"Trinity" #13 on sale now

You have to admire Mark Bagley's self-confidence. DC Comics' latest weekly, "Trinity," is only shipping #13 this week and the superstar artist has already locked down his next project for the publisher. When asked if he knew what he would illustrate following his marathon 52-issue run on the Kurt Busiek-penned title, Bagley surprisingly told CBR News, "Yes, I do."

Asked if he could share what it was, he responded simply, "No, I can't."

No surprise there.

Bagley admitted the last couple of weeks have been "kind of slow" due to some "family stuff," but said, "We're on track. We're doing okay. I am doing #21 right now."

"I have 32 issues left and that's going to be over in six months so I have to plan ahead," Bagley continued. "I called [DCU Executive Editor Dan] DiDio two weeks ago and said, 'What do you want me to do?' And he said, 'What do you want to do?' He basically gave me carte blanche. So we'll see. Hopefully it will come out well."

Pressed for a tease on which character or what title he would be drawing next, Bagley said, "I do know what it's going to be and it plays to my strengths. Let's put it that way. It won't be a teenage book. No teenage characters."

Bagley said the process of drawing the lead 12-page story of "Trinity" every week for 52 straight weeks has been an enjoyable one thus far, but exceedingly stressful too. "Three days after I get an issue done, there's the preview for the next fricking issue. It just drives me up the wall," laughed Bagley. "I have to work faster than I like to work so I am cutting a few corners and taking some short cuts that I normally wouldn't take but it's the nature of the beast. But you got to do it. It's probably things that only I see, but it bothers the hell out of me."

Mark Bagley art from "Trinity" #12

But with the bad comes the good. "I am having a good time drawing everything from god-like creatures ripping planets apart to Ragman," said Bagley. "It's a lot of fun. I am drawing everybody in the DC Universe."

While he couldn't name a favorite, he said the 'Trinity' heroes -- Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman -- are great. "And everybody tells me I do a really good Flash. Which is funny because I never thought I did running figures all that well but Flash has been coming out pretty good," said Bagley. "The first few issues, he showed up quite a bit. I got to do some nice shots. I've had some nice feedback from him. It's sort of Spider-Man's figure. It's really taken me a while to get used to drawing Superman and Batman's bulk and Wonder Woman's.. bulk -- and all that implies."

Prior to signing an exclusive deal with DC earlier this year, the artist also known as Bags worked with writer Brian Michael Bendis on a historic 110-issue run on "Ultimate Spider-Man" for Marvel Comics. Bagley said he's not missing Peter Parker. Yet. "I am missing working with Bendis and I am missing his stories, but not particularly Spider-Man," explained Bagley. "I love 'Ultimate Spider-Man.' I'm still reading it. [New series artist Stuart] Immonen is just killing on that book. I've called him a couple of times but just geek calls. 'Dude, love what you're doing.' He's a hell of a talent."