mike mignola | DC Comics

BATMAN Solicits for May

Excited about today’s earlier post, announcing BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM? Well, that’s not all, May’s going to be a major month for BATMAN – here’s your first look at May’s solicits, after the jump.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #7

Written by GRANT MORRISON

Art and cover by CHRIS BURNHAM

1:25 Variant cover by FRAZER IRVING

Man-of-Bats and his protégé, Red Raven, continue to aid the Dark Knight in tracking down a shadowy, sophisticated killer. Will these two members of The Club of Heroes become the newest additions to BATMAN INCORPORATED? Or will they die before they can even be offered the chance?

On sale MAY 25 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #4

Written by DAVID FINCH

Art by DAVID FINCH & SCOTT WILLIAMS

Cover by DAVID FINCH

1:25 Variant cover by ANDY CLARKE

Etrigan the Demon’s loyalties are stretched to their breaking point, and when he chooses sides, an epic battle ensues with Batman! The victor can only be decided with the help of a new friend, but there’s no time to spare for infighting, because Gotham City is being overrun by a demon horde…

Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information. This issue is resolicited. All previous orders are cancelled.

Resolicit • On sale MAY 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

DETECTIVE COMICS #877

Written by SCOTT SNYDER

Art and cover by JOCK

Batman plunges deeper into the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of a young woman whose body was found in the belly of a killer whale. But his detective skills lead him into a deadly trap set in motion by some of the Gotham Underworld’s newest and most fearsome players. Don’t miss the finale of “Hungry City!”

On sale MAY 25 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

BATMAN #710

Written by TONY DANIEL

Art by TONY DANIEL & RYAN WINN

Cover by TONY DANIEL

Two-Face is back! As an unknown villain targets Two-Face and other Gotham City crimelords for extermination, Batman discovers that Kitrina Falcone, a.k.a. “CATGIRL,” is next on the hit list! Can he save the junior mobster in time? And will helping Kitrina force Catwoman to get involved?

On sale MAY 18 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

BATMAN & ROBIN #23

Written by JUDD WINICK

Art and cover by GUILLEM MARCH

1:10 Variant cover by GENE HA

Jason Todd - Batman’s one-time sidekick, currently the anti-hero known as Red Hood - has been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the past several months. But after a period of good behavior, will a transfer to a lower-security prison mean reformation for Jason Todd . . . or is trouble waiting in the wings for Batman and Robin? Don’t miss “The Streets Run Red” part one of three!

On sale MAY 11 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

BATWOMAN #2

Written by J.H. WILLIAMS III and W. HADEN BLACKMAN

Art and cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III

1:10 Variant cover by AMY REEDER

Horror! A terrifying new villain stalks the innocent children of Gotham City.

Intrigue! A threatening government agency is hot on Batwoman’s trail.

Romance! Kate Kane’s new relationship is heating up.

It’s all here for our heroine! Can Batwoman stop the new evil rising from the damp back alleys of Gotham’s barrios and overcome the many challenges she faces as both Batwoman and Kate Kane? 2011’s most anticipated new ongoing series intensifies in this exciting second installment of the 5-part “Hydrology” storyline!

Resolicit • On sale MAY 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

RED ROBIN #23

Written by FABIAN NICIEZA

Art and cover by MARCUS TO and RAY MCCARTHY

The “7 Days of Death” begin with assassination attempts on Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox by the international assassin Scarab – but isn’t she in jail? To find the killer, Red Robin may have to spring the real Scarab from prison! Is this an assault on Wayne Enterprises, or do the first two days of death signal the start of a deeper conspiracy?

On sale MAY 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #23

Written by PETER CALLOWAY

Art by ANDRES GUINALDO and LORENZO RUGGIERO

Cover by GUILLEM MARCH

Breakout at Arkham! With Harley Quinn in danger, can Catwoman and Poison Ivy put aside their tumultuous history and work together to save Harley? Guest-starring The Joker, Clayface and Jeremiah Arkham!

