There's so much going on in the DCU right now -- BATMAN: RIP is about to
give way to BATMAN: LAST RITES; 100,000 new Supermen are about to turn New
Earth into New Krypton; and the Fall of the Amazons is about to become the
Rise of the Olympians. And let's not forget FINAL CRISIS.

FINAL CRISIS and all its support specials and miniseries continue to push
the edge of storytelling as it re imagines the very fabric of the DC Universe
as a whole. When we first started talking about this Crisis, we made a very
clear distinction: this was the day that evil won. So much of what Final
Crisis is about deals with our heroes rallying from their greatest loss in
an attempt to topple their greatest enemies. After all, if there is one
thing we all can agree on, it's that DC has some of the greatest villains
ever created. So, in recognition of their villainy, this upcoming January we
plan to interrupt our regularly scheduled series and let the bad guys take
charge.

That's right: for one month -- nearly 20 ongoing books and a handful of
specials -- the top villains of the DC Universe take over the titles of
their top adversaries and show their true "faces of evil." These stories,
told from the villains' perspective (and in some stories, there's not a hero
to be found), will give you incredible insight into the darkest minds of the
DC Universe. Black Adam, Solomon Grundy, Metallo, Deathstroke, Calculator
and Kobra, to name a few, will be featured and seen in ways never before
revealed. And don't think that these stories will end as quickly as they
start. All these villains will play a prominent role throughout 2009 with
all roads, and the dangers they bring, leading to "Blackest Night."

And let's not forget the covers. No point in having a special month of books
without having special covers to go with them. All the "Faces of Evil" books
with have just that, the face of evil on every cover. So if you loved our
"uninspirational" villain ads from a few months back, then you'll love these
covers as well.

All in all, it's a great way to start the new year. One thing I always say:
the greater the villain, the greater the hero, and when you are talking DC
Comics, truer words are never spoken.

To be continued…

DD

Today sees the debut of a BIG Final Crisis tie-in as Legion of 3 Worlds hits the stands. Written by Geoff Johns and featuring art by George Pérez this 5-issue series is sure to blow you away. This time Superboy-Prime may be too much for Superman & The Legion of Super-Heroes to handle...and you're not going to believe who shows up to help them survive.

As if all of this Johns & Pérez goodness wasn't enough, let me tell you that Legion of 3 Worlds is going to have a MAJOR impact on the DCU. Trust me - MAJOR impact. You're not going to want to miss this one.

Talk to you soon,

Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor

This is an exciting week for those of us working on Final Crisis. We've known for months what the creators have had planned and quite frankly it's terrible having to stay quite about such an incredible series of events. We can't let on about all the twists and turns Grant & J.G. have planed for you in Final Crisis, the major surprises Geoff Johns is getting ready to dish out in Legion of Three Worlds, how the 3-D art looks in Superman Beyond…I could go on but you get the picture. This week we can finally lift the veil of secrecy on one of the cornerstones of Final Crisis – Final Crisis: Revelations 1 (of 5) ships this Wednesday and it will blow your mind!

Writer Greg Rucka has crafted an amazing story detailing the struggle of Crispus Allen to embrace his role as The Spectre as the world is being torn apart by the events unfolding in Final Crisis. Allen may not have enough time to find the answers he needs as a new threat enters the DCU, forcing him to seek out the aide of his former partner, Renee Montoya, a.k.a. The Question! This one has it all – revenge, villains, The Anti-Life Equation, Batwoman and more! It's one of the coolest books I've read this year and the perfect next step in the Final Crisis saga.

One of the best surprises you will find in Final Crisis: Revelations will be the art of Philip Tan. There's no two ways about this – Philip is a superstar. The work he's done for Revelations has consistently made our collective jaws drop. Every time a new page comes in you can hear the excitement coming from editors Eddie Berganza & Adam Schlagman. Dan DiDio sent me one particular page in issue 2 and all the e-mail said was "Wow." You really have to see this one to believe it. I can't wait to see what Philip has in store for us next.

I'll be back next week with more Final Crisis news and maybe a surprise or two.

Take care – Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor

Hello DC Nation! Ian Sattler back with the second part of Dan DiDio's follow-up from our San Diego Comic Con announcements. After last week's exciting news about JMS and the new characters he'll be brining to The Brave And Bold, this week Dan is going to fill you in on the excellent addition of the Milestone characters to the DCU. I'll be back next week with some cool Final Crisis news. Enjoy!


Last week we spoke about how DC Comics licensed the rights to the Archie superhero characters and left them in the very capable hands of Joe Straczynski for our ongoing BRAVE AND BOLD series. I also mentioned last week that we'd something more to talk about. Well, here it is…
I was always a fan of Milestone Comics. When they burst on the scene in 1993, they were brash, powerful and stood apart from the rest of the superhero books on the shelves. This was not because of the ethnic makeup of the line, it was because their characters and stories had a strength and rawness most books were searching for. Even now, more than ten years since they were last seen in comics form, Static, Icon, Blood Syndicate and Hardware still stand strong with comics fans.

