WW PHILLY ‘08: DC’S SUNDAY CONVERSATION - NEWSARAMA
Filed under: Comic Book News, Comic Creator Interviews, Convention News, DC Comics
WW PHILLY ‘08: DC’S SUNDAY CONVERSATION
Report by Sarah Jaffe
The fans still around on a Sunday afternoon [at WizardWorld: Philadelphia] are the die-hards, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio said. One fan quipped, “It’s like church.”
So DiDio gathered a group in one of the panel rooms for DC’s Sunday Conversation, an hour-long discussion of what people love about comics. DiDio strolled down the aisle of the room, moderating a lively discussion of people’s favorites and hidden gems, how everyone got into comics, and all the best things about the medium.
To start the ball rolling, he asked people to raise their hands if they’d been reading comics for one year. Then five years, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, forty-five, and even fifty.
The one gentleman who’d been reading comics for forty-five years had bought his first comic, Hulk #1, at his neighborhood drugstore comic rack when he was a kid. Another reader remembered buying comics from coin-operated vending machines.
At the other end of the spectrum : the reader who’d only been into comics for a year—who was in costume as the Flash—got into comics from the Teen Titans.
DiDio then asked if anyone, like him, had given up comics for a while only to return. One man joked that he started reading comics again when Star Trek ended, and that it was Green Arrow that brought him back.
For DiDio himself, it was the Batman TV show that brought him to reading comics, and he noted that you can tell when people started reading comics by who their favorite characters are. “We’re always looking for ways to bring things back,” he said.
To prove his point, he asked about people’s favorite Aquaman, since he said he gets tons of people telling him they know how to fix Aquaman.
One fan noted, “Giant sea horses, gotta love those.”
Another was fascinated by the possibilities of a hand made of water. “Can he breathe his own hand?” he asked.
The question about the strangest character people loved brought up another fun discussion. When a fan said that he loved Azrael, DiDio told a story about an old panel of an old comic that featured Azrael, in costume, in a Volkswagen convertible.
Heroes for Hire and Sgt. Rock writer Billy Tucci’s favorite strange character was Lord Malvolio, which led DiDio to a discussion of the levels of continuity in the DC universe.
The first level, he said, is immutables. “Krypton explodes, Bruce Wayne’s parents die.”
The second are things that are helpful—Barbara Gordon as Batgirl was the example he gave, but not necessarily top-level important.
And the third level are things that happen that don’t work and just kind of get ignored. DiDio quoted a writer as saying, “I’m not going to undo that story, I’m just never going to mention it again.”
Every time a character was mentioned, groups of people clapped or laughed or filled in a missing detail. “There’s always somebody obscure that someone will raise their hand for,” DiDio noted.
He told the story of the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade, a bit of DC history—a book of cancelled DC comics from the late 70s that was published as a Xerox copy, with only 50 issues, that he received when he got his job at DC. Laughing, he said, “I got ‘em, and I read ‘em, and they were crap!”
This led him to ask if there were books people loved that, in hindsight, just weren’t very good. His own story was of a book where the island of Manhattan floated out to the middle of the Atlantic and Hercules had to bring it back. “And even then I knew to ask, ‘What happened to all the bridges and tunnels?’”
Someone else mentioned a Daredevil comic with pictures hanging on Daredevil’s walls. “Why would a blind guy need a picture of his girlfriend?” he asked.
It’s hard to go against people’s expectations, DiDio continued, asking people to picture something bad happening to Bruce Wayne. “Who becomes Batman?” he asked.
“Dick Grayson” was the answer from most of the crowd, aside from a few who thought that Bruce Wayne was the only Batman.
“Batman was born of trauma and tragedy,” one fan said, “And the Robins kept him human.”
Another fan suggested marrying Dick Grayson off, giving him some kids, then having someone slaughter his family so that he could be appropriately dark as Batman.
Many people, like DiDio, got into comics because of a movie or a TV show. The Superman movie, the X-Men animated TV series, and even G.I. Joe were cited.
“Some of the few memories I have of my dad were of him reading me comics,” one fan said. Another related the story of him teaching his teacher what the word “feat” meant, which he had learned from comics, since his teacher had never heard the word before.
People shared stories of buying comics at secondhand shops, with covers cut off, or even stealing them from friends.
One woman, there with her husband, joked that she started reading Green Lantern and kept reading because “he was kinda cute. Gateway!”
She went on to say that she and her husband celebrated their first anniversary by buying comics, going to a bar, and reading comics.
The last question was: “If you could give one comic to someone to convert them, what would it be?”
The answers were a veritable map of great comics, though Vertigo titles featured more prominently here than any other time. Y the Last Man, Sandman, Lucifer, as well as Batman: Year One and The Spirit.
