On Friday, THE NEW YORK TIMES published their Graphic Books Best Sellers Lists, and debuting at #1 on the Hardcover list was BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS, VOL. 2: SCARE TACTICS!

An armed robbery carried out by gunmen dressed as Batman. A string of similar-looking corpses turning up in morgues … then disappearing. An experiment gone dangerously awry, carried out in Bruce Wayne’s own company tower. Somehow, all of these events are tied together, orchestrated by a terrifying killer known as Mr. Toxic, and the fate of Gotham City—and the world—is on the line. Can the Dark Knight piece together the mystery, while also dealing with a gang of fear-gassing Scarecrows, an attack on Arkham Asylum by the Court of Owls and the escape of one of Arkham’s most dangerous inmates—the hypnotic Black Mask?

In BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS, VOL. 2: SCARE TACTICS, writer/artist Tony S. Daniel (SAVAGE HAWKMAN) and artists Ed Benes (RED LANTERNS), Szymon Kudranski (PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE), Julio Ferreira (TEEN TITANS), Romano Molenaar (BIRDS OF PREY), and Pere Perez (BATGIRL) put Batman to the fearsome test in the new DC Universe! Plus, witness the deadly final lesson in Bruce Wayne’s training before he became Batman, from writers Gregg Hurwitz (BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT) and James Tynion IV (TALON) and artists Tony S. Daniel and Henrik Jonsson! This hardcover books collects DETECTIVE COMICS #8-12 and #0, and DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #1.

Click here to read THE NEW YORK TIMES’ full list of Hardcover Graphic Books Best Sellers, which also includes BATMAN, VOL. 2: THE CITY OF OWLS, 100 BULLETS: DELUXE EDITION BOOK FOUR, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, VOL. 5, BATMAN, VOL. 1: THE COURT OF OWLS, and BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE. And click here to see THE NEW YORK TIMES’ list of Paperback Graphic Books Best Sellers, which includes the debuts of SWAMP THING, VOL. 2: FAMILY TREE and WORLDS’ FINEST, VOL. 1: LOST DAUGHTERS OF EARTH 2, as well as PUNK ROCK JESUS. Congratulations to all!

WonderCon attendees got chills when Vertigo announced a new American Vampire spinoff this weekend that will be set in Canada and boast an exciting script co-written by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire.

April Fool's!!!

We were at WonderCon this weekend and certainly revealed plenty of great stuff during our panels, but we’re pretty sure Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire are a little busy to be cooking up silly spinoffs and that Batman would fail to see the humor in letting Alfred E. Neuman anywhere near the Batcave.

Yes, in honor of April 1^st (which also happens to be Alfred E. Neuman’s birthday), both DCComics.com and VertigoComics.com were given fake homepage slides. So whether you were fooled by DC Comics’ promise of a new Robin or Vertigo’s Canadian Vampire announcement, congratulations. You’ve been had.

But don’t sweat it. April Fool’s Day is supposed to be fun, and that’s all this little stunt was about. Even better, we’re not about to stop. There’s plenty of April Foolery to be had in comic shops this month. Why, have you seen our 13 MAD variant covers?

You haven’t?! Well, you can look for them gracing some of your favorite DC COMICS – THE NEW 52 titles all month long. Or you can just click here to see them all.

On behalf of all of us at DC Entertainment, have a happy April 1^st!

New York Times bestselling author, Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Batman, Swamp Thing) and artist Sean Murphy (Punk Rock Jesus, Joe The Barbarian), the incredible team behind the miniseries AMERICAN VAMPIRE: Survival of the Fittest, are reuniting for a new limited series in 2013: THE WAKE.

Beneath the surface, set amidst the claustrophobic yet beautiful and sweeping ocean-scapes, a discovery is made that will reveal a secret mythology. Full of suspense and horror, THE WAKE is an underwater sci-fi epic like none other.

 
"I couldn't be more excited about The Wake!” said Snyder about this new comic book series. “This is a story Sean and I have actually been developing together for more than a year, a big, twisted, sprawling science fiction and horror epic, all of which begins with a single, terrifying discovery at the bottom of the ocean. It's one of the most ambitious stories I've ever done, and there's no one I'd rather be creating it with than Sean Murphy. Sean's a great friend and we had a blast together on AMERICAN VAMPIRE: Survival of the Fittest; luckily, he's also one of the industry's brightest new stars, someone with unrivaled abilities as a world-builder—every scene he draws is so fully realized, so richly imagined, it's hugely inspiring working with him, and I'm grateful to him for signing on to be my partner at the end of the world, here."    

The adventure begins in 2013!