Johns & Lee Speak On Trinity War

Free Comic Book Day is a great time for long time comic fans and outsiders looking to jump into these great stories. DC's free issue consisted of a completely new story teasing new things to come in the next few months.

MTV Geek has two videos, one with writer Geoff Johns and the other with artist Jim Lee, that give more insight to what fans can expect from the DC Universe moving forward. 

Get More: MTV Shows

Get More: MTV Shows

Marvel Comics Solicitations For August

As always, Comic Book Resources has covered the task of full solicitations for DC and Marvel each month. Click the link above and head over to their site to see all the comic goodness coming out from Marvel in August. The House of Ideas is quite well overloaded with Avengers vs X-Men tie-in's and at no shortage of the $3.99 price tag. The story has been high octane action thus far, not huge on the intimate stuff, but sometimes you just want the popcorn fun comic reading.

DC's Animated line of movies rebranded

From World's Finest

The ongoing home video line DC Universe Animated Original Movie is being renamed as part of DC Entertainment's ongoing rebranding efforts.

The DC Universe Animated Original Movie line – the home video line co-produced between Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation – has been renamed as part of the ongoing brand overhaul by DC Entertainment and DC Comics. Beginning with the June 2012 Superman Versus The Elite animated feature, upcoming installments of the popular movie line will now fall under the name DC Comics Premiere Movie. Additionally, all titles under the line will feature the new DC Comics logo in the lower left-hand corner, similar to any home video titles featuring DC Comics characters. Warner Home Video recently released the following banner image promoting the upcoming Superman Versus The Elite animated feature, the new DC Comics Premiere Movie trade dress included.

The change in trade dress is part of the rebranding efforts by DC Entertainment, announced back in January 2012. The recent rebranding is part of the company’s mission to fully realize the value of its portfolio of brands, stories and characters, distinguished by incredible breadth and depth across publishing, media and merchandise. The new branding started appearing on comic books and graphic novels as of March 2012, the same time as the launch of the DC Nation programming block on Cartoon Network, and is starting to touch upon different consumer products. The new branding will be rolled out over time on other DC Entertainment products from Warner Bros. - including film, television, interactive games and merchandise - with complete saturation before the end of 2012.

The DC Universe Animated Original Movie line was launched in 2007 with Superman/Doomsday, and has since seen a wide selection of home video and soundtrack releases under the banner. Five years later, the line continues to be a profitable endeavor for Warner Home Video. Any currently available home video artwork for Superman Versus The Elite will be modified with the new DC Comics Premiere Movie trade dress, and any significantly re-released titles will be fitted with the new trade dress.

A co-production of Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the direct-to-video Superman Versus The Elite animated feature debuts June 12th, 2012 on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and for Download from Warner Home Video.

July Solicitations For DC Comics

DC Comics released all the info today on the comics shipping in July. Comic Book Resources put the entire list in a nice, neat package to easily view all the titles coming out in the summer month. The second issues of all the Before Watchmen books will hit the shelves and check out the description from Action Comics #11 (cover pictured above);

ACTION COMICS #11
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Backup story written by SHOLLY FISCH
Art by RAGS MORALES and RICK BRYANT
Backup story art by BRAD WALKER
Cover by RAGS MORALES
Variant cover by CULLY HAMNER
1:100 B&W Variant cover by RAGS MORALES
On sale JULY 4 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo Pack Edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.
• Superman’s NEW secret identity revealed!
• LOIS LANE continues her investigation into the mystery of Earth’s FIRST Superman!
• Plus, in the backup story: We know where Superman got his armor costume, but where did he get all those “S” T-shirts?

Next batch of DC Comics to get the axe

Newsarama has an interesting look at what could be the next wave of DC Comics to get canceled because of poor sales. Next month will hold the final issues of the first titles to end up in the garbage which include Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C., and Static Shock. These will all be replaced by new #1's to try and fill the void, showcasing books with potential for higher sales. As they mentioned, this is not an official statement of cancellations, but I can't disagree with them on most of these. Captain Atom was the lowest selling book before some titles were decided to put to a close and they still kept it around. It's hard to make the case for it now with sales continuing to decline. I wouldn't be surprised to hear stronger rumors pop up about the next line of canceled comics.

