Some have said that three is the magic number. If that’s the case, November should be a fascinating month. Here at THE SOURCE, we’ll spotlighting key third issues from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 with an ongoing series of posts titled “3 Things You Didn’t Know About DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.” Expect the unexpected–in threes. THE DOMINATORS ARE RESTLESS

If there's one thing history shows us, it's that bottling evil up only makes the pressure rise. It's like shaking a soda and opening the cap... but in this case, instead of you ruining your best pants, the entire galaxy would be crushed under the brutal boot heel of an alien race whose whole culture is about eradicating free will. They've been trapped on the margins of United Planets space for too long, and the invasion you've seen in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #3 is just the tip of the iceberg...

THE LEGION AREN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE

The Legion aren't strangers to rolling with the punches, but losing seven of their finest - and replacing them with untested rookies - isn't doing miracles for team cohesion. Brainiac 5 is nearing open revolt against the team leader, Mon-El; Shadow Lass is barely containing her grief; Colossal Boy has quit the team completely... and the new kids need a lot more hand-holding than anyone expected. When Dragonwing leaves the nest for a visit home to China in LEGION #6, she's going to get her nose into some Legion-level trouble... but is she too proud to call for help when she so badly needs it?

THE APARTMENTS ARE FABULOUS

As you know, DC Comics is based in New York City, so we know a thing or two about apartment envy. Just check out the spread that magical new member Glorith has carved out for herself - literally! - in Legion headquarters, as beautifully rendered by our issue #5 guest artist, the legendary Walter Simonson. In his own words --

"It is principally wood and organics, with the exception of the holo of Blok and the Witch. The round metal frame on the floor is the holo boundary with the beams rising from the floor surrounding the image.

“I know Jim (Lee) redesigned Glorith's costume with a tree in mind running up her body and out through her arms; I liked the thought. So I've put a living tree in the room as its core. A small representation of the world axis. There's that old Norse mythology rearing its ugly head."

I swear, working with Scott Lobdell is just like working with a kid sometimes.

He’s probably saying the same thing about me, mind you. There’s nothing quite so satisfying about my job as needling poor Scott about our age difference, and about how much I loved his comics when I was a kid. But ironically, not only has Scott been responsible for putting a couple more gray hairs on my head since I got the job of editing the new SUPERBOY, it turns out he’s the one with all the boundless enthusiasm of a teenager – the kind of guy who’s constantly challenging you, asking “why” when you tell him “no,” and more often than not, being obnoxiously, insufferably right about how your grown-up ideas of what you can and can’t do are just wrong, wrong, wrong.

That’s the spirit he brings to his new takes on TEEN TITANS and SUPERBOY. These are headstrong teenagers, who may not know a lot – and in Superboy’s case, fresh from the cloning tank, he knows nothing at all – but they know wrong when they see it, and they’re not going to stand for it. We went right back to the basics for Superboy’s story, and like the scientists that cloned him from Kryptonian and human DNA, we’ve rebuilt him from the bones up. Like all teenagers, he’s struggling with the facts of who he is, of the choices that were made for him and the burdens placed on him before he was even born. But unlike most teenagers, he’s got the kind of power that can reshape the face of the world. When someone tells Superboy “no,” he doesn’t have to listen.

But without a family to raise him, without anyone in this world that he can trust, how is he going to keep himself from succumbing to the worst aspects of his newborn personality? It’s a big scary world out there, and none of us are quite ready for it when we’re thrust into it under the best of circumstances. It’s safe to say that when Superboy meets the wider world, it’s under just about the worst circumstances possible. That’s bad news for poor Superboy, and it’s even worse news for the people in his way… even if they’re the Teen Titans, the only other kids on the face of the planet who might be able to understand him.

This is heartbreaking stuff, really it is. And as drawn by the masterful young Brazilian artist R.B. Silva, penciller of the mind-bogglingly great JIMMY OLSEN feature recently seen in ACTION COMICS, you will feel every blow – emotional and physical. Things get broken, including teenage hearts. All the people who surround Superboy are not who they seem – including some faces that may be familiar to a few of you, and who you never expected to meet in a place like this. And every issue, the plot takes another zig where you’d expect it to zag – away from your expectations for what Superboy’s powers are, or the true nature of his origin, or who his enemies and friends might be.

Life never turns out quite the way you plan for it. I never would’ve believed I’d be working with one of my childhood idols, for one. And poor Scott never believed he’d have to put up with the likes of a greenhorn like me. But some of us are just meant to do certain things and Scott Lobdell was meant to write SUPERBOY, the story of the boy who couldn’t be stopped. Superboy is loose in the DC universe now, and he’s got a few ideas on how things should be…

Yesterday, we gave you a first glance at Nic Klein’s amazing and gritty pencils for the sixth issue of the Man of Bronze’s ongoing series, which is being co-written by Ivan Brandon and FIRST WAVE writer Brian Azzarello. Today, we checked in with series Assistant Editor Chris Conroy about the new story arc, with more art, of course. But that’s not all. Early next week we’ll hear from Brandon and Azzarello about their work, with, yes, even more new art.

Take it away, Chris:

If you've been sitting on the sidelines wondering what people see in Doc Savage, then my friend, have we got a storyline for you. Picture it: you're trapped in a biological warfare quarantine zone. You're alone against an army of pissed-off guerilla fighters screaming to be let loose from their prison. The guerillas have nukes... and one of your best friends held captive. Got a plan yet? Because Doc does.

Everything that makes Doc Savage great is all over every issue of this run -- his cunning, his determination, the death-defying fights and adventures -- and it's all mixed up with strange locales, bizarre villains, and a nuanced appreciation of that quality we in the business call "bad-assery." In creating the FIRST WAVE universe, Brian Azzarello imagined an world without magic or superpowers that still manages to be far more exotic than our own; where every corner of the map holds a mystery to solve. Ivan Brandon is treating that world like his personal playground, filling every page with wondrous and terrible sights. Put those two brains to work on one script, and you're gonna get a story with some serious swagger, and the kind of punch that backs it up one hundred percent.

And as for those wondrous sights... oh brother. It doesn't matter if you know Nic Klein from his previous collaboration with Ivan, Image's VIKING, or if you've never seen a single panel of his work -- this art is going to melt your face clean off. Just look at the pages below -- Doc's commanding physical presence leaps out of every panel. And as for the Two Who Are One... well, they're the Sensational Character Find of 2010, bar none. You'll never believe the twists Ivan's got planned for those guys. That guy. Whatever.

It's all in DOC SAVAGE #6, on sale September 8th. Buy now and we'll throw in the first chapter of a great new JUSTICE INC. story, "Vengeance and Murder," from Jason Starr and Scott Hampton -- the kind of raw, pulpy crime story that leaves your jaw broken and your knuckles bloody. You have, as they say, been warned.

Warned, indeed. Thanks, Chris!