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| Captain Marvel redesign by Jamie McKelvie |
We didn’t do too much WonderCon coverage this year, as you may or may not have noticed. It wasn’t initially intentional; none of us were able to attend, and those of us at our respective homesteads did a mixture of Saint Patrick’s Day celebrating and movie watching (Casa De Mi Padre was honestly pretty funny, you guys). So, we’ll own up to it: it was the weekend, and we were lazy.
That being said, a fair deal of news came out of WonderCon ’12, most of which we assume you will be interested in. With that in mind, we’ve put together what we believe is a fairly comprehensive of news from the con, as well as where you can go to read more about the various bits of information. One post, all the right blurbs, and created for your convenience on a Monday morning! So without further ado,
Marvel
- Frank Tieri will be writing a four-issue out of continuity Punisher story, entitled “Space: Punisher.” It will be illustrated by Mark Texeira and essentially takes the Marvel Universe and spins it into outer space as part of an epic galactic crime story, with a planet of Green Goblins, the Avengers Federation and a Hulk akin to a Space Moby Dick. You can read up about it on Marvel’s website, in an interview at Newsarama and an interview at MTV Geek.
- Coming in June from “Amazing Spider-Man”, Dan Slott will be writing a story illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli entitled ‘No Going Back,’ dealing with the Lizard and Morbius, partially in response to the upcoming Spider-Man film in which the Lizard is the villain. Morbius’ involvement will be in direct relation to the revelation that Morbius was the mysterious scientist working at Horizon during ‘Spider-Island.’ Marvel has an interview with Slott about it on their website, in a Newsarama interview and an interview at MTV Geek.
- Marvel revealed that Kelly Sue DeConnick would be writing a new Ms. Marvel ongoing (which we could not be more excited for, truthfully!) in which the character becomes “Captain Marvel”, with interiors by Dexter Soy. The new costume is designed by Jame McKelvie, and Kelly Sue said some nice things about how to help keep the book alive under the current comic order business model in a Newsarama interview. You can read more about it on Marvel’s website, an interview at Comic Book Resources and an additional interview at MTV Geek. That’s four interviews about “Captain Marvel,” leaving you no excuse not to check the book out.
- In “Avengers Academy,” Christos Gage will be pitting the Academy against the young X-Men from “Generation Hope”, with particular focuses on X-23, Juston and his Sentinel and Sebastian Shaw. There are interviews about it Comic Book Resources, Newsarama and MTV Geek if you’re curious.
- Marvel’s previously teased “X-Treme X-Men” relaunch will be pertaining to the story Greg Pak told in his “Astonishing X-Men” run, featuring Stephen Segovia on art and featuring alternate universe versions of Emma Frost, Wolverine and Nightcrawler on a mission to save the universe with the regular version of Dazzler. You can read more about it on Marvel’s website, a Newsarama interview and an MTV Geek interview.
- Starting with issue #175, “Thunderbolts” will be retitled “Dark Avengers”, a move that was teased in the last issue of “Avengers.” The book will feature Kev Walker and Declan Shalvey on art still and will still be written by Jeff Parker, although — as Joe Keatinge astutely points out — it will in fact be written by Dark Jeff Parker. In terms of the team, Luke Cage will remain in the book and the team will feature Dark Scarlet Witch, Dark Spider-Man, Trickshot, Ragnarok and Skaar. You can read more about it on Marvel’s website and in an interview at Newsarama. Continued below
- In addition to this, Jeff Parker’s run of “Hulk” (which we repeatedly sing the praises for and are excited to plug yet again) will be taking on the Mayan 2012 Doomsday prophecy in a story entitled ‘Mayan Rule’, which begins with issue #53 in June and features Dale Eaglesham on art. You can read more about it on Marvel’s website and in another interview at Newsarama.
- Brian Wood will be writing two X-Men books this summer — “X-Men”, starting with issue #30 in June, and “Ultimate Comics X-Men”, starting with #13 also in June. This is the first instance of a writer writing the same team in two universes according to Marvel, and you can read more about it on Marvel’s website and in an interview with Wood at Comic Book Resources.
DC/Vertigo
- DC revealed Jim Lee’s pencils for the “Nite Owl” #1 variant in the Before Watchmen series, which you can see over on their blog.
- “Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland,” the long-delayed second original “Fables” graphic novel, is set for a November 2012 release date as revealed at the Vertigo panel. Finally! Just when I was getting impatient. (Additionally, “Get Jiro” — a comic not even remotely related to “Fables” — sounds awesome.)
- Depending on the success of Before Watchmen (and, let’s be real — as much as the internet likes to complain, it’ll be successful), there may be more Before Watchmen, according to J. Michael Straczynski and Len Wein in an MTV Geek interview.
Dark Horse
- Dark Horse has launched a new YouTube Channel in conjunction with Felicia Day, entitled “Geek & Sundry.” The channel will feature motion comics with their established properties as well as shows by Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Veronica Belmont, Tom Merrit, and Paul & Storm. The channel officially launches with new content in April.
IDW
- Coming soon from IDW, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee are collaborating on a “Rocketeer” four issue mini-series. For an interview with the creative team, check out Newsarama.
- IDW will be releasing several hardcover collections, including “Dave Stevens Covers & Stories” (a collection of Stevens’ non-Rocketeer based comic work with incomplete and unpublished stories) and Artist Editions of “Groo the Wanderer” and “Jack Davis EC Stories”, which you can read more about at Comic Book Resources.
- Following the success of “Womanthology”, IDW has announced a new “Womanthology” ongoing via a series of minis. The first comic will be entitled “Womanthology: Space” and run for five-issues with contributions from over 140 creators, including Fiona Staples, Blair Buttler, Jessica Hickman, Donnie Burton, Ming Doyle and Stacie Ponder. You can check out more about it at Comics Alliance.
- In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Joe Hill revealed that past the sixth and final installment of the “Locke & Key” story (entitled ‘Omega’), there is the possibility for a seventh story tentatively entitled ‘Battleground’ (originally ‘The Lost‘) tying up a few possible loose ends and set in World War II.
- Joe Hill also in the same interview revealed that there are plans for another “Cape” series with “The Cape: 1969”, written by Jason Ciaramella and illustrated by Nelson Daniels. Zach Howard, who illustrated the first “Cape” series will work with Daniels to keep the art in the same vein as the first series.
Archaia
- Archaia revealed four new books they will be publishing this year: “Space 1999” by Andrew EC Gaska, “Gang of Fools” by James Smith, “Pantalones, TX” by Yehudi Mercado and “Iron: Or, The War After” by SM Vidaurri. You can read more about all of these books in an exclusive interview at Comic Book Resources.
 | Continued below
| Panel from “Luther” |
Other
- Mark Waid announced that he would be making a big push into digital comics, starting with a comic made available on his site entitled “Luther“, illustrated by Jeremy Rock. Starting in May, Waid will be putting together his own digital imprint with weekly/twice-weekly installment.
- Ben McCool and Dean Haspiel are working together for Namco Bandai’s new webcomic platform, ShiftyLook, which already features comics written by the likes of Jim Zubkavich (“Sky Kid”), Mike Costa and Mike Norton (“Xevious”), Sharon Scott and Andrew Pepoy (“Alien Confidential”) and Matt Moylan and Dax Gordine (“Bravoman”). The series, “The Five Dimensional Adventures of Dirk Davies,” is based on the 1981 arcade game Warp & Warp, and you can read more about it in an exclusive interview with Comic Book Resources.
