Bienvenido to Week Dos of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 and the excitement keeps building.

I have to say one of the best perks of being the Executive Editor of the DCU as the New 52 had its genesis was sitting down with Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Group Editors Mike Marts and Matt Idelson, VP of Art Direction and Design Mark Chiarello and Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras in our “War Room” with a photo of George C. Scott from Dr. Strangelove taped on the door. In this tiny, windowless (and almost airless – I know, doesn’t sound like much of a perk) room, we devised who would do what in the New 52. On the wall, we shifted around index cards that had series titles to be matched with separate cards for both a writer and artist (color-coded by Coordinating Editor Elisabeth Gehrlein, who was also in attendance). It was exciting, thrilling and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding as we assembled a creative team for each and ever book. Some were no-brainers: GREEN LANTERN … uh, Geoff Johns with Dough Mahnke. Duh.

Other pairings were inspired, like FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.HA.D.E. The title alone had moxie. We felt the right man to steer Frank’s adventures would be Jeff Lemire, who had already done an amazing job writing the patchwork man’s adventures during FLASHPOINT. Jeff’s take on the character infused him with a lot of heart (albeit someone else’s heart). Jeff also suggested tapping series artist Alberto Ponticelli. And oh man, Alberto’s a master with monsters and wild settings, not to mention an incredible storyteller. I love Father Time (so will you once you read it)!

As we got going, we started to see what other genres we could explore. The sky was not even the limit, nor was time. We headed from the Dark Ages with Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves’ DEMON KNIGHTS to looking to get back to the future with LEGION LOST along with Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods. Demon or Legion fan or not, just know these books will affect the present of the DCU; then (coming in Week 4) get ready to ride into the Wild West in gritty Gotham City with Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Moritat; and walk the modern- day bloody streets of Boston in I, VAMPIRE by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino.

Like kids in a candy store, we were all excited by each new prospect. SUPERNATURAL writer Adam Glass writing SUICIDE SQUAD! DEATHSTROKE and MR. TERRIFIC getting their own books! But one of the real treats for me (aside from JUSTICE LEAGUE) was Dan DiDio’s suggestion to bring back RESURRECTION MAN, a book I had originally edited. Reunited with the undying Mitch Shelley’s original creators Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, now joined with the artistic talent of Fernando Dagnino, we were all ready to kill, killa again!

We’ve had our fun, and now it’s time to share. And with all the new ways to enjoy our comics with platforms on digital tablets and smart phones, in addition to the print versions, this could not be a more exciting time to become a DC Comics reader! So come back again, this is only Week 2! We’ve only begun…

Eddie Berganza,

Executive Editor

(The cover to JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 by Jim Lee and Scott Williams)

Earlier today, Diamond Comic Distributors, the world's largest distributor of comics, graphic novels, and pop culture merchandise, officially announced that JUSTICE LEAGUE issue 1, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee and Scott Williams, is the bestselling comic book for the month of August—and to date, all of 2011.

That's the headline—and it's a good one—but, for those interested, here's a further look inside the numbers for DC COMICS-THE NEW 52:

· With a first printing exceeding 200,000 copies, JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 was the highest first printing of any DC Comics' title since 2006's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 1 by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling writer Brad Meltzer, Ed Benes and Sandra Hope.

· The 200,000 first printing figure includes the digital combo pack and all variant editions, but not digital sales. The first printing was sold out at Diamond within hours of going on sale. The second printing of JUSTICE LEAGUE also sold out in less than 24 hours and the issue is now in its third printing.

· The DC Comics App peaked at # 4 on iTunes for Top Grossing I-Pad Apps. during the first week of The New 52.

· JUSTICE LEAGUE is one of ten titles so far from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 with print runs of more than 100,000 (ACTION COMICS, BATGIRL, BATMAN, BATMAN AND ROBIN, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT, DETECTIVE COMICS, FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, SUPERMAN).

· All 13 of the Week 2 titles from DC Comics: The New 52 have sold out from Diamond and are going back to press—ACTION COMICS, ANIMAL MAN, BATGIRL, BATWING, DETECTIVE COMICS, GREEN ARROW, HAWK & DOVE, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL, MEN OF WAR, OMAC, STATIC SHOCK, STORMWATCH and SWAMP THING.

