Smack one, save one, put one in prison.

I never did like that Lana Lang. Always lurking. Popping up every few years to remind Clark she's still alive. Oh, and by they way, not married anymore! Hint, hint Clark. The other woman, the poor man's Lois Lane if you will, saved by Superman time and time again. This time Lana, it's personal.

Superman/Batman wrapped up it's K arc today with #49. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled. At Wizard World Philly Shane Davis hinted at a surprise ending that no one had yet picked up on. Well here it is: Lana Lang is a bitch.

If you haven't been following the book, Superman and Batman have been hunting down every piece of kryptonite on Earth in order to destroy it. They thought they were done until they found a rather large deposit in the possession of the U.S. Government. Eventually they discovered the kryptonite had been sold to them by LexCorp. Makes sense right? Only, Lex hasn't been running his company since he's been on the prison planet, Lana has.

Superman confronts Lana while Batman storms the building to figure out where the source of the kryptonite is located. Lana explains she was doing it for the greater good. LexCorp was in the hole and thousands of people depend on the company for survival. By arming the government against one of her oldest friends she was saving people. You know who else saves people Lana? SUPERMAN!

Batman finds the deposit of kryptonite they were looking for and Superman tells Lana it's over. Not so fast. She tells them there isn't one deposit, there are thousands and any attempt to go after them will force her to press a button which would release the kryptonite into the atmosphere as dust. Essentially she'd cover every inch of the planet making it unlivable to Superman and his super relatives. He calls her bluff and...she presses the button.

Clark is obviously crushed and immediately heads to the JLA Satellite for refuge. Luckily this catastrophe has a solution. Toyman (Toyboy?) Hiro has self-replicating spider-bots that clean on the microscopic level. They've got Earth clear of kryptonite up in no-time. In exchange Hiro got honorary membership in the JLA and a date with Powergirl.

Clark will probably never trust Lana again, nor should he, but he still knows there may come a time he might need to be taken down and he entrusts Batman will the last piece of kryptonite. On the last page we see Batman placing the kryptonite next to every other color kryptonite he's in possession of. No surprises there.

While reading Catwoman #80 today it hit home that the series has been canceled. I'm still really upset about that and suggest fans write to DC to get her back. It worked with Manhunter right? I actually didn't know when exactly it was set to end so I checked and we've got two more issues to go. The picture above will be the cover for #82 and has Selina looking more Audrey Hepburn than ever.

I'm not the only one who knows how important Catwoman is. In this weeks DC Nation column art director Mark Chiarello tells us the story behind "The Real Power of the DC Universe" poster that was given out during the NY Comic Con. Apparently Catwoman was never supposed to be in it and Adam Hughes took it upon himself to add her after repeated attempts to convince Dan Didio she should be included. I always thought it was a cool idea to have her there standing out as the only one dressed in black. But anyway, it's a fun story that's worth a read.

AAAAAND the creepy award for the week goes to....drumroll please...RED TORNADO!

Justice League of America #22 was focused on getting Red Tornado back into a body instead of drifting in the JLA computer. He's been a little depressed, granted, but while talking things over with his wife Kathy he tells her he watched Kendra and Roy having sex recently. Ewwww! Skeevy! Oh and the best part is, instead of Kathy yelling at him for being a peeping-tom, she jokes about how there's gotta be some porn on the JLA computer he can watch instead. Huh? Makes you wonder what else he's been watching...

DCU: Crisis Now! If not now, when?

Misdirection is a common form of deception often used in magic. Nothing up my sleeve, right? What people often forget is that misdirection is also a literary device most commonly used in detective novels. If you don't get my specific meaning there, I'll just go ahead and say that DC Comics is no stranger to misdirection.

Ok, was I being too vague? Of course by detective I'm referring to Batman. There couldn't be more misdirection going on in Batman R.I.P. if they tried. Possibly in an even further move towards that direction, the mysterious identity of the villain actually responsible for what's going on in that book wasn't mentioned once at Saturday's DC panel at Wizard World Philly. That's not to say that other huge story points weren't given away. Spoilers for the current and some of the future projects in the DCU ahead.

