Some have said that three is the magic number. If that’s the case, November should be a fascinating month. Here at THE SOURCE, we’ll spotlighting key third issues from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 with an ongoing series of posts titled “3 Things You Didn’t Know About DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.” Expect the unexpected–in threes.

The cosmic forces of War and Peace have ignited a war on the streets of Washington D.C. and only two heroes stand a chance at stopping the chaos--Hawk and Dove! As conduits of unimaginable power, the two young warriors are the stars of their own series from writer Sterling Gates and legendary artist Rob Liefeld and surprising new elements have turned the U.S. Capitol upside down.

1. SECRETS BEYOND THE GRAVE ­

In the beginning, Hank Hall and his brother Don wore the mantles of Hawk and Dove, respectively, before Don died in action. Dawn Granger became the new Dove due to seemingly accidental circumstances. But it looks like Dawn has been hiding a serious piece of the story from Hank about her involvement with Don. But what could she possibly be concealing?

2. DIRTY DOPPLEGANGERS ­

Hawk and Dove believed they were the only avatars of War and Peace, but Condor and Swan, two of the most demented murderers the DCU has ever seen, have made an explosive debut and claim to be avatars, too! Condor and Swan also somehow have intimate information about the origins of the avatar powers--information which Hank and Dawn never knew existed!

3. ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST ­

Technological terrorist Alexander Quirk has built and deployed a platoon of undead soldiers he calls "Monsters of Mass Destruction" and unleashed them on the nation's capitol. It's all in an effort to overthrow what he sees as a corrupt regime holding sway over political power in America. You can't beat zombies versus superheroes!

Don't miss an issue of the high-flying, in-your-face action coming at you every month in the all-new, all-intense HAWK AND DOVE!

For the sixth consecutive week, IFANBOY has selected a title from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 as their “Pick of the Week.” This time around? O.M.A.C. #2 by Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish. Check out their complete coverage to see why they “love this book” and why they’re calling O.M.A.C. “ridiculously fun.”

If you haven’t been to the DC Comics Facebook page today, head on over there to check out an exclusive preview of LEGION LOST #2. After all, what better way is there to connect to another world than through social media, right?

In anticipation of J.H. Williams III’s signing in Los Banos, California tomorrow, local paper THE MODESTO BEE profiled the BATWOMAN artist and co-writer. And be sure not to miss J.H. when he comes to San Francisco as part of the DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 Art Tour this December.

And speaking of events, it was just last Friday that COMIC BOOK RESOURCES and Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles hosted a wrap party for the first month of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. The writers and artists in attendance included Brian Buccellato, Bernard Chang, Mike Costa, Dan DiDio, Josh Fialkov, Sterling Gates, Adam Glass, Kyle Higgins and Scott Lobdell. You’ve already heard them talk about which titles from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 were their favorites. Today, check out this latest video interview as they all tease what to look forward to in the upcoming issues of their respective series. “The best reason you should come back for issue two and the rest of the series is basically because issue one is a pilot – it sets up the status-quo, inverts it and then tells you what the direction of the series is going to be going forward,” said NIGHTWING and DEATHSTROKE writer Kyle Higgins. “Issue two and from then on out is exploring what that direction is. So all the character development, motivations, twists and turns, the stories of these characters and the explorations of their lives (and what it means to be in Nightwing’s case, a hero in Gotham city making a life for himself or in Deathstroke’s case, the best mercenary in the DC Universe trying to reestablish his reputation and credibility) are only going to come out through long-form storytelling.”

To be continued …

In Los Angeles this Friday? COMIC BOOK RESOURCES and Golden Apple Comics will be co-hosting a wrap party for the release of the first issues of DC Comics-The New 52. In attendance will be Brian Buccellato (THE FLASH), Bernard Chang (DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS), Dan DiDio (O.M.A.C.), Joshua Hale Fialkov (I, VAMPIRE), Sterling Gates (HAWK & DOVE), Adam Glass (Suicide Squad), Kyle Higgins (NIGHTWING/DEATHSTROKE) and Scott Lobdell (SUPERBOY/TEEN TITANS/RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS). For full details about the event, head on over to COMIC BOOK RESOURCES.

IGN continued their series of interviews with all of the creative teams behind DC Comics-The New 52. “I'm already growing attached to our first villain (and creation), Mob Rule,” THE FLASH co-writer Brian Buccellato said. “We are NOT making life easy for The Flash…why should we?”

And speaking of THE FLASH, IFANBOY has selected the first issue as their “Pick of the Week.” This marks the fifth consecutive week that they’ve chosen a title from DC Comics-The New 52. Ron Richards wrote a fantastic post about his connection to the character to accompany their selection. “When creating stories about The Flash, it’s all about speed and momentum,” he wrote. “Both in depicting The Flash within the book and the pace of the story itself. It’s clear with THE FLASH #1 that Manpul and Buccellato understand that. The kinetic energy that comes from drawing The Flash clearly is spread to the story itself and as of right now, I’m super excited to be a fan of The Flash once again.”

IGN also caught up with I, VAMPIRE writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and AQUAMAN writer Geoff Johns. “She's a lot more aggressive than most of our heroes in the DC Universe. But she is incredibly strong and she's incredibly loyal,” Johns said of Mera. “The first issue kind of sets the stage for Aquaman and then Mera comes into the book, and – I think it's issue #6 – is actually just going to focus on Mera. So for me, ever since BLACKEST NIGHT, pulling her out of obscurity and putting her into it and building her up, I think it just makes Aquaman stronger and it adds another iconic female superhero to the DC Universe.”

Want previews of some of next week’s second issues?

MTV GEEK has your first look at DETECTIVE COMICS #2, by Tony S. Daniel, Ryan Winn and Sandu Florea.

