Source-rers!

At long last, the day has finally arrived: All Hallow’s Eve…eve’s eve. (All right, so it’s not the big day, but it’s in my own best interest to write this tomb today, and not tomorrow, during DC’s Halloween festivities, as there is a very good chance that I will be covered in blood tomorrow. I may also be in costume, but that’s another story.)

So are all of you boils and ghouls ready for the frightening festivities? Do you have your horror movies all picked out? Are your bags of candy ready to be opened and devoured? And what about your comics? Wanna read something that’ll make you go bump and Bwah-ha-ha in the night? In that case, check out this all-new preview page from BOOSTER GOLD #26:

Spooky. Next up is another interior page, this one from the upcoming BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT (due out this December), in which a blizzard of unimaginable proportions blankets fair Gotham in a bed of icy white death. This frigid little tale comes courtesy of artist extraordinaire Rafa Garres and writer Kevin Shinick (of “Robot Chicken” fame…check out his “The Arkham Redemption” bit—it’s fantastic). Their tragic tale focuses on Commissioner Gordon and is called, “What Falls Below.” Take a peek:

But what’s Halloween without Doug Moench & Kelley Jones, and their moody, atmospheric, pointy-eared Batman? Here’s a page from issue four of their current BATMAN: UNSEEN mini-series, which hits in a couple weeks:

Want more gratifying gruesomeness to tide you over? Well, might I then suggest SUPERMAN/BATMAN #65, which was our horrifying Halloween issue, or the jam-packed extravaganza and sure-to-be instant classic known as the DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2009.

Rumor has it that the nefarious HOUSE OF MYSTERY character I…VAMPIRE makes an appearance in this little ditty, and I, for one, would like to commend the obviously brilliant and undoubtedly handsome writer who resurrected this classic creature of the night. Well done, sir!

Of course, for those of you who are looking for something you can really sink your teeth into (you know, just the other day I said I’d stop using that gag, but old habits die hard), there’s the trade paperback of SUPERMAN & BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES from the Kevin VanHook and Tom Mandrake, each of whom is a master of horror in their own right. And speaking of MASTERS OF HORROR, this trade comes with a hauntingly good introduction from film director John Landis, whose AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON can’t be shown enough at this time of year. Enjoy!

All right, gang. That’s it for now. Gotta get some books to the printer (BATGIRL #4, I’m looking at you!), gotta talk to a few writers (have to speak with Peter Tomasi about his final issue of OUTSIDERS), and gotta start planning my Halloween costume (it’s gonna be very last-minute this year, and not nearly as intricate as some of my other years…sorry, folks).

So until next time, gang, have a Happy Halloween and try to enjoy the daylight…

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…

What, news happens after San Diego? Believe it or not, the answer is yes. And because I know you’re surfing the web for anything that’d help distract from the fact that today is indeed Monday, here are two things well worth your time.

• THE NEW YORK TIMES has an excellent review of Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER? collection. Here’s an excerpt:

“Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” has morbid moments, but also bittersweet passages. Its title story, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Andy Kubert, imagines several variations of Batman’s death. This anthology, published by DC Comics, also includes other stories by Mr. Gaiman about the millionaire Bruce Wayne’s famous alter ego. The other tales are very good, but “Whatever Happened to …” packs enough emotional punch to stand solo.

• COMICS ALLIANCE’s Laura Hudson catches up with Blair Butler, who we recently announced would be gracing the cover to BOOSTER GOLD #23. Another sampling, because we’re nice like that:

ComicsAlliance: So, how did the whole “Booster Gold” cover with DC come about?

Blair Butler: I actually got a call from Dan DiDio who said he had a crazy idea for an upcoming issue of “Booster Gold.” Basically – and forgive me, because my memory sucks and I’m still recovering from Comic-Con – I recall that he said DC wanted to do a cover that sort of stood out for #23, and having a photo cover with a Booster fan was the main idea. It seemed oddly appropriate, since Booster is a bit of an attention hog. I think he’d not-so-secretly love the idea of having a lady-fan on the cover of his book. And, honestly, I was incredibly humbled that DC would ask me to don the Blue and Gold fan colors. I’ve loved comics since I had to stand on a stool to reach the quarter-bins at my local comic shop, so it’s pretty awesome to get to be part of a DC comic.

Day one is almost complete here in lovely San Diego, and what’s a day at SDCC without some kind of news? Not just any news, either, but something fun and involving one of comics’ biggest fans and supporters.

As you probably saw on G4 already, we debuted the final cover to BOOSTER GOLD #23, revealing just who Booster’s #1 fan really is.

Who is it? Well, none other than Blair Butler, co-host or correspondent or Fresh Ink Host from G4’s Attack of the Show and an all-around comic book fan. So, before we collapse in a heap from just a partial day of con madness, we’ve got the cover to the issue right here. Thanks to Blair for being such a good sport.

And while there can only be one #1 fan, you can show your support in t-shirt form. Our friends at Graphitti Designs will be selling shirts with this very cover emblazoned on it right here at the con. Our President and Publisher, Paul Levitz, got the chance to present Blair with her very own “BOOSTER GOLD FAN CLUB” shirt yesterday, as the photo below attests.