On sale MAY 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

BATMAN BEYOND #5

Written by ADAM BEECHEN

Art by RYAN BENJAMIN and JOHN STANISCI

Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN

Rioting workers are threatening to close down Wayne-Powers Industries and send stock prices spiraling down the tubes! There’s only one thing Batman can do in this situation: Track down Paxton Powers, just released from prison, and see what he knows about it! “Industrial Revolution” begins here!

On sale MAY 4 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #40

Written by DAN DIDIO

Art by KEITH GIFFEN and SCOTT KOBLISH

Cover by PHILIP TAN

Batman arrives in an attempt to unite Black Lightning’s team with Geo-Force’s for the final battle against Veritas. But as one teammate is lost and others leave, Batman must determine if it’s time to disband The Outsiders forever.

On sale MAY 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • FINAL ISSUE • RATED T

BATGIRL #21

Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER

Art by DUSTIN NGUYEN and DEREK FRIDOLFS

Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN

When the Grey Ghost puts himself in harm’s way to save Gotham City from the Reaper’s sound-wielding Harmony, it’s up to Batgirl to save the day. If Batgirl has her way, her first team-up with the Grey Ghost will be her last with the Grey Ghost – assuming they both make it out alive.

On sale MAY 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

BIRDS OF PREY #12

Written by GAIL SIMONE

Art and cover by JESUS SAIZ

They’ve had the growing pains, the split-ups and the reunions. Now it’s time to see the Birds of Prey do the dirty jobs no one else can. When a mysterious yet familiar villain threatens to organize all East Coast criminal activity, from loan sharking to illegal arms trading, Oracle is forced to test the limits of the Batman Incorporated strategy, using her own operatives as pawns in a battle for the soul of Gotham City!

On sale MAY 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

DC COMICS PRESENTS: BATMAN – DARK KNIGHT, DARK CITY #1

Written by PETER MILLIGAN

Art by KIERON DWYER, TOM MANDRAKE and DENNIS JANKE

Cover by MIKE MIGNOLA and GEORGE PRATT

In these thrilling tales from BATMAN #452-454, The Riddler goes on a crimepsree – but when he has the chance to kill Batman, he let The Dark Knight live. What strange game is The Riddler playing? Plus, in a story from DETECTIVE COMICS #633, Bruce Wayne returns to Wayne Manor to find no trace of the Batcave, and Alfred without any knowledge of his master’s crimefighting career. Has Bruce Wayne gone insane?

On sale MAY 18 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US

OPEN THREAD: What’s YOUR favorite DC Comics cover…ever?

It’s been a celebratory week here at The Source, what with our string of lovely 75th anniversary variants, the TASCHEN news and the first look at DCU: LEGACIES #1.

But we’re not done. As we continue to celebrate DC’s 75th anniversary, we thought it’d be a great time to look back at the company’s illustrious history and see what you, the fans had to say. But this isn’t your usual open thread, folks.

Let’s talk covers. To say that the cover image is important would be a huge understatement. It's what draws you in. Everyone remembers their first cover. Everyone has a favorite. That one image that just screams “Comics!” and takes us back to a simpler time where our biggest concern was how many copies of a certain title we’d be able to lug home from the shop that day. I can think of a few that stand out for me in an instant. So, Source readers, here’s the question: What’s your favorite DC Comics cover? Why?

But that’s not what makes this open thread special. Not only do we want to hear what your favorite cover is, we’ve got comments from some of the biggest names at DC.

Curious to hear what they’ve got to say? Click below, and don’t forget to check Vertigo’s GRAPHIC CONTENT and WildStorm’s THE BLEED for even more creators chiming in.

DAN DIDIO, DC Comics Co-Publisher

I stuck to books that came out during my tenure. As far as covers go, THE FLASH #207 by Michael Turner. The Flash has never looked so fast standing still.

DAVID FINCH, BRIGHTEST DAY cover artist

My favorite DC cover is by Alex Ross, and it's for BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE. It's got Bruce standing with his back to the viewer and he's running his hand over the scars that crisscross his whole back. It just captures everything that Batman is about for me. He's not afraid to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and he's willing to sacrifice his own body and mind to the cause.