So when I came to DC, and I looked over all the characters the universe had to offer, I still felt there was room for more. As I mentioned, as a longtime Milestone fan, I thought that those characters would be a great addition to our line, not just to see print in their own series and own universe, but to add to, diversify, expand, and enhance the existing DC Universe. Over the years I had spoken to Dwayne McDuffie, one of the co-founders of Milestone, and on several occasions our conversations drifted over to Milestone. We both agreed that it would be great to see these characters back in print but always had trouble figuring out how to make it
work -- that is, until now.

Now, I am extremely happy to announce that a deal was made and the Milestone characters live once more. And more important, they will operate as part of the DC Universe. Starting later this year, Icon and Shadow Cabinet will be appearing in JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA (of course it helps that Dwayne is writing the series) and even more exciting, Static will be making his way to the TEEN TITANS! Back in all their glory and just the way you remember them. After all, it would be difficult to improve on concepts as strong as these.

You will see more announcements regarding Milestone as the year progresses, but I hope you will be joining me in welcoming back these great characters to the comic book fold.
To be continued…

DD

Hi everybody…Ian Sattler here, back from San Diego Comic Con.  The show was all kinds of awesome and I want to say thanks to everybody who came by to show their support for the DC Nation.  I'm still trying to figure out how my office got more cluttered while I was out of town, so take a look at part one of Dan DiDio's message about the big announcements we made at the show.  I'll be back soon with more news!


When I first sat down with incredibly talented Joe Straczynski and discussed the various projects he could do here at DC, the conversation weaved its way through so many of our characters that it only made sense to offer him a book where he could work with every one of them.  That book was BRAVE AND BOLD, and not surprisingly, he quickly accepted.  After all, this was a chance for him to write every character we talked about.  We were all set to go -- first up, Batman and Spectre; the script was written and ready to be illustrated.   But then, something changed.

During my conversations with Joe about BRAVE AND BOLD we talked about the early days of the series, before Batman was the constant co-star.  We talked about how we saw some real odd team-ups (Metamorpho and Metal Men) but also, and more interestingly, how the series was a showcase for new and returning characters (particularly the Earth-2 characters at that time).  That part of our conversation always stuck in my mind; to be honest, I never wanted this to be just another team-up book.  So I started to make some calls. It was time to try something a little different.

In the '90s DC Comics licensed the rights to the Archie super-hero characters and introduced a new line of comics branded Impact!  While that line met with varying degrees of success, there is no denying that the characters --The Fly, Shield, Black Hood, Jaguar, The Web, and their team, Mighty Crusaders -- had plenty of life in them, and comic book fans wanted to see them back in action.  So after numerous calls, multiple meetings, several lunches and a couple of presentations, a deal came together, and DC reacquired these rights, this time with a slightly different twist.  This time we are going back to basics, and rather than working in their own world, they get to join the party.  No separate line, they will all be part of the DC Universe. 

How cool is that?  And on top of everything, when I pitched it to Joe, he was as excited as I am! 

I can't think of a better fit for the DC Universe or a better person to handle the reintroduction and reimagining of these characters.  The DCU just got a little bigger and a little better, but why stop there….
More next week.
To be continued…

Hey DC Nation! It's Ian bringing you an update for some exciting new projects from Editor Liz Gehrlein.

Take a look:

Hello again, DC Nation! Shiny new editor Liz Gehrlein here – you've seen me around these parts before, making tie-in checklists and leading a zombie attack on Dan. It's all part of a day's work, really. And that's what I'm here to write about today – my day's work. I've just moved across the hall into my new office, hung up my Labyrinth poster, posed all my Beatles toys, unpacked the statues that Dan and Rachel gave me (Thanks, Dan! Thanks, Rachel!), and then the best part – taped up all the covers for my upcoming books. See, I'm getting a whole new slate of monthlies to make up for having to leave the new weekly Trinity behind, and there's so much exciting stuff coming up in them that I don't even know where to start.

Well, how about with politics? (That's always a good icebreaker at parties, right?) Coming this fall is a four-issue miniseries called Decisions, written by Bill Willingham and Judd Winick with art by Rick Leonardi and Karl Story, in which an attempted political assassination sparks mystery, panic, indignation, patriotism, a media feeding frenzy, and an in-depth discussion of the superhero's place in the political arena. And since the very existence of the book has already sparked most of those things in our message boards, I'm hoping you guys decide that Decisions is worth a peek.

I'll also be working on Teen Titans and the upcoming mini Terror Titans with writer Sean McKeever, as well as no-adjective-necessary Titans with Judd Winick. And man, there is a lot going on with all types of Titans these days. There's a new beastie in Teen Titans I can't wait for you to meet, and at the end of the year we're adding some team members to the roster – a nice blend of old and new. In Terror Titans, we'll catch up with Ravager (who seems ready to stop fighting the good fight and start fighting anyone she can) and the Clock King (who has plenty of uses for someone like Ravager). And over in Titans, we're not going to let those guys rest for a minute. Fresh from an encounter with Raven's extended family, the exhausted team will be forced to take on a new, but familiar foe. The resulting battle turns the Titans against each other and sparks mystery, panic, indignation…hey, wait a minute….

