Judd Winick, who'll be taking over the writing duties of the regular Batman series in June, told Comic Book Resources that he plans to stick squarely to punching and kicking when it comes to his aims for the character:

We're talking three-issue arcs, four-issue arcs where it's Batman whooping it up, kicking ass, getting his ass kicked and coming back and kicking some more ass. This is a superhero book and it's one of the things that I enjoy. I mean, I do enjoy Batman as a masked detective but I myself enjoy Batman beating the living hell out of people in various ways, shapes and forms... This is a "Batman" title. And I don't think it will have any of the social commentary, which I've done maybe five or six times out of 10 years I've written comics. Which apparently, everybody thinks I do in every single issue or something... There's going to be nothing viewed as an after school special in this run of "Batman." There's lots of touchy-feely shit along with the beating up of bad guys. And explosions and dangling from sides of buildings and what not because I like writing humanistic characters but all that crap that everyone usually whines about that I do, I obviously won't be that doing here.

Me, I'm a fan of a Batman who does more than just beat people up, but that's why they make so many Batman comics, so everyone can get the Bat they want, I guess...

Under The Hood With Judd Winick, Pt 1 [Comic Book Resources]

Even though I thought I was joking when I said that the tease "Superman Red or Superman Blue" was about Clark Kent's political affiliation, it turns out that I was 100% right, according to DC's Executive Editor, Dan DiDio:

We're entering a very interesting election year this year, and what I think is important about it is that it's that there's this excitement - a sense of "building"...there's change in the air in regards to the whole political process that's at play in the United States. What we want to do is tap into that emotion, and tell a story that plays in the DC Universe with our characters, while using the political backdrop we're seeing now to help to define our characters better... For the first time, we'll be having our characters make true political stands in regards to their leanings, as well as what motivates them to be heroes, and what they believe is necessary for their world and their country to move in the direction they believe to be the right one.

This is not about the actual candidates. Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and John McCain do not appear in this comic [laughs]. These are candidates that represent particular political beliefs, and it's more about why the heroes are motivated or respond to particular candidates themselves, or the platforms of particular candidates.

The biweekly series launches in September.

Dan DiDio on DCU: Decisions