HEROES CON 06: DC NATION PANEL – NEWSARAMA
Jeeze, Dido really does hate Nightwing doesn’t he. Good to see Marv Wolfman, back with the Nightwing character, if only for a while. Maybe the comic will be worth reading again.
HEROES CON 06: DC NATION PANEL – NEWSARAMA
HEROES CON 06: DC NATION PANEL
On
Friday, Dan Didio brought his “DC Nation” panel to Charlotte Heroes
Con. Joining Didio for the panel were writer Greg Rucka and newly
promoted DC Coordinating Editor Jann Jones.To kick the panel off, Didio recapped a little DC history, explaining
how everything that’s going on in the DC Universe today started at
meeting he had with Rucka, Geoff Johns, and Judd Winick nearly four and
a half years ago, when the initial seeds for Infinite Crisis and Countdown
were planted. At that meeting, Didio said, the focus was to find what
the writers loved about the DC Universe and its characters, and then
find a way to bring that back to the surface and reinvigorate the DCU.“I take responsibility for everything you love,” Didio said about the
changes in the DCU to date, joking. “And blame Greg for everything you
hate.”Rucka further explained some of the initial goals that they set for
themselves, explaining how Didio saw the DCU as being relatively flat,
that is, everything
was a superhero story at the time. There were no space stories, no
horror stories, no stories based in magic. Didio, Rucka said, wanted to
see the borders of the DCU broadened again to include those other
areas, which led to the four miniseries leading to Infinite Crisis: Rann-Thanagar War, Day of Vengeance, The OMAC Project, and Villains United.It was those four miniseries, Didio explained, that showed both him and DC that a weekly miniseries like 52
could possibly work. “We saw that people were buying all four
miniseries consistently for the six issues,” Didio said. “That’s four
titles a month for six months, so really, that’s half of 52, and that was the basis of the courage we needed to do 52.In talking of 52’s origins, Didio said that it came when
he was meeting with Rucka and Geoff Johns. The plans for One Year Later
were already set, and all three were at DC’s offices, preparing to
pitch the plan to President Paul Levitz.Before they were two sentences into the pitch about One Year Later,
Rucka explained, Levitz interrupted, asking when readers would see the
missing year. The three explained to Levitz, the plan was to reveal
what happened during that year in Annuals. Without missing a beat,
Levitz counter pitched them the idea of doing a new series about the
missing year, and making it a weekly miniseries.“Dan, who was making the presentation,” Rucka said. “Was standing at
the presentation board, and when he heard Paul’s idea, his hands
literally shook, he went dead quite for a minute, and then grabbed his
board, said, ‘We’ll be right back,’ and charged out the door with me
and Geoff in tow.”Literally, Rucka recalled, as the three went down the stairs from the
floor where Levitz’s office is located and Didio’s office, the
conversation changed from thinking Levitz was crazy for suggesting it,
to both
Rucka and Johns wanting to write the entire series themselves. They
returned to Levitz later with a plan, and took him up on the idea.Later that same day, when the idea of a year-long, weekly series was
presented at the DC editor’s meeting, Rucka said you could year every
editor at DC snicker when it was said that they were going to go ahead
with it.“Steve Wacker got the job, because he was the only editor who said he
thought it might be possible,” Didio laughed. “And from my standpoint,
that was as good as saying he would do it.”Speaking to the larger picture of those changes that ere begun at that
fateful meeting years ago, Didio said that readers are currently just a
little past the halfway point of the overall plan that was laid out.Moving on to the interactive portion, Didio opened the floor to
questions in his quid pro quo fashion, that is, for e very question an
audience member asked, Didio and company would ask one of them.Topics covered in the Q&A:
Didio
would like to bring Judd Winick back to handle Jason Todd as a
character, and there are plans in the works for sometime after his
appearances in Nightwing.When an audience member asked about the possibility of seeing more horror stories and comics, noting that I, Vampire was one of his favorites, Didio said that “I, Vampire” would be appearing in the backup stories of the upcoming Tales of the Unexpected miniseries. The series, Didio explained, will be much like the upcoming Mystery in Space
miniseries in format, and will feature the Spectre in the lead story,
with backup stories featuring DC’s horror characters written by Brian
Azzarello. Didio said that Azzarello has been digging for obscure
horror characters from DC’s library, and named “I, Vampire” and the
Haunted Tank as two that will appear.In regards to collecting 52 Didio reiterated DC’s
position, that is, the series will not be collected in any form until
issue #52 reaches shelves. At the same time, there will be no second
printings of any individual issues, due to the fact that, as Didio
explained, the story would already have moved ahead three weeks by the
time the reprinted issue reaches stores.52 Didio explained, is an example of his love of periodicals,
and he wants to see it work as such, and make it the “must have” book
that people go into comic shops for each week.Responding to a question about the Flash and Bart Allen becoming the new Flash as a result of Infinite Crisis,
Didio said that he felt a change was needed with the character as he
stood because, as he said, there was something very generic about the
Flash. Themes were repeating, he said, and he wanted to bring a new
generational aspect to the forefront again. In noting that Bart is the
Flash for this new generation of the DCU, Didio added that Wally West
is gone, but not forgotten.Son of Vulcan is still knocking on the Teen Titans door, Didio joked, referring to the final page of the miniseries.
