Clayface infiltrates Gotham City Bank and Trust looking to make a sizable withdrawal. There's just one problem: waiting in line at the bank is Stephanie Brown, a.k.a Batgirl. But when Clayface begins morphing into different people, Batgirl must hold the entire bank hostage until she can find out who the villain is impersonating.
BATGIRL #13 hits 8/11.
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Bruce Wayne is back – but what has he returned to?
In his absence, his closest allies and deadliest enemies have blazed a new path, creating a Gotham that’s different and in many ways more menacing than the city he left behind. So, how do his protégés, allies and foes react to the man that stands before them?
Is Batgirl’s career over? Red Robin was right – but what’s next? After mourning Bruce Wayne’s death, can Catwoman face him?
Welcome to BRUCE WAYNE: THE ROAD HOME, eight one-shots that cover the city of Gotham and beyond, from Dick Grayson and Damian to the Birds of Prey to Red Robin to Commissioner Gordon in stories told by some of the industry’s brightest stars, including Adam Beechen, Fabian Nicieza, Mike Barr, Pere Perez, Ramon Bachs, Marc Andreyko, Cliff Richards and Bryan Q. Miller, featuring a connecting, 8-part cover by superstar artist Shane Davis.
All these questions and more will be answered. But surely we can throw down a few more teases, right? Take it away, Batman Group Editor Mike Marts:
“Bruce Wayne’s journey back home has been a long and dangerous road, but before he can assume the mantle of the Bat again, he must first figure out how things have changed in the world around him, how relationships have changed...and how those changes will effect his decisions moving forward as the protector of Gotham City.”
BRUCE WAYNE: THE ROAD HOME begins in October.
You saw what’s coming up with BRIGHTEST DAY earlier today, but what does the month of August have in store for the Dark Knight? Click below to find out.
BATMAN #702
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art and cover by TONY DANIEL
Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel continue their captivating untold tale of Bruce Wayne and his adventures between BATMAN R.I.P. and FINAL CRISIS! Discover the shocking secrets that point toward THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE that we couldn’t show you until now!
On sale AUGUST 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
BATMAN AND ROBIN #15
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art by FRAZER IRVING
Cover by FRANK QUITELY
1:25 variant cover by FRAZER IRVING
In the final chapter of “Batman Must Die,” all is lost and everything has gone to pieces! Is Dick Grayson alive? Will Damian make a pact with the devil? And what will happen after the final confrontation with Dr. Hurt?
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale AUGUST 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #5
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art by RYAN SOOK
Cover by ANDY KUBERT
1:25 variant cover by RYAN SOOK
Grant Morrison is joined by all-star artist Ryan Sook in the penultimate issue of THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE! In this story, Bruce Wayne finds himself in the hard-boiled streets of Gotham City’s past. Will his adventure as a private investigator help him take one step closer to the present day?
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale AUGUST 11 • 5 of 6 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
DETECTIVE COMICS #868
Written by DAVID HINE
Art by SCOTT MCDANIEL & ANDY OWENS Cover by PETER NGUYEN
A warped variation of the Joker drug has caused those who use it to suffer mental breakdowns and embrace anarchy and chaos. With riots cropping up throughout Gotham City, the citizens find themselves divided into two gangs: one led by a Batman impostor whose mission is to bring law and order back to the streets, and the other led by a Joker impostor whose purpose is to punish the innocent and set Gotham ablaze. And in the middle of it all is The Dark Knight – but can Batman stop an entire city?
On sale AUGUST 25 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
BATMAN: ODYSSEY #2
Written by NEAL ADAMS
Art by NEAL ADAMS
1:25 Sketch variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
Neal Adams’s ODYSSEY ramps up as The Caped Crusader slowly but surely loses control. A dark presence lurking in the background begins pulling Bruce’s strings...who is responsible? This second chapter is a tour de force of action as the greatest crime fighter on earth displays his vicious combat skills. What else can you expect? Adams’s art at its best!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale August 4 • 2 of 6 • 40pg, fc, $3.99
BATMAN BEYOND #3
Written by ADAM BEECHEN
Art by RYAN BENJAMIN & JOHN STANISCI
Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
Batman’s investigation into the murders of Dark Knight villains past and present leads him to old associates of Bruce Wayne...some of whom aren’t so happy to see him. While the mysterious killer picks his next target, the rift between Terry and Bruce widens.
