In case you missed it – and really, how could you, with a week-long spotlight right here? – BATMAN #700 hit this week. And the issue featured an epic, time-twisting tale from writer Grant Morrison and artists Tony Daniel, Frank Quitely, Andy Kubert, Scott Kolins and David Finch.

And people took notice. The issue got attention from CNN.com (with comments from Grant and our very own Dan DiDio), an “A-“ review at EW.com’s SHELF LIFE blog, a preview and hat tip from Scott Thill over at WIRED’s UNDERWIRE blog and kudos from the folks at IGN and NEWSARAMA.

And right here on The Source, we had special visits from Grant, David Finch, Andy Kubert, Dustin Nguyen, Shane Davis and Philip Tan, each one celebrating the Dark Knight. And if that wasn’t enough, yours truly chimed in with comments on Batman, BATMAN: YEAR ONE and the sad tale of a certain Harvey Dent.

Pretty busy week, I’d say. And we’ve got two more epic anniversary issues to go. Stay tuned right here for more.

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

As promised, a look at the myriad new characters that popped up in the pages of BATMAN AND ROBIN, from the creators themselves. Have a great weekend, folks.

NEW CHARACTERS

PROFESSOR PYG

Pyg, along with his mind-controlled killer Dollotrons, had appeared briefly as a crucified, upside-down corpse in issue #666 of my BATMAN run with artist Andy Kubert. I didn't think I'd use him or any of the other characters mentioned in the story - Max Roboto, Candyman, Loveless, Jackanapes, the Weasel and Flamingo - again, although I'd concocted detailed backstories for all of them. Some things, however, tend to take on a life of their own, and it became impossible to keep a bad Pyg down.

Pyg's name is derived from the song "Pygmalism," as written by Nick Currie (recorded by Kahimi Karie on her Tilt CD and also by Currie's alter ego Momus on the CD Folktronic). The name refers, of course, to the Greek myth in which the sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with a statue of a woman he has carved, which is then brought to life by the goddess Aphrodite. Pygmalion is the name of the play by George Bernard Shaw which inspired the musical My Fair Lady and which tells the tale of Professor Henry Higgins, who makes a bet that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a uneducated Cockney flower seller, into a convincingly well-spoken society lady as proof of Nurture's superiority to Nature. Like Pygmalion, Higgins is creating his own ideal woman, and like Pygmalion he falls in love with her. The Currie song is from the point of view of the Professor's latest "creation"-"sometimes in the night I sing the songs Professor Pig has taught me"-and brilliantly reconfigures Pygmalion as a story of mind control and rebellion.

Professor Pyg's wardrobe recalls the Edwardian suits worn by Rex Harrison, who played Higgins alongside Audrey Hepburn's Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady. Harrison, of course, also portrayed Doctor Dolittle, who could speak to animals. The attempt to dominate and redefine the feminine principle by forcing biology to conform to the artist's will ("Why can't a woman be more like a man?" sings the frustrated Higgins) suggested links to the "wire mother" experiments of Harry Harlow and backwards to the chaotic proto-mother mythologies of ancient Babylon and Mesopotamia. The shattered mind of extreme circus performer Lazlo Valentin has mashed all these connections into a frightening personal mythos, constructed to justify his deranged activities as Professor Pyg.

THE CIRCUS OF STRANGE

With Dick Grayson's origins as a circus aerialist, it felt right to pit him against a group of circus-themed villains in his first adventure as Batman. There have been circus criminals before, but rather than the traditional Ringling Brothers clowns and ringmasters, I imagined the Circus of Strange as an "extreme" troupe, more along the lines of the Jim Rose Circus.

The members of the Circus of Strange are all based on classic "freak show" archetypes - the lizard man, the bearded lady, the Siamese twins and... um... the man with his head on fire...

Mr. Toad - half man, half amphibian, all stud - is inspired by the character of the same name from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, right down to the opening "wild ride" in his odd car. Several Batman villains have been lifted from Lewis Carroll's books, and the time seemed right to begin the plunder of another beloved children's author.

Phosphorus Rex was mentioned previously in BATMAN #666. His skin combusts in the air. What else do you need to know?

Big Top was originally written and drawn as a more obviously feminine "bearded lady," but it seemed rather ungallant, even for the Damian Wayne Robin, to administer the kind of beating he hands out to a woman, so we made Big Top look more masculine and referred to the character as "he"-all of which served only to compound his strange allure.

Siam was the kind of challenge Frank Quitely loves-conjoined kung fu triplets. When not hard at work on BATMAN AND ROBIN, Frank loves nothing more than to while away the hours drawing perfectly constructed anatomical grotesques-people with their torsos reversed so that their heads hang down between their legs, etc. He works out how they would sit, eat, play football or have sex, then draws them doing it. Siam was a breeze for him to draw after some of these creations, but the character design is still a technical masterpiece that fully justifies all those dedicated hours of life drawing classes. Look at the way the three lock together and provide momentum and balance for one another when they fight. No one but Frank could have drawn this villain.

OBERON "THE GRAVEDIGGER" SEXTON

Originally the character was called "Auberon Sexton," but I changed the spelling to link the character to the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream both to underline the Englishness and also to amplify Sexton's "mystery man" feel.

GOTHAM GANGSTERS

When the plot of BATMAN AND ROBIN #4 called for a meeting of several Gotham City crime bosses, nobody wanted to see another faceless crew of mob guys parked round a table. Although most of these characters would only hang around for a couple of pages, it was fun to give them names and a little bit of history, which may or may not be explored in future Batman stories.

