DC

Batman comic fans will find out how Bruce Wayne built the Batcave in “Batman: The Zero Year,” a new origin story to be released this June. The 11-issue arc, to be written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Greg Capullo, is meant to explain the beginnings of the New 52 version of the Caped Crusader, DC Comics announced Monday. Several key elements, such as the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, will stay the same, Snyder told the Associated Press, adding that the new arc “builds up the mythology.” “We tried to preserve as much of Batman’s history as we could and keep what we could of this history intact,” he said. “It’s ‘The Zero Year,’ the one that no one has told the story of before. We see how Bruce became the Batman, built the cave, faced off with his […]

Orson Scott Card’s contribution to “Adventures of Superman” will be delayed after the story’s illustrator, Chris Sprouse, bowed out of the project. DC Comics has been under fire since announcing Card would contribute a story to the first collected issue of the comic, due out May 29. Card’s involvement drew the ire of gay advocates, who called for boycotts of the comic and petitioned DC to drop the “Ender’s Game” author due to his anti-gay rhetoric. Card is an outspoken opponent of homosexuality and a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, which seeks to ban same-sex marriage. Sprouse — the Eisner-winning comic artist whose work includes such titles as “Tom Strong,” “X-Men” and “Justice League America” — cited the controversy in his decision to step down as the illustrator of the story by Card and Aaron Johnston. MORE: […]

Robin the Boy Wonder is reportedly going to be killed in an upcoming issue. Batman’s sidekick will meet his doom, an end long planned by the comic’s writer, respected scribe Grant Morrison, who insists the move is narratively necessary. Why? Because, as Morrison writes, “what son could ever hope to replace a father like Batman?” And so Robin — Damian Wayne — will die in issue No. 8 of DC Comics’ “Batman Incorporated,” which hits shelves Wednesday. In an essay on DC’s blog, Morrison talks about his seven years on the Batman assignment and the Caped Crusader over the years, including “the savage, young, pulp-flavored ‘weird figure of the dark’ of his early years,” as well as the “smiling, paternal figure of the 1940s” and later “the hairy-chested globetrotting adventurer of the ’70s …  the brutally physical vigilante of the […]

Superheroes were never in Jeff Lemire’s plans. The Canadian cartoonist read DC and Marvel comics as a boy, but when he started creating his own work in the mid-’00s, he gravitated to small, human stories, published in such acclaimed graphic novels as “Tales From the Farm” and “The Country Nurse.” Then Lemire did a one-off book for Vertigo — an “Invisible Man” riff called “The Nobody” — followed by the recently completed 40-issue post-apocalyptic fantasy series “Sweet Tooth.” While working on “Sweet Tooth,” Lemire was asked by Vertigo’s parent company DC to try his hand at penning a couple of their ongoing titles, which ultimately led to Lemire’s takes on “Animal Man” and “Frankenstein” becoming a core part of the company’s “New 52” relaunch. Now, at a time when DC has been taking a lot of heat from fans for […]

The cover for “The Girl Who Played With Fire: Book One,” part of a graphic novel adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy, reveals the story’s anti-social heroine, Lisbeth Salander, surrounded by flames. Hero Complex readers get a first look at the cover, by comic artist Lee Bermejo, whose DC Comics work includes drawing for “Before Watchmen: Rorschach,” “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel” and “Resident Evil: Fire & Ice,” among other titles. The book is the third installment in a planned sextet — two volumes for each of Larsson’s novels– released by DC’s edgy imprint Vertigo and adapted by Scottish crime writer Denise Mina with art by Andrea Mutti and Leonardo Manco. Mina, whose résumé includes 10 novels, a handful of plays and a stint writing “Hellblazer,” told Hero Complex in December that comics are the ideal form for a retelling […]

Cisco Ramone, a.k.a. Vibe, is perhaps the unlikeliest member of the Justice League of America. He’s a teenager who, in a tragic turn of events, finds himself endowed with the ability to sense and fight inter-dimensional threats — in this case, the forces of uber-villain Darkseid. Cisco’s newfound powers, drawn from vibrational cracks between different dimensions, win him a place among the heroes he revered in his childhood. The new Justice League also includes Catwoman, Hawkman, Stargirl, Green Arrow and more. The launch issue of “Justice League of America’s Vibe” hits shelves Wednesday, but Hero Complex readers get a sneak peek at the comic, co-written by Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg and illustrated by Pete Woods and Sean Parsons. Click through the gallery above or use the links below for larger versions. Cover | Variant Cover | Page 5 | […]

GUEST COMMENTARY Superman is a character that stands for truth, justice and the American way, but should creators who work on his comics be held to that same level of virtue? Last week, DC announced “Adventures of Superman,” a new series reprinting comics that are initially released digitally, and the first issue features a story by Aaron Johnston and Orson Scott Card. Card is a staunch, vocal opponent of homosexuality and a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, a group actively working to keep same-sex marriage illegal, and his personal views have Super-fans furious. At last check, an online petition to remove Card from the title is 732 signatures short of its goal of 10,000, and stores in Dallas and San Francisco have publicly announced that they won’t be carrying the first issue of “Adventures of Superman.” These […]

Russell Crowe will be sporting some heavy-duty armor in Zack Snyder’s highly anticipated “Man of Steel” — that is, if a new Jor-El action figure is any indication. The Mattel figure features Superman’s Kryptonian father, but he’s not wearing the ethereal white robes of Marlon Brando’s 1978 portrayal. The toy adopts Crowe’s likeness and appears to be clad in the same alien-meets-steam-punk style shoulder armor we’ve seen in photos from the set. The figure also wears metal boots, leg armor and gauntlets over a blue undersuit. In addition to the Jor-El figure, the photo gallery above also gives Hero Complex readers a first look at figures for Superman, his nemesis Darkseid and another DC character, Vampire Batman. The Vampire Batman figure is based on the Batman vampire trilogy (1991′s “Batman and Dracula: Red Rain,” 1994′s “Batman: Bloodstorm” and 1998′s “Batman: Crimson […]

Frank Miller’s genre-shaking graphic novel “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” is getting the movie treatment. The second installment in the two-part animated adaptation premieres Monday evening at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The premiere includes a panel discussion moderated by filmmaker and geek personality Kevin Smith, featuring director Jay Oliva, dialogue director Andrea Romano, executive producer Bruce Timm and screenwriter Bob Goodman. The panel will be live streamed from PaleyCenter.org beginning at approximately 8:30 p.m. The film — which doesn’t stray far from Miller’s classic 1986 story — features the voice talent of Peter Weller (“Robocop,” “Dexter”) as a time-worn (and probably psychopathic) Bruce Wayne who becomes so disturbed by Gotham’s worsening crime that he decides to come out of retirement against the wishes of local and national government. The president turns to none other than Superman to […]

Batman and his crime-fighting corporation finally take the offensive against the ruthless Talia al Ghul and the supervillain group Leviathan to reclaim Gotham City in “Batman, Incorporated” No. 7, due out Wednesday. The series, written by comics icon Grant Morrison with gritty, detailed art by Chris Burnham, has centered around Batman, Talia and their son Damian (a.k.a. Robin). Issue No. 5 revealed a glimpse of the post-apocalyptic future that would unfold if Damian were to become the Dark Knight, and issue No. 6 pitted Batman against Talia in a maze of riddles and mind games, with an explosive ending. Cover | Variant Cover 1 | Variant Cover 2 | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 Number 7′s story, titled “Belly of the Whale,” follows the Bat-family as they face the aftermath of the previous […]