Another Spider-Men Teaser Revealed

"This June - history will be made for the Marvel Universe."

That's the tag line for these ominous posters teasing some event with the Spider-Man universe. With Brian Bendis' named attached to the teasers, it's a sure bet that Ultimate-Spider-Man will be involved in some way. The first teaser only showed an amalgamation of the normal Spidey logo meshed with the Ultimate version, the second teaser gave a silhouette of two slender figures heading towards each other, and the teaser above fills in one of those blank figures to show the standard universe Spider-Man. This has brought on speculation that Marvel is planning to have the two versions of Web Head to meet up with each other for the very first time. It makes sense as it truely would be a historic moment. These are supposed to be two seperate universes' though, so we'll see when June rolls around.

SHAZAM!

Shazam is one of the longest running characters in comics, but in recent years he has floundered around with no direction and no one to really make him a central part of the DC Universe. Geoff Johns is on a course to change that for fans. The New York Post talked with the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics who said, “We changed his name [to Shazam] for a lot of reasons. One of them is that Shazam is the word most associated with the character, so we just felt it made sense — a lot of people already thought that was his name, anyway. His place in the world will be far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before"

My guess is that his other moniker, Captain Marvel, could also confuse new fans of why a DC character shared a name with their biggest rival company. He should have been known solely as Shazam for years now anyway, so this is a welcomed change. I don't know how much deeper he can be rooted into magic than in the past, considering the tales from the Golden Age were heavy on that element. Either way I am very excited to see him back in the DC universe with an updated look, but one that doesn't go off into a huge difference. I'm diggin' the cowl actually.

Check out Shazam's first appearance in the New 52 on March 21st in Justice League #7 as a side story.

Action Comics #7 Variant

Even though it was a point driven in that Action Comics would take Superman back to his roots, very close to his debut stories, Grant Morrison has wasted little time throwing the odd and sci-fi mythology at the readers. The book just finished up a two-parter featuring the Legion Of Super-Heroes and next month's issue will feature Kandor, the capital city of Krypton, known for being shrunk by Braniac and kept in a glass enclosure. Things could be different in the relaunch, but Morrison has been building up an appearance for Braniac and more light will potentially be shed in issue #7.

The cover above is a variant drawn by Batman, Incorporated artist Chris Burnham. DC's blog, The Source, got a few words with Burnham on how he came up with the cover;

"Rags (Morales) had already done an excellent job with a literal approach to the bottled city idea, so I decided to go a little more conceptual. The pieces all fell into place for a good, old-fashioned split cover! Superman torn between two worlds! Kandor and Metropolis! Nature and nurture! Teflon and cotton!

The cover also gave me the chance to work with the incomparable Gene Ha’s astoundingly complicated designs for Krypton and Kandor. It was a great challenge to be true to his vision without straight-up tracing what he’d already drawn. Did I pull it off? You decide!”

Immediately I thought of the Composite Superman because of the half and half look, then the newly designed Krypton in the background grabbed my attention. It looks very interesting and I hope to see more of it in the issue.

Batman: Earth One Release Date

BATMAN: EARTH ONE HC
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by GARY FRANK and JON SIBAL
Cover by GARY FRANK
On sale JULY 4 • 144 pg, FC, $22.99 US
• From GEOFF JOHNS and GARY FRANK, the acclaimed team behind SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN and the SHAZAM! stories in JUSTICE LEAGUE!
• In the tradition of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, this spectacular original graphic novel gives new insight into BRUCE WAYNE’S transformation into BATMAN and his first year as THE DARK KNIGHT.
• In this all new take on the Batman mythos, Bruce Wayne is on the hunt for his parents’ killer. His target? The Mayor of Gotham City!
• Plus, who is Alfred Pennyworth – and why is he so determined to put an end to the Batman?

May Solicitations For DC Comics

DC Comics released short synopses and cover images to the titles coming out in May of this year. Comic Book Resources gathered all the information together in one nice post, so head over there to check it out. May will see the release of brand new #1 issues including the much anticipated return of Earth 2 characters like Jay Garrick and Alan Scott. The variant cover for Earth Two #1 is pictured above. The oversized annual's debut as well with Batman, Animal Man, and Teen Titan getting the treatment first.