetle from eating their hearts. And as you can see by our cover, courtesy of series’ artists Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund, Booster’s just hanging around, and Ted, well, Ted’s dead, baby.

 
Want even more Blackest Night tie-in related goodness? Well, how ’bout the cover to Outsiders 25 from Tom Mandrake? If anyone knows the mysterious and spooky, it’s the Addams Family. And Tom Mandrake. Here, we get a cover in the vein of the old 1970s Hammer Horror posters. Check it out:

 
But you’ve all seen the Black Lanterns by now. What about that which is unseen? More specifically, what have you seen on Batman: Unseen? Well, the aforementioned is the title of a new 5-part miniseries—due out this October—that reunites the celebrated Bat-team of writer Doug Moench and artist Kelley Jones. These fearsome folks have once again joined forces to pit the Dark Knight Detective against his strangest foe yet: The Invisible Man! But this isn’t your typical Invisible Man story. You see (no pun intended), that in this twisted tale, our Invisible Man doesn’t start out all that invisible. At first, just his skin disappears, leaving a weird, red musculature to roam and ravage the mean streets of Gotham. Feast your eyes on the following:

Weird, no? But wait, there’s more! What’s Halloween–or our never-ending Halloween season–without werewolves? (Incidentally, the answer is a boring and dull Halloween, but I digress.) Another book that you may have heard about—and not just from me—is Detective Comics, written and drawn by the super-scary team of Greg Rucka and JH Williams III. Why are they so scary, you ask? Well, it’s because they’re so damn good at what they do! And in one of our upcoming issues, specifically Detective Comics #859, which is out in November, we get one of—if not THE—greatest werewolf transformations to ever grace the printed page. Howl in excitement at the following:

 
Beautiful, isn’t it? Well, my time is almost up here, so let’s end on another truly creepy image: the cover to the all-new hardcover by writer/artist Sam Kieth. Sinister Sam is inviting all of you to join him as he spends the night in the most infamous insane asylum in all of DC Comics. Welcome to Arkham Asylum: Madness. As they said in the remake of The Fly, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

 
So that’s it, gang. A heaping helping of the terrifying and horrifying that Assistant Editor Harvey Richards and I have in store for you in the upcoming few weeks. There’s also a DCU Halloween Special coming your way, in which I have a very personal interest, but I’ll leave those details to Editors Eddie Berganza & Adam Schlagman. In the meantime, be sure to check back soon for more scary stories from me (anyone sense a theme yet?), as well as information on Batman of the Future!?!
 
Thanks for reading, gang. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight…

Isn’t that a lovely Andy Kubert cover? You know what’s better than that? Having an Andy Kubert cover with interiors by Mark Bagley. Words from Judd Winick don’t hurt either. And here, in the second installment of the three-part “Long Shadows” arc, we find the newly-minted Batman scrambling to retrieve the Arkham Asylum escapees, while Two-Face begins a ground war of his own. But what’s the Penguin up to? Catch a glimpse below.

BATMAN #689 hits 8/12.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Computer’s on, the day begins… 45 emails overnight, argh. Start with the easy ones first. No, wait—Executive Editor Dan DiDio is pulling the Bat Group down into his office for an urgent meeting. Topic: BATGIRL.

Just emerged from Dan’s office. Decided the fate of several characters. As usual, we created more questions then we set out to answer, but hey—that’s the fun part of the job. I’m surprised we ended up where we did, but WOW. Can’t wait to actually start on the title.

Back to the emails… confirmation that BATTLE FOR THE COWL #2 made it safely to the printer. Phew. That’s a relief. We just made it in time. Tony Daniel drew twelve pages in five days! Issue looks great…  Jeremy Haun completed his final page of BATTLE FOR THE COWL: ARKHAM ASYLUM—and he saved the best page for last—readers will think of the LOST map when they see this page…  Heard from that New York Times best-selling fantasy author I’ve been speaking to. She wanted to check in on the artwork of the hardcover we’re doing… Oh yeah—also received new artwork from Frank Quitely on BATMAN & ROBIN #2. Truly amazing artwork.

Got through emails… on to the phone calls. Andy Kubert to run over DETECTIVE #853 balloon placements. Pete Tomasi to talk about the OUTSIDERS roster issues. Tony Daniel to discuss plot notes on BFTC #3 and his AMAZING cover to BATMAN #688… DCU Publicity Manager Alex Segura and Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler stop in for meeting with IGN.com to discuss “the wall”… have Neil Gaiman’s lettering corrections come in yet? Must check with Janelle.

Have to push back color deadlines for SGT. ROCK #5 and ARKHAM ASYLUM… more BATGIRL discussions… have I eaten lunch yet?

Received RED ROBIN cover sketches from Francis Manapul—three great designs to choose from…should we have the camera looking down at the grave or up from inside it? Also received final colors on Freddie Williams RED ROBIN cover… talked to Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen about cover to STREETS OF GOTHAM #3—too risky to put Tommy Elliot on the cover?

Ate lunch, finally… Email from Grant Morrison, checking to make sure correct tombstone reference was used… plot discussions, more plot discussions, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Misfit…

Just realized three phone calls will have to wait till tomorrow… Frazer Irving’s final colors on AZRAEL #2 just came in…breathtaking. Script in from Fabian Nicieza, script in from David Hine…do quick balloon placements on both and send down to lettering.

Wait—is the day over? Still so much to do… ah, tomorrow’s another day.