San Diego Comic-Con '08 is bigger than ever and I know it can get a little hectic trying to find all the news coming out of the convention, so I've put together a quick post with links to the news posts and panels after the jump of everything I found interesting that you may have missed.
Obviously, I couldn't provide links to every single announcement made, but I tried to cover all the major announcements. There's some links to the various comic book news site indexes that can fill in any gaps I missed.
Obviously, I couldn't provide links to every single announcement made, but I tried to cover all the major announcements. There's some links to the various comic book news site indexes that can fill in any gaps I missed.
SDCC '08 News Indexes
IGN Comic Con 2008 Index
CBR Comic Con 2008 Index
Newsarama Comic Con 2008 Index
Also, io9 has some unique coverage on the con that people may be interested in. It's not full transcripts like the previous indexes, but I'm enjoying most of their perspectives on the panels.
Comic Book News
SDCC '08 - The 'Return' of "The Blue Marvel"
"It's the story of Marvel's first black superhero. He was the most powerful and the most popular superhero around for a period of three or four years back in the late 1950s early 1960s. Think of how pre-'Civil War' Captain America was lauded in the Marvel Universe or how Superman is hailed in Metropolis or throughout the DC Universe and that was the popular status that the Blue Marvel enjoyed during this time period. - Kevin Grevioux
Kirk Says:Interesting concept. I suspect it'll end up like the Sentry, though.
SDCC '08: War Machine Suits Up and Goes Solo
Christos Gage's awesome Secret Invasion arc sets up a new status quo for Rhodey. But we'll take things in some shocking new directions when the new series begins. Folks who enjoyed Christos's run will absolutely want to come along for the ride, but brand new readers will be able to leap on board the new series with no trouble at all. - Greg Pak
Kirk Says: Bye-bye Director of SHIELD. It's probably for the best. The book tanked as soon as the Knaufs left. This kind of adds some weight to the rumours of Avengers: The Initiative being cancelled post-Secret Invasion with War Machine heading off for his own book.
SDCC '08: Image Gets "United"
It'll be a six-issue series. It's not going to focus on individual characters in the issues. It's going to be an all-encompassing, grand, epic crossover featuring all the characters together - intermingling and working together and fighting together. It's going to have the unprecedented art team of all the Image founders minus Jim Lee, and it's going to have every creator drawing their own characters, so it's going to be a hodge podge of different art on every page where all of the Savage Dragon figures are going to be drawn by Erik Larsen and all of the Youngblood characters are going to be drawn by Rob Liefeld. Every time Spawn appears, he'll be drawn by Todd McFarlane and so on and so on. It's going to be a unique reading experience, and we're very excited about that. - Robert Kirkman
Kirk Says: Not sure how I feel about this. Never was a big Image Comics fan. A bit too much flash, not enough substance back in the 90's. Love Kirkman's work there, though, and Savage Dragon was always fun. Intrigued by this mish-mash art with each creator drawing their character, regardless of who else is in the panel.
SDCC '08 - DC Nation - DC's Nation Is Full Of Batfans Asking Questions
Starting an all-new rumor, Ambush Bug creator Keith Giffen asked the audience, " If you were to hear that Paul Levitz and I were returning to the Legion, what would you think? Just asking."
Kirk Says: Hmm, interesting. I thought Johns was a lock for the new Legion after Legion of 3 Worlds.
SDCC '08 - DC Final Crisis Management
What writer would go back to books?
SDCC '08 - Vertigo: View of the Future Panel
Berger shows the cover for a Fables collection of covers, a "coffee table art book collecting all of James Jean's covers." The book will come out in the fall and will include all the covers through Issue #75 and the covers for the trades.
The Sandman: Dream Hunters is a four issue mini-series adapted by and drawn as a comic as opposed to illustrated text. By Craig Russell, it will be out in November.
The Complete Death is coming out as a hardcover collection with all the death mini-series and a few short stories that were in various Vertigo mini-series over the years.
Swamp Thing is going to be released as a series of hardcover books.
