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!)

Supergirl has finally brought Reactron back to New Krypton so he can be held accountable for murdering her father, Zor-El. While the debate about what to do with him rages among the people of New Krypton, the planet’s ruler – and Supergirl’s mother – remains unsure. Should Alura have Reactron executed? And will Supergirl allow it to happen if her mother decides to go that route? We can’t spoil that for you here. But we can give you a glimpse at the issue, from writer Sterling Gates and guest artist Matt Camp.

SUPERGIRL #47 hits 11/18.

As some of you know, artist Michael Turner died from complications of cancer last summer. He left a lasting legacy with not only the Maid of Steel, but comics in general. We thought it would be a great honor to spotlight his career and this milestone issue, SUPERGIRL #50 by having a cover from the artist that helped usher the modern version of Supergirl into the DCU.

We hope you agree and join us in celebrating the character, and this great artist.

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.

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.

Way to go Long Beach! I just got back up to LA from the first Long Beach Comic Con and I had a blast. The show was great, the fans were great, the guest list was great and the weather was great.

Of course you’ve heard the big news out of the show was Dan DiDio and Philip Tan on Outsiders and Geoff Johns and Scott Kollins on the Wally West cofeature in The Flash. The DC Nation panel was full of all kinds of awesome as I was joined by Geoff, Philip, Pete Tomasi, JT Krul, Sterling Gates and Mr. Bob Wayne. We talked about the popularity of Red Lantern cats, our favorite superhero movies and the many ways we could kill Lady Blackhawk. The Long Beach fans were excellent and I look forward to coming back next year.

The only thing that went wrong at the show was that I forgot to take pictures of the panel. This daily blogging thing is new to me and I got distracted when they gave me a cordless microphone to run around the room with. I tried to make up for it with these pictures of Philip and Dustin Nguyen at their tables. I’ll try and do better this week.

See you tomorrow,

Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor DCU

What better way to lift your spirits on a Monday morning than by having some holiday cheer? What? It’s September, you say? Well, yes, but it’s never too early to roll out our holiday plans, no?

This December, we’re proud to unveil the DC HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2009 #1, featuring some of your favorite creators writing tales featuring the top characters of the DCU. Let’s name a few, shall we? Scott Kolins, Sterling Gates, Amy Wolfram, Fred Van Lente, Jay Faerber, Beau Smith, David Tischman, Jay Torres and many more will bring their talents together to spread some holiday cheer around the DC Universe.

And, to continue my efforts toward celebrating the spirit of the season a few months early, here’s a sneak peek at Dustin Nguyen’s beautiful cover to the special? Enjoy.

DC HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2009 #1 hits 12/9.

Much of today has been devoted to wrapping up WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #8, which is a pretty crazy issue. James Robinson, Greg Rucka and Pete Woods are introducing the Thanagarians to the series, and where the Thanagarians go, can bloody skirmishes be far to follow? One thing that’s complicated matters on this issue is Pete’s shoulder injury (I know, I know, I’m not supposed to give the opposing team info on our players’ injuries!). Happily, the always-joyous Ron Randall has swung in to save the day, with some beautiful, dynamic pages that’ll leave you saying “Pete who?” Since Ron is still working on his pages while I’m writing this, I’ll just have to leave you to be wowed later, and share a Pete/Nei Ruffino-produced peek instead.

Since one eye (of my three) is always looking ahead, that means steadily working on ACTION #882, which gets sent to the printer next week. #881 just came out a couple days ago, launching the four-part “Hunt for Reactron” crossover with SUPERGIRL #45 and #46, and I think it turned out pretty darn stellar. Usually when you tell a multi-part story, the buildup is almost inevitably more fun than the payoff, but not in this case (-whew!-). Sterling Gates and Greg have really done some amazing work here together, and between them and Pére Perez (ACTION) and Jamal “Shorts” Igle (SUPERGIRL), this arc is something I’m really proud of. ACTION #882 is pretty intense in places, but the finale in SG #46 is nothing short of majestic. Can you tell I’m pumped? Here, I’ve even included a sneak peak or two!

