DC

Vertigo has confirmed the details of the graphic novel version of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy: as previously leaked, Denise Mina will write the adaptation, with art by Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti. The cover is by Lee Bermejo — definitely in the style of the Vertigo crime line. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO graphic novel will arrive in November. The book has already been adapted into a Swedish film/TV series and a US film. All three existing versions have various story tics, and very different takes on Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic heroine who loves Billy's pan pizza and computer hacking. Mina's take is worth watching as she's a veteran crime writer on her own as well as a comics reader (and writer). We're curious to see how she tweaks the story.

Some shall stand and some shall fall. Everyone know it was only a matter of time before some adjustments would be made to the New 52 line-up -- and the John Rood/Bob Wayne interviews hinted that it was coming soon -- and boom -- six in and six out. Heading into the big used comics box in the sky are BLACKHAWKS, HAWK AND DOVE, MEN OF WAR, MISTER TERRIFIC, O.M.A.C. and STATIC SHOCK, which will all end with their eighth issue (Meaning two issues of each will be forever uncollected -- see we told you to go to that back issue bin.) Adding to the lineup, a variety of new and long-rumored titles -- and news of more crossovers and more parallel worlds.

For the moment, it looks like the rumor mill was wrong on the Bat-book backups being linked. At least if they are, it in't in an obvious way. DC has announced the backup in Detective Comics will be a 10-page feature about Harvey Dent, A.K.A. Two-Face. Since this is going to highlight Dent's history, I suppose it's possible the Court of Owls (the backup in Batman) will pop up in Dent's past, but that's not the first thing that comes to mind.

Before we get into the Bat-office's announcements, it has come to my attention that Detective Comics #1 has made the December Top 300 List for Diamond. When #4 is coming out, #1 is still charting? With an index of 3.01, that means Detective #1 sold about 3% of Batman #4. Figure Batman #4 is selling roughly 140-150K, then Detective #1 probably had ~4200-4500 copies order THREE MONTHS after it debuted, if my rough math holds up. I know Animal Man is the fashionable pick for surprise title, but it seems like a lot of people are jumping on the Detective band wagon after the fact. Tony Daniel seems to have hit a nerve.

Over at Newsarama, Vaneta Rogers gets some new information out of DC's dynamic press junket duo of John Rood and Bob Wayne. It seems that "holding the line at $2.99" is getting a more politically nuanced definition. Batman and Detective Comics will both be making the jump to $3.99 and getting a few more pages.

After announcing Batman: Earth One, DC follows up by announcing the second volume of the JMS/Shane Davis Superman: Earth One graphic novel series. The first volume of this Superman reboot sold VERY well and made a strong case for original graphic novels in the superhero genre. (As opposed to Vertigo's Sandman and Fables offerings.) While the Batman volume appears to be set for July, no date seems to be released for Superman:Earth One. Volume 1 was released in November 2010, so it would make sense if this were another late fall/holiday gift release.

Our wish for actual sales number released by an actual comics publisher were finally granted! And in The Hollywood Reporter, no less. DC released sales for its top three books of the year:

DC's Earth One line has always been a little mysterious. It was started as a repository for some early trial runs at an Ultimate DC line, but then SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE became a massive hit in bookstores. Stablemate BATMAN: EARTH ONE by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank has been waiting in the wings since the line was announced in 2009. But 2012 will be the year! Although a release date wasn't mentioned, perhaps the book will be marketed in Daily News by comparing it to Hunger Games, just as SEO was compared to Twilight.

After carefully strewing the Woman in the Red Hood, who kicked the whole collapsed multiverse in FLASHPOINT, through every debut issue of The New 52, she's got a name: Pandora. She also has a double-breasted jacket, like everyone had in The Watchmen......hm. Anyway, looks like the first mega crisis crossover of the new DCU is getting set up.

Let's start the new year out with a "what if." Over the years, there have been a ton of early-to-mid-'80s rumors about various Marvel creators having proposals in to revamp the DC characters. Some of the stories involve Steve Gerber and Frank Miller pitching new versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as Crisis on Infinite Earths was being planned (and that The Dark Knight Returns spun out of said pitches). I've heard Howard Chaykin and Walt Simonson's names attached to similar rumors.

Listen to Heidi MacDonald, The Beat herself, discuss 2011 in comics on a special year-end edition of More To Come, the PW Comics World podcast! As you may or may not know, Heidi has been one of the hosts of our bi-weekly comics news podcast for the past several months. In this episode, Heidi MacDonald and her co-hosts PW Comics World editor Calvin Reid and I discuss the biggest trends and events of the past year, including...

by Mark-Oliver Frisch -- Three months into the wholesale makeover of DC's line of superhero comic books, the direct-market numbers suggest three main things: One, the "New 52" relaunch was extremely successful at mobilizing comics specialty retailers; two, this success doesn't seem to be affecting, for good or ill, any other comics beyond the initial 52 titles; and three, the number of new comics readers the "New 52" has brought into comics stores seems negligible, overall. Retailers continued to adjust their orders for the "New 52" titles in November, and this time, the downward correction was more noticeable. On average, sales of new DC comic books dropped by nearly 10,000 units or 19.2% in November, versus 10.4% in October. The average drop on the third issues of the 52 new superhero titles was 18.8%, versus 5.2% for the second issues. Animal Man (-8.0%) and Detective Comics (-9.7%) were the "New 52" books with the smallest drops in November, while Blackhawks (-29.5%), Mister Terrific (-29.7%), Blue Beetle (-29.9%) and Captain Atom (-30.0%) were at the tail end of the spectrum. In contrast to October, when all but one of the "New 52" debut issues made the chart again with significant re-orders, only two of the #3 issues -- namely Batman and Aquaman -- charted again in November. On balance, the drop-off on those titles is still better than average. The fact that the larger drop came in November and the lack of more #2 re-orders both suggest that customer interest in the "New 52" peaked early, however.