And Preacher will be in hardcover starting next fall.
Kirk Says: Holy crap, my wallet just took a stroke. I want every one of these with the exception of the Preacher hardcovers (already have the trades, not that enamoured with it that I'd upgrade to hardcovers). That James Jean coffee table covers book is going to be one of the best things I buy all year. And motherf**ing Swamp Thing hardcovers! The comic gods are smiling on me today.
SDCC '08 - Marvel: Cup O' Joe
Skottie Young's artwork is not derivative of any other vision of the Wizard of Oz we've seen before. Coming into the project I was a little nervous because I have a very specific vision of what Oz looks like, but Young's artwork is so full of life. It is so colorful and the lighting effects are wonderful. The character designs are new. I'm very pleased and I hope you all are too.
Kirk Says: This looks amazings. I never thought I'd be excited about a Wizard of Oz comic...
SDCC '08 - Talking to the Superman/'New Krypton' Team
"You've got 100,000 people with the powers of Superman," Idelson said, "but they weren't raised the way he was. They don't have human values. They don't know what's important to us. And it's going to get messy."
The storyline will also feature the return of the triangle numbers that used to grace the covers of Superman-related comic, as the books attempt to tie closer into each other. And as for concerns about a crossover "forcing" readers to buy multiple titles, Johns countered, "They'll want to read it!"
Kirk Says: Original and unique Superman story - Yay. Return of triangles - Nay. I'm pretty pumped about these Kryptonians showing up on Earth, but shouldn't this be some line wide event? You'd think this would be a pretty big deal in that regard. Hate the triangles and it definitely is "forcing" readers to buy multiple books, even if they don't directly crossover. Just make it a single book that's every other week like Amazing Spider-Man and be done with it if you are going in this direction.
SDCC '08 - Johns & Van Sciver Talk Flash: Rebirth
The Flash: Rebirth will re-introduce the once-dead character Barry Allen, bringing the previous Flash back for good into the fictional world he left more than 20 years ago.
Written by Geoff Johns with art by Ethan Van Sciver, the previously-unnamed comic book project had been teased for months by the two top-name creators, who orchestrated a similar return of formerly-deceased Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the 2005 comic series Green Lantern: Rebirth.
Kirk Says: I'm not sure what to think about this announcement. I love just about everything Johns touches and Van Sciver's art is always a sight to behold, but what purpose does bringing Barry back serve? They just "killed" Wally and replaced him with Bart and then killed Bart and re-replaced him with Wally. Add Jay over in JSA and Wally's two kids and there are more "Flashs" than you can shake a stick at already. Most people have never even read a comic with Barry in it either.
I'll be buying this, no questions asked, but it's odd they mention how Johns did this for Green Lantern already when GL: Rebirth was touted as Johns doing for Green Lantern what he had already done for Flash when it was first announced. How did DC manage to tank the Flash franchise in the span of 3 or 4 years to require Johns to come back in and re-invent it again?
Oh well, I'll just pencil this in on the pull list for whenever it comes out and enjoy what should be a AAA comic.
SDCC '08 - This Is What Ender's Game Will Look Like From Now On
SDCC '08 - Darwyn Cooke Adapting Richard Stark Novels
SDCC '08 - Daredevil's Lady Bullseye Art Preview
SDCC '08 - Remender & Co: On 'Booster Gold'
SDCC '08 - Marvel's X-Men Panel
SDCC '08 - Reinventing the Page: Stan Lee & Grant Morrison
SDCC '08 - New Green Arrow/Black Canary Writer Talks
Comic Book Video Game News
SDCC '08 - DC Universe Online Panel Report
A guy mentioned that City of Heroes is out. What is going to make people jump to this game? Cao says they've created a different experience. It's an MMO, but it's an action game. You don't have to wait until you level up to get some power; you'll get super-speed or whatever right away. There's no dice rolling -- you'll go out and fight in real-time, action game bravado.
Can you make a group like the Krypton Force or Green Lantern Corps? Cao says yes -- making legions and leagues will be a big deal.