Some of Batman's rogues' gallery - particularly the "face" villains like Two-Face, Clayface and False Face - were clearly inspired by Chester Gould's distinctively grotesque bad guys from the Dick Tracy strip, so I decided to throw a couple of Gould-style hoods into the mix; hence the double-decker forehead of Romeo "High-Rise" Romero, as well as the vertical facial scars of "Aitch-Eyes." The mob accountant Rodney Fidget suggested a minor Batman baddie from the Denny O'Neill '70s or the Alan Grant '90s. Gentleman-G Merriwether, slick in his Ozwald Boateng suit, was named for the makeover show From Gs to Gents while Neon Dragon Triad boss Tony Li has echoes of Hong Kong action cinema and Quentin Tarantino's Crazy 88 gang from Kill Bill. Gabriel Santo - emissary of the enigmatic El Penitente himself - is wearing the hood and robe of the Penitente order of flagellant monks. Every one of these characters opens doors into potential stories.

FLAMINGO

Like Professor Pyg, Flamingo was another throwaway character from BATMAN #666 who came alive in my head and demanded to muscle his way into new stories.

One of the big influences on Batman-both in the real world where he was created as a character and in the fictional world of young Bruce Wayne-is Zorro, and the idea of going back to that primal root to create an "evil Zorro" as a new enemy for Batman seemed appropriate and overdue. So the briefly glimpsed Flamingo of BATMAN #666 became Eduardo Flamingo, lobotomized super-assassin for the shadowy Penitente cartel, with his own origin story, special abilities and motivations. Where Pyg is dementedly in love with the sound of his own voice, Flamingo first appears as an engine of pure Death and mayhem. There's no discussion, no appeal with Flamingo. He is here to kill you and he will kill you. I loved the idea of a terrifying, amoral and brain-damaged monster who was still self-aware and style-conscious enough to dress in pink and choose as his emblem the graceful, ludicrous flamingo.

Another obvious inspiration for the look of Flamingo is the artist currently known once more as Prince-particularly as he appeared on the cover of his 1984 record Purple Rain. Don't ask me why but Batman and Robin vs. Prince seemed to make perfect sense at the time.

-Grant Morrison

Los Angeles

November 2009

For obvious reasons, it’s been a very heavy week here at The Source when it comes to BATMAN AND ROBIN. Can’t have too much of a good thing, huh?

As most of you know, the first collection of Grant Morrison’s epic BATMAN AND ROBIN series hit this week, featuring the first six issues created in tandem with artists Frank Quitely and Philip Tan. The first few reviews have begun to trickle in and the consensus is what you’d expect for a book written by Morrison: Very positive.

And you’ve been reading “BATMAN REDRAWN” here on the blog, right? Our behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the book? Well, expect two more such posts hitting today.

“But what about winning a copy of the book, Alex? It’s in the headline!” Oh, I know. This is what they call “building tension.” Or so I tell myself.

Later today, the DC NATION Twitter feed will be asking you, the fans, a question directly tying into the BATMAN AND ROBIN book. If you’re one of the first 10 fans to answer correctly, you’ll get your hands on a pristine copy of the new collection. So, if you’re not a Twitter user, sign up. It’s easy. Start following DC NATION (and artist Philip Tan, while you’re at it) and wait until the question pops up in your Twitter friends feed. After that, it’s up to you.

Click below for the exact rules.

See you there!

BATMAN AND ROBIN DELUXE EDITION giveaway Twitter Contest Official Rules

1. ENTRY: No purchase necessary to enter or win. To enter the contest, you must be among the first 10 people to tweet to @DC_NATION the correct answer to the question posted via the DC NATION Twitter feed to @DC_NATION that day. DC COMICS will release a question on Friday, 4/9.

2. ELIGIBILITY: Employees and contractors (and their families) of DC COMICS or any of its affiliates are not eligible. Must be 13 year of age or older and a resident of the United States or Canada. Void in Quebec and where prohibited by law.

3. PRIZE: 10 prizes (one per winner) will be given out. Prizes will consist of a copy of BATMAN AND ROBIN DELUXE EDITION. Prize selection is at the discretion of the DC COMICS team.

4. WINNER SELECTION: The first 10 people to answer the question posted on the DC NATION Twitter feed and tweet the answer to @DC_NATION will win one of that day's 10 signed copies of BATMAN AND ROBIN DELUXE EDITION.

5. WINNER NOTIFICATION: Winners will be notified directly via direct message on Twitter. The winners are required to contact DC Comics via email (the address will be sent via direct message) to provide contact information (full name, email address and mailing address). Each winner has until midnight EST the following business day to claim his/her prize; if the prize goes unclaimed, an alternate winner will be selected.

6. GENERAL CONDITIONS: The winners may be required to execute and return a Certificate of Eligibility, Consent and General Release form within 14 days of notification. Non-compliance within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. By acceptance of the prize, the winners consent to the use of his or her name and/or likeness for purposes of advertising or trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

7. USE OF CONTEST INFORMATION: All entries become the property of DC COMICS. DC COMICS reserves the right to use any and all information related to the contest, including submissions provided by the contestants, for editorial, marketing and any other purpose, unless prohibited by law.

8. CONDUCT: All contest participants agree to be bound by these Official Rules. DC COMICS in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person it finds to be in violation of these rules.

9. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: DC COMICS is not responsible for late, lost or misdirected email or for any computer, online, telephone or technical malfunctions that may occur. If for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort, DC COMICS may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest. Entrants further agree to release DC COMICS from any liability resulting from, or related to participation in the contest.