This Wednesday, Nov.3, my first issue of DC Comic's new SUPERBOY series launches. In a way the release of Superboy marks a sort of milestone in my career, one I never saw coming. But, when I look back at how I got here, the path seems clear and natural.

It's been quite a journey for me both creatively and personally over the last 3 or 4 years. Four years ago...2006. I was still working full-time as a line cook at La Hacienda restaurant on Queen Street West in Toronto. I'd work night shifts and then get up early to draw all day before I had to go back in for my next shift.

I'd finished my first long-form comics work, the self-published LOST DOGS about a year and a half earlier and I'd been struggling with what to do next. There were a few aborted projects in there, but none of them really seemed to stick. I can't remember exactly how the idea for Tales From The Farm came about. But I do recall the original idea for that book was much more sci-fi heavy. It was a full-on genre book about a little kid living on a farm who dressed up as a superhero, and a big ex-hockey player. The two were the sole survivors in a small town after a plague wiped everyone else out (Sweet Tooth fans might find this concept eerily familiar).

But as I worked on that idea, I ended up dropping the overt genre elements and simplified it. It became a love letter to the small town where I grew up and to my own childhood on the farm. Tales From The Farm was meant as a stand-alone work. But it took off and the idea expanded into a series of books that would eventually be the Essex County Trilogy. It became a sweeping multi-generational epic about small town life and family, all filtered through the central metaphor of hockey.

The success of Essex County led to work at Vertigo, thanks to then editor Bob Schreck and the great Karen Berger. I did a book called The Nobody, another rumination on small town life, and then launched my current monthly book SWEET TOOTH, which oddly enough re-purposed some of my original ideas for Tales From The Farm and mashed them up with a bunch of other fun sci-fi and horror ideas I had floating around in my sketchbooks. I finally got to quit my kitchen job and work at comics full time. Life was good. But then it got better...

I never thought I'd ever write mainstream superhero comics. I just thought my style was a bit to personal and idiosyncratic to translate. And I never thought editors at DC or Marvel would be interested. I was wrong. Within a few months of Sweet Tooth's release I had offers to write superhero books for both Marvel and DC. It's no secret that I grew up reading superhero comics. Anyone who read Tales From The Farm can pretty clearly see young Lester's love of comics as a nod to my own childhood obsession. I loved them as a kid and still do now. So the opportunity to take on a superhero book of my own was really exciting, if not a bit unexpected.

DC offered me a chance to write an ATOM story in Adventure comics. I took it, and it was going pretty well. I admit, in hindsight that there was a pretty steep learning curve going from writing and drawing everything myself to trying to filter my "voice" through another artist. But Mahmud Asrar, the Atom art-phenom made the transition in those early chapters go a lot smoother, and eventually I started to get the hang of it.

Then came the chance to write Superboy. At first I wasn't really interested. I actually didn't think the character or the book would be a

good fit for me. Sometimes the most obvious things are the hardest to see. But then I took a step back and saw how perfect I was for the book after all. I saw how all of the themes that I loved exploring in Essex County and The Nobody could also be present in Superboy...small town life, community , family...it was all there. Only this time instead of filtering it through the metaphor of hockey, I could filter it through the metaphor of the super hero.

And that's how I began working on Superboy. Where it would lead me was even more unexpected, but I'll pick that up tomorrow. I'll also explain a few homages to Essex County "hidden" within the first couple of issues, and tease some upcoming storylines. See you then!

“Hey Jeff, this is Geoff Johns!” That’s not what I expect to hear when I pick up the telephone. But it’s exactly what I did hear a few months ago. I’d been working away on inks for an issue of Sweet Tooth (the Vertigo series that I write and draw) one afternoon when my wife passed me the phone. “Who is it?” I mimed to her, annoyed at the disturbance. She just shrugged. I rolled my eyes, put down my brush and answered. “Hello?”

“Hey Jeff, this is Geoff Johns!”

And that’s how I ended up writing The Atom co-feature in Adventure Comics and then the new monthly Superboy series. Well, truth is told there was a bit more to it than that. I had to pitch and develop my ideas for both characters with DC Editors and all around great guys, Matt Idelson and Brian Cunnigham, over the course of a three or four month period. But really it all kind of happened rather quickly.

I never really set out to write superhero comics. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, always have. But my work has always tended to skew pretty far from the mainstream. I started out self-publishing my own mini-comics, and from there went on to do a number of indie graphic novels like the Essex County Trilogy. I was, and am perfectly happy working on these more personal projects. So I never expected, or lobbied to get writing gigs in the DCU. But when Geoff called and offered me the chance to do it, I didn’t hesitate for a minute.