Can you be a Green Lantern? In order to do the corps justice, they can't have that as an option. You can have a power ring, but you can't have a GL one.
Kirk Says: My interest in this game has gone up considerably after the news from yesterday. There's a hands-on impressions below for more information, too.
SDCC '08 - Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion
DC Universe MMO Hands-on Impressions
SDCC '08 - MK vs. DC's Line-Up
SDCC '08 - New Marvel vs. Capcom Game on the Way?
Comic Book Movies & Animation
SDCC '08 - Spectacular Spider-Man Season 2
He said Season 2 world feature Mysterio and Kraven, along with several other new and returning villains, including Venom, Vulture, Doc Ock, The Master Planner, The Sinister Six, Molten Man. Weisman said that many characters, including even Flash Thompson and Coach Smith, "get more depth in Season 2," and that there would be story arcs for Gwen, Mary Jane and Jonah.
Kirk Says: Spectacular Spider-Man is a fun show and I'm glad to see it getting another season.
SDCC '08 - Watchman Panel - We've Seen Awesome New Watchmen Footage!
The thing that really did it for me was to stand inside the Owl Ship, and to smell the Comedian's cigar... to have the Comedian slap me on the back and show off his guns. I was completely thrilled. It was like being a kid at Christmas, and I wanted it to just go on. - Dave Gibbons
Kirk Says: Everything I hear about the Watchman movie has me shaking with anticipation. This link has details on the new trailer that was shown at Comic-Con, too (yes, it's different from the one with The Dark Knight that most of us have already seen).
SDCC '08 - Hulk Vs Thor Animated Movie Trailer
SDCC '08 - Dr. Horrible's Singalong Panel at Comic-Con: Yes There Will Be More Horrible
SDCC '08 - Next Avengers Impressions
SDCC '08 - Yo, Joe, It's The Rise of Cobra
SDCC '08 - The Spirit Materializes
SDCC '08 - The Brave and the Bold trailer
SDCC '08 - "Hulk vs. Wolverine" Screening
IGN Comic Con 2008 Index
CBR Comic Con 2008 Index
Newsarama Comic Con 2008 Index
Also, io9 has some unique coverage on the con that people may be interested in. It's not full transcripts like the previous indexes, but I'm enjoying most of their perspectives on the panels.
Comic Book News
SDCC '08 - The 'Return' of "The Blue Marvel"
"It's the story of Marvel's first black superhero. He was the most powerful and the most popular superhero around for a period of three or four years back in the late 1950s early 1960s. Think of how pre-'Civil War' Captain America was lauded in the Marvel Universe or how Superman is hailed in Metropolis or throughout the DC Universe and that was the popular status that the Blue Marvel enjoyed during this time period. - Kevin Grevioux
Kirk Says:Interesting concept. I suspect it'll end up like the Sentry, though.
SDCC '08: War Machine Suits Up and Goes Solo
Christos Gage's awesome Secret Invasion arc sets up a new status quo for Rhodey. But we'll take things in some shocking new directions when the new series begins. Folks who enjoyed Christos's run will absolutely want to come along for the ride, but brand new readers will be able to leap on board the new series with no trouble at all. - Greg Pak
Kirk Says: Bye-bye Director of SHIELD. It's probably for the best. The book tanked as soon as the Knaufs left. This kind of adds some weight to the rumours of Avengers: The Initiative being cancelled post-Secret Invasion with War Machine heading off for his own book.
SDCC '08: Image Gets "United"
It'll be a six-issue series. It's not going to focus on individual characters in the issues. It's going to be an all-encompassing, grand, epic crossover featuring all the characters together - intermingling and working together and fighting together. It's going to have the unprecedented art team of all the Image founders minus Jim Lee, and it's going to have every creator drawing their own characters, so it's going to be a hodge podge of different art on every page where all of the Savage Dragon figures are going to be drawn by Erik Larsen and all of the Youngblood characters are going to be drawn by Rob Liefeld. Every time Spawn appears, he'll be drawn by Todd McFarlane and so on and so on. It's going to be a unique reading experience, and we're very excited about that. - Robert Kirkman
Kirk Says: Not sure how I feel about this. Never was a big Image Comics fan. A bit too much flash, not enough substance back in the 90's. Love Kirkman's work there, though, and Savage Dragon was always fun. Intrigued by this mish-mash art with each creator drawing their character, regardless of who else is in the panel.