On sale AUGUST 18 • 3 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
RED HOOD: LOST DAYS #3
Written by JUDD WINICK
Art by PABLO RAIMONDI
Cover by BILLY TUCCI
Learn the secrets of Jason’s Todd hidden past! Jason’s out in the world and living in secret. Now he’s looking for new training, new skills, new teachers and a new identity. But what he finds on this path will challenge both his body and soul. The road to revenge becomes darker as his road to becoming Red Hood becomes clearer…
On sale AUGUST 4 • 3 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #15
Written by PAUL DINI
Art and cover by GUILLEM MARCH
As Catwoman deals with the aftermath of battling her sister, Poison Ivy’s career at Gotham City’s S.T.A.R. Labs takes an unexpected turn!
On sale AUGUST 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #15
Written by PAUL DINI
Co-feature written by IVAN BRANDON
Art by DUSTIN NGUYEN & DEREK FRIDOLFS
Co-feature art by RAMON BACHS & JOHN LUCAS
Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
Tommy Elliot’s life-and-death experience in the present sheds light on some interesting secrets about Thomas and Martha Wayne in the past. What is the mysterious connection? Guest-starring Catwoman!
And in the new Two-Face co-feature, Harvey Dent faces off against the Falcone family. Will any of them survive the encounter?
On sale AUGUST 18 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
RED ROBIN #15
Written by FABIAN NICIEZA
Art and cover by MARCUS TO & RAY MCCARTHY
With Tim Drake targeted for assassination, will Red Robin have to eliminate his secret identity? Or is it all part of an elaborate ruse to draw out the lethal Egyptian assassin known as Scarab and get Vicki Vale off his trail?
On sale AUGUST 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
BATGIRL #13
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by PERE PEREZ
Cover by STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU
Clayface infiltrates Gotham City Bank & Trust looking to make a sizable withdrawal. There’s just one problem: waiting in line at the bank is Stephanie Brown – Batgirl! But when Clayface begins morphing into different people, Batgirl must hold the entire bank hostage until she can uncover and stop him!
On sale AUGUST 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
AZRAEL #11
Written by DAVID HINE
Art and cover by GUILLEM MARCH
“The Killer of Saints” part 2 of 4! Is the Turin Shroud genuine or a hoax? Azrael learns the shocking truth behind the rumors and lies. Meanwhile, the mysterious killer continues to perform his deadly miracles, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
On sale AUGUST 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
OUTSIDERS #32
Written by DAN DIDIO
Art by PHILIP TAN & JONATHAN GLAPION
cover by PHILIP TAN
With the team split in two and wanted for acts of war, The Outsiders find themselves fighting with one another in order to survive. While Geo-Force, Katana and the Eradicator build a new team in Markovia, Black Lightning, Owlman and Metamorpho find themselves at the home of an old friend who just happens to want Metamorpho dead! Plus, The Creeper faces off against a creature of the night!
On sale AUGUST 25 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #47
Written by KEVIN VANHOOK
Art and cover by TOM MANDRAKE
Batman and Superman travel to an uncharted island in the Caribbean in an attempt to stop the evil Professor Combs from performing a Voodoo ritual that will turn the living into the undead. But when vampires and werewolves get involved, The Dark Knight will find himself six feet under and buried alive!
On sale AUGUST 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Writers Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann close out their run on ACTION with a doozy, featuring art by Pere Perez. With the fate of both New Krypton and Earth weighing on their young shoulders, are Nightwing and Flamebird prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice? Check out the pages below for a clue or two.
ACTION COMICS #889 hits 4/28.
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What happens when writers Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann and artist Pere Perez pit a bruised and battered Nightwing and Flamebird against the reincarnated Kryptonian sun god Rao? Well, it won't be a pretty fight. My money's on the sun god.
ACTION COMICS #887 hits today.
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Writers Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann spotlight Nightwing and Flamebird's continued hunt for Zod's deadly sleeper agents in ACTION COMICS #$886, hitting 2/10.
