January PREVIEWS Spotlights The Battle For The Cowl And War Of The Witchblades

(BALTIMORE, MD) — (December 9, 2008) — The citizens of Gotham City will finally see a Dark Knight Detective take up the fight against crime again – even if it’s thanks to a new man under the mask – in DC Comics’ Batman: Battle for the cowl, the front cover feature for the January issue of PREVIEWS, the comic shop’s catalog.

The newest PREVIEWS looks at the three-part mini-series from writer/artist Tony Daniel that fills the Batman-void left in the wake of “Batman R.I.P.” and Final Crisis, the first issue of which is scheduled to arrive in comic shops on March 11. Nightwing, Jason Todd, Robin and several others believe they are the best hope for Gotham and worthy of claiming the Batman mantle, but only one can be the Caped Crusader. Who will it be?

The friend-versus-friend theme also carries over in March to PREVIEWS’ back cover feature, WITCHBLADE #125. The Witchblade creative team of Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic present this landmark issue, which begins the six-part “War of the Witchblades” storyline. For over a year, Detective Sara Pezzini and dancer Danielle Baptiste have each held a piece of the Witchblade and worked together as bearers. But that balance is no longer an option, and the two will have to combat each other to determine who will be the lone bearer when the dust settles.

Plus, don’t miss these January PREVIEWS editorial features:

* Featured Theme: “Fanboy Resolutions for the New Year” – It’s become a tradition (even if a less-than-successful one for most) to pledge to make changes as a new year dawns, and this month writer John Simcoe provides some ideas of what adjustments comic book fans and collectible lovers might want to look into for 2009.

PREVIEWS Next: January Covers & Features

* Free Comic Book Day 2009: Here it is – the official list of Gold and Silver sponsors and their free comic books available for FCBD09, Saturday, May 2, 2009. Plus, PREVIEWS has listings for cool FCBD09 merchandise as well!
* Burning Questions: Fans ask questions online at PREVIEWSworld.com and we get ‘em answered in print. This month the founders of the Man of Action development/production house – Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steve Seagle – share the hot seat.
* IndieEdge: Our creator feature talks with Jae Lee, cover artist for Dynamite’s upcoming Dead Irons.
* Sneak Peeks: DC Comics/CMX Manga provide pages from their Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and the Sea Volume 1.
* Plus: Staff Picks, Our Top 100 Comics and Bestseller Charts and much more!

PREVIEWS January’s Hottest Items

DECEMBER GEMS OF THE MONTH

In December, the PREVIEWS Gem of the Month top picks include: Dark Horse’s The Amazon #1, DC’s Superman: The World of New Krypton #1, Marvel’s War of Kings #1, Image’s Killer of Demons #1 and Wizard Entertainment’s Wizard #210.

PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVES

Each month, we offer items that you can only order through PREVIEWS and January features these great PREVIEWS Exclusives (PX): Dabel Brothers Publishing’s Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files #1 (Volume 2); DST’s Star Trek: Borg Seven of Nine PX Action Figure & Stargate: SG-1 PX Ba’al Action Figure and Graphic-Sha Publishing’s How to Cosplay Volume 1.

All this and more is waiting in the January issue of PREVIEWS, which hits your local comic shop on Wednesday, December 24th at a cover price of $4.50. Ask your comic shop retailer on how you can qualify for a free issue, and remember that orders are due to your comic shop by January 10th for merchandise in this issue. To find a shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com.

ABOUT DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS—the world's largest distributor of English-language comic books and pop-culture related merchandise, Diamond is based in Baltimore, MD, and services more than 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide. For more information, visit Diamond on the web at www.diamondcomics.com.