Got some amazingly exciting news to launch this week off with.  Yeah, I count Wednesday as the beginning of the week as it’s New Comic Book Day!  (It’s the same way the New Comics Year ends and starts again with every San Diego Comic Con in July).  So every Wednesday, I actually am now in the habit of checking for both new print and digital releases and sure enough, we’ve got some downloadable gems this week.  In fact, we’re rolling out Frank Miller’s seminal work , The Dark Knight Returns. This is the book that brought me back into comics when I was in college and truly inspired me to become a comic book illustrator and is a must have for every Comics Cognoscenti.

What makes it even more special is that we are offering it up through our very own DC Digital Comics Store!

Yep, you heard that right.  We’re thrilled today to announce the opening of our brand new DC Comics storefront.  What does the latest development to our ongoing Digital Publishing Initiative mean for you, the ever-devout DC Comics fan?  Well, for one--it’s going to allow you all the ability to purchase and download comics from your desktop and laptop computers from our very own website.  And because we want to make the purchasing, storage and management of your comics digital library as easy and convenient as possible, we’ve made sure that our storefront is powered by comiXology which means if you buy a DC digital comic like the chart-busting Death of Superman on your Mac or PC at home, you can read the very same series on-the-go using your iPhone, iPad or laptop using our DC App without paying any a penny more or creating any new logins.  Or vice versa.

We call it convergence.  You will find it simply easy.

And you know what? Given the proliferation of digital comics apps, mobile devices and platforms, I know as a consumer of digital comics that I appreciate that kind of convenience.  And as a Co-Publisher who finds time to catch up on his comics reading while on-the-go, I love the fact that I can carry around not just the latest digital issue of The Authority, one of my favorite all time comics, but my entire DC digital collection on any one of the devices I schlep with me to the far corners of the earth.  And we’ve made many of the first issues of these great series free in commemoration of today’s news.

So check out what’s available for download this week--we run the gamut from Vertigo’s ground-breaking Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson to Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles to the DCU’s outstanding Identity Crisis series by novelist Brad Meltzer and artist Rags Morales.  It really is an embarrassment of riches and honestly, we have many, many internal discussions about what we should be rolling out next...should it be material from our classic archives or more recent tales of our iconic characters or the works of DC’s greatest creators? In cases such as writer Brian Azzarello who’s best known for his riveting Vertigo opus 100 Bullets but also for his poignant take on the Man of Steel in Superman: For Tomorrow, we couldn’t choose between the two and ran with both to celebrate the launching of our new storefront.  But please, sound off on our Facebook page and be heard—at the end of the day, we really do strive to make the DC Digital Offerings reflect not just the very best works of DC Comics but what YOU, the reader, wants out of very your own DC Digital Comics Experience!

The King is dead! Long live the King!

Let me shed some more light on what was just announced at WonderCon today: ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER -- the landmark hit series from the superstar team of writer Frank Miller and artist Jim Lee -- has ceased publication.

But that's not the news here. The epic partnership of Miller and Lee is far from done:

"The first Chapter of the story of how Batman and Robin came to be has been told in issues 1-10 of ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN," said ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN artist Jim Lee. "Frank and I sat down just recently to have a long talk about how best to finish this very 'deadline challenged' project and give the loyal fans the second part of this epic storyline they have been patiently waiting for. Moreover, we wanted fans to know that this story is part of the overall Batman mythos and DARK KNIGHT RETURNS universe which Frank [Miller] started back in 1986."

Out of this meeting came the decision to rebrand the series DARK KNIGHT: BOY WONDER. It will fit into the library of Frank Miller Batman titles: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, BATMAN: YEAR ONE and THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN. Beginning in February, 2011, you will see the remaining six issues ship on time, every month, culminating in the conclusion of the storyline started years ago.

"I feel terrible about how late the book fell behind," added Lee. "100 percent of the blame falls upon my shoulders, so one of the reasons we chose the February, 2011, start date was to ensure that DARK KNIGHT: BOY WONDER would ship regularly and on-time. There are a number of reasons for it's incredible delay but rather than focus on what cannot be changed, I want to promise fans that they will see cool snippets and exclusive previews on this very blog in the coming months to whet their appetites for the the next chapter of the story of the Dark Knight and Robin, the Boy Wonder."