WW PHILLY ‘08: DC’S SUNDAY CONVERSATION - NEWSARAMA
WW PHILLY: X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY - NEWSARAMA
Filed under: Comic Book News, Coming Soon, Convention News, Marvel Comics, Press Releases
WW PHILLY: X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY
by Steve Ekstrom
Yesterday, at the Mondo Marvel panel at Wizard World Philidelphia—Marvel announced the next story arc involving the X-Men will be titled Manifest Destiny. Details are sketchy at the moment; but, similar to the Divided We Stand arc which crossed through the X-line, Manifest Destiny will cross through the core books, touching upon various mutant characters of the Marvel Universe in different ways. Further, Marvel will be releasing X-Men: Manifest Destiny, a four issue mini-series which boasts a hefty list of creators.
Newsarama contacted X-Editor Nick Lowe as well as Executive Editor Axel Alonso to discuss particulars in regard to Manifest Destiny.
Newsarama: The term Manifest Destiny beares a significant amount of weight in the history of the U.S. and the expansion of civilization to the Western shores of North America–how does this metaphor apply to the X-Men beyond the obvious move to San Francisco?
Axel Alonso: The X-Men’s move to San Francisco is more than just a change in scenery – it’s a change in strategy. It’s a large part of Cyclops’ vision for what the X-Men should be – and one thing they should not be is sitting ducks in a hostile world. The X-Men’s new HQ, which we’ll unveil in July, is a fortress that offers the type of seclusion and security that they need at this juncture; their move offers a fresh start as they march forward with the faith—but not the knowledge—that there is a future. The Avengers can have New York, the X-Men have the Bay Area.
NRAMA: Is the Manifest Destiny storyline leading to a larger premise or will the titles be dispersing into their own singularity (somewhat) in the fall? Fans were seemingly pleased by the cross-over event of Messiah Complex–is the House of Ideas being mindful of reader sensibility in regards to being overwhelmed by large events and the lurching economy?
AA: What we’re mindful of is making each book count. The one thing we don’t want any X-title to be is redundant. Each book has its own mission statement, and its own vibe. And each book should contribute to the larger tapestry that is the X-Men universe.
NRAMA: Fair enough. Nick, who will be some of the key players featured in the X-Men: Manifest Destiny mini-series?
Nick Lowe: X-Men: Manifest Destiny will be structured somewhat like X-Men: Divided We Stand with one key difference—There will be one story that has chapters in each issue. That story centers around one of the first X-Men, Iceman. Other characters are Karma, Colossus, Mercury…
NRAMA: What information can you release in regards to creators involved with the mini-series?
NL: Mike Carey is writing the Iceman portions. There are many artists, but Humberto Ramos is going to do the covers.
NRAMA: Is Iceman a neglected character? Bobby Drake has always been this guy on the verge of breaking out of an ancillary role–then a regime change occurs and he falls back down a rung or two on the ladder of importance. Care to discuss?
NL: A lot of it has to do with his character. He’s never been the guy to stand up and take the reins. He’s the wiseacre. A lot of the reasons for him not taking center stage is that, I don’t think he wants it. Will that change? Well, he has been going through a lot in the last year.
NRAMA: Getting back to the idea of a mutant ‘Manifest Destiny’–could there be a change in the way the X-Men represent themselves to the public? Are they going deeper undercover like the later years of Claremont’s run or is this another declarative, "We’re here, get used to it." kind of moment for the Children of the Atom?
NL: That’s something we’ve been pushing at in a big way. Cyclops is assertive and confident and he’s not going to let mutants go quietly into the night.
NRAMA: In your opinion are there other X-characters that you, as an editor, would like to see writer’s tackle? Are there characters that writers seem to shy away from? And if so, why?
NL: Of course, I have my favorites. I’m a huge Cyclops fan and have a soft spot for Nightcrawler. But the ones I want to push into the spotlight are sometimes the smaller characters like Pixie, Pete Wisdom, Neznho, Dazzler, Strong Guy, Mercury…
NRAMA: What kind of threat will present itself in X-Men: Manifest Destiny?
NL: There are a ton of threats that are coming as part of Manifest Destiny. When they go to SF and state that this is their home, they know they have to be ready for anything. Some highlights? Magneto, The Hellfire Cult, Professor X… what? Professor X? Wait and see!
WW PHILLY: X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY - NEWSARAMA
WW PHILLY: DCU: CRISIS NOW! PANEL - NEWSARAMA
Filed under: Comic Book News, Coming Soon, Convention News, DC Comics, Press Releases
WW PHILLY: DCU: CRISIS NOW! PANEL
by Joel Rickenbach, Special to Newsarama
Dan DiDio, Senior VP—Executive Editor DCU and Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor—DCU, were joined by Art Baltazar & Franco Aureliani (Tiny Titans), Jim Calafiore (Batgirl), Shane Davis (Superman/Batman), Tom Derenick (Trinity), Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex) and Ethan Van Sciver, for Saturday’s DCU: Crisis Now! Panel at WizardWorld Philadelphia.
