Jim Lee

Nearly 30 years after the release of The Dark Knight Returns, and almost 15 after The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Frank Miller is coming back to DC comics for a third installment in his series of stories about an older Batman in a world of corruption. It will be out this fall. Let's generously say that the title is...interesting: The Dark Knight III: The Master Race. Miller is set to co-write the eight-issue series with Brian Azzarello, who wrote a somewhat controversial Batman story of his own, "Broken City," back in 2004. According to DC's blog, an artist has yet to be named. (Which seems to mean Miller won't be drawing it.)

The seventh issue of Grant Morrison's Multiversity, Mastermen, chronicles the story of Earth-10 (the pre-Crisis Earth-X), a world where the Nazis conquered America and won World War II and the Endless Reich is ruled by Overman, who's built a utopia on Hitler's massacres and doesn't feel very good about that fact. We first met this version of the character in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, when he was one of the Supermen on the Ultima Thule who traveled with Superman, Ultraman, Earth-5's Captain Marvel and the rest of the gang to try to stop Mandrakk/Dax Novu from destroying the multiverse, and all of the Monitors. This issue is drawn by DC co-publisher Jim Lee, with inks by Scott Williams (and an assisting crew), and colors by Alex Sinclair (with assistance from Jeromy Cox).

Three years ago, DC Comics hit the continuity reset button with the launch of The New 52, seemingly wiping away the past 26 years of stories since Crisis on Infinite Earths. But like superheroes, no story stays dead forever. Next April, DC launches Convergence, a nine-part event series that brings the publisher's regular publishing schedule to a halt while bringing characters, places and concepts from DC's past into its current universe. It's also the culmination of the weekly series The New 52: Futures End and Earth 2: World's End, both of which wrap up just before Convergence launches.

Drawing comics is time-consuming, sometimes crushing, occasionally rewarding, and almost impossible to quit if you love it. And it helps if you get to do it around other artists who love it as much as you do. Those are some of the key takeaways from Comic Book Artists: Next Generation, an AT&T U-Verse documentary about the artists at Toronto's R.A.I.D. Studio (a.k.a. the Royal Academy of Illustration and Design; though it's not a real Royal Academy in the strictest sense). The studio has ten resident artists, but the half-hour documentary shines a light on four key players: Ramón Pérez, Marcus To, Francis Manapul and Kalman Andrasofszky.

If there's one thing I've learned in a lifetime of reading, selling, making and writing about comics, it's that people who like comic books also tend to have a pretty healthy interest in breakfast foods. That, I assume, is why the people at General Mills decided to spice up their annual revival of the Monster Cereals -- Boo Berry, Franken Berry and the immortal Count Chocula -- with a set of redesigns for their principal characters, courtesy of artists Jim Lee, Dave Johnson and Terry and Rachel Dodson. In other words, your breakfast just got a New 52 reboot. The whole thing is even marketed as a co-production between General Mills and DC, with the former presumably handling the cereal while the latter concentrated on art. Obviously, this means that these cereals are technically an edible DC Comics title, so with Halloween creeping up on us like a restless spirit, I have taken it upon myself to examine the new look for the spoooookiest of breakfast cereals to find out just how these new designs hold up to the originals.

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, as well as the special qualities of comic book storytelling, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great pinups, fan art and other illustrations on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art Ever (This Week), a weekly depository for just some of the pieces of especially compelling artwork that we come across in our regular travels across the Web. Some of it’s new, some of it’s old, some of it’s created by working professionals, some of it’s created by future stars, some of it’s created by talented fans, awnd some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it is awesome.

The great thing about Fox News is that it's only Tuesday and you're already about to see the dumbest thing you'll see all week. In this case, it's a clip from Fox's weekend morning show, where three people with the collective brains of a sack of doorknobs turn their reasoned and well-thought out opinions to the world of comic books. Specifically taking on Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman's upcoming run on Thor, where the iconic Marvel hero will get a new identity as a woman, and complaining about Wonder Woman's costume in the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice film by comparing it to Jim Lee's redesign from four years ago that, according to them, appears to be a product of what they characterize as fundamentalist Sharia Law. No, really, this dope on the left actually says that.

Among the colorful cosplay, massive booths, interactive displays and walls of merchandise at Comic-Con International in San Diego — colloquially known as SDCC — remains the most important component of the show: comic book creators. ComicsAlliance photographer and Loikiamania podcast host Pat Loika hit the show floor to catch the men and women who tell our favorite stories in sequential art and captured the enthusiasm that comes from fans getting to meet their favorite storytellers at one of the biggest conventions of the year. Check back with ComicsAlliance throughout the weekend for more of Pat’s great photos from San Diego.

With hundreds of panels to choose from at San Diego Comic-Con, the show can be an overwhelming experience — and it’s far too easy to miss a panel you think you might have loved, or to find yourself on the wrong side of the con floor five minutes before a great panel is about to start! ComicsAlliance has sifted through the schedule to offer up our pick of the best programming at the con. Today we offer our suggested highlights for the final day of the show, Sunday July 27, 2014, when most of the family programming is scheduled. We’ll also let you know where and when you can find ComicsAlliance contributors at the San Diego show.

This week, Chris and Matt dig deep into Superman Unchained #7 by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, and how it compares to last week's Superman #32. After that, they discuss the first issue of the new Legendary Star-Lord series by Sam Humphries and Paco Medina, and then they talk about the very weird new Robocop series by Joshua Williamson and Carlos Magno.