Well, what are you waiting for? And no, I won’t buy one for you.

Greetings, Source-erers,

Michael Siglain here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m one of the editors here at DC. More specifically, I’m one of the Bat-editors, and am currently responsible for Detective Comics, Outsiders, Batgirl, Vigilante and Booster Gold, among other comic book greatness. I’m here today to give you a peek behind the editorial iron curtain, so get ready to feast your eyes…

First up, I’d like to take a moment to congratulate the crew of Detective Comics. The lead story—by the brilliant team of Greg Rucka, J.H. Williams III, and Dave Stewart—tells the tale of Batwoman, while in the co-feature, Mr. Rucka teams up with artist extraordinaire Cully Hamner to answer The Question. As you may have heard, we’ve just sold out of Detective Comics #854 and are going back to press with a brand new cover.

But you might not have seen the uncolored version of our groovy second printing cover, so take a gander…

Pretty, ain’t it? If any of you haven’t read this issue yet, run—don’t walk—to your local comic shop and reserve your copy now. And just wait until you read Detective Comics #855, which is in stores at the end of this month. Things go from bad to worse for our heroines, but the writing and the art only gets better and better. Trust me, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.

And speaking of cool bat-related books, here’s a page from Outsiders #21, which features an all-new story arc written by Wizard Top Ten Writer Peter Tomasi—seriously, he’s number seven with a bullet—of Nightwing and Green Lantern Corps fame, with art by the amazingly talented Fernando Pasarin—of Justice Society of America fame (he’s not on the Wizard list yet, but he’s number one on the list of Top Ten Artists Who Live in Spain and Currently Work for Mike Siglain). These fine folks have crafted a tale of terror that pits the Outsiders against some of Batman’s most dangerous and vile villains. In “The Hunting” Part I, Black Lightning and Owlman head north in an attempt to track down the murderous Mr. Freeze. Again, take a look:

That’s all for now, gang. But check back soon for another update featuring the all-new Batgirl, the same ol’ Booster, the return of Doug Moench and Kelley Jones, and a top secret, unbelievably creepy Sam Kieth project.

Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight…

M.

Hi everybody - check out this image which is only part of the cover to August’s BOOSTER GOLD #23.  That’s right, it’s only PART of the cover.  So what’s the rest going to look like?  Well I can’t tell you that, but I can say that we’re about to find out who Booster Gold’s #1 Fan is.  Watch this space over the next few weeks for more info.

Well, surprise news. There’s one co-feature we haven’t shown pages from, and that’s BLUE BEETLE, which will be setting up shop with BOOSTER GOLD starting with #21 of that series, from writer Matt Sturges and artist Mike Norton. In the first installment, Jaime Reyes has a friendly lunch interrupted by a marauding 50-foot robot. Sound like a fun break? Didn’t think so. Check out some colored pages below.

Happy Tuesday, Source readers. It’s been a busy few days here at the DC offices, with tons to discuss and point you to. So, let’s hop to it.

• Over at NEWSARAMA, Dan DiDio answers the latest batch of fan questions, and shares more details on DOC SAVAGE, BLACKEST NIGHT, ADVENTURE COMICS and the new cover design for books featuring co-features. See above for a visual aide. Also at NEWSARAMA, James Robinson and Greg Rucka share some info on the August Superman crossover, CODENAME: PATRIOT.

• BATTLE FOR THE COWL is speeding toward its final issue, and IGN’s got a first look at the third issue. Not to mention a peek at the BLACKEST NIGHT stuff hitting in August, along with the cover to BLACKEST NIGHT #2.

• Speaking of James Robinson, COMIC BOOK RESOURCES sits down with him to talk about JLA: CRY FOR JUSTICE.

• And congrats to the VIXEN creative team of G. Willow Wilson and CAFU, for their Glyph Award victory in the Fan Award For Best Comic category.

Well, we made it through Monday in a relatively functional state. What do the Internets have to say?

First off, Jerome Maida of THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS talks up the first issue of FLASH: REBIRTH:

As presented here, Allen is both a more noble Batman and a darker, edgier version of Superman. The book devotes time to giving the reader insight as to who Barry Allen is and why we should care. The book briefly shows the impact his return is having on his friends, foes and family, while also delving a bit into his past to see what drives him to do the things he does.

• Continuing their focused BATTLE FOR THE COWL coverage, IGN talks to writer/artist Tony Daniel about the second issue of the mini-series and previews ORACLE #2.

• Comic Book Resources gives the latest issue of BOOSTER GOLD high marks.

• NEWSARAMA previews GREEN LANTERN CORPS #35.

As the headline so capably notes, NEWSARAMA just posted preview pages from next week’s issue of BOOSTER GOLD. Picking up after the “Reality Lost” arc, the issue focuses on the price you pay when you mess with time travel. And just because we’re in a giving mood today, here’s an extra piece of writer/artist Dan Jurgens’ artwork from the issue. Enjoy.