Today, ADVERTISING AGE named DC Comics to its annual list of “America's Hottest Brands.” As regular readers of THE SOURCE know, the high profile launch of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 got everyone talking—and ADVERTISING AGE took notice.

DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson tells the magazine that “the comic business as a whole could stand some shaking up in order to remind consumers everywhere the power of the medium and its characters and stories."

Head over to the site for the complete list of the 25 companies and brands recognized.

With ALL-STAR WESTERN’s extra page count, Justin and I were given a chance to not only expand the storylines of classic D.C. western characters, but to bring some new and exciting characters into the universe as well. Issue 4 of ALL-STAR WESTERN introduces the debut of a brand new character called The Barbary Ghost, featuring the incredible art of Phil Winslade, the vibrant colors of Dominic Regan and the master of comic book lettering, Rob Leigh. The story itself takes place way west of Gotham… in 1878 San Francisco, in the area known as the Barbary Coast: known for it’s development during the California gold rush, and since then has become famous for its gambling, prostitution and crime.

Our story follows the plight of the Tsen family, a group of Chinese immigrants coming to the new world to make a fresh start for themselves in America. More specifically, we focus on the daughter of the family, Yanmei, as she deals with crime lord Bo Long, and his gang of killers and thieves as they shake down her family for protection money. With any introduction of any new character, we establish the world around her, the supporting cast of her family members, and introduce a situation where the odds are stacked against our hero. We felt, looking at all the western characters out there, that featuring a character that has a Chinese background would be an interesting twist to the western genre, and at the same time introduce the reader to another story about the world back then that isn’t covered very much in comics. The history of the old west is so rich and fascinating, we wanted to create characters that would not only be interesting, but also keep with the tradition of ALL-STAR WESTERN. The story itself is a classic tale of revenge set against some horrible conditions …a story where we see how one person can step up against all odds, and make a difference. The Barbary Ghost has all the classic themes and we think just the right stuff to become an important part of the new D.C. universe.

-- Jimmy Palmiotti (ALL-STAR WESTERN)

AMAZON’s OMNIVORACIOUS BLOG posted an exclusive interview with writer Neil Gaiman, where amongst other things, he discusses the new digital availability of SANDMAN. So what’s his personal favorite volume of the iconic series? “Probably ‘A Game of You,’ because it's most people's least favourite volume, and I love it all the more for that,” Gaiman revealed.

Yesterday, we announced the new DC Entertainment storefront on Amazon.com. This news came following the announcement a few weeks back that 100 titles spanning all DC Entertainment publishing imprints – DC Comics, Vertigo & MAD – would be available digitally exclusively on the new Amazon Kindle Fire.

“The store is an aggregator of DC Comics digital and print titles,” Hank Kanalz, SVP of Digital, told PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. “It will have more in print than the 100 graphic novels, Amazon has the entire DC Comics backlist.”

“It exposes all our new material to 144 million Amazon customers," he continued to NEWSARAMA. "They've built a store for us. We're on their commercials. We're in their collateral material. It kind of blows the doors wide open."

For more coverage on DC Entertainment’s exclusive deal with Amazon, check out THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ HERO COMPLEX and COMIC BOOK RESOURCES.

To be continued …

If you haven’t downloaded the new SUPERMAN iOS game from Chillingo, what are you waiting for? The new iPhone game is getting stellar reviews and is consistently ranked in the top 10 among all paid apps on the App Store since launching last week.  Here’s what everyone is saying:

MTV Geek says "Superman, the new iOS game, is the best Superman videogame I have ever played.”

Top app review site 148 Apps gave the game 5/5 stars and states “For its well developed gameplay, extensive level offerings and superhero abilities, Superman is a iOS game that new and old fans will enjoy. Thus, I’d highly recommend checking it out.”

Kotaku picked the game as the “App of the Day” and proclaimed “The Man of Steel's new game, which is simply called Superman, is very good.”

You can download the new SUPERMAN game here.

In BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #3 (out tomorrow), Batman must battle both the physical and mental threats that the White Rabbit brings. MAXIM has your exclusive first look at the issue.

Tomorrow also marks the release of AQUAMAN #3. “In this week's issue, you'll actually see a character that was first mentioned in the back matter of JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 that plays a pretty important role,” series writer Geoff Johns revealed to IGN. “It's a new character but it's a character that has to do with Aquaman's past and ties into a bigger story that we're building. So all the clues are there for what we're doing next and the first big tease starts this week.”

Earlier this morning, writer Scott Lobdell told you three things you need to know about Bunker, the newest member of the Teen Titans. COMIC BOOK RESOURCES chatted with Lobdell about the openly gay character. “I'd say that definitely the point of Bunker's embracing things is that he enjoys everything about life,” Lobdell said of the character. “He enjoys being alive, he enjoys his sexuality, and he enjoys that he's been gifted with these super powers. To some degree, I don't think we see a lot of characters enjoying their super powers the same way that you and I would. I think it's great to see the drama of characters burdened by that which separates them from society, but there's also the idea that many people solely enjoy and celebrate every day that which makes them different instead of being fearful or angsty or regretful.”

And while you’re at COMIC BOOK RESOURCES, be sure to also check out their interview with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti about THE RAY, which we previewed here on THE SOURCE yesterday. “We started thinking about Lucien as represented by light, and with that came the need to do something optimistic and bright, the kind of superhero who is modern and yet still retains some of the old school action hero comics,” Gray disclosed about series protagonist, Lucien Gates. “Much of the series is grounded in Lucien's life outside the costume and how it often serves as an escape. It’s like bungee jumping; people do that for the rush and the excitement. Sometimes, they do it to escape their personal lives.”

To be continued …