BRIAN AZZARELLO, FIRST WAVE writer

OUR FIGHTING FORCES #150. Joe Kubert's covers told stories that were sometimes better than the one's in the books.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JONAH HEX co-writer

My favorite comic cover has to be JONAH HEX #27 by Jordi Bernet. There is so much storytelling packed into this single image as well as

brilliant composition by one of Europe's greatest illustrators. Jordi is and will always be one of my favorite artists.

JT KRUL, GREEN ARROW writer

Tough call. I could easily rattle off a bunch of the obvious ones: Killing Joke, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, etc. But one that always stuck with me was Denys Cowan's cover for THE QUESTION #34. It was the first Question comic I bought (don't ask me how the book managed to elude me until then). There's a such a haunting quality to the man without a face, but it's the masses behind him that really help set the mood. That cover, not to mention all the Question covers drove me to spend money I didn't have in college on back issues to fill my run. Each week, I'd tell myself I'm only going to get one or two, but I always walked out the door of my LCS with five or six. But who needed food, when you had great comics, right?

STERLING GATES, SUPERGIRL writer, SUPERMAN: WAR OF THE SUPERMEN co-writer

TEEN TITANS #14. How can you look at this great Nick Cardy cover and NOT want to read this issue?

Not only have the other Teen Titans DIED, their ghosts are haunting Robin!

I always wondered if they were encouraging him to quit being a superhero, or quit life and join them six feet under. The dead can be a selfish lot, so I have no trouble imagining them trying to get Robin to come on down…

LEE BERMEJO, JOKER, LUTHOR artist

Gotta say my favorite DC cover has got to be Bill Sienkiewicz's cover to THE SHADOW #1. Just a beautiful, graphic image that is aggressive as well as elegant, modern and timeless simultaneously. Those two Uzi's unloading in your face blew my young mind and made me an instant fan of both the character and Sienkiewicz's genius. The key was in that squinted eye, though. I think it was the first time I felt like a participant as opposed to reader.

DUSTIN NGUYEN, BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM artist

Mignola's cover to BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #54 pretty much sums up everything i love about the look of Batman. Bold simple colors, plenty of drama in an otherwise static pose, and the eyes- perfectly positioned inside the silhouette of a horned cowl. And it's RED, i like red."

FRANCO, TINY TITANS writer/artist

That's an easy one! My favorite cover has always been the NEW TEEN TITANS #13!! I saw this thing and it knocked me on the floor! I knew the Titans were going to be in trouble when somebody kicked Robot Man's tin can and hung him out to dry in the middle of the Amazon forest!!! There was just so much detail here and I remember pulling it off the rack and just staring at it for a while and the guy behind the counter yelled at me and asked if I was gonna buy it or just stare at it all day. I did both! It was the first series that compelled me to go find all the back issues. Mr. Perez is the master!

ART BALTAZAR, TINY TITANS writer/artist

SUPERMAN #337. AW YEAH! WHAT? Superman quits? NEVER!

Awesome cover! The colors rock! Awesome Bad Guys too! First time I ever saw Metallo! This cover has mystery, Drama, conflict and adventure! I love how happy the bad guys are to finally defeat the Man of Steel! The Super Friends cartoon was on TV at this time, so it was cool to see Brainiac and Bizarro. PLUS! All those Bad Guys together is what we want to see!

JUDD WINICK, JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST co-writer, POWER GIRL writer

My favorite cover is ACTION COMICS #500. "The Life Story Of Superman". It's my favorite DC comic. It told the entire story Superman. It was like getting 10 pounds of Ice Cream. The cover SCREAMED to me--THIS IS SPECIAL! and it was and it is.

YILDIRAY CINAR, LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES artist

The cover I picked up is BATMAN #366 by Walt Simonson. The cover speaks for itself. The layout, composition, lightning...One of my favorite covers in my entire collection since my childhood.

