May solicits and Wednesday's books

Hi, I'm Joe Blogger. I sure do blog quite a bit lately. Not bad for someone who can't string five words together when talking about himself in real life.

Anyway, I've got a couple of things arriving on the stands tomorrow, as well as a couple of things announced for May today, so let's dive in.

First off, THE FLASH #237 is in stores tomorrow. I'm happy enough with the script I wrote, always room for improvement but I think it worked out OK. The book is drawn by Koi Turnbull and inked by Art Thibert.

I tend to try to build to emotional beats in the writing, whereas Koi is more of an action artist. So, it was an...interesting...meshing of approaches. I can't say I love every choice he made in the storytelling but he definitely surprised me more than once and told the story his way. That's really what I hope for from artists I work with, that they bring their own sensibilities to the work. Got that with Koi in spades.

I was also surprised to get a box of Scooby Doo comics in my comps the other day. Last year, I wrote four Scooby stories and haven't heard anything about them but the first, Snacks On A Plane, is in Scooby Doo #129 tomorrow.

All four Scooby stories are dear to my heart. It was a lot of fun to work with Scoob and the Gang, the sort of neat little job that would be fun to share. The stories I wrote are like little gypsies, floating around out there in the great big world and beginning to surface when I least expect it.

So SNACKS is the first one out there for the world to see.

As far as solicits go, first up:

SUPERMAN #676

Written by Keith Champagne
Art by Rick Leonardi & Dan Green
Cover by Alex Ross

Superman embarks on a journey with a dying man who has been in the background of the Man Of Steel’s life from the very beginning. As they search for answers to the strange riddle of the man’s life, they also find themselves ambushed by…The Parasite!
On sale May 14 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

And then...

THE FLASH: THE WILD WESTS HC
Written by Mark Waid, John Rogers and Keith Champagne
Art by Daniel Acuña, Freddie Williams II and Doug Braithwaite
Cover by Acuña

Wally West returns to active duty as the Flash — with the addition of his two children — in this amazing hardover collecting THE FLASH #231-237, guest-starring the Justice League! What’s his dark, dark family secret — the one that’s helping him keep the peace in Keystone? This volume also includes "The Fast Life, " by Mark Waid, John Rogers and Doug Braithwaite — the compelling tale of the West family's life on a Flash-friendly alien world.
Advance-solicited; on sale July 30 • 160 pg, FC, $24.99 US

Funny that the Flash issue which ships tomorrow is already part of the upcoming hardcover collection. I've never had anything I've written collected into HC before, I'm glad to ride Mark Waid's coattails to the super-deluxe treatment. It was a nice surprise when I read through the solicits.

The Superman issue is a dream come true for me and a strong step in the direction of the kind of writer I'm struggling to be. Ironically, the story is based on an idea I had when I was about 17 and which I finally got to use twenty years later. So I guess I knew the kind of writer I wanted to be when I was a kid and now I'm finally getting around to trying. A lot of love went into the Superman issue.

Well, I think that's plenty of blogging for tonight. Hell, that's plenty for February, really. But I'll probably pop back in soon, DC is announcing my new project this coming weekend at WonderCon.

Thanks for reading.
Keith