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!)

February’s still a ways away, dear readers, but we figured it’d be a good time to give you an inside look at the covers of some of the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA family of titles hitting that month — and there’s a ton of hitting happening in these pages. Check out the covers for the February issues of MAGOG, POWER GIRL, JSA ALL STARS and the JSA ANNUAL below.

It’s day of threes here at The Source. To close things out, we have the third issue of MAGOG, which shows us that sometimes powers are as much a curse as they are a blessing. Magog learns that lesson firsthand when the minions of Miasma assault his enhanced senses. On top of that, he’s found himself “rescued” by hi-tech-clad members of the mysterious Flashpoint. But is that a positive, or has our hero hurtled into a more dangerous situation? Find out by picking up the third issue of the new series, from writer Keith Giffen and artist Howard Porter.

MAGOG #3 hits 11/4.

Few people have more skeletons in their proverbial closets than Niles Caulder, founder of the Doom Patrol. And with BLACKEST NIGHT doing a bang-up job of bringing those skeletons back in the form of Black Lanterns, you can only imagine how complicated things are going to get for the Doom Patrol. Caulder’s been playing god for years, and the time for a reckoning is at hand. Check out a few pages from this BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in issue below, from writer Keith Giffen and artist Justiniano, with a few pages from the METAL MEN co-feature, by Giffen, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire.

DOOM PATROL #4 hits 11/4.

In the way only a title like AMBUSH BUG can, the series jumps forward to issue #7 on 10/28. But wait, what about #6, you ask? Worry not, dear reader. Writer/artist Keith Giffen will explain all. Or maybe he won’t. You’ll just have to pick up the issue next week to see — and after all this build-up, how could you miss it?

Here’s the previously-unrevealed cover to AMBUSH BUG #7. Enjoy.

Remember Mento? Yeah, that guy – goofy helmet, lightning bolt on his chest. After reading this issue, it’s a sure bet you won’t forget him again any time soon. Oh yeah, and the resolution of that whole “black hole” thing from last issue adds a kinda-sorta new member to the Doom Patrol roster. As for everyone’s favorite Metal Men, it’s the dynamic debut of Douglas, Robot Hunter!

Magog’s got a bit of a problem: How can he use the vast resources of the Justice Society without them finding out he’s going against their wishes/ Oh, and there’s a more immediate problem: Facing off against the putrid villain known as Miasma in New York City. This issue continues the first arc from the creative team of writer Keith Giffen and artist Howard Porter. Click below for a look at the first four pages plus a intense Glenn Fabry cover.

MAGOG #2 hits 10/7.

Magog has a mommy? Who knew? Well, I’d imagine writer Keith Giffen and artist Howard Porter did. That’s all the info we have for you, Source-ers, but we do have a lovely Porter design sketch for you to look at. We also managed to corner MAGOG editor Mike Carlin into giving us a tad more info on who this lady really is. Take it away, Mike:

“We’ll meet Magog’s Mom, Alba in issue #4…When she calls Magog back home to Albion. Where the demigod’s roots are!”

Fair enough. MAGOG #4 hits in January.

Ready for another dose of Keith Giffen and Matthew Clark’s DOOM PATROL? Are you sure?

It’s a black hole, but it’s not a black hole. If you’re a Doom Patrol fan, that made perfect sense. And even if not, then you’re in for one hell of a ride as the Doom Patrol face off against the most annoying alien this side of G’nort. Who’s G’nort? Do we have to spell it out for you? Oh, and the Metal Men in space.

Not satisfied? Check out a few pages below to get an idea. DOOM PATROL #2 hits 9/9.

We unveiled a short preview of the first issue of MAGOG, from writer Keith Giffen and artist Howard Porter a while back, but it never hurts to gently remind you that it’s in stores this week. We also thought it’d be nice to throw in a few extra pages, for good measure.

Tired of the restraints that come with being a card-carrying member of the JSA, Magog decides to take justice into his own hands. But how does that synch up with Magog’s own, apparently unavoidable destiny? We can’t tell, but these pages should shed some light on the situation.

MAGOG #1 hits tomorrow.