There isn’t much I can say about this cover — aside from the fact that Batman and Batwoman are both on it — but who needs my commentary when you have art this lovely by Mr. J.H. Williams? Nobody, I say.

Since “Codename: Patriot,” Earth’s hatred for Kryptonians has only escalated – which is what makes it so odd that Nightwing and Flamebird pick now to go public as super heroes. Meanwhile, Lois Lane finally meets with the man she thought long dead – her father, General Lane. But he has a message to deliver to his journalist daughter: “You’re either with us or against us.”

And in part 5 of the new co-feature, Captain Atom, now back on Earth and knowing the truth about his mission, must face an old foe: Major Force. All courtesy of the team of Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, James Robinson, Pere Pérez and CAFU.

ACTION COMICS #883 hits 11/11.

Think humans and Kryptonians are the only two races in our solar system? Wrong. Jemm, Son of Saturn, ruler of the super-powered Saturnian race, arrives in Kandor demanding answers to New Krypton’s recent actions – answers he intends to get even if he has to fight his way through Commander Kal-El and the entire Kryptonian army. Not the recipe for a friendly sitdown, eh? All this and a Mark Buckingham variant cover, courtesy of writers James Robinson and Greg Rucka, along with artists Pete Woods and Ron Randall.

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #9 hits 11/4.

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”?

The shocking and tragic origin of Batwoman starts here, in a haunting, evocative issue penned by writer Greg Rucka with art from the masterful J.H. Williams III. With “Go,” Rucka and Williams reveal the true story behind the kidnapping of Kate Kane and her family by terrorists and how these events tragically alter Kate — and her family’s life — forever. All this and the mystery behind the villainous Alice revealed.

Check out a few pages below, plus a peek at THE QUESTION co-feature, as Renee’s search for a missing girl comes to a bittersweet end, leaving more questions behind. Well, if Renee survives the night.
DETECTIVE COMICS #858 hits 10/28.

Sterling Gates is far from a newcomer to the DCU — but he’s certainly one that’s on the rise. With his work — alongside artist Jamal Igle — redefining and stabilizing SUPERGIRL, Gates has made a name for himself for his tight plotting and knack for strong and precise characterization. All of which can be seen month-in and month-out in the pages of the Girl of Steel’s ongoing series. Not-so-coincidentally, you can get a good sense of what we’re talking about here by picking up the newly-released SUPERGIRL: WHO IS SUPERWOMAN? collection, which shows Gates and Igle slowly unraveling the mystery behind the new, villainous Superwoman.

But why stop there? In addition to his work on SUPERGIRL, Gates has expanded his reach in Metropolis and Krypton, firstly by co-writing the recently-concluded “Hunt for Reactron” arc with writer Greg Rucka in the pages of SUPERGIRL and ACTION COMICS and now with WORLD’S FINEST, a mini-series slated to spotlight members of the Batman and Superman families of characters as they team-up to face off against common threats.

The first issue kicks off with Gates and artist Julian Lopez bringing Red Robin and Christopher Kent/Nightwing together to help track down a missing Flamebird — but as readers have come to expect from Gates, things are rarely that linear, so fans should be in for a treat. But don’t take my word for it — check out some pages from the first issue below.

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.”

…But a thousand words ain’t too shabby, either!

Don’t get me wrong… words AND pictures are where it’s at fer me… but reading ANYTHING these days puts us all in a very, very elite club. But if you find yourself liking the work of the writers– nay, AUTHORS– who pen DC Comics these days, there is a veritable library of OTHER material available to you these days written by the very same people.

Used ta be that a comic book writer “escaped” the four-color and “pulp” ghetto and went on to become Mickey Spillane or Mario Puzo… and never looked back (except maybe to write a SUPERMAN movie or two, I guess… ).

Nowadays we have novelists (and television and screen writers, for that matter—but that’s another blog) coming to comics to DO comics. Because they LOVE comics!

Brad Meltzer’s one fellow who’s had plenty of success BEFORE he wrote some GREEN ARROW comics and JLA comics and IDENTITY CRISIS for us! Check out his “Book of Lies” for a nice literary world meets comic book history mash-up!

You’ve also probably read Greg Rucka’s work for DC and Oni Press on series like 52, GOTHAM CENTRAL and DETECTIVE COMICS and White Out… but you really should get a look at one of Greg’s coolest creations– Atticus Kodiak– in one of the seven novels Greg’s written that chronicle the adventures of this hard-as-nails BG (body guard). Start with “Keeper” and don’t stop!

Jodi Picoult, author of “Nineteen Minutes”, “Change of Heart” and thirteen other novels did a nice run on WONDER WOMAN (collected in WONDER WOMAN: LOVE & MURDER thank you very much). Hope she’ll do more someday.

And we’ve even got people doing both comics and prose at the same time! Working with Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham on JSA titles currently sets me up for reading their recent novels. Matt’s started a series for Pyr titled “Midwinter” and it’s an excellent fantasy set in an intriguing world that’s ripe for sequels for sure. And Bill W.’s just seen “Peter & Max: A Fables Novel” published—this is an all new all original story set in Vertigo’s FABLES Universe… not a novelization (though we’ve seen our share of those over the years and Marvel’s still working with Stephen King on his “Dark Tower” series)!

And willya look at THIS?! Bill’s novel was published BY Vertigo! Way to go “funny” book publisher!

And outside of our universe, writers like “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” author Michael Chabon have seen their characters come to new life in comic books for Dark Horse even… Peter David still works in both media… and scores of other examples of the back and forth between words & pictures and just words are out there… as I run out of room here.

Anyone you’d like to see us hunt down? I know I’d love to see the Batman villain “Fight Club”’s Chuck Palahniuk has in him.

Great time to be reading… anything!

Continuing from ACTION COMICS #882, “The Hunt for Reactron” concludes with the final showdown between Flamebird, Supergirl and the man who killed their father. And for the Daughters of Zor-El, that means it’s payback time. Will Reactron make it out alive? Or is Nightwing the only one who can save them all? Writers Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka team with Jamal Igle to bring the story to a close. Check out a few pages below before you swing by your shop and pick up the full issue, which hits today.

In January, ACTION COMICS #885 and SUPERMAN #696 will cross over as Nightwing and Flamebird’s hunt for Zod’s sleeper agents leads them right to Science Police Headquarters in Metropolis, home of the Guardian and Mon-El. James Robinson, Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann packed these two issues with so many twists and turns, we needed the covers to be as equally dynamic – and since the amazing CAFU regularly draws both covers, why not have the covers cross over as well? We cornered Superman Editor Matt Idelson’s able assistant Wil Moss for more info. Take it away, Wil:

Once the joint cover idea was hatched and we thought up a concept, CAFU sent in his first round of sketches. We all liked option A the best, and then with one piece of sage advice from Dan DiDio (“Wouldn’t it be nice if readers could see the heroes’ faces?”), CAFU came back with another version of option A. We all quickly approved the new sketch, then came CAFU’s inks, and finally the sublime colors by Santiago Arcas.

ACTION COMICS #885, featuring interior art by Pere Pérez (with CAFU handling the CAPTAIN ATOM co-feature), is on sale January 13. And SUPERMAN #696, with interior art by Bernard Chang, is on sale January 27. Make sure and check out the last page of #696 – that one’s gonna knock over quite a few dominoes …