"I apologize if I'm gonna take six or seven of your questions. This really is the FINAL CRISIS. Ok? We're really going for it this time," said Senior VP/Executive Editor Dan Didio, "When we come out, we come out with a clear cohesive direction for the DCU." Didio led the DCU: Crisis Now panel that included Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler, Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex, Powergirl), Jim Calafiore (Gotham Underground, Batgirl mini-series), Tom Derenick (Reign In Hell), Shane Davis (Superman/Batman, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns), Franco and Art Baltazar (Tiny Titans) and Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern, The Blackest Night). Didio gave the readers a guide to the coming crisis, "The official rule of Final Crisis is it doesn't cross off into the monthly series. Anything that takes place that has to deal with the particular story of Final Crisis is all going on in different mini-series and one-shots."

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond is one of the new mini-series and it's going to be a little different from the rest. "This is probably the thing Grant Morrison is most excited about, even more so than anything else, because he's gonna take Superman through the Multiverse and he gets to do it in 3-D," said Didio excitedly. That's right, you're going to be getting a pair of 3-D glasses with this issue. But wait, there's more. "It's not only just 3-D for us but it's also 3-D for Superman. He has his eye colors changed, one eye is blue and one eye is red," revealed Didio.

If you've been following the K story arc in Superman/Batman you've only got one issue left. Artist Shane Davis hopes everyone has been enjoying it and says we're all going to be surprised by the ending. "There's been hints at things in every issue that I haven't really seen anybody pick up on on the message board at all," he said. "You shouldn't be reading those things, you know that right?" scolded Didio.

Conversation did eventually turn to Batman R.I.P. but Didio didn't need to bother telling us about it. Instead he had a fan fill everyone in on what's been going on. This actually happened a few times during the panel, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. A fan also thanked Didio for bringing back Stephanie Brown, a.k.a Spoiler. Didio said you're welcome but continued ominously, "It's nice to bring somebody back in case somebody else goes away." When Stephanie returned in the last issue of Robin it all seemed a bit too easy. "You might have gotten a neat little answer there but there's a lot more intrigue that comes out from this story," Didio explained, "It's not that simple." If you thought you'd start getting your answers in this weeks Robin/Spoiler Special, you were wrong, that was just some alone time for the pair.

Of course Batman is also involved in DC's new weekly series Trinity, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, in stores today. The first half of the book is told by the same creative team every issue, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley but the second half will change. "We don't even want to call it a back-up anymore," said Didio, "it's really a story that supports what's going on in the front without focusing on the three leads."

Reign in Hell is a new mini-series that will involve most, if not all of the magic characters in the DCU. Keith Giffen is the writer and Tom Derenick is now the artist. "[Keith] has a vision for what the DC Universe's version of Hell should look like and feel like and it's nothing you've ever seen before," Derenick said, "Think H.R. Giger on acid." A fan asked if there was any chance of tying DC's hell into Vertigo's hell. "The easy answer is, no chance in hell," laughed Didio.

The subject of Barry Allen was eventually brought up. A fan talked about him like he was already back to which Didio had to respond, "Did we ever officially say Barry Allen is coming back?" Didio posed the question to Ethan van Sciver who got very scared and didn't want to be asked about it. Ian Sattler didn't want to be asked either so Didio settled on this hypothetical situation, "If Barry Allen ever came back, a perfect place for him to come back is the middle of a major crisis event. Just the same way, but if we did a Final Crisis it should not just be about one Flash, but ALL Flashes." Bart too? "All Flashes," Didio put simply. 

As far as a new creative team for the Flash goes Didio was trying to pass the buck, "Um, I don't know, Ethan, what's going on with Flash?" Van Sciver replied emphatically, "Don't ask me!" The games continued later on in the panel after a fan asked Van Sciver about Plastic Man, which he said is shelved for now. "I just have something really big that I'm working on now that I'm NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT," Van Sciver said, raising his voice. Assumptions should not be made, Van Sciver is also rumored to be working on something with Wonder Woman writer Gail Simone.

As usual, there was a lightning round for fans to ask yes or no questions. Here are a few:

Is Damien really Bruce's son? - Met with silence and uncomfortable looking faces.

Will Selina Kyle ever emerge again in Bruce Wayne's life? - Yes (We saw her in todays issue of Detective Comics and she was PISSED.)

Martian Manhunter really dead? - Yes. Sorry.

Barry Allen coming back? - Yes.

Will Barbara Gordon walk again? - No. Never. (Thank you Dan!)

