Alas, whilst I did not attend the San Diego Comic-Con this year (because it is an exhausting madhouse and also I'm lazy) I did participate in the much more relaxing and casual and--well, I'd say "clothes optional" but, well... You can almost get away with anything at Comic-Con. Except for Electrical Tape Suspenders Girl. They sent her away one year. BUT ANYWAY. Where was I? HOME-CON.
I attended Home-Con. Which consisted of me sitting in front of my computer eating microwaved leftovers and drinking Canada Dry while following along with live-blogs and YouTube clips and RSS feeds beamed to me from the con floor. Catching all the news and panels and cosplay photos I can possibly stand to shove into my eyes and brain.
It looked like people had a good time. All those tens of thousands of people. And nobody got stabbed with a pen, did they? Did The Lizard push you?
What stood out to me, this year, from what I have seen on the Internet, while cosplaying as Tracie In The Clothes She Slept In?
INCREDIBLE HULK #1 by Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri
I am a finicky and fickle Hulk reader, but I was a big fan of as much of the Peter David run I caught and enjoyed bits of Paul Jenkins, Bruce Jones, and David's short return to the series. It's not enough to call me a Hulk "fan" but I have enjoyed the work that some creators have done with him. To that end, I am absolutely psyched to read Jason Aaron's Hulk. Jason is a writer who keeps impressing me and who has a very fun, interesting vision and I can't begin to imagine what he could bring to the Hulk, but that's what gets me really pumped to see it. Silvestri's an interesting choice for artist. Not someone who would immediately come to mind when you think Hulk artist, but it looks like they have the brilliant Dean White coloring him so we could be getting some pretty impressive visuals to go along with Jason's big, hulking ideas.
CABLE REBORN by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness
I can't quite fathom why Marvel thought Cable needed to be brought back at this time, particularly after having had such a meaningful and effective death during "Second Coming." BUT I'LL BUY IT. Because I'll buy anything Ed McGuinness works on. And it could be interesting seeing Jeph Loeb return to a character he spent quite some time with in the 90's and seeing how Hope reacts to Cable's return, after having come into her own so much already. I don't know why this is going to exist but I'm just happy that McGuinness is drawing more things I like.
DC's THE NEW 52
DC didn't really seem to announce anything new, did they? Am I forgetting something? What they did seem to attempt was to assuage people's fears/concerns, provide some additional info for their September relaunch and--best of all--showed off a lot of interior art and design sketches. Those were really nice to see. It was also interesting to read Grant Morrison's thoughts on superheroes, Superman in particular, (sorry Robb) and some of the things he's planning or considering for his Action Comics. I've experienced a very bizarre turnaround in my feelings toward Grant lately and it terrifies me. But let's see where this takes me.
SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE animated film
I'm terribly excited for the upcoming BATMAN: YEAR ONE animated film, but that's pretty much as far as my mileage for Frank Miller Batman goes. So while everyone was excited to hear about the two-part THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS films, I was excited to hear that one of my favorite Superman stories was being animated, based on Joe Kelly's "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" That, along with an adaptation of Mark Waid's "Tower of Babel" Justice League tale, proves 2012 will be another excellent year for DC animated films.
SAGA by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Brian K. Vaughan returns to comics, a year after the Ex Machina conclusion, for an ongoing sci-fi series from Image with brilliant artist Fiona Staples. This is huge news and I'm hugely excited. I love BKV so much and I'm glad he's taken some time away from Hollywooding to put some more of his genius back into comics.
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield, at the Amazing Spider-Man panel, gave a surprise, nerdy, heartfelt speech to the crowd (after sneaking in as a Spider-Man cosplayer) about the importance of Spider-Man to his life and it's impressive and moving and Adam Warrock was so moved by it, he wrote a rap about it. It's just dang cool and Andrew scores MAJOR points with me for it. Well done, kid.
GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE
That sequel we didn't think we wanted? It's starting to sound SUPER DANGED COOL. I mean seriously. Reading the panel description and knowing how insane the CRANK directors are? This could be a crazy fun movie starring a skeleton whose head is on fire. And I think that's what the first movie was missing more of. Fun. Ridiculous fun.
Joss Whedon
MOTHERFLIPPING JOSS WHEDON. He didn't really have anything to announce but hot dang was I glued to my seat watching that entire panel on YouTube. I just adore the man and I genuinely love hearing him talk.
Conan O'Brien's FLAMING C
I'm surprised that something that seemed like such a one-off, throwaway gag from an episode of Conan's talk show has had such mileage. Conan crashed the Green Lantern panel with a joke(?) trailer for a CG animated Flaming C movie. And it looks spectacular. I'm hoping the fact that they keep making these sorts of things means there could be something long-form and substantial on the way.
MEANWHILE...
Probably the LEAST favorite thing I've heard from the con (so far?), outside of the awkwardness coming from Dan Didio regarding the lack of female creators at DC in September...
