SUPERMAN DAY!

Wishing a very happy Superman Day to all who celebrate!

My love of Superman began with George Reeves in TV's Adventures of Superman and comics written by Jerry Siegel, Otto Binder, and Edmond Hamilton (among others) and illustrated by Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Al Plastino. It hasn't abated since.

I've been lucky enough to write Superman in comics, animation, and live action (okay, they called it Superboy, but close enough, right?). If I could travel back in time and tell my ten-year-old, comics-obsessed self what was waiting in his future, he'd faint from sheer delight.

Superman, in my view, represents the best in all of us. It's not his powers that matter—it's his decency, his compassion and, yes, his innate charm. It's as if, back in 1938, our collective unconscious created the hero we needed.

We need him now more than ever.

A TWIST OF FATE

A box of these magically appeared on my front porch the other day: the collected edition of my entire Dr. Fate run (both the mini-series with Keith Giffen and the ongoing with Shawn McManus—along with our one and only annual, illustrated by Tom Sutton). This massive collection won't hit stores till May, but, since I've waited decades for it, another month won't matter.

When it does arrive in shops, I'll share the introduction I wrote, looking back on this series—which remains near and dear to my heart.

HE LIVES!

On sale this week (tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken): the collected edition of Death in the Family: Robin Lives! What would have happened if Jason Todd survived the Joker's attack in the classic Jim Starlin-Jim Aparo story? Rick Leonardi and I answer that question—and it may not be what you expect. Cover by Mike Mignola!

(Folks have asked if there's a sequel to this story brewing. No—but I've got lots of ideas and I'd love to write one. Time will tell...)

THE DeMULTIPLYING DeMULTIVERSE

What? You say you've heard about the DeMultiverse but missed the chance to purchase our books? Good news. You can hop over to Backerkit, where all our titles (individual issues and collected editions) are available. There are also signed books, T-shirts, and other goodies. Just click here and become a part of one of the most fulfilling, exciting creative projects of my career.

COOL, CALM, AND COLLECTED

The coming months will see the release of a number of collections of my work—some of which I’ve literally waited decades to see back in print. 

It all starts with Moonshadow—The Definitive, Expanded Edition from Dark Horse in May. This is the trade paperback version of the Eisner-nominated hardcover that came out back in 2019. Why “expanded”? Because I dug into my files and found even more behind-the-scenes goodies for our back pages, while Moon’s illustrious illustrator, Jon J Muth, contributed a new afterword. This is truly a definitive edition.

Also in May is the first ever collected edition of my Dr. Fate run, starting with the mini-series that my old friend and collaborator Keith Giffen illustrated and moving on through the entire two years of the Dr. Fate ongoing series, illustrated by the brilliant Shawn McManus. Fate was that rare case where I was given the freedom to make an established DC character completely my own. It was as deeply personal as any of my creator-owned work.

July sees the release of the Spectacular Spider-Man Omnibus, collecting two years of Spidey stories I consider one of the peaks of my superhero work (and much of the credit for that goes to artist Sal Buscema, whose visual storytelling was comic book perfection). For years, people have been asking me when these stories—including the entire Harry Osborn/Green Goblin saga—will be collected and my answer was always, “Your guess is as good as mine!” But now, at last, I have an answer.

When people ask me what I consider my absolute favorite out of the dozens of projects I’ve worked on over the years, it usually comes down to three: Moonshadow, Abadazad, and Brooklyn Dreams. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Abadazad back in print, let alone continued (it’s locked up tight in the Disney vault), but, in addition to the new Moonshadow collection, there’s a brand new edition of the autobiographical Brooklyn Dreams coming from Dark Horse in September. I’ve written an introduction for the collection, artist supreme Glenn Barr has provided a new cover, and we’ve packed the back pages with behind-the-scenes extras. 

The final collection, also releasing in September, was a complete surprise to me: It’s the Scooby Apocalypse Omnibus, collecting the entire three year run of the horror-comedy series I co-wrote with Keith Giffen— with illustrations by Howard Porter, Pat Olliffe, and many more fantastic artists. S.A. was a job that seemed, frankly, silly when we started working on it—the main reason I agreed to sign on was because I never turned down an opportunity to work with Keith—but it turned into a gig I absolutely loved, one of my favorite Giffen-DeMatteis collaborations.

These are projects that are all near and dear to my heart and I’m thrilled to have them back in print. There are other projects of mine I'd like to see make their return—Blood: A Tale and Batman: Going Sane, to name two—but, for now, I'm in collected edition ecstasy!

BIRTHDAY BABA

"I belong to no religion. My religion is love. Every heart is my temple."

Happy Birthday, Avatar Meher Baba! 

A BRIEF DEMULTIVERSE UPDATE

We're prepping the DeMultiverse Phase II books (the individual titles and our collected edition, complete with extras, including development art, scripts, an intro by "Dandy" Danny Fingeroth, and an afterword by yours truly) for the printer and I can't wait till people can hold them in their hands! Our Spellbound Comics campaign ended back in August, but you can still do a late pledge on Kickstarter. Just click this link.

Hope everyone enjoys the new stories. And here's to many more adventures in the years to come.