I grew up reading DC comics. Wolfman and Perez’s Teen Titans and Levitz and Giffen’s Legion of Superheroes were the duo-bibles of my own personal religion as a kid. I know the DCU in and out. So the opportunity to put my stamp on one or two DC characters was too good to pass up. And luckily I’m a really fast artist, so figured I’d still able to balance my “personal” work like Sweet Tooth, with Superboy, The Atom and whatever else came up at DC. Boy was I ever wrong.

Again, don’t get the wrong idea, I am able to keep up with, and in most cases stay way ahead of, all my deadlines. What I was wrong about was presuming I’d never care as much about the DCU stuff as my creator-owned work. Because as soon as I started digging in the rich old soil of Smallville, and messing around with Superboy’s life, I knew that this project was going to be every bit as important to me as anything I’d ever done before.

I grew up on a farm, in a really small town in Canada that may as well have been Smallville. So it isn’t hard for me to inject some of that experience into the book. And I love the idea of telling truly rural superhero stories. So many of today’s comics are set in urban centers, especially superhero comics. So it is really important to me to allow the new Superboy book to fully exploit it’s country setting and hopefully bring a unique point-of-view to the monthly comic racks.

But what about Superboy himself? What do I hope to say about the character of Conner Kent anyway? What makes him unique, other than the where he lives? Well , to me Kon-el is the ultimate outsider. He never had anything resembling a childhood, or a real family or parents. He was born in a lab and missed out on all of that. And. As a result he’s never had anyplace to truly call home. So, as our series starts, he’s finally trying to allow himself to find both of those things, family and community, in Smallville.

Community…that leads us to the supporting cast of the book…and to Geoff Johns again. In Geoff and Francis Manapul’s amazing Adventure Comics run with Superboy they set up some great new characters in Simon Valentine and Lori Luthor. Basically they gave me two incredible gifts. Simon is brilliant young man who is either destined to become Superboy’s greatest friend, or his greatest enemy. And Lori is Lex’s niece, so she and Conner are (sort of ) cousins, yet clearly have some unresolved feelings for each other. This is more rich soil to farm with. So expect them to be a BIG part of Conner’s life and adventures moving forward.

And then there’s THE PHANTOM STRANGER. One of my all-time favorite DC characters ever since he showed up in the classic Alan Moore Swamp Thing run, which I worshipped as a kid (and still do). You might not expect a dark and mysterious guy like The Stranger to pop up in pastoral Smallville. But he’ s going to be there a lot. Which might clue you in that there are a few dark and sinister things going on under that small town veneer that are going to make Superboy’s life even more interesting as my first year on the book unfolds.

All that and Krypto too. What more can a writer ask for?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Pier Gallo, the artist on Superboy -- and colorist Jamie Grant. He is simply fantastic. He’s enthusiastic, passionate and talented. He brings an insane amount of detail into each panel, but never loses sight of the importance of clear storytelling. He has a singular voice to be sure, with a real European influence in his drawing. Between the two of us, I really think that Superboy is going to be a very unique comic.

The book hits in November, and If Pier and I do our jobs right, you’ll become as passionate about the new adventures of Superboy as we have. And if not, I’ll sic The Phantom Stranger on you.

See you in November, and until then, be sure to check out The Atom in Adventure Comics!

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

And some news!

As we announced not long ago, writer Jeff Lemire and artist Mahmud Asrar are teaming up to present BRIGHTEST DAY: THE ATOM SPECIAL, a one-shot focusing on the past and preent of Ray Palmer, the Atom.

What we haven’t done is show some pages – which you can click below to view. And they’re a beauty.

We’re also very proud to announce that Jeff Lemire has signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics, meaning only good things for fans of his mind-bending work on Vertigo’s SWEET TOOTH and his upcoming work on the ATOM co-feature in ADVENTURE COMICS and the ongoing SUPERBOY series.

We got a minute of Jeff’s time to get his thoughts on his new exclusive and DC work, so take it away, Jeff:

"As a life long DC Comics fan, I am incredibly excited to be a part of both the DCU and of Vertigo moving forward. Sweet Tooth has been a labor of love for me and I couldn't have done it without the amazing support of Karen Berger and everyone at Vertigo. So, the opportunity to not only continue Gus and Jepperd's saga, but also take on the new Superboy monthly and the adventures of Ray Palmer, The Atom is a dream come true for me!

Both the DC and Vertigo line ups at the moment are full of amazing creators and amazing characters and I'm thrilled to have the chance to be a part of that in the years to come!"

So, good news all around. Oh, and those pages…

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