Celebrate 75 years of DC Comics on The Source

As most of you know by now, this year marks the 75th anniversary of DC Comics. Things are hitting a fever pitch here in the DCU, with BRIGHTEST DAY, THE FLASH, THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE and much more filling up this here space with regularity. And, based on your responses, you guys are looking forward to what’s coming down the pipeline.

And while – as always – we’re moving forward and pushing our characters in exciting, new directions, anniversaries are also a time to look back and remember what makes DC Comics great.

So, as part of a line-wide celebration of DC Comics’ 75th, we’ll be rolling out a number of special variant covers by some of the biggest names in the industry. But these aren’t standard variants. No, these covers will take a classic image from DC’s illustrious history and present a new, re-imagined version by an all-star list of artists.

What’s first? Well, do you recall the cover to DETECTIVE COMICS #168, by Lew Sayre Schwartz? It doesn’t get more classic than that. Not only did the issue feature a great story by veteran Bat-writer Bill Finger, but this cover went down in history as one of the most iconic covers of the Golden Age.

Well, imagine what HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola would do with the concept:

Nice, huh? That’s the DC 75th variant for BATMAN #700, an issue that’s already chock-full of creative energy — including Grant Morrison and artists David Finch, Tony Daniel and Andy Kubert.

We’ll give you some time to recover. Come back tomorrow for another DC 75 variant.

Tags:

75th anniversary, Batman, detective comics, mike mignola

Brian Cunningham stars in... "Stuff in my Office"

Hi everyone! Brian Cunningham, here—editor of such titles as TITANS, R.E.B.E.L.S., POWER GIRL and more.

When I’m not editing or shirking responsibility, I like to put stuff I like in my office. Some of the stuff is kinda neat, and some of it is admittedly kinda weird. But I like it, and since I gotta look at it all day, that’s most important. I like having stuff around me that inspires me or even relaxes me during those stressful days of deadline doom.

Take my stash of gum, for instance. Anyone who knows me understands that I always have a pack of gum at the ready. It can be at a convention, in the office, anywhere. You need gum, I got gum. Much like wielding a Green Lantern power ring, one can never underestimate the might of minty fresh breath. So I put out a pack of gum on my desk to help out my fellow editors should they feel they need it.

Now if only my generosity would inspire Matt Idelson to share some of his unlimited quantities of oatmeal…

In an earlier blog post a couple months ago, I waxed poetic about my 1976 DC Comics calendar I have hanging up. But what I held back—since I can be cagey like that—was that I also have a vintage 1986 DC COMICS CALENDAR POSTER. I got one’a these suckers for Christmas in 1985 and I don’t think I took it off my bedroom wall until well in 1988, that’s how much I loved it. I mean, c’mon—Pérez Titans! Rogers and Giordano Batman! Giffen Ambush Bug! How could I ever get tired of seeing this?

And, needless to say, 1986 was a HUGE year for DC—what with DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and WATCHMEN, among many other classics—so I like to have “1986” in the back of my head when I edit. I’ll never stop reaching for those lofty heights.

The thing that gets me the most comments in my office—aside from “Uhh…why don’t you have some of your own gum…?”—is my collection of DC Direct BATMAN: BLACK and WHITE statues. I don’t have all of them, mind you, just the ones that I happen to really dig. They range from the Bob Kane version to Brian Bolland’s to my favorite, the Mike Mignola one (which captures Mike’s art so perfectly in a three-dimensional form). What’s really sick and twisted is that I’ve placed them all in chronological order—an off-hand suggestion by Alex Segura, who has quite a B:B/W statue collection of his own! Alex had no idea how brilliant that idea was, and how tailored it was to my O.C.D. mind. Makes me wish I knew exactly where the multi-era George Pérez one should go…

And that’s just a taste of the assorted stuff I have around me. Perhaps next time, if I’m feeling up to it, I may even show you my growing collection of various body parts that my boss Dan DiDio helped me acquire. We’ll see.

Tags:

Batman, bob kane, brian bolland, brian cunningham, Dan DiDio, George Perez, matt idelson, mike mignola, power girl, rebels, teen titans, titans

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