Comic cons have gotten bigger and bigger as the years have went along, and with that, you’d think the announcements are matching them in increased size. But in that you’d be at least partially wrong, as many publishers have went away from unveiling major news at the biggest cons like San Diego and New York for fear of getting overwhelmed by the hoopla surrounding the major motion pictures and TV shows that are now fighting them for attention at those events.
Which is what makes this year’s New York Comic Con such a surprise, as it was actually filled with not just big comic news, but exciting comic news. There were multiple major announcements every day, and that doesn’t even count things like Valiant Next, which was announced on Monday. But what were my favorites? What stood out the most to me? Well, you can find out below in this week’s Countdown, and please, share your favorites from the con in the comments.
5. DC Digital Continues to Embrace Its Past
DC Digital had a big weekend, announcing several new titles including a “Mortal Kombat” one and a “Fables” related one, but the big one everyone was talking about was another throwback. Another shot to the roots of DC on television, which is perfect given the fact they are attempting to take over TV again this year. Yes, “Wonder Woman ’77” is going to be a digital comic from writer Marc Andreyko that tells the story of a certain brand of Wonder Woman…the Lynda Carter kind. For many, including several friends I have that are not comic fans, that is Wonder Woman. Now that version of the character is getting a series from a writer known for excelling at writing strong women characters, and we’re getting astonishingly beautiful covers from the great Nicola Scott.
This, my friends, is a win for everyone.
Vertigo’s been announcing a decent amount of new books in 2014, but most of them are either from newer creators or longtime Vertigo veterans like Peter Milligan. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, but there was a certain lack of excitement around them that many Vertigo announcements would normally garner (“The Kitchen” does look pretty rad though). This weekend’s two big Vertigo announcements, however, did generate a lot of excitement. Why?
Awesome creators that are in their absolute prime, like Gail Simone, Jonathan Davis-Hunt, Tim Seeley and Marley Zarcone. Those four are very gifted folks who have shown it on many other projects, so new creator-owned joints from them are enormously welcome. Not only that, but they sound straight up amazing, with Seeley and Zarcone’s “Effigy” sounding particularly interesting (although Simone and Davis-Hunt’s “Clean Room” also look amazing). New Vertigo books with great concepts and creative teams? Yes, please.
3. Steve Lieber Meets “Quantum and Woody”
I love Steve Lieber’s work. His most recent project, “Superior Foes of Spider-Man”, has been an enormous success (critically, if not commercially) thanks in part to his exemplary work. His ability to make every comedic beat soar and readers laugh is nearly unmatched in the industry, and the guy just adds a ton of personality to every project he tackles.
Meanwhile, every edition of “Quantum and Woody” has been great, but James Asmus’s work on it has been the perfect pairing of writer and project. He’s made that book even funnier than it was before, and he’s added a ton of original and exciting twists to the mix.
So when it was revealed that Asmus and Lieber would be partnering on a new mini-series called “Quantum and Woody Must Die”, well, you could imagine our reaction. Now we have a pitch perfect match of writer, project AND artist. What more could we ask for in Valiant’s work on the World’s Worst Superhero Team? Not a whole hell of a lot else.
2. Marvel Pushes the Youth Movement
In the past couple years, Marvel’s done a hell of a job with its smaller books by encouraging exciting creators to do the books the way they want to. It’s part of the “indiefication” of Marvel we’ve talked about in the past quite a bit, and it has helped make Marvel the home to some of comics absolute best titles, like “Hawkeye”, “Ms. Marvel” and “She-Hulk”. Within that, there’s been a push of younger characters and creators, and that’s helped bolster our excitement as well.
Continued belowMarvel kept that going at NYCC, as they blew the doors off the con with the tremendously well-received announcement of a “Spider-Gwen” ongoing series from “Edge of Spider-Verse” #2 creators Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi, and then dropped some more bombs with the announcements of “Silk” and “Operation S.I.N.”.
All three books feature enormously gifted artists who haven’t done a lot of Marvel work in the past, but are the type of artists who get people genuinely excited to see work from. Rodriguez, Stacey Lee and Rich Ellis aren’t quite household names amongst Marvel fans, but with projects like these, it’s only a matter of time until they’re Marvel’s all-new young guns. Plus, with newer characters like the stupendously badass Woodrow McCord, Spider-Gwen (Stacy) and Silk, we’ve been given a trio of completely new (in a way) characters to latch on to. Of course, the former is dead, but hey, that only stays that way for so long in comics.
Either way, I’m in on all three, and I’m happy to see Marvel continuing to embrace this direction with its characters and creators.
1. “Hawkeye” Gets Another A-Team in Lemire and Perez
Like it could be anything else.
Following Matt Fraction and Dave Aja on “Hawkeye” would be really, really hard for any creative team. They’ve done some of the most lauded work in comics the past few years, and there’s a good reason why: it has been amazing, and a huge influence on comics in general. So basically anyone taking over the book would draw the ire of fans everywhere.
Welllll…except if it was new Marvel writer Jeff Lemire and artist Ramon Perez. Those are two of the most gifted creators in comics, and visionaries in their own rights. For someone to be able to follow Fraction and Aja, they’d have to be willing to take the same amount of risk those two took in finding something special out of the character and his story. Lemire and Perez are definitely the types willing to do that, and Clint Barton and Kate Bishop are undoubtedly in safe hands with them.
Well, safe-ish. In the sense that their stories will likely be well told. Not so much in their lives being safe. But that’s all part of the adventure, and it is one adventure I can’t wait to take with them.