Shane Davis, Franco and Art Baltazar

On the less serious side of comics we have the new kid-friendly Tiny Titans series by Art Baltazar and Franco. There seems to be almost no limit on the team members they might be using, not to mention the cuteness level. Blue Beetle apparently has a talking back-pack. "They just think he's a weird kid," said Baltazar. A fan asked if Terra would be making an appearance, Baltazar responded, "She throws rocks." Though Dan Didio had to give the team a call at one point to ask them why the Tiny Titans were going to be in outer-space, "[Baltazar] said, 'Oh, they're flying home to Starfire's house to clean her room,' I'm like, oh ok that makes sense." But will Connor Kent be showing up? "Maybe in their hearts for right now," says Baltazar.

At one point a female fan asked where the long-awaited All-Star Batgirl was. "J.G. got a little busy," said Ian Sattler. That wasn't a good enough answer for her though and she continued to press for answers as to it's completion. "Actually it's fully complete, we all have copies, we're not sharing it with you," joked Didio, "Now that you put it that way, we're NEVER going to share it with you."

Some of the other women from the DCU will be getting some more attention soon. Arist Jim Calafiore will be doing a Batgirl mini-series that he says will address the changes she went through in the One Year Later stories. It will also include a new character who is a relative of hers. While living in Wayne Manor, "She's not supposed to be going out and doing any super-heroing," said Calafiore. But of course she can't help herself. The much talked about, but rarely seen, new Batwoman will apparently be making an appearance in Final Crisis: Revelations fighting Killer Croc.

Jimmy Palmiotti couldn't pull himself away from the innuendoes to tell us much about the new Powergirl series he's working on with Amanda Connor. "Everything about this book is big," he said, "We also have in your face action. I could go on ALL day." He pretty much did, Ian Sattler started to wrestle the mic away from him whenever Powergirl came up.

Magic is also considered an art that entertains. Captain Carrot and the Final Ark was definitely an entertaining little series. Any plans to pick up on it's mysterious ending? Didio hopes so, "Did we ever announce the Zatanna book?" The panel became confused. Did they just slip up? It was said something with Paul Dini and Zatanna was a possibility during the NY Comic Con panel but no, nothing had actually been announced. Didio needed to go hypothetical again, "If Zatanna had her own book, you might see something along those lines somewhere down the road. Just saying if."

Now have you seen through my clever ruse? I used the art of misdirection on you just like any great magician would have. I told you everything that was going on in the DCU just so I'd be able to tell you Zatanna is getting her own book. !ahctoG ;-)

DC Comics at the NY Comic Con - One Liners Galore

"How many people here want to know what's going on in the DC Universe?" That question was posed by Sr. VP/Executive Editor of DC Comics Dan Didio at the start of Friday's "DC Nation" panel of the NY Comic Con. It was met with a decent amount of applause and lots of laughter when some of the DC editors raised their hands. After two DC panels I'm still in the dark about what's going on in Supergirl but at least I now know lots of new and exciting things about to happen in the DCU. Here's some news from both.

Gail Simone filled us in on what's coming up in Wonder Woman. "Some of the best scientists in the entire world have the mathematical formula to take down Wonder Woman, so we're going to create a new Rogues Gallery for her," she said. As if that wasn't scary enough she followed it up with this, "Someone believes the Amazons are a failed experiment and is going to create their own Amazons. However, we are going to have a new Wonder Woman -- who is a man." No one in the audience knew quite how to respond to that so Didio asked if we liked their working title of The Manazons. It was a resounding no from the audience. One fan yelled out, "It sounds like a drag show!" Here's hoping it doesn't stick.

Peter Tomasi and Geoff Johns

Senior Coordinating Editor Jann Jones has been working hard on comics aimed at kids. She introduced a new six issue mini-series on the way called Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade. "We have a real commitment to taking our characters and making them really accessible to young kids," said Didio. And yes, 8th grade Supergirl will have a super cat.