SDCC '08 - DC Nation - DC's Nation Is Full Of Batfans Asking Questions
Starting an all-new rumor, Ambush Bug creator Keith Giffen asked the audience, " If you were to hear that Paul Levitz and I were returning to the Legion, what would you think? Just asking."
Kirk Says: Hmm, interesting. I thought Johns was a lock for the new Legion after Legion of 3 Worlds.
SDCC '08 - DC Final Crisis Management
What writer would go back to books?
- Johns would go back to "Flash" (which he [already] is) and "Teen Titans."
- Rucka would go back to "Wonder Woman."
- Meltzer would return to "Justice League of America."
- Peter Tomasi would like more "Black Adam."
SDCC '08 - Vertigo: View of the Future Panel
Berger shows the cover for a Fables collection of covers, a "coffee table art book collecting all of James Jean's covers." The book will come out in the fall and will include all the covers through Issue #75 and the covers for the trades.
The Sandman: Dream Hunters is a four issue mini-series adapted by and drawn as a comic as opposed to illustrated text. By Craig Russell, it will be out in November.
The Complete Death is coming out as a hardcover collection with all the death mini-series and a few short stories that were in various Vertigo mini-series over the years.
Swamp Thing is going to be released as a series of hardcover books.
And Preacher will be in hardcover starting next fall.
Kirk Says: Holy crap, my wallet just took a stroke. I want every one of these with the exception of the Preacher hardcovers (already have the trades, not that enamoured with it that I'd upgrade to hardcovers). That James Jean coffee table covers book is going to be one of the best things I buy all year. And motherf**ing Swamp Thing hardcovers! The comic gods are smiling on me today.
SDCC '08 - Marvel: Cup O' Joe
Skottie Young's artwork is not derivative of any other vision of the Wizard of Oz we've seen before. Coming into the project I was a little nervous because I have a very specific vision of what Oz looks like, but Young's artwork is so full of life. It is so colorful and the lighting effects are wonderful. The character designs are new. I'm very pleased and I hope you all are too.
Kirk Says: This looks amazings. I never thought I'd be excited about a Wizard of Oz comic...
SDCC '08 - Talking to the Superman/'New Krypton' Team
"You've got 100,000 people with the powers of Superman," Idelson said, "but they weren't raised the way he was. They don't have human values. They don't know what's important to us. And it's going to get messy."
The storyline will also feature the return of the triangle numbers that used to grace the covers of Superman-related comic, as the books attempt to tie closer into each other. And as for concerns about a crossover "forcing" readers to buy multiple titles, Johns countered, "They'll want to read it!"
Kirk Says: Original and unique Superman story - Yay. Return of triangles - Nay. I'm pretty pumped about these Kryptonians showing up on Earth, but shouldn't this be some line wide event? You'd think this would be a pretty big deal in that regard. Hate the triangles and it definitely is "forcing" readers to buy multiple books, even if they don't directly crossover. Just make it a single book that's every other week like Amazing Spider-Man and be done with it if you are going in this direction.
SDCC '08 - Johns & Van Sciver Talk Flash: Rebirth
The Flash: Rebirth will re-introduce the once-dead character Barry Allen, bringing the previous Flash back for good into the fictional world he left more than 20 years ago.
Written by Geoff Johns with art by Ethan Van Sciver, the previously-unnamed comic book project had been teased for months by the two top-name creators, who orchestrated a similar return of formerly-deceased Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the 2005 comic series Green Lantern: Rebirth.
