In November 2012, DC Comics will release ABSOLUTE BATMAN & ROBIN: BATMAN REBORN – collecting the landmark story of an all-new Dynamic Duo, written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely, Philip Tan, David Finch, Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke and Frazier Irving.

Bruce Wayne has fallen, and former Robin Dick Grayson has taken up the mantle of the Dark Knight. He is joined by a new Robin – Damian Wayne, the assassin-raised son of the original Batman. Together, the unlikely pair fights against a brutal menace that threatens Gotham City, as well as a pair of rival vigilantes out to fill the void left by Bruce’s disappearance.

Presented in the signature style of DC Comics’ Absolute editions, ABSOLUTE BATMAN & ROBIN: BATMAN REBORN collects BATMAN & ROBIN 1-16 and BATMAN THE RETURN 1.

The 2011 JOE SHUSTER AWARD nominees for outstanding achievements of Canadian comic book creators, publishers and retailers were announced today. Among the nominees whose work has been published by DC Comics are, Francis Manapul, Fiona Staples, Cameron Stewart, Dave McCaig, J. Torres and Jeff Lemire, who was nominated in a total of three categories: Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist, Outstanding Comic Book Cover Artist and Outstanding Comic Book Writer.

Congratulations to all the nominees.

Winners will be announced at a public ceremony in Calgary, Alberta on the evening of Saturday, June 18th, 2011 at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo

For the full list click here.

Our spotlight on all things BATMAN AND ROBIN continues and concludes today, with a special peek inside the mind of Grant Morrison, as the writer guides us through the various amazing new characters that first appeared in the second volume of BATMAN AND ROBIN, which hits stands in comic shops tomorrow as a DELUXE EDITION.

Take it away, Grant.

Squire and Knight

I introduced the new Squire and Knight in the pages of JLA back in 1998 and I’ve been slipping them into stories like JLA CLASSIFIED #1-3 and BATMAN #667-669 ever since. For some reason I’ll never be able to explain, this pair have developed a complex, intricate backstory and web of relationships that so far exists solely in my head and is only hinted at in these brief appearances.

My redesign of the Squire was intended to reference the British comics characters Beryl the Peril and Minnie the Minx (these tomboy anarchists headed their own weekly humor strips in the venerable UK titles Topper and Beano respectively), as well as the character “Monkey” from the film Quadrophenia, as played by Toyah Willcox.

Batwoman

I was a huge fan of Greg Rucka and JH Williams’s Batwoman stories in DETECTIVE COMICS and wanted to get the two new characters together as soon as possible. Simple as that.

British Villains

The Beefeater is an old-time DC hero who once represented the UK in the international Global Guardians hero team. He appeared as the butt of numerous Keith Giffen jokes in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL and here makes a comeback as the Queen’s Jailer. Beefeater mentions a number of British super-criminals, many of whom were created for an imaginary SQUIRE AND KNIGHT series that’s been growing in the damp undergrowth of my imagination for the last ten years.

The Pearly Court of Crime

Pearly Charlie English and his son Eddie are the only two members of the Pearly Court of Crime, but we can assume there’s a Pearly Queen and some Pearly Princesses too.

I must point out that the real-life Pearly Kings and Queens of London are firmly on the side of the angels and are famous for their contributions to charity.

The Coals From Newcastle

King Coal was based on a combination of influences, including Arthur Scargill, the miners’ union leader who was Mrs. Thatcher’s nemesis in the 1980s. His henchmen were based on the gang of dancing chimney sweeps led by Dick Van Dyke in Walt Disney’s film of Mary Poppins.

Metalek

The Metaleks are weaponized, intelligent construction machines from another world on a mission to “xenoform” our planet, starting with London.

Morris Men

Like the Pearly King, the Morris Men belong to the world of tradition and folklore. Remnants of some unspeakable pagan fertility business, they pin jingling bells to their clothes and hop around hitting one another with sticks. The whole thing is a kind of stylized sword dance which ends when the dancers lock their “swords” together in a star-shaped configuration and “behead” their kneeling leader, who is then restored to life by a comic doctor. Readers familiar with the original film version of The Wicker Man starring Edward Woodward may remember seeing the Morris Men there.

They may seem jolly and bucolic, like a sun-dappled afternoon at a pub next to a canal in the South Downs, but as any British child can tell you there’s something screamingly weird and abnormal about the Morris Men that demanded to be absorbed into the Batman world.

The criminal version of the Morris Men are violent, ninja-like assassins who worship the Horned God.

The Highwayman

Stand and deliver! I saw the Highwayman as a cross between Adam Ant and Russell Brand: a dashing gentleman bastard who plies his devilish trade on the motorways of Britain. He rides his big black stealth cycle alongside tourist coaches, delivery trucks and especially security vans before robbing them blind and making off with the loot.

The Wayne Ancestors

The portraits of the Wayne patriarchs in BATMAN AND ROBIN #10 were all drawn from Batman’s long publishing history, but as usual I missed a couple of established characters.

I missed Lancelot Wayne, one of Bruce’s earliest known ancestors, and Sir Gaweyne de Weyne, who was introduced into the bloodline in 1998 by Alan Grant and Frank Quitely in BATMAN: THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION, as well as a third Revolutionary War hero, General Horatio Wayne, who appeared in BATMAN #120 and takes his place alongside the fictional Darius Wayne (created, I believe, by Alan Moore for a SWAMP THING story) and the real-life “Mad” Anthony Wayne, who was absorbed into Bruce’s family tree by Batman writer extraordinaire Bill Finger.

As for the others, Alan Wayne appears in BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #4, while the stories of Alan’s father Solomon and uncle Joshua were covered in BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #45 and BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #27, and were also alluded to in Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight.

It seems like just yesterday that I was flying back from San Diego Comic-Con and now here we are and it’s time for the next stop on the 2010 DC Nation tour – Fan Expo Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada from August 27-29. Actually it was just yesterday that I flew back from San Diego, but thanks to the magic of comics you’re reading this weeks from when I write it. I’m jealous because when you read this it’s almost football season and you’ve seen a certain action movie that hasn’t come out yet as I’m writing this. I’m also hungry and I’m assuming that when you read this I’ll have eaten something. I’m really looking forward to the future—one month from now. Huh? Oh, right! I was talking about Fan Expo Canada. While I won’t be able to attend, I’m counting on all of our fans in Canada to keep a great tradition alive. You see, I once mentioned Dan DiDio’s love of the strangely flavored potato chips that are available in Canada. The DC Nation fans responded by brining Dan a TON of chips to the show.

So get ready and let’s try to top last year’s haul by bringing an obscene amount of chips to the show. I’m not kidding, people – let’s make this dream a reality. Only you can make this happen! Bring your odd-flavored chips to any of our industry-leading panels and have a blast asking questions of your favorite creators while delivering your contribution to the chip bonanza. Speaking of guests, check out this stellar rundown of who you can meet at Fan Expo Canada:

Gary Frank, Andy Kubert, J. Michael Straczynski, Ethan Van Sciver, Doug Mahnke, Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, Francis Manapul, Yanick Paquette, Cameron Stewart, Jeff Lemire and many more!

That’s some list, huh? If you are anywhere near Canada I’d suggest getting the heck over to this show, otherwise you might miss something totally awesome. And be sure to say hi to Dan for me when you drop off the chips.

Be seeing you,

Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor DCU