COMICVINE has the exclusive preview of JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #2, written by Dan Jurgens and featuring art by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan.

We don’t know about you, but we’re sure going to miss seeing USA TODAY and THE NEW YORK TIMES’ weekly reviews of all the week’s releases.

And you may have noticed that NEW YORK MAGAZINE featured ANIMAL MAN in the “brilliant” section of their Approval Matrix, saying that issue #1 takes the book’s premise into “great, creepy territory.”

To be continued …

Today on THE SOURCE, we’ll be talking to some of the people behind the YOUNG JUSTICE books. Keep checking the site throughout the day for more exclusive insights into the stories and quirks of these writers and artists.

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

STERLING GATES: The first line of a series can be any number of things: a line that sets up your theme, a non-sequitur, a statement about the characters, or even asking the question that you hope to answer by the end of the story. My favorite first line in comics (favorite right now, mind you. It changes all the time!) is from Geoff Johns’ Superman: Secret Origin. A young Clark Kent looks up at the yellow sun, blinded by its brilliance, and a voice asks “Why are you here?” It’s sets up both Clark’s journey through the story and helps lead us to where Clark is in his life.

I tried to do that with Hawk and Dove, using the first few lines of issue one to introduce the theme of the book as well as what the characters’ potential arcs will be as we go along!

To me, though, first lines are very important. Hamlet starts with “Who’s there?” as two men meet in the darkness of the stage. Your audience is asking the same thing as they walk into any story. “Who’s there?” KRSSH! Surprise! It’s Hawk & Dove!

How do you introduce a new hero?

Usually I try to introduce a hero in my stories with a scene that really sets up who they are and their basic problems. That way any reader will have the basics they need going forward from that initial scene. For example, Hawk and Dove begins with them arguing over how they should handle the problem in front of them, establishing that Hawk is always comparing Dove to his first partner. We’re going to delve more into that conflict as time goes on, but I really think it makes sense to get it in front of the reader right away. I like to give superheroes a nice big action beat when they first enter the story so we know they’re the hero and that they’re always going to try and succeed and save the day!

Now, whether they succeed or not is a different matter altogether…

How do you introduce characters?

One of the rules that I learned early on when introducing characters in any type of story is make sure you give the readers their name (or make it clear you’re purposefully withholding it) and give readers an idea of what characters “do” right up front. Otherwise, you’ll have people wondering who characters are for the rest of the scene!

What was the first comic you ever worked on?

When I was in sixth grade, my English teacher gave us the option of doing another book report or writing and drawing a ten-page comic! Me and two other girls in my class created a team of superheroes that fought against eco-terrorists. Eco-terrorists, mind you, that lived in Oklahoma. And were supervillains. Eco-terrorist supervillains. Yes, we basically ripped off the set-up for Captain Planet.

Each of us created our own characters, and mine was a trenchcoat-wearing, enigmatic vigilante who smoked and wore a kickass Stetson. He could charge up stuff with kinetic energy and throw them. When they hit various surfaces, they’d explode!

…yep. I created the X-Men’s Gambit, but he wore a cowboy hat. The hat made him totally different!

Oh, and he wasn’t from New Orleans, he was from somewhere else. He was from New Mexico.

I drew seven pages of that amazing story before we had to turn it in. Hopefully someday I’ll find the artwork…so that I can burn it and no one will ever see it!

I did a bunch of self-published books through college and did a stint as an editorial cartoonist for my school’s newspaper, but my first pro writing work was at DC Comics. It was a back-up story in Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime called “Fear is a Baby’s Cry!” It fleshed out the Sinestro Corps member named Kryb, who goes around kidnapping the children of the Green Lantern Corps. Fun, spooky stuff! Nary a trenchcoat OR a Stetson to be found, unfortunately.

Who was the first character you followed?

The Flash! Or Batman. Or Marvel’s Longshot.

What was the first series you collected?

WOW. That’s a tough question. Maybe something with Spider-Man or Superman. I was so young, I don’t know that I could actually just say, “This is what I first collected.”

Who was the first writer you followed?

Mark Waid. I fell out of comics some in my teenage years, and when I came back into comics, Mark was writing The Flash. I think Kingdom Come had just hit the market, too. As a result, I sought out everything he ever wrote, including those random issues of Archie he did!

Who was the first artist you followed?

There were three: Jim Lee, Todd MacFarlane, and Rob Liefeld. Those guys produced the most dynamic comic art of the 90’s, and their art galvanized an entire generation of readers and changed the industry. Every kid I knew LOVED their books, and we all bought every book they put out without fail. Their work set the tone for comic art for the next decade, and looking back on that stuff, it’s easy to see why. Brilliant work from three artists who still reign as modern masters in my book.

What was the first convention you attended as a fan?

Wizard World Chicago: 1999! I met Frank Miller outside the convention center and he signed my Dark Knight Returns trade. Frank Miller! I talked about running into him for months afterwards.

What was the first convention you attended as a professional?

Wizard World L.A., March 2008. That was my first convention after my professional work started coming out, at least, and it was the first convention where I signed at the DC booth.

What was the first comic book you read?

The first comic I distinctly remember reading was Fantastic Four #279. I’m sure I read some issues of DC Comics Presents before that, but the cover remains in my memory as the first comic I owned.

What was the first piece of original art you bought?

An Oscar Jimenez page from Flash #100. I loved that issue so, so much, and when I discovered eBay, I started looking for Flash pages all the time. I’ve actually put together a pretty sizable collection of Flash artwork the last fifteen years!

What was the first digital comic book you downloaded?

This is probably lame, but it was one that I wrote! I wanted to see what War of the Supermen #0 looked like on an iPad, so I downloaded it the day it went up. I’m a little ashamed that it was one of my own books, but I assure you it was for completely academic purposes.