I end up having to pull away from ACTION to deal with two important developments. First, my manservant, Wil Moss has noticed that our main Thanagarian player in WONK #8 has a costume inconsistency. Nothing, and I mean nothing gets by this guy! Happily, he’s since contacted Pete, Ron and Nei, and a solution has been agreed upon. Then James comes through with a large portion of WONK #9, a story that stars a very peeved Jemm, Son of Saturn (remember him?). Man, this is good stuff.

At last, I return to proofing the lettering for ACTION, even as a question comes in from Fernando Dagnino, our fabulous penciller of SUPERMAN #693. Seems Fernando needs clarification for one scene involving the Parasite, and where he should be positioned on the page. Easily answered (and believe me, few things in this job are!). Sorry, ACTION. I’ll pay attention to you now.

Bing! Editor Liz “Don’t Give Me A Nickname, I Don’t Do Nicknames” Gehrlein has just sent over Geoff Johns’ latest script, for ADVENTURE #3. Hmmm. It looks thick. I’ll save this for the train, so I don’t repeat last night’s mistake, where I tried to balloon pages of Geoff and Gary Frank’s third issue of SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN. Here, I’ll let you judge for yourself:

Pretty messy, huh? Stupid train. Well, at least the art’s gorgeous. Anyway, by this point I’ve gotten through the proofing for the lead story, but I have to put off going over the Captain Atom co-feature (part 4, for those of you keeping score) for our weekly Superman writers’ conference call. Poor ACTION…

Without going into any details, today’s call focuses on the happenings in the books come next summer, and how best to get there in the books that come out in the spring. Yesterday, we resolved a major point of concern that Dan DiDio had, and man, the ideas have really been flowing freely today as a result. Sometimes it really is fun knowing things before everyone else does.

Finally, after more work on WONK, some back and forth with the amazingly talented LaDronn (who’s doing the variant cover for WONK #12 as a bookend of sorts to his variant on the first issue), and a typically bizarre conversation with James about a special book that’s coming out in January, I turn to see that the sun has gone down. Guess I’ll be reading Capt. Atom over the weekend… but to end on a cheerful note, here’s a page from the story, by the ridiculously gifted team of CAFU and Bit. Have a nice weekend!

Jumping from the pages of ACTION COMICS #881, writers Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka continue “The Hunt for Reactron” in the pages of SUPERGIRL. Can Supergirl rely on her seemingly unhinged childhood buddy to help her track down her father’s killer? Or will she get burned by the person she once trusted most? Who knows? But we can tease a few lovely Jamal Igle pages right here. And don’t go anywhere, as later today we’ll have some more Superman inside info, right from Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson’s desk.

SUPERGIRL #45 hits 9/23.

Happy Monday, Source gang. I’m back in the office, a little warmer and rested from a few days in sunny SoFla. Yes, that’s how we refer to it. Moving on.

We always like to start the week with something big and exciting, and this Monday is no exception. Last week, we teased “The Hunt for Reactron,” the four-part crossover between ACTION COMICS and SUPERGIRL, co-written by SUPERGIRL writer Sterling Gates and ACTION COMICS scribe Greg Rucka. Well, not-so-coincidentally, we have a few pages from the first issue, ACTION COMICS #881.

Spilling out of the pages of the “Codename: Patriot” finale, Supergirl and Flamebird find themselves at odds. What could make these childhood friends go ballistic on each other? Can Nightwing calm them down before things get even worse? And just what are they going to do about all those villains surrounding them? The ones in the tanks, yes. Well, you’ll get some answers today, in the preview pages below, and even more Wednesday, when the issue hits, featuring some very nice Pere Pérez art, natch.

But that’s not all. Remember when we teased some of Rucka and co-writer James Robinson’s CAPTAIN ATOM co-feature? Well, we’ve got some final pages for you to look over, and they’re pretty stunning. If you haven’t given the co-feature a look, you’re missing out on some lovely CAFU artwork and a gripping story. What is happening to Captain Atom? And, more importantly, what’s going on in his mind? I’ve teased enough. But enjoy the pretty pictures while you wait for Wednesday to roll around.

ACTION COMICS #881 hits 9/16.