DC in '09

I talked this morning with DC executive editor Dan DiDio about what's coming up in 2009. Looks like DC's biggest guns, Batman and Superman, will be MIA. Batman, of course, vanished at the end of "Batman R.I.P" last week; Bruce Wayne's ultimate fate will be revealed in "Final Crisis" No. 6 in January, DiDio said. Superman, meanwhile, will be leaving Earth for a journey through space and vacating the pages of "Action Comics."

DiDio cleared up one thing for me. With the events of "Final Crisis" happening apart from the monthly books, there may have been a little confusion about the timing of story lines. "Final Crisis," he said, happens after "Batman R.I.P." The effects of "Final Crisis" will be felt throughout the DCU in the first half of next year, but not all in the same month, as in the year-ahead jump that followed "Infinite Crisis."

More on DC's plans in Sunday's Comics Fan.