The King is dead! Long live the King!

Let me shed some more light on what was just announced at WonderCon today: ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER -- the landmark hit series from the superstar team of writer Frank Miller and artist Jim Lee -- has ceased publication.

But that's not the news here. The epic partnership of Miller and Lee is far from done:

"The first Chapter of the story of how Batman and Robin came to be has been told in issues 1-10 of ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN," said ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN artist Jim Lee. "Frank and I sat down just recently to have a long talk about how best to finish this very 'deadline challenged' project and give the loyal fans the second part of this epic storyline they have been patiently waiting for. Moreover, we wanted fans to know that this story is part of the overall Batman mythos and DARK KNIGHT RETURNS universe which Frank started back in 1986."

Out of this meeting came the decision to rebrand the series DARK KNIGHT: BOY WONDER. It will fit into the library of Frank Miller Batman titles: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, BATMAN: YEAR ONE and THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN. Beginning in February, 2011, you will see the remaining six issues ship on time, every month, culminating in the conclusion of the storyline started years ago.

"I feel terrible about how late the book fell behind," added Lee. "100 percent of the blame falls upon my shoulders, so one of the reasons we chose the February, 2011, start date was to ensure that DARK KNIGHT: BOY WONDER would ship regularly and on-time. There are a number of reasons for it's incredible delay but rather than focus on what cannot be changed, I want to promise fans that they will see cool snippets and exclusive previews on this very blog in the coming months to whet their appetites for the the next chapter of the story of the Dark Knight and Robin, the Boy Wonder."