The subject turned to the new Blue Beetle. After the crowd hollered that most of them read it, Didio admitted it is one of their weaker sales but, "one of the books that has the most support right now." Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler announced something different that would be happening in May. "Blue Beetle #26 is actually entirely in Spanish with English script in the back of the book," he said. Sadler and Didio said it is a good spot to jump on board. Blue Beetle is one of my favorite books so I was concerned about it's sales. At the second panel I decided I'd ask a question to see if I could help things along. Basically, I figured most people who weren't reading the book were big fans of Ted Kord and were still sour over his death during Countdown to Infinite Crisis. I stated that fans could still see him in recent issues of Booster Gold and asked if he was sticking around for good. "I can't tell you that," said Geoff Johns. What can I say? I gave it a shot. Speaking of Booster Gold Johns said that in issue one-million, "We find out who Rip Hunter is."

Of course the panel would finally get around to discussing Batman R.I.P. When asked directly by a fan if Batman was going to die, Didio put it to the panel. Keep in mind, most of their answers were in jest so there's no way to tell if they were telling the truth. Though by process of elimination one of them has to be right, right? Here were their varying answers:

Ian Sattler - "Someday."

Peter Tomasi - "Mmm could be?"

Geoff Johns - "Uh, no."

Sean McKeever - "Absolutely yes."

Jimmy Palmiotti - "Twice."

Gail Simone - "Of course."

Keith Giffen - "God willing."

Bob Wayne - "Not in a movie year!"

Jann Jones - "Mostly?"

Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones and Gail Simone

During the second panel the writer of Batman R.I.P., Grant Morrison, got a chance to speak. Didio asked him what that stood for and Morrison replied, "'Rest In Piece' apparently -- but he doesn't." Morrison sounded excited that this would be the culmination of all his Batman work. "Basically if you miss this one, you miss your chance to say goodbye," he said.

Geoff Johns announced that in the JSA Annual in July, called "Welcome to Earth-2", Power Girl finds herself back home there. Jimmy Palmiotti then announced some of the biggest news of the day. He and Justin Gray will be working on a new on-going series with art by Amanda Connor called Powergirl. "It's one of the books we've been asked for the most," said Didio, "I'd just like to say, we heard you. We just wanted to get the right team, the right style and the right jump-off point." Hooray for Powergirl!

About forty-minutes into the first panel and numerous questions being directed at Geoff Johns he finally decided to say, "You know what's weird, is that most people call me 'Geoff Johns' instead of Geoff." That didn't stop the fans, they kept calling him by his full name. Though one younger fan finally just said Geoff, with emphasis.

Gail Simone, Geoff Johns and Stephan Roux

In the second DC panel, just before she had to leave, Gail Simone delivered what was probably my favorite news all weekend. "We are doing a new Secret Six, ongoing," she announced. She anticipated us asking who the six would be, "Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll -- an A-list Batman villain -- and a new character that I've created with Nicola [Scott]." She revealed the new characters name is Jeanette and she has a secret that even the Secret Six do not know. She added, "It is going to be literally, the most ballsy DCU comic out there and it's going to be done by two redheaded women. So how cool is that?" Pretty cool if you ask me.

I was saddened to learn that Catwoman is getting canceled. A fan said he heard a rumor online and Didio confirmed it saying, "Catwoman is canceled, but that doesn't mean you won't be seeing the character in the DC Universe. By the next day of course news of the books demise had spread and by the time the second panel rolled around there was one very angry female fan who go up to demand an explanation. "I heard you're canceling Catwoman and I'm pretty pissed off about it. I just wanna know what's gonna happen to her," she said. Ian Sattler fielded this one, "She'll be in the Batman universe." But she quickly replied, "That's not good enough." She left unsatisfied with their answers and scared the panel so badly Didio felt the need to ask the next fan to, "Please be nice to us."

For the record, I did ask about Supergirl after my Blue Beetle question. I asked them what was going on, because I had no clue. Ian Sattler told me to hang tight, "Supergirl is gonna be a lot closer linked to Superman and Action shortly." Johns decided to add, "Supergirl is gonna be intricate, the character in the book is intricate to all the Superman plans for the rest of the year."  He continued to say she was an important character to the DCU, "We've got a story that's gonna kinda tilt her on her head but in a good way." I'm happy to hear that obviously because I think Supergirl deserves a lot more attention than she's gotten lately. But did you notice none of them actually told me what's going on right now in Supergirl? Nothing to do but wait I guess.

Grant Morrison

I think a good place to end would be with the fan who asked if Zatanna would be showing up anytime soon. After a few jokes about how she was sitting in the front row, i.e. me, Didio replied, "Reign in Hell and possibly something with Paul Dini coming very soon." Sounds good to me.