The panel kicked off with Senior VP Dan DiDio asking the fans to recap some of the big events in that recently transpired in the DCU. The Final Crisis recap brought up the death of Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis #1, which was met with a round of boos. DiDio understood the fans’ reaction, but re-enforced that the Final Crisis: Requiem will give Martian Manhunter his due. When the death of New God Orion was brought up DiDio quipped “What is that, like the third time he’s died?”
From there the panel went into a rundown of the books on DC’s horizon. DiDio wanted to stress that the rule for Final Crisis is that everything will be handled in Minis and one-shots. The events of Final Crisis will not spill in to the regular monthly books, with the exception being the books bearing the “Sightings” headers, which will be relevant tie-in stories, but not disrupt the current story arcs.
DiDio also reaffirmed that “This really is the Final Crisis. The idea is to have a cohesive direction for the DC universe after this story is done.”
Final Crisis tie-in “Superman Beyond was described by Didio as “The book Grant Morrison’s most excited about. The book is in 3-D, and it’s even in 3-D for Superman. He dies one of his eyes blue, and the other one red, so he can see everything in 3-D. You think I’m kidding? Just wait and see.”
A slide was brought up showing the cover to Final Crisis: Revelations, which features villain Libra. Revelations will introduce the Specter to the Final Crisis story. Tom Derenick mentioned seeing a few pages that featured Batwoman fighting Killer Croc.
Didio then showed a slide of the upcoming weekly series Trinity, which focuses on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. DiDio polled the audience on what they thought of weekly books, which was met with much applause. Didio then said “We believe the weekly format works. To me, if there’s a weekly book you like then there’s no wasted trips comic store. Even if there’s nothing else out that week that you read, at least you have that next part of the story.”
Trinity also brought up the question of the core DC character aging. DiDio said that “That’s one of the challenges we face, this generational storytelling. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman will never age, but as some supporting characters age around them we have to make sure the core three stay relevant. It’s our job to make sure it all fits.”
DiDio also mentioned that the issues of Trinity will be split between what is essentially A and B storylines, as opposed to the back up and origin stories seen in 52 and Countdown.
Next up was Superman/Batman. Shane Davis teased that the last issue of the current arc will surprise some fans. “I’ve read the message boards, and there are things that no one has picked up on,” he said.
A new Batgirl solo book was up next with Jim Calafiore stating that “Batgirl will be living in Wayne Manor, with strict rules that she is not to go out as a super hero. That will put her at odds with Batman. We will also be dealing with death in the book, specifically with her mentor Cain. We will also introduce another relative of Cassandra’s who has training similar to Batgirl’s”Next was Jonah Hex which Jimmy Palmiotti described as “Out the first week of every month, always on time, always beautiful.” He also said Darwyn Cooke will be writing the July issue. “Jonah crosses the border and starts killing Mounties. You think I’m joking, but that’s Darwyn’s story. He called me up giggling about it.” Jimmy went on to say that Jonah Hex “Will be ‘stand alone’ issues until something big happens that’s on the horizon”
The upcoming Green Lantern event, Blackest Night was met with huge response. Ethan Van Sciver teased “You can’t miss a single issue, or you won’t know what’s going on. Atrocious is just the tip of the iceberg!”Action Comics will have a Brainiac storyline up next. DiDio mentioned that “We will meet Brainiac for the first time, and see where all the Brainiacs come from.” He also said these will be “Sightings” issues.
Power Girl was next, to which Jimmy Palmiotti said “Everything about this book is big… (Laughs) Seriously, there are two things you will really enjoy! (Laughs) I could do this all day!” Dan DiDio responded with “Are we done?” as Ian Sattler took away Palmiotti’s mic. After things settled down, Palmiotti hinted that there could be some cosmetic changes in Power Girl’s future. “Amanda Connor and I were talking, and she mentioned that girls don’t wear the same outfit every day…Sometimes they dye their hair, or get a new cut…”
Art Baltazar & Franco Aureliani brought some insight in to future Tiny Titans issues. “Trigon makes pancakes for the Titans, and they have a space adventure to help Starfire clean her room.” They were also quick to mention that any Titan that dies in the regular DCU will pop up alive and well in Tiny Titans.
The Titans slide brought questions about the change from artist Ian Churchill to Joe Benitez in the second issue. DiDio- “Unfortunately Ian hurt his hand, and is recovering, so Joe Benitez will take over the art for the foreseeable future.”The panel then moved to audience questions, and the famous lighting round.