Kirk Says: I'm not sure what to think about this announcement. I love just about everything Johns touches and Van Sciver's art is always a sight to behold, but what purpose does bringing Barry back serve? They just "killed" Wally and replaced him with Bart and then killed Bart and re-replaced him with Wally. Add Jay over in JSA and Wally's two kids and there are more "Flashs" than you can shake a stick at already. Most people have never even read a comic with Barry in it either.
I'll be buying this, no questions asked, but it's odd they mention how Johns did this for Green Lantern already when GL: Rebirth was touted as Johns doing for Green Lantern what he had already done for Flash when it was first announced. How did DC manage to tank the Flash franchise in the span of 3 or 4 years to require Johns to come back in and re-invent it again?
Oh well, I'll just pencil this in on the pull list for whenever it comes out and enjoy what should be a AAA comic.
SDCC '08 - This Is What Ender's Game Will Look Like From Now On
SDCC '08 - Darwyn Cooke Adapting Richard Stark Novels
SDCC '08 - Daredevil's Lady Bullseye Art Preview
SDCC '08 - Remender & Co: On 'Booster Gold'
SDCC '08 - Marvel's X-Men Panel
SDCC '08 - Reinventing the Page: Stan Lee & Grant Morrison
SDCC '08 - New Green Arrow/Black Canary Writer Talks
Comic Book Video Game News
SDCC '08 - DC Universe Online Panel Report
A guy mentioned that City of Heroes is out. What is going to make people jump to this game? Cao says they've created a different experience. It's an MMO, but it's an action game. You don't have to wait until you level up to get some power; you'll get super-speed or whatever right away. There's no dice rolling -- you'll go out and fight in real-time, action game bravado.
Can you make a group like the Krypton Force or Green Lantern Corps? Cao says yes -- making legions and leagues will be a big deal.
Can you be a Green Lantern? In order to do the corps justice, they can't have that as an option. You can have a power ring, but you can't have a GL one.
Kirk Says: My interest in this game has gone up considerably after the news from yesterday. There's a hands-on impressions below for more information, too.
SDCC '08 - Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion
DC Universe MMO Hands-on Impressions
SDCC '08 - MK vs. DC's Line-Up
SDCC '08 - New Marvel vs. Capcom Game on the Way?
Comic Book Movies & Animation
SDCC '08 - Spectacular Spider-Man Season 2
He said Season 2 world feature Mysterio and Kraven, along with several other new and returning villains, including Venom, Vulture, Doc Ock, The Master Planner, The Sinister Six, Molten Man. Weisman said that many characters, including even Flash Thompson and Coach Smith, "get more depth in Season 2," and that there would be story arcs for Gwen, Mary Jane and Jonah.
Kirk Says: Spectacular Spider-Man is a fun show and I'm glad to see it getting another season.
SDCC '08 - Watchman Panel - We've Seen Awesome New Watchmen Footage!
The thing that really did it for me was to stand inside the Owl Ship, and to smell the Comedian's cigar... to have the Comedian slap me on the back and show off his guns. I was completely thrilled. It was like being a kid at Christmas, and I wanted it to just go on. - Dave Gibbons
Kirk Says: Everything I hear about the Watchman movie has me shaking with anticipation. This link has details on the new trailer that was shown at Comic-Con, too (yes, it's different from the one with The Dark Knight that most of us have already seen).
SDCC '08 - Hulk Vs Thor Animated Movie Trailer
SDCC '08 - Dr. Horrible's Singalong Panel at Comic-Con: Yes There Will Be More Horrible
SDCC '08 - Next Avengers Impressions
SDCC '08 - Yo, Joe, It's The Rise of Cobra
SDCC '08 - The Spirit Materializes
SDCC '08 - The Brave and the Bold trailer
SDCC '08 - "Hulk vs. Wolverine" Screening
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9 comments:
I'm easily the most excited about Flash: Rebirth. Other than that, nothing has really shocked me. The Batman panel wasn't anything interesting really, Morrison is still amazed with R.I.P. Oh and if they Put Tomasi on Black Adam, they'd probably pull him off another book, which just doesn't seem worth it.
That's about it for now, there's today and tomorrow left so we'll see.