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Since "Codename: Patriot," Earth's hatred for Kryptonians has only escalated – which is what makes it so odd that Nightwing and Flamebird pick now to go public as super heroes. Meanwhile, Lois Lane finally meets with the man she thought long dead – her father, General Lane. But he has a message to deliver to his journalist daughter: "You're either with us or against us."
And in part 5 of the new co-feature, Captain Atom, now back on Earth and knowing the truth about his mission, must face an old foe: Major Force. All courtesy of the team of Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, James Robinson, Pere Pérez and CAFU.
ACTION COMICS #883 hits 11/11.
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Hola, folks!
I wish I could be like my ultra-trendy pal Michael Siglain, and give you a nice Halloween theme here, but let’s face it: on New Krypton, everyone wears a costume 24/7, and they don’t have candy there. (Notice none of the Kryptonians are overweight—well, except for Kal’s lawyer, but that’s genetic.) You’d think having been trapped in a bottle for decades they’d all be out of shape—or at least have invented Malomars. Whatever.
In celebration of not celebrating Halloween in space this year, here’s a shot from WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON (WONK to you insiders) #9, featuring Kal-El, some bodiless heads that are really big, and a couple of people I really wish were just dressing up, courtesy of James Robinson, Greg Rucka, Pete Woods and Nei Ruffino.
You can get the full horrific scoop of what’s going on here next Wednesday, the 4th, which is not just the first Wednesday of November, but about the time I’ll be trying to figure out a “What Superman’s Thankful for This Year” theme for the next column. Continuing our non-scary tour of the DC books, check out this upcoming page from ACTION #883, which comes out November 11th.
Wow, who knew Flamebird’s super-power was a knockout kiss? And hey, that Brimstone dude’s kinda Halloween-like, right? At least Rucka, Eric Trautmann, Pere Pérez and Javier Mena think so.
Check out this page from November 18th’s SUPERGIRL #47. Guess we know what Alura Zor-El thinks of Halloween, huh?
And if you want to see something that’s really scary, just imagine this day which Alura has been both eagerly anticipating and dreading simultaneously, as she at last comes face-to-face with the man who murdered her husband—Reactron!
Bet you wish you knew what they were saying, huh? My thanks to Sterling Gates, Matt Camp and the aforementioned Nei Ruffino for these glimpses into Supergirl’s future—well, her book’s future, anyway. Which brings us to November 25th, Thanksgiving eve, and SUPERMAN #694. Anyone remember Javi Pina? He teamed up with James Robinson to bring you this past summer’s SUPERMAN ANNUAL. Well, the scream team is at it again, this time for SUPERMAN #694, a.k.a. “Man of Valor” part 1, the arc which will bring Mon-El back in time to the very day Halloween was conceived, and… okay, it has nothing to do with Candy Day, but Bizarro is pretty scary, right? Huh? Please?
Wow, that’s some heady stuff, particularly with Blond’s coloring in place! Why, I—er, what? Oh, okay. That was Alex Segura on the phone, telling me I have failed utterly in my Halloween themage. Maybe I’d better get an early start on the Thanksgiving column. Anyone have a good suggestion for words that rhyme with “Turkey”?
Much of today has been devoted to wrapping up WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #8, which is a pretty crazy issue. James Robinson, Greg Rucka and Pete Woods are introducing the Thanagarians to the series, and where the Thanagarians go, can bloody skirmishes be far to follow? One thing that’s complicated matters on this issue is Pete’s shoulder injury (I know, I know, I’m not supposed to give the opposing team info on our players’ injuries!). Happily, the always-joyous Ron Randall has swung in to save the day, with some beautiful, dynamic pages that’ll leave you saying “Pete who?” Since Ron is still working on his pages while I’m writing this, I’ll just have to leave you to be wowed later, and share a Pete/Nei Ruffino-produced peek instead.
