A few links of note for Wednesday

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This gloomy weather has us here at The Source feeling a tad under the weather, so apologies for using the "blogging will be light" cliché today. But, we do have a slew of places for you to visit as you wait for a full recovery.

Geoff Johns spoke to Andrew Smith, from the SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE about FLASH: REBIRTH:

Why do it? Why bring back Barry Allen, after a heroic death and successful replacement?

Johns: I think that's what the series is all about. The answers are all in there. But whenever I get on these characters, my goal has always been to kind of rebuild their world, their mythology, like with Green Lantern and JSA.

Barry Allen is, like Hal Jordan (in "Green Lantern"), sort of a centerpiece to the Flash. With Barry Allen, there's something clear I want to do and I want him to do it. For me, he's the character that's going to facilitate the stories I want to tell.

Johns also spoke to IGN's Dan Phillips about a wide array of topics, including BLACKEST NIGHT, FLASH: REBIRTH and the return of Superboy in the pages of ADVENTURE COMICS.

IGN also has a few preview pages from the BATTLE FOR THE COWL coda, GOTHAM GAZETTE: BATMAN ALIVE #1.

• Speaking of the Red Circle characters, COMIC BOOK RESOURCES' Jeff Renaud spoke to writer J. Michael Straczynski about the four one-shots and his upcoming stint on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

• Had a chance to check out pages from THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #1? Well, MYSPACE COMIC BOOKS has a lengthy preview.

A few links of note for Tuesday

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Well, here's hoping everyone had a reasonably relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Here at The Source, we've gathered a few links you might have missed while you were out grilling or enjoying the balmy weather (or not, depending where you're located):

• BATMAN & ROBIN writer Grant Morrison gave a lengthy interview over at IGN, discussing the post-BATTLE FOR THE COWL status quo and his plans for Gotham's villainous population:

IGN Comics: So the wait is over and now fans know the identities of the new Batman and Robin – Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne. Before we get into specifics though, I'd like to talk about the big picture. You've made no secret of the fact that this is all part of a greater, long ranging story that you're telling. How does Batman and Robin fit alongside your recent Batman work?

Morrison: It's pretty simple. It comes in straight chronological order after the recent stuff. This is the sequel to Batman RIP, which is why the first arc is called 'Batman Reborn.' It builds directly off of it, and there are threads we pick up from before. As I've said before, the main villain in the first arc has already been seen in Batman #666, which had the potential future for Gotham City in it. So it's a straight continuation and the next part in the long running story from 'Batman and Son' onwards. We'll be picking up threads from that first book as well.

• Speaking of IGN, the site also previewed GREEN LANTERN #41, which continues the build-up to July's BLACKEST NIGHT mega-event. They've also got artist J.G. Jones' stellar variant cover for BATMAN & ROBIN #1.

• Has it really been a year? NEWSARAMA has a preview of TRINITY #52, the final issue of the series, while COMIC BOOK RESOURCES ROBOT 6 blog annotates the 51st issue of the weekly series.

A few links of note for Tuesday

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Happy Tuesday, Source readers. It's been a busy few days here at the DC offices, with tons to discuss and point you to. So, let's hop to it.

• Over at NEWSARAMA, Dan DiDio answers the latest batch of fan questions, and shares more details on DOC SAVAGE, BLACKEST NIGHT, ADVENTURE COMICS and the new cover design for books featuring co-features. See above for a visual aide. Also at NEWSARAMA, James Robinson and Greg Rucka share some info on the August Superman crossover, CODENAME: PATRIOT.

• BATTLE FOR THE COWL is speeding toward its final issue, and IGN's got a first look at the third issue. Not to mention a peek at the BLACKEST NIGHT stuff hitting in August, along with the cover to BLACKEST NIGHT #2.

• Speaking of James Robinson, COMIC BOOK RESOURCES sits down with him to talk about JLA: CRY FOR JUSTICE.

• And congrats to the VIXEN creative team of G. Willow Wilson and CAFU, for their Glyph Award victory in the Fan Award For Best Comic category.

A few links of note for Monday

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It's Monday, and you've surely spent the weekend away from your computer. Right? Well, even if you haven't, here are a few things you may want to click on between coffee and personal e-mail breaks.

Made it, ma! Top of the world.

• AIN'T IT COOL NEWS was in a Geoff Johns state of mind, with kind words for GREEN LANTERN #40: "GREEN LANTERN is a great comic."

• IGN unveils a first look at BATTLE FOR THE COWL #3.

• NEWSARAMA's Troy Brownfield talks up the first issue of POWER GIRL in their regular BEST SHOTS column: "Frankly, I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. It came off as good fun."

It's a Battle for the Cowl in SECRET SIX #9

What happens when two members of the Secret Six feel they should get a shot at replacing Batman? Even better, the team heads to Gotham with the semi-delusional Ragdoll determined to be the new Boy Wonder. Not surprisingly, people in Gotham City have other plans. Some of which you can see in this here preview, courtesy of writer Gail Simone and artist Nicola Scott.

SECRET SIX #9 hits 5/13.

