If there was a crowd-stopper at last year's San Diego and New York Comic-Cons, it was definitely the DC Universe Online cinematic trailer: a great, six-minute piece of animation where the big heroes of the DC Universe, well, get absolutely destroyed.

Each time the trailer played in our booth, most everyone within a thirty-foot radius (myself included) would stop in their tracks and watch for the full video. The trailer's pinnacle comes when Lex Luthor [SPOILER WARNING] impales Superman with a kryptonite-tipped spear, which would draw a gasp from the crowd each time without fail.

Are you curious how Lex came to that moment of triumph? Just what happened in the DCU that tipped the scales to the side of evil? DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS, a 26-part bi-weekly series will answer your questions. Written by Marv Wolfman and Tony Bedard and drawn by the team of Howard Porter, Livesay, Adriana Melo, Norman Lee, and Mike S. Miller and with covers by Ryan Sook, Ed Benes, Ivan Reis, and more, LEGENDS is the official tie-in to the DC Universe Online game from Sony Online Entertainment.

And heads up, PlayStation 3 fans: we've been giving away PS3 beta codes from the DC_Nation twitter feed and our Facebook fan pages all week, and will be giving away more today. So if you haven't already, friend us, follow us, fan us and what have you and keep a sharp eye out for those codes to get an early peek at the game.

DC Universe Online will be available for the PC and PlayStation 3 next Tuesday, 1/11/11.

The first issue of DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS hits comic shops in February, and will be available digitally day-and-date for the PSP and at the DC Digital Comics Store.

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