This Wednesday Arrow fans will get their first look at a fast talking crime scene investigator from Central city named Barry Allen. Known by his superhero identy The Flash, Barry Allen will be coming to a television near you soon in a CW pilot. First though, he is set to appear in this season of Arrow. The CW Television Network released this clip, The Scientist, on their Youtube page today. Without spoiling anything from the clip below; not only is Arrow introducing The Flash, but it appears there’s also going to be a super villian who is strong enough to rip through a door like tin foil. Any guesses as to who that could be? Let us know what you think in the comments or give me a shout out on Twitter @MarkAvo.

Harley Quinn #0 was a tour du force of artistic talent from across the comics industry. Big Shiny Robot writer Zendobot, AKA Mark Avo, even covered the book in a mini review earlier today. If you liked the book as much as he did, you’ll be glad to hear that Harley’s book will continue on as a solo series with art by Chard Hardin. The book will be coming to a comic shop near you December 18th. Included below is the official press release from DC Comics and a first look at the Chad Hardin’s work on the interior of the comic For more information, visit the official DC comics blog here.

Yesterday, HARLEY QUINN #0 hit stands, launching an all-new ongoing solo series for the notorious and fan-favorite character. This special issue contained art by a jaw-dropping cast of artists contributing to co-writer Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s fourth wall-breaking story – including Bruce Timm, Jim Lee, Becky Cloonan, Adam Hughes, Darwyn Cooke, Sam Keith, newcomer Jeremy Roberts, and many more astounding talents!

But as of next month’s HARLEY QUINN #1, the regular series artist will be Chad Hardin, whose recent work includes the Villains Month one-shot, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7.3: SHADOW THIEF.

“Harley is a complex character and we are going to build on her background, motivations and her home and supporting cast. Sort of what we did with Power Girl but with a mix of a bit more homicidal maniac added in,” Palmiotti said. “She is the hero in her own story. What happens, who gets killed, what house gets burned down and so on, well, that’s just part of her story. She looks at the world differently and we will be building on that and looking even closer on her past and what makes her tick. There are so many layers to this fantastic character that we cannot wait to explore.”

“She will be trying to live a normal-ish life with new people in a new environment. What kind of upheaval will she throw her new surroundings into? We’re going to take into account that Harley’s ‘normal’ isn’t the rest of everybody’s ‘normal,’” Conner elaborated. “Her supporting cast will be less superhero-like (for now) and more like the rest of us. Kind of. We will be working all that into the storylines, and part of the entertainment will be in seeing how those characters deal with her being around.”

Preview art courtesy of DC Entertainment

The Youtube feature by DC Comics is released every Tuesday at 10 AM PT. In this episode, hosts Blair Herter and Tiffany Smith talk to Geoff Johns, Vine sensation BatDad, Marc Andreyko, Bill Willingham and Sam Viviano. In addition to getting some help with the Easter Eggs in the Batman Eternal image Scott Snyder teased earlier today, they’re giving away signed Aquaman hardcovers by Geoff Johns. If you missed the Batman Eternal image you can find the image and our coverage of it here.

Scott Snyder, writer of the current run on Batman, teased the upcoming series Batman Eternal with a Thanksgiving themed Batman image. Snyder tweeted the image which was later officially released from DC Comics. Batman Eternal will be a weekly series starting in 2014 and will feature many talented writers and artists such as Snyder himself. The image itself contains a cornucopia of Easter Eggs for the upcoming year.

The eggs I’ve been able to find are probably the most obvious of ones after the Iceberg Casino. It appears we’ll be seeing more of Batwoman, Kate Kane and her girlfriend Maggie Sawyer, as well as Amanda Waller. Looking deeper though, it appears as though The Bat Cow might meet a meaty end with the bones. Speaking of the late Damian Wayne’s pets, there is a robin perched on Titus’s back. The Robin’s situation is as odd as ever in The New 52. Red Hood is in the background behind Batgirl. Tim Drake looks concerned with what could possibly be a Dick Grayson in disguise behind him; but who is in the purple hood next to Harper Row? I think the most confusing egg in the image is that Commissioner Gordans arms folded in prayer are in hand cuffs!

For a larger image click here.

Did you find some additional eggs that I missed? Please post them in the comments. The Big Shiny Robot community is excited to hear from you! Speaking of excited to hear from you, send me a tweet anytime @MarkAvo. 

Batman super-fan Kevin Smith appears alongside Zack Snyder in DC Comics latest Youtube series DC All Access. Kevin Smith, host of the Smodcast Podcast Fatman on Batman and co-host of AMC’s Comic Book Men with Walt Flannigan, talks with Zack Snyder about the upcoming Man of Steel sequel. In this week’s episode we also get to meet Cynthia Addai-Robinson from Spartacus fame. She discusses her upcoming role of Amanda Waller in Arrow. Big Shiny Robot reported the rumor of Cynthia staring in Arrow when Manu Bennett teased her appearance during the 2013 Salt Lake City Comic Con. DC All Access is hosted by Blair Herter and Tiffany Smith. New episodes appear every Tuesday at 10AM PT and contain all kinds of DC news from Comics and TV, to movies and video games.