When asked if Buddy Baker (Animal Man), Starfire and Adam Strange will be leaving the jungle planet they crash landed on in 52 soon, Rucka said they would be, otherwise, it would be a very tedious plotline that would follow the missing heroes.
“How tedious can it be with Starfire walking around naked?” Didio asked Rucka.
“Apparently it is for Buddy,” Rucka fired back, “But I’ll tell you, Adam Strange is really, really upset to be missing his eyes right now.”
“We could put in a scene,” Didio joked, “With Adam saying to Buddy,
‘Hey Buddy, if you’re not going to be using those eyes, can you help me
out here?”Noting that he was breaking a rule of 52 discussion, Rucka said that Grant Morrison is responsible for the Animal Man scenes.
Speaking of Morrison, Didio noted that Seven Soldiers #1, the conclusion of Morrison’s epic, is looking like it will be out in October.
Talking of the five issue extension for Manhunter, Didio
said he liked the book so much because it caught him off guard with
issue #2 when Kate Spencer’s son was injured, and also because Spencer
is such a strongly flawed character, who, despite he flaws, still tries
to do the right thing. Another element that appeals to Didio, he said,
is that the DCU did not have a high profile lawyer in its ranks of
heroes or secret identities, and as such, the upcoming five issue arc
will see Spencer getting involved in a very high profile legal case
with characters from the DC Universe, while also featuring MAnhunter
action.In restating his support for the character, Didio said that as long as
he is at DC, Kate Spencer will be Manhunter – they will not revert or
return to a previous version of the character.Didio said they’re thinking about doing more with Captain Carrot,
although, as he’s said before, doing “fun” comics is a hard sell
because simply, they don’t sell. Didio noted that there is a strong
core audience that wants “fun” and lighter themed comics, but by and
large, the audience is not big enough to support a book. “People tell
me that I hate fun books,” Didio said. “And that’s not true – I hate
books that don’t sell.”Using an example, Rucka pointed out that Kyle Baker’s Plastic Man series wasn’t cancelled because it was bad – it was cancelled because no one was buying it, even though it’s a fun book.
Back to the topic of Captain Carrot, Didio said that – given that he’s
not too fond of the characters – Geoff Johns snuck then into the Teen Titans,
and Didio only found out when it was too late, that is, when an editor
requested a new page rate for artist Scott Shaw, who drew the Captain
Carrot sequences.DC may collect the original Captain Carrot series as a Showcase collection of there’s enough demand, Didio said, noting that he wanted to collect DC’s old humor title Plop! in the same fashion, if possible.
Also speaking of Titans Didio commented on the use of Kid
Eternity in the DC Universe, going back to an earlier pint he made
about DC and Vertigo’s respective universes and how, as it has been
laid down by Levitz, never the twain shall meet. That is, Levitz does
not feel that it is appropriate for mature-audiences characters, or
characters that are and have been used predominantly in
mature-audiences stories to appear in all-ages titles, or titles aimed
at a more general, or younger crowd.To get a Jonah Hex (who had last been seen at Vertigo)
series, Didio said, he had to trade Deadman to Vertigo, where the
character will remain for a while. Didio said that though that trade
may imply it, there’s not an open door for a shuffle of characters back
and forth, rather, they only move in special situations.Asked how Superman Confidential and Batman Confidential
fit into the larger DCU and continuity, Didio said that the titles were
conceived because, looking back on the two characters’ respective
histories, it’s hard to pinpoint that many specific, key events in
their development as heroes. With these stories, readers will be able
to see and collect key moments that are important in the characters’
lives and that matter in the larger scheme of the DCU.Asked about the possibility of a Wonder Woman Confidential
book, Didio said that the goal in the coming year is to make Wonder
Woman as important as both Superman and Batman in the DCU and the eyes
of readers. Didio said that this ball was started rolling with Greg
Rucka’s run on the character, and there are plans in the new Wonder
Woman series that will make Wonder Woman more important, and return her
to her place of prominence within the DCU.In talking about Superman Returns, Didio said that he enjoyed it, and compared it to the first X-Men
film, in that it was a good movie, and you can see the potential in the
characters for further exploration. Asked if DC approved the major plot
revelation in regards to Superman and Lois Lane, Didio said that Levitz
was involved behind the scenes, and DC, not so much didn’t approve it
as they did not veto it.Jeff Smith was in the DC offices this week, Didio said, and has tow and a half issues of his Captain Marvel miniseries done, so DC is looking at a November or December release.
A Stargirl ongoing series? Depends on Geoff Johns’ schedule and events in upcoming JSA Classified issues.
Ambush Bug appearances? 52.
Rucka said that he would love to return to the Cris Allen character (which he created for Gotham Central and is now the host for the Spectre), and was originally supposed to write the Spectre miniseries, but his schedule didn’t allow it.
Didio said that Wildstorm is looking at and is in talks to see about
bringing back the Milestone Comics characters and series, but it is a
very complicated process.Will Booster Gold make it to the end of 52? “Hell, I’m not sure he’ll make it to 26,” Didio joked.
More of Dr. Light? (thoughtful pause) “Which one?”
Will readers see more of the Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon
relationship? Didio: “Not if I can help it, and guess what – I can.”Batwoman ongoing series? No.
Neal Adams drawing Batman? “Drawing Batman, no.”
And finally, speaking of Nightwing, Didio said that Marv
Wolfman will be making his return to the character, along with Dan
Jurgens penciling for a four issue arc, beginning with issue #125 of
the ongoing series.
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