One of the most prominent and popular African-American super heroes, STEEL will be making his debut into the world of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 on December 7.

Equal parts Superman and folk legend John Henry (to whom the name of his alter ego, John Henry Irons, is an homage), Steel will appear in ACTION COMICS #4 – written by critically acclaimed, bestselling author Grant Morrison and illustrated by Rags Morales.

When Terminauts threaten to lay waste to Metropolis in search of Superman, it falls to Steel to come to the aid of the beleaguered hero – and the Man of Steel will sure need the help of this steel-drivin’ man. But their team-up isn’t all we’ll get from Steel in this issue. ACTION COMICS #4 also features a special backup story written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by Brad Walker. The eight-page story continues the action of ACTION, showcasing a heavy metal battle between Steel and Metal-zero.

Debuting in ACTION COMICS #4, Steel will return for ACTION COMICS #7, where he will star in another backup by Fisch and Walker.

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It's almost the weekend, but that's not stopping people from writing and talking about DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.

CNN’s GEEK OUT interviewed ACTION COMICS writer Grant Morrison. “Superman is very much a physical character,” responded Morrison when asked about the differences between writing Superman and Batman. “The confrontations are very direct - he fights giant robots and monsters and things, so the kind of symbolism the two of them work on are very different.”

COMIC BOOK RESOURCES has your exclusive first look at next week’s BATGIRL #3 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes.

Meanwhile, the ASSOCIATED PRESS quotes John Rood, DC Entertainment's Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for a story about the commercial success of DC Comics-The NEW 52. "We like what 'DC Comics — The New 52' is doing to bring new attention to comics and to comic shop retailers. And we like hearing that other publishers are being helped too. . . The market-share battle is not the one we care to win... We are battling to deliver great stories and characters, and to support comic shops so that they're the ones who win every month."

Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll have much, much more next week.

As always, to be continued …

Fresh off of his bestselling FLASHPOINT miniseries, industry legend Andy Kubert will be joining critically acclaimed writer Grant Morrison for a special, two-issue arc of ACTION COMICS in DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. Issues #5 and #6 will guest star the Legion of Super-Heroes, while also laying groundwork for things to come much, much later in Superman’s story. And keep an eye out for Krypto!

“When Editor Matt Idelson asked if I would be interested and/or able to fit into my schedule two upcoming issues of Action Comics with Grant, I couldn’t say no,” said Kubert. “I don’t know of any other artist that would have. Drawing the latest incarnation of Superman and working with one of the best writers on the planet made it a very easy decision for me. And in this story, I get to do some VERY iconic stuff! I gotta admit, I’m a little nervous... Fun Fact for those keeping score: I had never drawn Superman in a comics interior for an entire issue. I had done inking over Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway for an issue each over their beautiful pencils way (and I mean WAY) back when but this is my first opportunity to pencil the Man of Steel interior pages for my very own!”

After Kubert’s two-issue take on ACTION COMICS, Rags Morales will return as the series’ regular artist.

On Wednesday, the first set of issue #2s from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 will go on sale. There's a ton of exclusive previews out there to whet your appetite.

USA TODAY has your first look at ACTION COMICS #2. "He has his reasons and they almost kind of make sense," series writer Grant Morrison told USA TODAY of Lex Luthor. "But then you dig a little deeper and you find this very petty, jealous, envious man, and unfortunately that's what drives his brilliance. He's a very strong character and has to be a real balance with Superman."

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ran an exclusive preview of O.M.A.C. #2. "OMAC is a character I remember when it first came out. I enjoyed it immensely," said series writer Dan DiDio to THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. "The idea that you think you're in control of things and you lose your sense of control and that even when you think you're doing things your own way, someone else may be leading you — it was really a fascinating core theme."

Along with their exclusive preview of GREEN ARROW #2, POPMATTERS wrote a terrific analytic post about the psychology of the series. “For nothing more than a ‘solid superhero story’, Krul and Jurgens evoke a richness that is seldom glimpsed at,” they wrote.

IGN has your exclusive first look at BATWING #2 and NEWSARAMA premiered a 5-page interior sequence from HAWK AND DOVE #2.

Just in time for the haunting month of October, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE ran their list of the 10 Best Horror Graphic Novels for Halloween. DC Entertainment secured 5 of the 10 spots, with titles including BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, SWAMP THING VOL. 1, BOOKS OF MAGIC, ARKHAM ASYLUM and HELLBLAZER.

And continuing the spooky theme this month brings, top ranking horror website BLOODY DISGUSTING talked horror/dark comics with I, VAMPIRE writer Joshua Hale Fialkov. “For me, I wanted to take the best parts of horror and romance fiction, and combine it with what makes DC Comics great,” Fialkov said of his series. “We have a huge canvas to paint on, we will we rub-up against other characters and books, which is a blast to write. I'm really being given the freedom to tell a huge story all on my own with all of these great toys to play with. You'll definitely see some huge DC characters in the book in the not too distant future.”

To be continued …