Writer James Robinson teams with guest artist Bernard Chang to continue ‘Man of Valor,’ as the Legion of Super-Heroes members in the 21st century reveal themselves to Mon-El. What will the Man of Valor due with the knowledge the heroes impart?

SUPERMAN #697 hits 2/24.

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You read that correctly. An interstellar conflict waged at superspeed.

Could this be in any way related to THE WAR OF THE SUPERMEN, which we announced not too long ago?

Same thing, folks, and it's all hitting in May, courtesy of writers Sterling Gates and James Robinson.

An epic, defining battle for the Man of Steel unleashed in one month. Because super-beings that fly fast? Well, they fight pretty fast, too.

But let's move past the high concept and dive into the nitty gritty, shall we? We pestered Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson on his day off to give us the goods, so take it away, Matt:

"The war between New Krypton and Earth has been the worst kept secret in comics the last several months. The number of mocking 'Wouldn't a world of supermen defeat Earth in five minutes?' questions I've been assaulted with have undone years of therapy. Now, thank Freud, the time for secrets is over, as the two sides are finally going to war! And it's going to last a lot longer than five minutes--100, to be exact, told in 25 minute increments. That doesn't count the few minutes before the clock starts, in WAR OF THE SUPERMEN #0, our contribution to this year's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. There, we'll bring new readers up to speed on everything they really need to know, while hitting our regular loyalists with a tense tale the ending of which baps you between the eyes. Yay, war!

Jokes aside, this 100 minute thing made us realize that spreading the story over several months would kind of deaden the impact of the timeframe device, not to mention starting the war a month after #0. Besides, with five covers by Mr. Eddy Barrows, and Eddy being joined on this thing by the likes of Aaron Lopresti, Jamal Igle and Eduardo Pansica, why wait to put the issues out?"

But there's more.

With Superman caught between the war-hungry factions of General Zod and General Lane, could any victory be much more than Pyrrhic? What side will Supergirl take, and could it find her at odds with her cousin? Where are the other "Supermen" of the DCU, like Steel and Superboy? Right in the thick of it, is the answer.

War is declared. Time is of the essence. May is going to be a game changer for Superman, and if you don't believe me yet, maybe these stunning in-progress Eddy Barrows WAR OF THE SUPERMEN covers -- along with the cover to #0 -- will help sway you.

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Hey, Dan DiDio here with special edition Digital DC Nation. And if you’ve been following The Source all this week you’ve gotten your first glimpses of the post Blackest Night DC Universe and a sneak peek as some the amazing stories and books we have planned for the 2010.

You’ve heard from Grant Morrison as he gave hints to the whereabouts of Bruce Wayne (possibly one of the wildest Batman stories ever to be told), while Group Editor Matt Idelson confirmed that Clark Kent will return to his famous costume just in time to enter into a WAR OF SUPERMEN (the culmination of over three years of Superman story telling) and have Marc Guggenheim join the writing team. And rounding out the trinity, I finally got to tell you the outcome to the Wonder Woman postcard campaign (and yes, issue 600 is heading your way in June).

Francis Manapul debuted samples of art that we feel catapults The Flash into the new millennium and master creator Len Wein encapsulated his plans for the narrative recounting of the history of the DC Universe in DC: LEGACIES. But like I said in the opening, if you have been following along on The Source, you know we didn’t stop there!

You also learned that the stunning events of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE go directly into the aptly titled one shot JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE RISE AND FALL which then gives way to the two major storylines THE FALL OF GREEN ARROW (in his ongoing series) and the RISE OF ARSENAL (in his own mini series), all of which, should not be missed!

And capping it all off, we were intensely proud to announce the new Earth One series of original graphic novels. Joe Stracynski and Shane Davis on Superman and Geoff Johns and Gary Frank on Batman, a great start to what I hope will be a great line of books.

So there you have it, your first look into what’s in store for DC Comics for 2010. I hope you are as excited about all this as we are.

Oh… what’s that you say?

What happens at the end of Blackest Night?

Sorry folks. Not. Just. Yet.

So enjoy the egg nog and pop open the champagne, we’ll be back with more in January, and then, all, or at least most of, your questions will be answered.

From all of us to all of you, thank you, as always for your continued support, and have the happiest of holidays.

To be continued….

DD