You know, these days, with the Internet and all, lots of DC’s business is conducted through e-mail and on the telephone. So it IS unusual to see the hallways of DC’s offices bustling with writers and artists!

This used to be normal back when I entered the business—before fax machines!!!—as the writers and artists would actually hand deliver material on a weekly basis. Shortly after Fed Ex became a factor artists and writers started moving away from the big bad city that the comics publishers resided in—probably just so they could breathe some fresh air, though more likely because it was harder for us to grab them when we needed something ASAP!

Nowadays with everyone able to post high resolution scans of the art for any given title—we work with people all over the globe and we don’t even touch the physical art boards here in New York City anymore. (Man, THAT’s weird for a guy whose first gig in comics was photocopying Jack Kirby’s actual penciled art for KAMANDI and/or Walt Simonson’s pages for the Batman/Manhunter team-up back in the early 70s!!! Yup… I was a High School Intern at DC back in the day!)

So, not touching art, or seeing writers and artists in person makes it a real event when the talent comes into town to meet with us about the future!

In these two weeks before Thanksgiving we have Geoff Johns, Pete Tomasi, James Robinson, Sterling Gates, Eric Trautman, Tony Bedard, Keith Giffen, Judd Winick and more coming through the hallowed halls to help plan, with their editors and Dan DiDio, all of 2010– and beyond– in the DC Universe!

These meetings for a couple of new series as well as Superman and Justice League related titles are some of my favorite part of making the comics. They bond everyone involved to the goals and concepts shaped and honed TOGETHER and everyone leaves feeling like they are part of the family and that they matter to making the agreed upon stories “the best ever”! (And yes, Families sometimes have “feuds” but even THAT passion can help fuel the Never-ending Battle between the covers!)

I was in on instigating some of these so-called Summits back when I was editor of SUPERMAN… and they all came about because of a dinner a bunch of us had at a convention in Cleveland, IL during Superman’s 5oth anniversary in 1988.

There were a bunch of us Superman types on hand to help celebrate. Jerry Ordway and Roger Stern were there… George Perez was about to join us on the return of Superman TO ACTION COMICS… and the master himself Curt Swan even joined us at this legendary dinner. Together we all went out to discuss an ACTION ANNUAL that would bring George into our team… and would have Curt returning to the Man of Tomorrow as well! The dinner was fun and productive with everyone contributing ideas to the mix—including Curt who was only to draw a few pages in the annual.

When the dinner was over I asked Curt how this “plotting session” compared with the ones he’d done in the old days. He said that it was great—because he was never invited to join in the plotting back then. He was clearly excited to have been involved.

This got me to thinking… excitement behind the scenes always makes for excitement on the page… so we quickly scheduled the first real Super-Summit for shortly after that. And the meetings have stayed a staple of the creative process since then in one form or another.

The excitement in the halls this mid-November promises to translate well for next year… so let them keep inventing ways to keep us all apart—we’ll still find a way to get together and blow everyone away with what we can come up with!

The one thing I’ll never understand is how anyone did comics (or ANYTHING) before Post-It notes were invented! (But even those work best when everyone’s all in the same room!)

Writer Judd Winick and artist Mark Bagley bring their “Long Shadows” arc to a close as Two-Face and the new Batman throw down in the Batcave. And it’s a vicious one, but as Two-Face begins to turn the tide…Batman shows up? Wish I could say more, but maybe these preview pages below will send some clues your way.

BATMAN #691 hits tomorrow.

Writer Judd Winick and artist Mark Bagley kick off part three of their four-part BATMAN story with a bang, as Penguin ups the ante in his bid to become the top crook in Gotham and enlists a few of Arkham’s finest to keep the Dark Knight occupied. Meanwhile, a new player enters the scene to help the Penguin — or does he have more devious goals? All this while Two-Face gets closer to making a startling discovery about who Batman really is.

BATMAN #690 hits today.

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.

It’s become something of a tradition here at The Source to start the week with some news, and we’ve got a nice bit here, with more to come later this week.

You all saw the preview pages from Judd Winick and Mark Bagley’s first BATMAN issue, right? To say it’s essential reading is an understatement. Heck, for us to say anything at all might be pushing it. So, we gave Judd a quick ring and asked him for the 101 on why this arc is so integral to the new Dark Knight. Judd?:

“This is Dick Grayson’s first chapter as Batman. Despite all his training, despite growing up at Bruce Wayne’s side, it’s a hard transition. He’s going to make mistakes, and he’s going to pay for them. But it all begins here.”

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Starting in October, after the conclusion of his “Long Shadow” arc, Judd Winick and Mark Bagley will pass the BATMAN baton to writer/artist Tony Daniel, who’ll be pulling double-duty on the title for six issues. You may recall Daniel did a pretty bang-up job on a little thing called BATTLE FOR THE COWL, which set the stage for all the Batman excitement going on now. Because we’re all about consistency here at The Source, we got Tony chatting about his plans for a certain Caped Crusader:

“It’s a very exciting time right now. I’ve done my research, I’ve chosen my players, and I’ve outlined six months worth of story and I’m in the scripting phase of my first issue. We’ll be seeing the return of  some once-familiar faces,  faces, I can say, who are not so friendly to Gotham. I’ll be introducing a new character to the city of Gotham. There are also a few surprises in store that I hope will get people excited. “

There’s a new Batman in Gotham, but does that mean Gotham City wants him around? As Two-Face and Penguin take measures to keep the new hero at bay, one of the villains makes a startling new discovery about Dick Grayson. This issue kicks off a four-issue arc from writer Judd Winick and artist Mark Bagley, and we have a few pages for your perusal.

BATMAN #688 hits on 7/8.

Heard the big news from last week? Well, we announced the new creative team for JUSTICE LEAGUE. Specifically, writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley. But before Bagley — who just wrapped up a historic run on the weekly TRINITY series — steps aboard JUSTICE LEAGUE, he’s got a three-issue arc on BATMAN, pairing him with writer Judd Winick. We teased a page before, but we’ve got three more that you may want to check out.

BATMAN #688 hits 7/8.

June is a pretty Bat-centric month, so why not tailor one of these handy link-blog posts to the Dark Knight?

• In addition to picking up The Source’s very own GOTHAM CITY SIRENS and STREETS OF GOTHAM previews, IGN also debuted paged from the first issue of Chris Yost and Ramon Bach’s RED ROBIN and Judd Winick and Ed Benes’ BATTLE FOR THE COWL epilogue in BATMAN #687. That’ll eat up a chunk of time today, huh?

• And, in case you missed it, Chip Kidd announced plans for an upcoming Batman project. We’ll have more details on the project as we get closer to launch.

Ed Benes is handling art duties on BATMAN #687. You’ve seen some of the stuff coming after, specifically, Mark Bagley’s upcoming work, but why not take a gander at some of Benes’ linework? It will not disappoint.Ed steps in for a one-issue spotlight, pairing him with writer Judd Winick to set the stage for the post-BATTLE FOR THE COWL world, leading into Winick and Bagley’s first arc on the book. Benes, who’s done spectacular work on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, steps into Gotham comfortably, as you can tell from these stellar pages. No drooling, please.

BATMAN #687 hits in June.

This July, fresh off his groundbreaking run on TRINITY, superstar artist Mark Bagley makes a pit stop in Gotham City to spend some time with the new Batman. Who? We’re not telling. But, we will show you a few pages of Mr. Bagley’s amazing artwork, which pairs him with writer Judd Winick. Make with the click below.

BATMAN #688 hits 7/8.