SDCC 15 Exclusive Grant Morrison x Heavy Metal x Brian Ewing “Hail to the Chief” Screen Print

Brian Ewing, one of The Blot’s favorite artists, was commissioned by Heavy Metal Magazine to design their new cover, which also acts as the magazine’s official first announcement that legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison to become their new Editor-in-Chief! What an amazing assignment!!! Even better still, Heavy Metal and Ewing decided to release the intricately designed cover as a San Diego Comic-Con 2015 exclusive art print! The Blot so has to get my hands on one of these.

The San Diego Comic-Con 2015 Exclusive Grant Morrison x Heavy Metal x Brian Ewing “Hail to the Chief” Screen Print measures 18”x24” and will be available in three limited editions: Standard Edition, Variant and Foil Variant. Each numbered print comes signed by both Grant Morrison and Brian Ewing and can be purchased at either the Heavy Metal SDCC booth #1529 or Ewing’s SDCC booth #4503. Morrison and Ewing are also scheduled to do a signing sometime on Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled to Brian’s Instagram page for more details!

The All New Batman and Robin - First Look

As you may or may not know, depending on if you read/follow DC Comics, is that Batman (a.k.a. Bruce Wayne) went missing, then was killed by Darkseid in Final Crisis #6 and has since been subsequently shown reborn in an unknown time and place at the end of Final Crisis #7. With Wayne’s departure from the DC landscape a huge void has been created, a void that obviously must be filled. Enter Battle for the Cowl, a three issue comic book mini-series which will answer the question once and for all who will be the new Batman.


Most people think it will be one of three men: Richard “Dick” Grayson, a.k.a. Nightwing and the original Robin; Tim Drake, the third Robin; or Jason Todd, the recently resurrected second Robin who may or may not be the title character of the new series Red Robin. The Blot has absolutely no clue who will take over the mantle of Batman, but I’d like to see the cowl go to Bruce Wayne’s true successor Dick Grayson. I think as long as it’s not possibly deceased, former Batman replacement Jean-Paul Valley (a.k.a. Azrael) I’ll be a happy reader.


What’s cool though is that after Battle for the Cowl concludes, DC will be reorganizing the Batman family of titles and launching five all new series including what “is being pegged as the ‘flagship’ Batman title” Batman and Robin. While DC will still be producing Detective Comics and Batman, Batman and Robin, written by Grant Morrison and penciled by Frank Quitely, will be where all eyes are focused when it is launched in June 2009. (link)


While we still don’t know who will be under Batman’s cowl when all is said and done, we at least now have our very first look at the all new team of Batman and Robin courtesy of IGN.com (see above). This is the cover for Batman and Robin #1 drawn by Quitely, and after seeing it I am dying to know who the new Dark Knight and Boy Wonder will be.

Head here to read IGN’s interview with author Grant Morrison and to see some pages of art from Batman & Robin by Frank Quitely.

*Potential Spoiler* After reading IGN’s interview with Morrison, does anyone else think the new Robin is without a doubt Damian Wayne, Bruce's illegitimate son with Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia? Thoughts!?!

The Flash / Barry Allen Returns From The Dead Today After 23 Years

Today the NY Daily News is reporting that “DC Comics is reviving Barry Allen – aka The Flash – the popular superhero killed off by the publisher 23 years ago.” (link) The Flash’s resurrection is part of a new company wide crossover that begins today called Final Crisis and occurs in the final pages of DC Universe #0, which hits stands today.

The Blot honestly never thought I’d be typing those words. You see Barry Allen, DC Comics’ second Flash, sacrificed himself back in 1986 to save the world in one of comics’ most famous issues, Crisis on Infinite Earths #8. Crisis on Infinite Earths, to this day, is one of the most popular, earth shattering comic book mini-series of all time and the death of the Silver Age Flash is one of the reasons for that. What many people don’t realize is DC has had multiple Flashes. The first Flash of the Golden Age is Jay Garrick. Many years later DC introduced Barry Allen as a new Flash, which ushered in the Silver Age of super hero comics and really revitalized super hero comics in America.

After Allen’s death in 1986 his sidekick and nephew Wally West/Kid Flash stepped up and took over his mentor’s role as the Flash. While Barry Allen has made a few appearances over the years in stories where characters have jumped in time, his death has been one of the very, very few to have ever stuck in comics. It seemed like the highest honor the company could pay Allen’s sacrifice by allowing his death to stand for all these years.

To me it’s a shocking move for DC because the character has been deceased ever since I started reading comics. As a comic reader in his late 20’s the only way I’ve come to know of the character is posthumously and the only modern day Flash I’ve ever followed has been Wally West, one of my favorite comic characters. Hearing this news really brings me concern, both for the future of Wally West as the Flash and what the impact this resurrection will have on the character of Barry Allen.

Thankfully the writing of the return of Allen’s Flash is being handled by Grant Morrison (writer of Final Crisis) and Geoff Johns (writer of The Flash), two comic book writers whose works I really enjoy and admire. Johns told the Daily News “when the greatest evil comes back to the DC Universe, the greatest hero needed to return. Without Barry Allen, we’d still be reading comic books about cowboys.” (link) Morrison added that the Flash is “the God of the modern world, people are doing more everyday, moving faster and I think the Flash can be their hero.” (link) As with life things can change in the blink of an eye, only time will tell if Barry Allen’s return is for good or just another publicity stunt to increase readership in a new title…either way it’ll be nice to see one the DC Universe’s central characters running the streets again.