Comic-Con Day 1 News Round-Up

Comic-Con kicked off yesterday with some noteworthy news.  I've compiled a quick round-up of some of the more noteworthy news after the jump.

Stan Lee & Boom! Studios

I had heard of the Stan Lee/Boom! Studios deal prior to Comic-Con, but didn't give it much thought.  Safe to say they got my attention when they announced Paul Cornell, Mark Waid, Javier Pina and several other prominent creators would be handling these new creations from Stan Lee.  I'm actually really interested in seeing more of these.  I was not expecting this kind of talent to be attached to each title. 

DC Nation

DC kicked off the con with their DC Nation panel.  It was probably the most disappointing panel I've ever read about.  To start, Dan DiDio committed PR suicide with this gem of a quote, "There is no big announcement from DC this year. I think DC is big enough as is."  Nothing like selling your company short. No Multiversity or Green Lantern hype or even mention of current things, like continued excellence for Return of Bruce Wayne or Brightest Day. 

From there, most of the coverage was spent justifying how Cry for Justice and Rise of Arsenal were excellent stories.  I'm of the mind that the less said about these comics, the better, but DiDio tried to tell us that with Rise of Arsenal, "the writers "touched a real nerve" which was a good job and not a bad job" and that the story resonated with people that had children of their own. Just admit the story didn't turn out as well as expected and move on, please. 

There was a glimmer of hope in this panel, though, as they confirmed that Grant Morrison would continue on the Batman titles post-Return of Bruce Wayne.  However, they wouldn't say what book he'd be writing or if they'd launch a new one for him.  Another Batman related tidbit was that due to great initial sales, Batman Beyond would be returning with another miniseries after the current one finishes up.  

Marvel Mundo

Where DC stuttered out of the gate, Marvel came out with lots of great announcements for their panel.  Here's a quick list of what was announced:

Rocket Raccoon/Groot

Andy Lanning described the book perfectly and Thanos Imperative spoilers free as, "Groot will refer to himself as Groot, and Rocket will fire some unfeasibly large cannons."  That's pretty much all I need to know.

Cosmic Avengers

When broached about the Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova's status post-Thanos Imperative, they described the status like Ross and Rachel, from Friends, as "being on a break", which seems to imply the "hiatus" is moving into cancellation territory.  However, Lanning later asked "Who would be interested in a 'Cosmic Avengers' book?", to which the crowd responded with lots of applause.  I speculated on a possible rebranding to a Cosmic Avengers a few weeks back and I wonder if we'll see an official announcement before Comic-Con ends?

Strange Tales II

I loved Strange Tales when it came out.  It spotlighted indie creators and let them run wild with their unique styles using Marvel's characters and universe.  Seeing Marvel move forward with another iteration of it is music to my ears.  Here's a full list of the people involved so far: 

Alex Robinson ("Too Cool to Be Forgotten"), Dash Shaw ("Bottomless Belly Button"), David Heatley ("My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down"), Dean Haspiel ("The Quitter"), Edu Medeiros, Farel Dalrymple ("Omega the Unknown"), Frank Santoro ("Cold Heat"), Gene Yang, Gilbert Hernandez ("Love and Rockets"), Harvey Pekar ("American Splendor"), Jaime Hernandez ("Love and Rockets"), Jeff Lemire ("Essex County"), Jeffrey Brown ("Clumsy"), Jhonen Vasquez ("Johnny the Homicidal Maniac"), Jillian Tamaki ("Skim"), Jon Vermilyea ("Cold Heat"), Kate Beaton ("Hark! A Vagrant"), Kevin Huizenga ("Ganges"), Nick Gurewitch ("Perry Bible Fellowship"), Paul Hornschemeier ("Mother, Come Home"), Paul Maybury ("Aqua Leung"), Rafael Grampa ("Mesmo Delivery"), Shannon Wheeler ("Too Much Coffee Man"), Terry Moore ("Strangers in Paradise"), Tim Hamilton ("The Trouble With Girls"), Tony Millionaire ("Maakies")

That's some fantastic talent involved.  Got this one on the pull list already.


Ultimate Thor

Looks like Bleeding Cool was right with the Ultimate Thor by Jonathan Hickman and Carlos Pacheco.  It's by Hickman, so I'm automatically interested. 

That's just a short list of what stood out to me.  There's still the new Iron Fist & Power Man miniseries for Shadowland, a tonne of Captain America projects in the works for the upcoming movie and a whole lot more. 

Young Justice Cartoon Promo



DC did much better outside of the DC Nation panel with the above Young Justice promo.


Geoff Johns Panel

While nothing was really announced, you should definitely give the Goeff Johns panel a read.  Talks about Green Lantern: Secret Origin II, various Green Lantern, Flash and Brightest Day bits and was just an entertaining read overall.

What did you think of Day 1 from Comic-Con?  Anything noteworthy I missed?  What are you most excited about so far?  Let us know in the comments below.

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