In a move rumored for years, DC Comics has officially announced seven comic book prequels to Alan Moore’s 1986 bestseller Watchmen. After the break we have art, the creative line-ups and reactions from the original creators, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

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After over 100 issues, William and Dane sit down and welcome writer Matt Fraction back to the show as they close out 2011. This one has it all: Casanova, Fear Itself, variant endings, the inner workings of Marvel editorial retreats and more: there’s plenty of Fraction-related-awesome for everyone.

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

Full show notes after the break.

In the heat of the New 52 relaunch, we had the pleasure of sitting down with writer Sterling Gates to chat for over a hour about his work. From Hawk & Dove to Captain Victory, there’s plenty of great stories and insights into Gates’ career. Also, we discuss a little book we enjoyed called Supergirl. Don’t miss this one folks!

You can stream the episode or subscribe in iTunes.

Hit the jump for the full show notes.

Is this thing still on?

I am not sure how many of you are still paying attention to us. I know it’s only been a bit over a month since we posted anything here, but it feels much longer than that. Maybe that’s because the last time we posted an episode was about three months ago, outside of this appearance on Media Junkyard from a couple of weeks ago.

It always seems that Fall has a habit of just derailing anything Dane and I try to do podcast wise. It happened to us a little bit last year, but it has been bad this year. More on that later.

So. How do you start back into the process of running a website and a podcast after you’ve had the year I’ve had? Short answer? I’m not quite sure. For now, I just have all these random thoughts in my head related to comics, music and other general things (however, I’ll just stick to comics this time around). I haven’t had the time or the venue to really sit down and talk them out. I found myself with some free time this evening and decided it would be best to write it all it, if not for anyone but myself.

Here’s some context on where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing and what’s next.

Paramount Pictures has released a shorter version of The Avengers trailer that runs in theaters after the Captain America credits. While the full trailer contains more footage from the Joss Whedon helmed superhero team-up, this teaser does give us our first chance to get a real good look at Captain America and Thor’s new costumes. We also catch quick glimses of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye. So what are you waiting for? Check out the trailer and screenshots after the break!

Warner Bros. has released the first teaser poster for Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises. The poster shows Gotham City crumbling and falling down, while the Bat Symbol rises above the chaos. The first teaser trailer is due with the release of  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 this week, but until then, enjoy the teaser poster below.

The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Josh Pence, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Nestor Carbonell. The film is set to release on July 20, 2012.