Since one eye (of my three) is always looking ahead, that means steadily working on ACTION #882, which gets sent to the printer next week. #881 just came out a couple days ago, launching the four-part “Hunt for Reactron” crossover with SUPERGIRL #45 and #46, and I think it turned out pretty darn stellar. Usually when you tell a multi-part story, the buildup is almost inevitably more fun than the payoff, but not in this case (-whew!-). Sterling Gates and Greg have really done some amazing work here together, and between them and Pére Perez (ACTION) and Jamal “Shorts” Igle (SUPERGIRL), this arc is something I’m really proud of. ACTION #882 is pretty intense in places, but the finale in SG #46 is nothing short of majestic. Can you tell I’m pumped? Here, I’ve even included a sneak peak or two!
I end up having to pull away from ACTION to deal with two important developments. First, my manservant, Wil Moss has noticed that our main Thanagarian player in WONK #8 has a costume inconsistency. Nothing, and I mean nothing gets by this guy! Happily, he’s since contacted Pete, Ron and Nei, and a solution has been agreed upon. Then James comes through with a large portion of WONK #9, a story that stars a very peeved Jemm, Son of Saturn (remember him?). Man, this is good stuff.
At last, I return to proofing the lettering for ACTION, even as a question comes in from Fernando Dagnino, our fabulous penciller of SUPERMAN #693. Seems Fernando needs clarification for one scene involving the Parasite, and where he should be positioned on the page. Easily answered (and believe me, few things in this job are!). Sorry, ACTION. I’ll pay attention to you now.
Bing! Editor Liz “Don’t Give Me A Nickname, I Don’t Do Nicknames” Gehrlein has just sent over Geoff Johns’ latest script, for ADVENTURE #3. Hmmm. It looks thick. I’ll save this for the train, so I don’t repeat last night’s mistake, where I tried to balloon pages of Geoff and Gary Frank’s third issue of SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN. Here, I’ll let you judge for yourself:
Pretty messy, huh? Stupid train. Well, at least the art’s gorgeous. Anyway, by this point I’ve gotten through the proofing for the lead story, but I have to put off going over the Captain Atom co-feature (part 4, for those of you keeping score) for our weekly Superman writers’ conference call. Poor ACTION…
Without going into any details, today’s call focuses on the happenings in the books come next summer, and how best to get there in the books that come out in the spring. Yesterday, we resolved a major point of concern that Dan DiDio had, and man, the ideas have really been flowing freely today as a result. Sometimes it really is fun knowing things before everyone else does.
Finally, after more work on WONK, some back and forth with the amazingly talented LaDronn (who’s doing the variant cover for WONK #12 as a bookend of sorts to his variant on the first issue), and a typically bizarre conversation with James about a special book that’s coming out in January, I turn to see that the sun has gone down. Guess I’ll be reading Capt. Atom over the weekend… but to end on a cheerful note, here’s a page from the story, by the ridiculously gifted team of CAFU and Bit. Have a nice weekend!
Happy Monday, Source gang. I'm back in the office, a little warmer and rested from a few days in sunny SoFla. Yes, that's how we refer to it. Moving on.
We always like to start the week with something big and exciting, and this Monday is no exception. Last week, we teased "The Hunt for Reactron," the four-part crossover between ACTION COMICS and SUPERGIRL, co-written by SUPERGIRL writer Sterling Gates and ACTION COMICS scribe Greg Rucka. Well, not-so-coincidentally, we have a few pages from the first issue, ACTION COMICS #881.
Spilling out of the pages of the "Codename: Patriot" finale, Supergirl and Flamebird find themselves at odds. What could make these childhood friends go ballistic on each other? Can Nightwing calm them down before things get even worse? And just what are they going to do about all those villains surrounding them? The ones in the tanks, yes. Well, you'll get some answers today, in the preview pages below, and even more Wednesday, when the issue hits, featuring some very nice Pere Pérez art, natch.
But that's not all. Remember when we teased some of Rucka and co-writer James Robinson's CAPTAIN ATOM co-feature? Well, we've got some final pages for you to look over, and they're pretty stunning. If you haven't given the co-feature a look, you're missing out on some lovely CAFU artwork and a gripping story. What is happening to Captain Atom? And, more importantly, what's going on in his mind? I've teased enough. But enjoy the pretty pictures while you wait for Wednesday to roll around.
ACTION COMICS #881 hits 9/16.
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