Any truth to the rumor that Tony Daniel designing new Batman and Robin costumes? “I Can’t answer that,” DiDio replied
Is Jim Shooter definitely the writer on Legion? “Yes, he has a minimum of a year’s worth of stories.”
Was the return of the Spoiler always planned, or a Chuck Dixon invention? “Whatever makes you sleep at night (Laughs), but there’s a lot more intrigue coming. Her return is not all that simple.”
The conclusion of Batman R.I.P.? “ Batman dies, Batman dies, Batman dies…Not really, but he will wish he was dead.”
Is the All new atom, Ryan Choi, safe with Ray Palmer back? “ Absolutely.”
Are there future plans for Doctor Fate? “Yes, but we’re letting him sit for awhile.”
What’s up with Batwoman? “You will see her in a lot in a couple months. We’re taking an old school approach to her. She will have some guest appearances, and we’ll find out what works before we go full on with the character.”
Any chance of OMAC or Kamandi books in the future? Ian Sattler teased with a noncommittal answer, but Dan DiDio gave the fan a Thumbs up under the podium.
Was Death of the New Gods essentially, immediately retconned in that many of the gods were shown alive, albeit in a different form, in Final Crisis #1? “Death of the New Gods was a celebration of Kirby. A chance to say goodbye, and give them a proper send off. But it all makes sense as Final Crisis unfolds. Both the New Gods and Seven Soldiers will factor in to the events of Final Crisis.”
Is Barry Allen returning? Ethan Van Sciver-“ Don’t ask me!” DiDio added “A Perfect place for Flash is a crisis, but not just one Flash, all Flashes…”
Is Superboy coming back? “Can’t hear you…” The fan repeats the question, and DiDio responds again “Sorry, I can’t hear you…”
Will Selena Kyle be back in Bruce Wayne’s life? “Yes.”
Will we see Harvey Dent soon? “Yes.”
Is Damian really Bruce Wayne’s son? The question stopped DiDio cold. He smiled for a moment under the pressure then quickly moved on.
Is Martian Manhunter really dead? “Yes! Sorry!”
For the umpteenth time a fan asked “Is Barry Allen coming back?” DiDio looked over to Ian Sattler, who gave him a “Why not” shrug. DiDio looked at the crowd for a moment, and then said “Yes.”
WW PHILLY: DCU: CRISIS NOW! PANEL - NEWSARAMA
WW PHILLY: HOLLYWOOD AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL - NEWSARAMA
WW PHILLY: HOLLYWOOD AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
by Gordon Holmes
Ahmet Zappa and Christian Beranek, the heads of Disney’s new Kingdom Comics division, were on hand Saturday at Wizard World: Philadelphia to discuss their new venture as well as the steps necessary to translate works from graphic novels to films and back again. Experienced comic writer Tony DiGerolamo (The Simpsons) hosted the hour-long Q&A event.
When asked how the duo would deal with the use of Disney’s beloved characters, Zappa responded, “We’re not trying to make Mickey Mouse comics. The goal of Kingdom Comics is to reimagine some of the great properties they have that are not so familiar to people. The biggest idea is to create new graphic novels that hit the Disney specifics, like a PG-13 adventure or a science-fiction piece tonally like Pirates of the Caribbean or National Treasure.”
Beranek added, “We’re doing the live-action Disney movies, we’re not really doing any animated stuff. We’d like to find a really cool way to take a Battlestar Galactica-style way of updating stuff.”In response to a question about the hiring writers for Kingdom Comics, Beranek explained, ‘The best analogy to think of is if we make your graphic novel, it’s as if it’s being pre-optioned for a film. So it’s not like those rights as a creator are being ignored, they’re being negotiated.”
Zappa added, “That means you have the might of the Disney machine behind you, which is the world’s largest comic-book publishing entity. If we’re publishing it, then Disney is making a serious commitment to make it successful.”
On the topic of how an ongoing monthly comic can be translated into a live-action format and whether or not that would be a venue Kingdom Comics would explore, Beranek said, “The Walking Dead is doing a good job, it could be a television show, but for us I don’t see that model right now. The monthly and bi-monthly format is waning, and graphic novels are picking up. There’re more people waiting for the trade.”
In response to a query about whether or not Kingdom Comics would basically become ‘storyboards on steroids,’ Beranek made it clear that it was his intention to create ‘the best graphic novels possible.”
Later, on a personal note, Zappa explained his affinity for comics saying, “I didn’t know how to read, until comics were involved. Spider-Man comics were actually what got me into reading. That was an amazing point for me.”
To wrap up the proceedings, Zappa and Beranek answered a question regarding their dream licenses.
“Megaforce. Megaforce is my dream license.’ Beranek responded without blinking.
Zappa laughed as he described his choice, “Death Race 2000 to me is my favorite.”
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