Oh ya, I forgot to put the Flash: Rebirth in there. It was one of the firs tthings announced and was probably buried at the bottom of the site indexes. I'll add that one there, since I'm actually interested int aht one too.
im praying they officially announce The Dark Knight video game that oldman hinted at on g4 this past week...Assassins Creed meets batman game will have me handing over my wallet
So which of the Image founders gets to draw the things that obscure Liefeld's characters' feet?
Seriously though, the Darwyn Cooke Stark book sounds awesome. That's about the only thing that sounded interesting though.
Well after reading the "New Krypton" stuff on Newsarama, I'm even a little excited about that. Maybe it's the fact that Johns is writing. Either way, like I did Batman I should probably jump onto Batman here pretty soon.
By the way; has DC announced any cancellations yet?
@anonymous - That sounds like it could be pretty damn good. Probably see it at PAX if they don't show it here.
@bill - Ahaha, poor Liefeld. I think he can handle obscuring them with rocks and grass himself.
I also liked the announcement of Cooke's Stark books. Never read those novels, but know of them and their content and it's right up Cooke's alley.
@ethreal - I think the Brainiac arc currently on-going would be a good place to start. Not a fan of what Robinson has done so far, but might have start picking it up once the "triangles" appear again.
And, no, I haven't heard news of any cancellations. There's another DC Nation panel on Sunday that could still do so though.
Hey Kirk, cool article.
I did something similar in my Myspace blog, but I also covered Infernus and the Witchblade movie.
About Image United...I grew up in the 90's, so I'm of course excited. When I was just a kid I saw the Spawn movie, and it got me into the comics. While I just recently start picking up Witchblade, I grew up reading Spawn, Shadowhawk and sometimes Savage Dragon. I love the classic Image stories and am very excited about United. Kirkman is the right guy for the job, as no one can pull these artists together and get it done on time as well as Kirkman can. That, and he also grew up with Image comics, so he has both a love and respect for the characters that I look forward to seeing on the pages.
If I have any really worry as delays, it's around McFarlane and Portacio. For one, McFarlane runs a company, and is co-writing Spawn. Portacio is also drawing Spawn (or starts with #185) and will be busy already. That plus he has a new series that he'll be writing.
But what excites me most is Jim Valentino drawing Shadowhawk again. One of my all time favorite characters. Probably the most underrated Image character too.
I too am psyched about Spectacular Spider-man season 2.
I'm hoping Avengers: the Initiative doesn't get canceled, but knowing Marvel's luck with great series, I wouldn't be surprised.
The Wathcmen movie has me excited. I had the collection a while back, but during one of my family moves, it got ruined. I hope to buy a new copy soon, but every time I go by the bookstore their sold out.
Anyway, great article Kirk. I am glad to get to see your thoughts on the Con.
Hey Adrenn, feel free to throw out a link to your MySpace blog. I'd love to read what you thought and I'm sure you had some links, as you mentioned a few already, that I don't that some people might be interested in.
I grew up in the 90's as well (I'm still in my mid 20's ahah), but I think I was too young to really grasp the cultural and business shift with the launch of Image and I was still picking most of my stuff up at grocery stores and convenience stores, so not much Image to be had either.
I still find it a bit hard to really get into any of hte Image properties, even their current stuff, and that probably explains my lack of real interest in the series.
I am really interested to see how this artist collaboration is going to work out though.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=185235033&blogID=418286652
I make most of my posts friends exclusive, but these types are public.
I got into comics at a very young age. My father was reading me old Spider-man comics when I was around 2 (no joke) and was into them at 6. I saw the Spawn movie at a friends house in 1999, so I got tons of back issues. My comic shop had been selling most old Image comics for a buck a piece. By the time I was 10 I had a thorough love of Image comics. I was fortunate enough to live a ten minute bike ride from a comic shop.
Also, Kirk. If you might be interested in picking up Spawn, #185 comes out in December and it's a reboot of the series. I think Savage Dragon is also on a more regular shipping schedule now that Larsen is out of the EIC chair.
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