Batman & Robin color cover debut.

DC posted on it's blog today the fully colored cover for Batman and Robin #2, the upcoming new series by writer Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quietly. Quietly's art has always seemed a little odd to me, but I always like it nonetheless. But there is a nice little bonus in the idea that since this is a new title, hopefully Morrison won't make it too convoluted and confusing. He's capable of some brilliant storytelling, and hopefully we'll see something with the elegance of his and Quietly's run on All-Star Superman.

Spider-Man: American Son???

Marvel today put up an announcement on their web site for a new arc in Amazing Spider-Man titled "American Son." The three-part arc, written by Joe Kelly, should be showing up on stands in late May/early June. Marvel also posted an image for the upcoming arc, featuring a patriotic looking high-tech cop, with a watermark of Iron Patriot standing in a similar position in the background.

It's unclear who the character is supposed to be, but there are a few logical theories. It's obviously someone put in place by Norman Osborn, but that still leave us a with a few possibilities.

The first thought is Harry Osborn. Attending A.A. meetings and getting a lot of support, becoming some sort of authority figure would be a great way for Harry to piece his life back together, and with Daddy Goblin pulling the strings, it's something that is entirely feasible.

The other character that comes to mind is Vin Gonzales, Peter's now incarcerated roommate. Norman has a knack for pulling the bad guys out of the muck and using them for his dirty work, whether it be covert like the Thunderbolts or the Hood, or disguised as something legit like his Dark Avengers. The figure in the picture looks kind of reminiscent of a Robocop type figure, so the idea of it being Vin seems to make a lot of sense.

Regardless of who this character is and what is role in Spidey's life is, it seems to to be safe to assume that things are only going to get worse for Web Head (what else is new).

(UPDATE - 4/18/2009) - Today Marvel updated it's Web site with yet another teaser image for the American Sun story. This image features our wall-crawling friend broken and beaten by non other than Iron Patriot himself, who's keeping him on the ground with a foot of steel. In the background we can see Iron Patriot's Dark Avengers lurking around. The idea of Norman Osborn stomping everything decent of Peter Parker's life is becoming more and more inevitable. What will this mean for Spidey and his continually deteriorating Brand New Day? I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

The Ultimate Universe

With Marvel's Ultimate Universe event, Ultimatum, over half finished, many fans are wondering what the aftermath will be like. It's been previously announced that there will be three books in the post-Ultimatum lineup. The first is the New Ultimates, written by Jeph Loeb with art by Frank Cho. The second title Ultimate Avengers, written by Mark Millar; and the third is volume 2 of Ultimate Spider-Man, still by Brian Michael Bendis.

The interesting concept here is that there are three writer's with three different writing styles, and it will be interesting to see the outcome of how the three of them manage an entire universe.

Loeb has been heavily criticized in the past couple of years for his static, one-note characterization of characters and the flashy melodrama of his stories. His books of late, especially Ultimates Vol. 3 and Ultimatum, are filled with characters who are exaggerations of themselves and are constantly pushing shock value that often feels inorganic and contrived.

Millar, while known for similiar shock value and absurdity, is arguably much better at the execution of such ideas. He has the ability to make an absurd situation feel much more organic in the context of the story and the universe. He also has a much better sense than Loeb of how to balance the crazy situations with the already defined characters he is placing in those situations.

Bendis is really the odd-man-out in this situation. It seems the only reason why USM is still sticking around on shelves after the relaunch is because of the book's high sales and popularity. The problem here is how Bendis' tone on the book is going to fit with the darker and more adult-oriented tones of Millar and Loeb. USM has always been a more lighthearted and amusing book, and it will be interesting to see if the new volume of the book brings a change in tone to fit the new status quo, or if we'll just see a light-hearted and amusing Spider-Man's reaction to such a dark and different world.

At this point there is no telling how things might change, but it's safe to guess we'll see some hints in upcoming issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and the rest of the Ultimatum event mini-series.