JMS SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE v.2
I was lukewarm on the first volume of this series. And hearing JMS describe a ("near") sex scene from volume 2 almost cinches that I am done with this thing and this guy.
And then there's the...
--wait... WHAT????
SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENTS THAT ARE REAL THINGS THAT ARE REALLY HAPPENING!
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES/STAR TREK
THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES ARE MEETING THE ORIGINAL SERIES STAR TREK CHARACTERS. THAT IS A REAL THING. KIRK AND COSMIC BOY AND SPOCK AND CHAMELEON BOY. THEY'RE GOING TO MEET AND HANG OUT AND SAVE GALAXIES TOGETHER. FOR REAL. I DON'T KNOW WHY.
MACGYVER
There is a MacGyver comic book series coming from Image. Okay. Odd. A bit. Sure. I mean... comic companies seem to be milking whatever licence they can get their hands on. That's cool, I guess. But the headscratcher on this one is that they got indie darling and brilliant artist, Becky Cloonan to do the art for the series. WHAT? I don't know if Becky is, like... secretly a huge fan of MacGyver? I... can't understand how these things go together. ...Don't... don't make me want to buy a MacGyver comic, Image. Don't. Don't do that to me. Not cool, Image. Not cool. (or... REALLY cool? I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS.)
What about you? What did I miss? What's excited you from this past weekend's announcements? Cobie Smulders/Maria Hill painting? Pull up a chair. Speak. Tell.
I didn't see you mention that Ryan Choi is the Justice League's Atom. I think at deserves a mention. Otherwise... just teasers and trailers and cool images. You know I'm buying the Legion vs Star Trek Comic!
ReplyDeleteY'know, I didn't even read about that until I was clicking "post" on this thing. But I hoped you'd pop in and mention it.
ReplyDeleteThat's maybe about the best utilization of the history edits I've heard.
Unfornuately, while they HAVE undone the events of Cry For Justice and Rise of Arsenal, they're scaling Roy back far enough that he's never even had a kid. So... Still no Lian. :(
It sounds like there was a lot of really cool footage shown at the con, but not very much of it has been released to the public, as yet. Although the Legend or Korra teaser was absolutley wonderful.
OH! And I should mention the return of the Marvel Legends toy line. There are some sweet looking figures coming out. I want Hope and Steve Rogers: Super Soldier. And I wish there was a way to cheaply aquire the amazing Arnim Zola build-a-figure.
And on that note, the DC & Marvel Lego figures!!! YESSS.
I think a bit that everyone is overlooking is that when asked about the Marvel Family Didio confirmed that a second wave of titles is coming next year. I know everyone "knew" this already but it's good to know we have more to look forward to. Also that a Marvel book would more than likely be among the next wave.
ReplyDeleteThat said I think the interior art for the New 52 was my favorite part of the weekend, it is nice to finally see what we are getting when we open up the new series come September. Have to say it helped a lot. I dropped one title because of it (Capullo's Joker is just horrible), but I did add a few (Green Arrow and Firestorm). The one thing I want a straight answer on though is does Wonder Woman have pants or not? Frankly her redesign looks nice. I even like the silver instead of gold because it helps her look less like Superman.
As for toys I have to say I am liking Mattel more and more, in fact I have my first MOTU coming this week. I am interested in the DC Universe Classics line, they have obscure figures being made now (the ethic Super Friends... I really want to make an Hanna-Barbera line so I can act out new episodes of the early Adult Swim shows). Plus I am curious to see what Geoff Johns' MOTU character is going to be like...
HOME-CON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteShawndy
I didn't see a confirmation of a second wave next year, just that they're looking into things like the Marvel Family. But it seems like different sites have slightly different quotes. I'll have to see if there's further confirmation of a second wave.
ReplyDeleteThe Wonder Woman pants thing is incredibly frustrating to me. All the promo material (AND the danged action figure) has her in pants but then it looks like they had Cliff Chiang change his art so she's back in the swimsuit/stripper look. SIGH.
Also: Geoff Johns has a Masters of the Universe character?
As part of the 30th anniversary for Masters of the Universe next year Mattel is going to be releasing 6 brand new figures, one of which is being designed by Geoff Johns. Frankly I like the line, though I have only gotten one figure from it so far. The problem is that they sell out fast, in under a half-hour in some cases. Also I have very little nostalgia for the Masters so I am not compelled to go after them.
ReplyDeleteI think at this point everyone knows a second wave of titles is coming, it's just a matter of when and how many. I hope that DC keeps the line under control and sticks with 52 ongoings. While they may have not come out and said a second wave is on the way I think they strongly hinted to such.
Also I could see DC making Captain Marvel the centerpiece for the second like Superman was for the first. Frankly the one reason I think the good Captain wasn't part of the New 52 is that there may be some internal debate on if they should change his name to Captain Thunder. If just for the fact it is hard to market a character when you can't use his name.