· With its second printing, ACTION COMICS, joins JUSTICE LEAGUE as the second title to date from DC Comics-The New 52 with more than 200,000 copies in print.

· All 13 of the Week 3 titles from DC Comics: The New 52 have sold out from Diamond in advance of publication and are going back to press, including BATMAN AND ROBIN, BATWOMAN, DEATHSTROKE, DEMON KNIGHTS, FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E., GREEN LANTERN, GRIFTER, LEGION LOST, MISTER TERRIFIC, RED LANTERNS, RESURRECTION MAN, SUICIDE SQUAD and SUPERBOY.

DC Comics

THE SOURCE: How do you write the first line of a new series?

FABIAN NICIEZA: I don't think about it that way, I think about the first SCENE of a new series. I try to do something that introduces us immediately to the characters or sets the tone of what the book will be about. In LEGION LOST, I was able to introduce the tone and theme of the book on Page 1 then introduce our characters on pages 2-3, so I feel the opening scene worked!

How do you introduce a new hero or villain?

I just try to come up with an inventive way to bring them in, make them do something or say something unexpected, try to set the page up in a way that allows for a dynamic intro panel either to start the page or end the page. The goal is to try and introduce new characters doing something that both helps define who they are, what they're about and how they do things -- plus trying to have a memorable or catchy line in there too! Easy, huh?

What was the first comic you ever worked on?

I wrote a DC Guest Meanwhile... column in the early 80's -- my first paying work -- $25! After I got a job at Marvel, my first real freelance job was interviewing Stan Lee for a Marvel Age article in 1985. My first published comic book work as a writer was Psi-Force #9 in 1987.

Who was the first character you followed?

Superman and Batman. My brother and I came to the U.S. from Argentina in 1966 and those were the first characters we recognized on the old comic spinner racks, plus the Adam West-Batman show was on TV back then. We learned how to read and write English from comics.

What was the first comic book you read?

Don't remember. Likely in Argentina, a magazine called Antiojito y Antfias -- though at 3 or 4 years old, I doubt I read it, but I still remember the characters.

What was the first piece of original art you bought?

I have received original pages from various artists I've worked with, and paid for a few pieces as well, but I have no idea which one was the first I paid for.

On your creative process:

Breaking down an individual issue is hard enough, especially with a team book like LEGION LOST, but breaking it down into multi-issue story plans gets even more challenging, especially with something like the new DCU. WIth so much happening in so many titles, it's hard to plan too far in advance for fear that you will learn about something happening in another title that you might want to tie into or you find out a new take on a character excites you enough that you want to use them in your own book.

So basically, you need to balance self-contained elements for an issue, along with on-going subplots, along with an overall "thematic thru-line" for an arc so that when collected, it reads as a complete packaged.

For LEGION LOST, we really wanted to tell an opening arc that was very focused on the core characters coming back in time, feeling disoriented and dispirited, unable to ask anyone in the present day they know for help -- and in many ways, fearful of doing anything for fear of making a bad situation worse.

The first 6 issues takes place over a week-long, desperate, rushing search for Alastor, the terrorist who came back in time to release a deadly pathogen. We even have a running clock telling you how many hours have passed since the pathogen was released and we also get glimpses of how it is beginning to spread, creating human/alien hybrid known as Hypersapiens.

By the end of the first arc, the heroes will all have been affected by the spread of the Hypertaxis pathogen, the media will know a deadly virus has been released across the planet, the lost Legionnaires will be blamed for it, and they will be wanted outlaws who are trying to help save the very world that is casting them as pariahs.

So the breakdown of this multi-issue arc wasn't as hard to plan because it had its core elements defined by both its beginning -- Legion group arrives back in time -- and its end -- they fail! So everything had to be built within the context of knowing the beginning and ending of the first arc, raising questions, answering some, leaving others lingering, etc.

I'm several issues into the scripting of LEGION LOST now and I think it's a pretty unique book and a very interesting addition to the DC Universe. Pete Woods is drawing the living daylights out of the book and I think fans are going to really enjoy what we're doing!

Today’s DC Comics-The New 52 panel at SDCC saw the debut of even more interior art. Couldn’t make it? Worry not. Check out what you missed in the gallery below, including art from BLUE BEETLE, DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS, HAWK AND DOVE, LEGION LOST, STATIC SHOCK and TEEN TITANS.

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