Sound off in the comments about this video or give me a shout out on Twitter @MarkAvo. For upcoming Batman goodness on Big Shiny Robot, check in on 5 and 3 this Friday. If you can’t wait, check out last weeks article here.

Bill Willingham has announced today, via his website, that after a decade of writing Fables, the series will conclude with issue 150. Willingham’s popular series will conclude all storylines, including the Fairest ones, next year. Mark Willingham has officially put his support behind Bill’s decision. Bill said in the announcement:

Both DC and I will announce more details later on, but first and foremost I wanted to let our wonderful readers know about this as soon as I could, and note that our story plans leading up to Issue 150 made it increasingly clear that this upcoming saga should naturally be the final story.

For more information you can visit Bleeding Cool to see Mark Willingham’s official response to them and an additional interview he did with Newsrama here to clear up any confusion in his statement. 

Warner Bros. released the teaser trailer for their newest DC Comics animated movie “Justice League: War.” The movie is based on Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s story arc from the New 52. The villain is Darkseid and his army who are invading Earth. It will tell the story of how the Justice League came together and we will be able to see how the heroes met for the first time.

Unlike the comics it looks like Aquaman has been removed all together and Captain Marvel has taken his place. Understandable, since Aquaman is seen as kind of a lame hero, but I, for one, was looking forward to the scene where he commands the biggest sharks known to man to eat the aliens.

But that’s just me.

 image from comic vine

I’m pretty excited about this film because I have loved all the others. If you are looking for possible tie in and cross overs to the other films, stop. As far as I can tell each film is it’s own stand alone story unless it has “part one and two” in the titles like “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” did.

“Justice League: War” will hit shelves for both DVD and Blu-ray on February 4^th next year.

DC All Access is a new feature, hosted by Blair Herter and Tiffany Smith, that DC Comics plans on publishing via their Youtube page every Tuesday at 10AM PT. Their first episode can be found here, and their second is posted below. DC All Access will feature weekly giveaway’s and provide inside looks into all things DC Comics. Not just for Comics fans, DC All Access is set to feature news on everything DC. This episode has an interview with Jim Lee on Superman Unchained; an interview with Vertigo Exec Shelly Bond on Fables Encyclopedia and the Fables themed game The Wolf Among Us; Inside Mad with John Ficarra; and a new look at Batman: Arkham Origins detective mode.

Sound off in the comments or give me a shout out on Twitter @MarkAvo.

Last week, the new season of Arrow kicked off with a bang: We saw Oliver Queen decide to tone down the violence and become a kinder, gentler vigilante. We also saw what might have been the introduction of the Black Canary to the Arrow universe. The episode was tightly paced and a great sign that season 2 isn’t going to coast on season 1’s merits.

Episode two, “Identity”, opens with a FEMA truck being pursued by a couple of goons on motorbikes. Some criminal organization is hijacking medical gear intended for the Glade’s medical facilities. Roy Harper takes one of the goons down, but his car gets smashed up by the other. Ollie takes Thea to pick Roy up from the Police department, where Roy fills Oliver in on what’s been happening with the FEMA deliveries. Suddenly, Oliver has a new outlet for his vigilante activities, and vows to take the hijackers down.

Laurel Lance has also made a vow of her own: She wants to take the Arrow down, believing that he brings chaos and destruction whenever he’s around. Laurel is personally leading the police effort to bring the vigilante to justice. She does just that right in the middle of a fight between the Arrow, China White, and her new hired muscle, Bronze Tiger.

There is a lot to love in this episode. Michael Jai White guest stars as the Bronze Tiger, and he’s as ferocious, ruthless, and physically imposing as you would hope. His taunting Oliver’s reservation against lethal force during their fight is a lot of fun, and you can tell White is having a blast.

Making Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance the main legal foil against the Hood was one of the wiser decisions the creative team behind Arrow have made. Cassidy may be a fine actress, but most of her screen time during season 1 was spent moping. Now, as an Assistant DA, Laurel gets a lot more opportunity to be more than a pretty face on the show.

Digg and Felicity get a lot more to do now, too. The show is taking advantage of the ensemble cast’s chemistry, and allowing everyone their chance to take time in the spotlight.

Oh, and one last bit: TRICK ARROWS. I was hoping they would show up, and now that Oliver has taken a less lethal stance on his war against crime, he’s got a far more entertaining arsenal. So far, we’ve seen the grappling hook arrow; this  week we get the taser arrow and the freaking HANDCUFF ARROW. And they pull it off with barely a trace of cheese. Love it!