DC

Why is it that the biggest news always happens right after a holiday weekend? 18 months ago, it was Disney buying Marvel after Labor Day; this time, it's the biggest editorial readjustment at a superhero comics company EVER: DC's just announced plan to launch 52 new #1 issues in September, with changed or adjusted characters, costumes and and origins. Here's what you need to know, the confirmed and the speculation. First, what we know: The whole new line up will be announced on Monday, June 13th, when the Previews for that month is released. Until then, expect to see breaking news in national news outlets and on The Source.

The complete image of the new Johns-Lee rebooted JLA has surfaced (apparently at IGN) and it's clear that we have a "Big Seven" of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. Most of the new costumes involved higher collars. Superman has a new logo and no trunks over his tights. There are lots of other details, but when we mentioned earlier that these characters looked about the same we meant it -- these are tweaks on the traditional (Super Friends, licensing) looks for these characters, not huge changes.

From around the Twitterverse, an array of reactions to DC's news that they are reboot their line in September and going to simultaneous digital release. New comics universes are a dime a dozen, but the digital news is really a game changer -- it's hard not to see every other publishers following suit quickly.

The next big announcement for this move would seem to be June 11, when Jim Lee and Geoff Johns are expected to "drop bombshells" at the Hero Complex Film Festival. Although HeroesCon, one of the bigger shows on the circuit, is this weekend, there are no official DC panels so no big announcements. Executive Editor Eddie Berganza is attending however, so catch him on the bar and hope he didn't sign an NDA.

Traditionally, digital comics have been to comics retailers what kryptonite was to Superman -- something to be feared and avoided. And DC's Bob Wayne has been in the forefront of keeping retailers happy, to the point of shutting down many initiatives over the years that might have ruffled their feathers and caused them to order fewer DC Comics.

After a few weeks of buzz and speculation -- or merely simple detective work based on the very final sounding August DC solicits -- it's been announced:DC is revamping its entire line this September with new versions of classic characters and 50 new #1 titles, USA Today reports.

iFanboy's Conor Kilpatrick has seen the fabled Wonder Woman Pilot and....

There wasn’t a whole lot about the pilot that I didn’t like.

A new GREEN LANTERN trailer has been released that should be titled "Green Lantern Lore 101" for it explains about Oa, and Guardians and rings and .... yellow powers and all that stuff. As someone who has never been that into Green Lantern, I learned something.

Since the announcement that Wonder Woman pilot had not made NBC's schedule, there has been no dearth of analysis about what it says about Wonder Woman, about us, about women, about...EVERYTHING, dammit. The Wonder Woman pilot getting dropped may just be the most significant event of our time! First off, a picture of the variant "shorts" costume has been making the rounds. Would showing a bit more thigh have tipped the balance for the show? Probably not. With Wonder Woman nothing can ever, ever be simple.

DC is releasing all kinds of FLASHPOINT world information today on the Source blog, and first up is an actual map of the new FLASHPOINT world, with a zombiefied Alaska, and Ape-led Africa (um...) and the Black Adam protectorate of Arabia. It was designed by writer Rex Ogle and artist Freddie E. Williams II, and shows the effect of a world without its greatest superheroes, a war-torn landscape of primal conflicts.

The countdown to THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, the highly anticipated third entry in Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy, kicked off today with a new new site, which thus far contains ominous chanting. The site was linked to via a Twitter account, @TheFireRises, which sends you to a page where you can upload your Twitter or Facebook avatar to help collate a collage of an image of Tom Hardy as Bane, one of the villains in the movie.

Behind the scenes at FLASHPOINT and Marvel, among other things.

Led by the top-selling Batman: The Dark Knight and Batman, Inc., which were back on the racks after a two-month absence, and a double-shipping Green Lantern, DC Comics' periodical sales continued a slow recovery in February. Notably, the February numbers also show modest increases across the rest of DC's line-up. Maybe the company's decision to cancel around 25% of its current ongoing titles and stick to a $ 2.99 price point is encouraging retailers, after all.