Today was the first day of San Diego Comic Con 2012, and the buzz online is that DC has already “won” SDCC this year. There is still a lot of con to go, but let’s recap what the Distinguished Competition laid out on day one.
Hat tips to Comics Alliance, Cook Book Resources, Newsarama, IGN, the Source, and Bleeding Cool for quotes and recaps aggregated here.
Jeff Lemire suggests that ‘Rotworld’ has a much larger reach, in terms of characters affected, than we have previously suspected. He also said that “Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.” would be crossing over into “Animal Man” as part of ‘Rotworld.’
Lemire also spoke a bit about “Justice League Dark,” revealing that both Frankenstein and Amethyst would be joining the team “for awhile.” Black Orchid’s New 52 origin was teased as playing into both “Swamp Thing” and “Animal Man,” as well.
But Lemire’s juiciest tidbit was about the inclusion of Tim Hunter, from Neil Gaiman’s “Books of Magic,” beginning with the #0 issue of “JLD.” Apparently, this was given Gaiman’s blessing, probably while he was busy making fanboys cream their jeans over Sandman returning.
Rob Liefeld spoke about the #0 issues for both “Grifter” and “Deathstroke,” with “Deathstroke” dealing with his military past, and the love of his life, Adeline (and presumably will explain why he carries an oversized framed photo of her in his trenchcoat), as well as covering some of his time as part of “Team 7.” “Grifter” is getting a “Yoda character” in #0, and Voodoo would be guesting in a future issue. He would go on to say, “One by one, it seems like all of these WildC.A.T.s characters are coming together, what’s up with that?”
Jimmy Palmiotti promised a new origin for Jonah Hex in “All-Star Western” #0, and to the delight of no one promised no “meteor hitting him from space.” Clowns would also be featured in an upcoming “All-Star Western,” much to the terror of coulrophobics everywhere.
Joshua Hale Fialkov, writer of “I, Vampire,” teased both zombies and the 16th century origin of Andrew Bennett. He added, “I am constantly amazed that DC is letting me do the ridiculously crazy things that are coming starting in issue #13. I’ve been wanting to do this since issue #1.”
“Phantom Stranger” artist Brent Anderson was there to discuss his book (“dark”), as well as Adam Glass, writer of “Suicide Squad,” who teased more Amanda Waller. Two new series, “Sword of Sorcery” and “Team 7” were briefly touched upon, with backups confirmed for the former touching on various magical creatures/beings throughout the DCnU.
Geoff Johns confirmed that Shazam will be joining the Justice League in “their second year, and Black Adam is around, as well.” Johns touched on “Green Lantern,” saying that the Guardians are trying to eliminate free will with their Third Army. “Aquaman” #0 will deal with Atlantis.
“Swamp Thing” #0 gives us a look at the explosion that turned Alec Holland into Swamp Thing, but told from Anton Arcane’s point of view.
Rob Liefeld calls “Hawkman” #0 a “giant space opera with the fall of Thanagar.” Remember how the New 52 was supposed to simplify origins? Yeah.
Scott Lobdell teased that in “Superman” #0 we would see a whole new side of Krypton. He also added that Raven and Supergirl would be joining “Teen Titans” in the near future.
Brian Buccellato said that, much to this writer’s chagrin, there is no Wally West “in this run.”
“Talon” was discussed, with Snyder encouraging those calling for “new blood” at DC to pick it up, as it is being scripted by new writer, and former student of Snyder’s, James Tynion IV.
Scott Snyder’s reintroduction of The Joker in the upcoming arc “Death of the Family” dominated much of the conversation, with Snyder comparing the Joker to the court jester to Batman’s king.
Tom DeFalco will be writing “Nightwing” #13 and 14, before Kyle Higgins steps back in to tie into “Death of the Family.”
Ed Benes will be the new regular artist on “Batgirl” as of #13, announced writer Gail Simone.
Gregg Hurwitz discussed using the same approach for Scarecrow in his current “Batman: The Dark Knight” arc as he did with the Penguin on the “Pain and Prejudice” mini. Hurwitz is also writing “Detective Comics” #0, which will deal with Joe Chill, and the aftermath of the Wayne murders.
John Layman said that his “Detective Comics” run will be all about shorter, self-contained stories with surprising resolutions. He said his first arc, “Emperor Penguin” is only “half” a Penguin story.
“Batman Inc” #0 is co-plotted by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham, and will feature the extraordinary talents of Frazier Irving on pencils. It was also confirmed that #5 will return to the future world of “Batman” #666, a future world where Damian is Batman.
“Catwoman” #0 is the first issue by new writer Ann Nocenti, and #13 will tie in with “Death of the Family.”
The next arc of “Fairest” will be written by Lauren Beukes, and will focus on Rapunzel.
Jeff Lemire promises that “Sweet Tooth” will not have a sad ending.
Dan Abnett said he would like to do more “New Deadwardians” after this 8-issue miniseries comes to a close.
“Mad Comics,” the precursor to “Mad Magazine” will be given the “Artist’s Edition” treatment, featuring the work of Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, and Wally Wood, to name a few.
