Now that the conspiracy involving New Krypton’s council has been brought to light, can Superman keep his people from tearing each other apart? And what does a skull-shaped ship flying towards New Krypton mean?

Find out in the final issue of SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON, which hits 2/3:

We’re right in the thick of the holidays, but for the Superman books, it’s the dawn of a new day. James Robinson and Greg Rucka are in the same boat, balancing their holiday shopping with writing WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #12 and turning the other Superman books on their respective heads in anticipation of… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

WONK #12 (gosh, I’m going to miss that name) is the finale, the wrap-up, the cherry on the sundae that has been WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON for the last year. A very devious conspiracy has been afoot on New Krypton, one that could change the balance of power in our solar system, and not in a good way! Because we were all raised not to do things in a simple, easy way, that means change abounds in the related Super-titles as well. Since we’re not in a position yet to show you any interiors, check out this variant cover by Ladrönn, who handled the variant for the first issue of the series! (And as a bonus, check out this page by Pete Woods from WONK #11!)

While WONK is doing its death dance, in SUPERMAN James is bringing Mon-El front and center once more in a story that could only be called “Man of Valor.” Check out these pages from issue #695, due out in time for Christmas. Man, that Bernard Chang and Blond make a heck of an artist/colorist team, don’t they?

Meanwhile, Greg and the one writer who truly understands him, Eric Trautmann, are feverishly bringing the story of Nightwing and Flamebird to a head. Check out what they’re making the book’s artist, Pere Pérez, draw. Yikes! (And yes, that is indeed Guardian and Mon-El, along with their pals the Science Police—this is part one of a two-part crossover between ACTION #885 and SUPES #696 that will reveal, among other things, yet another of General Zod’s sleeper agents!)

So we’ve covered the middle of the month and the end of the month, but what about the middle? Well, that’s where you’ll find SUPERGIRL. Doing his own juggling act, writer Sterling Gates is keeping me on my toes with issues #49 and #50. Matt Camp, who did an amazing job with issue #47, is back for another go-around (where things take a turn for the worse for poor Lana Lang!). And your pal and mine, Jamal Igle, returns for our big, shocking, oversized issue #50, where, among many other things, we pick up on the story of the not-so-nice Superwoman and her even-more-not-so-nice father, General Lane!

But I’ve digressed, I fear. I started this off talking about balancing the present with the new day in the Superman titles. Come March, a brand new miniseries (emphasis on the “mini”) will arrive, taking the place of the dearly departed WONK. You’ll be learning a lot more about this in a few short weeks, but what I can tell you is that James and Sterling are teaming up with a recharged Pete Woods for this story. And weighing in at 30 pages per issue, it’s one heck of a page-turner for the Superman line. Oh, and I might as well mention that a certain colleague of Lex Luthor’s will be showing up. And if that weren’t enough, said miniseries will be roping in SUPES, ACTION, SUPERGIRL aaannnnddd… ADVENTURE COMICS! (And check out Wil Moss’ recent blog post for more clues to all of this!) Can you feel the excitement? If not, you will!

All of this — these events, these changes — are just the table-setter for what’s to come. Man, when May rolls around, readers and non-readers of the Superbooks alike will be very, very tickled. And, yes, I did just say “tickled.”

New Krypton is a planet so fresh, it’s experiencing countless things for the first time. Its first spring. Its first blooms. Its first birth of a child. And now its first homicide. When an important figure in Kandor is murdered, the suspect seems obvious to everyone but Superman. But can he make Zod or the Council believe this is more than an open-and-shut case? And can he uncover the real killer in time to save the life of the accused? It’s a dark mystery, and the truth may blow apart the civilized trappings of Kandorian society in the process. From writers Greg Rucka, James Robinson and artist Pete Woods.

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #10 hits 12/2.

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.

On a mission in space, Superman and his fellow Kryptonians encounter the might of the Thanagarian Army. Can Superman keep things peaceful between the two races – or will The Man of Steel discover that Hawkman’s legendary temper is shared by all his people?

Written by James Robinson and Greg Rucka, with art by Pete Woods and Ron Randall, issue #8 hits stands on 10/7.

STREETS OF GOTHAM artist Dustin Nguyen gets downright pastoral on the variant cover to SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #10, from writers James Robinson and Greg Rucka with artist Pete Woods. Nothing I write here can really do it much justice, beyond saying it’s a fine piece of work. So why not scroll down and see for yourself?

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #10 hits in December.

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!

Every now and again, we like to throw out a few covers from the coming months that might tease at just what is coming down the pike in the DCU. Today’s no different. I’m probably sheltering myself from the Miami sun as you read this, but why let me have all the fun? Check out a few upcoming images from December to get amped up about. Specifically, the covers to ACTION COMICS, SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON, SUPERGIRL and SUPERMAN.

The issue hits 9/2, but why not take a peek at Talbot’s magnificent cover now?

It’s chaos on Kandor, as the “Codename: Patriot’ storyline kicks off, courtesy of writers Greg Rucka and James Robinson, with artist Pete Woods. Someone’s been shot, and Superman is tasked with finding the culprit. But when the shooter flees to Earth, can Superman play hero without pitting the planets against one another? The story continues in ACTION COMICS #880.

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #6 hits on 8/5.