Anyway, I've got more projects coming down the pipe that I would love to tell you about, but I can't spill the beans on those just yet. So, in conclusion, I'll say this: if a day of work means I get to look up Dante's definition of greed, ancient Libyan men's fashion, Freud's definition of the death drive, campaign finance laws, and a complete list of languages that begin with "C," plus, you know, read a bunch of comics? That's not such a bad day.

Hi everybody! Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler here. One of the best things about my job at DC is that I get to hear the lowdown on all of our upcoming events and stories. Usually this is stuff I have to keep top-secret, but every once in a while there is something that's just too good to keep quite about! In this case we have not one, not two, but three JSA: Kingdom Come specials coming out towards the end of the year. I figured we should let the DC Nation in on the excitement so I asked JSA Editor Mike Siglain if he could give us a few hints. Take a look:

Q: How did the idea for these JSA: Kingdom Come specials come about?

MS: Geoff Johns and Alex Ross were overflowing with unbelievable concepts for the current JSA arc, and some of those ideas took on a life of their own and these specials seemed like the natural thing to do.

Q: Let's go into the specifics starting with JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom written by Geoff johns and featuring art by JSA's Fernando Pasarin. What can you tell us?

MS: For those of you following along with the story you know that the being known as Gog has been walking across the Earth, granting wishes and righting wrongs. Well, what happens he grants the wishes of the JSA? We see a little bit of that in JSA 17, but The Kingdom special takes it one step further. What becomes of the JSAers who have been given their hearts' desires? What does it do to the team? As we'll learn, it's very much a case of "be careful what you wish for."

Q: Up next would be JSA: Kingdom Come Special: Superman, which was plotted by Geoff and Alex Ross. I guess it's safe to say that the Kingdom Come Superman will be featured here?

MS: No, this is a story about Kingdom Come Deadman 'cause there's something spooky about an acrobatic skeleton. Kidding. Sure, this is about Kingdom Come Superman. Of all the Specials, this one has the most direct connection to Kingdom Come, and will not only expand upon a few important ideas and scenes from that masterpiece, but it's probably the most serious and dramatic of all the Specials. And wait until you see the pages Alex is working on! I've seen KC Superman duking it out with...well, I'll leave that be. For now.

Q: And finally we've got JSA: Kingdom Come Special: Magog as plotted by Geoff, Alex and Pete Tomasi. What's going on in this book?

MS: The Magog from Kingdom Come is best known for killing the Joker. But when someone from our Earth becomes Magog, the question is, how will they evolve? Is this Magog a violent anti-hero, an all-out villain, or, like Gog, a savior? We all know the quote, "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Well, that's what we'll find out in the Magog Special, and there's no one better suited to write that then Black Adam writer Peter Tomasi.


So there you have it! Be on the look out for more JSA, including the JSA Annual this month! See you soon!

This July sees the return of a legendary character to the DCU.  A character

so great that he has inspired legions of fans.  A character so great that

the mere mention of his name sends villains running in terror.  A character

so great that he gets three sentences about how great he is.  Who is it?

Why Ambush Bug of course!  What's an Ambush Bug you ask?  Well tune in this

July as Keith Giffen, Robert Fleming and Al Milgrom bring us Ambush Bug Year

None 1 (of 6) and you will get the answers your heart desires.  In the

meantime, here is a sneak-peek at an upcoming DC Nation that may or may not

explain where Ambush Bug has been these past few years.

Enjoy!

- Ian Sattler

Greetings DC Nation! This week marks the release of our new weekly series, Trinity, by Kurt Busiek & Mark Bagley along with Fabian Nicieza, Scott McDaniel, Tom Derenick and Mike Norton. I've had the pleasure of reading a few months into the story and I can promise you that these guys have something really special in store for Superman, Batman &Wonder Woman. Make sure to keep an eye on the Trinity covers as well - every three issues will form one bigger image kicking off this month with a piece by Carlos Pacheco!

I hope you get a chance to check out Trinity. Stop by and let us know what you think!

- Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler

So I have finally recovered from my red eye flight across the country and I am back to tell you about my last day at Book Expo America.

Sunday started off with breakfast with the very funny always fabulous Patton Oswalt. I have known Patton for years and it's always great for a chance to sit down and chat. Joining us was SVP Steve Rotterdam and I can't remember the last time two hours passed so quickly. We had a fantastic time chatting about all of the reasons we love comics. We even had a chance to talk about some possible projects. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will get to work with him.

I spent the rest of the day, exploring all of the little pockets of the floor that I hadn't seen. I saw some really exciting licensed DC products and explored the Random House booth as they are our new book market distributor. There was a

Before I knew it, the show was winding down and it was time to pack up the booth. I was a little sad to see my first BEA come to a close. I met some really great new people, got to catch up with some old friends and obtained a better understanding of where DC fits into the world of publishing.