“The Culling” crossover event is coming this May – but what is The Culling? What is N.O.W.H.E.R.E., and how will it threaten the heroes and would-be heroes of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52? You’ll find out in next month’s crossover, but in the meantime – stay tuned to THE SOURCE all this week for Culling insights from the creators.

Today, SUPERBOY and TEEN TITANS writer Scott Lobdell offers an enthusiastic glimpse into what’s to come:

"Imagine you are a comic book writer who is bound by 20 pages a month in which to tell a story. Then you get a call... and you're told that suddenly you get to work on a 60 page story (that is, your book is going to cross over with SUPERBOY and LEGION LOST)! Suddenly more story possibilities open up as your telling a larger story with more characters and conflicts involved. Suddenly you have the opportunity to deal with Kid Flash learning the first hints of his origin by talking with Superboy, a 16 year old without any past at all.  

“Then you have Timber Wolf confronting Kid Flash for an explanation as to why Bart Allen is in the here-and-now instead of his place of origin in the 31st Century... and you wonder why at least one of the Legion Losters seems to be covering for Kid Flash?

“Okay, so here you are, working on a larger canvas than you get to work on from month to month, and you're working with other writers and Editorial now and you're starting to wonder how even 60 pages is going to be enough... when the clouds part and Editorial delivers another edict: You get an additional 32 pages in the form of a Teen Titans annual!

"That's a 92-page story you get to tell! Yowza! Just think of the possibilities! It'd be like taking an episode of your favorite television show and suddenly being given a 100 million dollar feature film budget where you can do all the things you want when you are no longer bound by episodic restraints!

"I admit to being a little frightened when Brett was assigned to do the art on the TEEN TITANS Annual – because we haven't been split up since we re-launched TEEN TITANS last year. But as soon as he started turning in the pages, creating the Colony out of thin air, introducing the kids that N.O.W.H.E.R.E. has held captive for so long, bludgeoning us with his high octane action sequences as the Teen Titans battled the Legion Lost and then slamming on the brakes for moments of quiet poignancy, I understood why editorial knew it was so important for Brett to be the guy that established the world and the tone for the crossover. Every time I open up my email box I am stunned by the level of detail and excitement and passion that Brett brings to the work.

"Everyone who knows R.B. Silva's work from his Jimmy Olsen run last year as well as the first issues of SUPERBOY knows that he is without peer when it comes to those character-centric moments in any story – he is one of these guys who can take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. Well, let me say that you should go out and buy a hat because you are going to want to have something to hold onto when you see him draw the epic action in SUPERBOY when Kon El goes toe-to-toe with Warblade! When you see this issue you're going to know that R.B. is destined for greatness. His Timber Wolf and Dawnstar are just... gorgeous. There's no other word that comes to mind!

"And Ig Guara on TEEN TITANS? After months of reading, green with envy, his work on BLUE BEETLE, I was so excited to learn that he'd be filling in for Brett on two issues (8 and the crossover itself in issue 9). I had high hopes for him... and then he went and exceeded every one of them!  There have been so many pages where I didn't even want to write dialogue and captions because it felt superfluous -- everything was there on their faces and body language. Truly, Ig is one of tomorrow's superstars and I can't wait to work with him again!

"Is there a sales element to all of it? Sure, because comics is a business. But Tom and Howard and I aren't in sales, we're writers who have been given the opportunity to create an epic comic book story over the course of one month – using some of the greatest characters in the medium. Who wouldn't be happy about that?!"

(Art by Brett Booth for TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1)