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FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH -- just one of many things to be excited about in the coming months

Hey everybody – Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler here.  It’s almost hard to put into words how excited I am right now.  I’m not talking about winning the championship in my fantasy basketball league -- and that was pretty awesome.  I’m not talking about the huge sandwich I had for lunch that was totally killer.  I’m not even talking about my copy of Van Halen that I found last night, which is an all-time classic.  No, I’m excited because working at DC Comics right now is amazing!  We’re close to the end of Battle for the Cowl and a Batman event in June that’s going to change everything.  The events of New Krypton in the Superman books are spectacular.  Flash: Rebirth is setting yet another new standard.  JLA: Cry for Justice is FULL of surprises.  Wednesday Comics…co-features…I haven’t even gotten to Blackest Night yet and the list goes on and on!  And I’m not even allowed to tell you about a few of the big-ticket items we have coming.  So yeah – I’m a little bit excited.

It seems like every time I turn around the creative team on a book is blowing my mind.  Let’s take today for example.  Now it’s no secret that I think the Final Crisis Aftermath titles are something special.  After all I’m editing ¾ of the line so you’d expect some favoritism.  But I can seriously say that these books have taken off beyond my wildest dreams and today it was Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink that was in the spotlight.

When we started this line we wanted to make sure to do something special with all of the covers.  Since Ink starred The Tattooed Man we knew we wanted to focus on the tattoos, but we were having a hard time figuring out the exact angle to go for.  Enter DCU Art Director and style ninja Mark Chiarello.  Chi said that there was only one guy for the job and that he’d call Brian Stelfreeze.  Brian gave us the sketch you see below that not only offered a totally unique way to layout connecting covers, but also really tell the story of what the main character goes through in the book with his powers.

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Each cover Brian turned in was superb, but it was only today that I had them put together for this blog entry.  Whoa.  As you can see when connected the covers to Ink are truly spectacular.  I just started pulling random people walking by my office in to see what I was yelling about.

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As if this wasn’t enough I also finished the latest script from Eric Wallace who is the freaking man.  My notes on his scripts consist of me going “OK – you know that part where you came up with the totally epic plot twist?  Yeah, that was awesome.”  Eric and I wasted no time in getting talking about our artist Farbrizio Fiorentino.  Plain and simple – Fabrizio is putting it down on Ink.  He’s owning every inch of each page and he’s going to be one of your new favorites by the end of the summer.  But you’ll be able to see all of this for yourself when Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 comes out May 27th.

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So yeah – I’m a little bit excited to be at DC right now.  Speaking of which, I gotta go back to work now. But I hope you’re enjoying the books as much as we are.

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Take care,

Ian.

Let's speculate a bit more about RED ROBIN

Everyone loves a good mystery. There are plenty happening in the Batman universe these days, too. Who will be Batman once BATTLE FOR THE COWL concludes? We're not telling, obviously. Another mystery? Who's this Red Robin guy that's getting his own ongoing in June? Again, we're not telling. But we can fan the flames a bit. Here are a few pages from the second issue, in pencil form, from artist Ramon Bachs, who's teaming with writer Chris Yost. Oh, and the cover to RED ROBIN #3, hitting in August. Take a guess.

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A few links of note for Tuesday

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Yes, it's only Tuesday. But look at it this way -- that means a few more days of cool debuts here at The Source. Surely that's motivation enough?

• In case you missed it, the team at MYSPACE COMIC BOOKS previewed SUPERMAN #687 and SUPERMAN/BATMAN #59.

• Over at Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog, Tim O'Shea talks to R.E.B.E.L.S writer Tony Bedard about the series, and artist Claude St. Aubin's upcoming stint as artist.

• In Batman news, Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert's conclusion to "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" got positive review attention from Comic Book Resources, Newsarama's "Best Shots" team and IGN. IGN also previewed the first issue of BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL -- THE UNDERGROUND.

Newsarama shows off some shiny TRINITY pages and Robot 6's Tom Bondurant continues to annotate every issue. Impressive, eh?

• The build up to BLACKEST NIGHT continues, with IGN previewing GREEN LANTERN #40, and reminded people about that page Eddie Berganza posted last week. Newsarama's Vaneta Rogers spoke to artist Ethan Van Sciver at length about the looks for the different Lantern Corps and their symbols.

• And in case you were still hungry for Red Circle info after our debuts last week, superstar artist J.G. Jones spoke to Newsarama's Matt Brady about his role in redesigning the characters for the DCU.

The PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS talks FLASH: REBIRTH and other links of note

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Well, we made it through Monday in a relatively functional state. What do the Internets have to say?

First off, Jerome Maida of THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS talks up the first issue of FLASH: REBIRTH:

As presented here, Allen is both a more noble Batman and a darker, edgier version of Superman. The book devotes time to giving the reader insight as to who Barry Allen is and why we should care. The book briefly shows the impact his return is having on his friends, foes and family, while also delving a bit into his past to see what drives him to do the things he does.

• Continuing their focused BATTLE FOR THE COWL coverage, IGN talks to writer/artist Tony Daniel about the second issue of the mini-series and previews ORACLE #2.

Comic Book Resources gives the latest issue of BOOSTER GOLD high marks.

NEWSARAMA previews GREEN LANTERN CORPS #35.

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