DC’s first panel at the Emerald City Comicon will be starting in a few minutes and we’ll be liveblogging block it as it happens.

Go ahead and hit refresh for updates.

And away we go….

Our roster: Vertigo editor Mark Doyle, Scott Snyder (you know who he is), Ray Fawkes, Jae Lee, Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs, Bill Willingham and Josh Fialkov (billed as brilliant, but misunderstood).  Jeff Lemire is stuck on a plane.

The panel stars with a plug for DC’s We Can Be Heroes Charity

Azzarello and Risso are doing a “sorta sequel” to 100 Bullets called Brother Lono.

Snyder talks about his Wake series: post-apocalyptic SF involving the mythologies of sea legends and monsters (the Kraken, Mermaids, etc).

Snyder on Batman: next up, dealing with Damien’s death, but through the eyes of Harper (in #18), in #19 and #20 will be bombastic like the animated series.  #21 starts the next BIG story that will take most of the year.  This will be a solo tale without collaborating with the other books.  It will be announced in two weeks.

Snyder on Swamp Thing #18 is when he lives, but will change the status quo of the series.  It returns to Louisiana and… Jeff Lemire just arrived.  It’s where Snyder intended to leave things.

Fawkes on JL Dark #20 – “Things get really, really, really strange.”  Swamp Thing and Flash get caught up in the adventure.  A familiar villain returns in a new guise.

Constantine is on the screen.  Lemire and Fawkes may be the first Canadians to write the character.  Lemire says it’s really Fawkes’ book, he’s just co-writing the first couple issue.  Constantine is no longer living in England and why is revealed in #3.  In #3, he returns home and everyone’s so mad at what he did, they try and kill him.

Lemire on Animal Man: “Rotworld may have gone on one or two issues too long.”  He’s resetting the series and exploring Buddy’s celebrity and culture’s obsession with celebrity.  Buddy gets nominated for an Oscar.  Twitter plays a part in that issue.

The last issue of Ozymandius is on the screen and the moderator thinks the response is tepid.  <insert joke here>

Lee on Before Watchmen: He wants to just announce his new project.  Old Frontier, the prequel to New Frontier.

(That’s a joke.  And he’s moving right on without really talking about BF.)

Lee on Batman/Superman: He just got done with the cover and his wife is home coloring it.

Dustin Nguyen on Lil’ Gotham: “It’s bad ass.”  But it’s also less grim ‘n’ gritty.

Fridolfs on Justice League Beyond: Fans ask him why the team isn’t bigger, so he’s doing a recruitment drive stories.  Seeing different cities in that universe.

Willingham gets to talk about anything he wants.  He didn’t know it was an all-access panel and he left most of his access in the hotel room.

Willingham on Fables: He’s not giving out spoilers.  He’s saving it for the Fables panel later today.

Fialkov on I, Vampire: He’s going out with a bang.  He’s just killing everybody on the way out (and he’s being partially serious with that comment).

If you applaud for the Phantom Stranger cover, DiDio won’t be on the panel.  The audience applauds.  (No, it happened.)

Q&A Time.

Asks Snyder about the Twitter feud with Liefeld.

Snyder: We’ve made up.

With Batman Beyond, will there be behind the scenes stuff?

A: They’re doing some origin stories.

Any new info on Injustice Gods: Among Us the game?

“It’s going to Kick Ass.”

Any chance of see Stephanie Brown or Wally West again?

“Never say never.”

“We have no plans”… for Wally West any time soon.

Oh my god, they’re laying it on thick.

Stephanie Brown question was ducked.

“Why do you keep giving Rob Liefeld work?” and where the Secret Six.

Both questions effectively ducked.

Are more Vertigo titles going to make the move to the DCU?

No, they’re pretty much all moved and Vertigo is going to be about original properties/characters moving forward.

What’s going on in Batman & Robin with Damien dead and what’s Fialkov going to be doing with the GL books?

Fialkov: All three writer are building stories together.  There will be events, but the books will be more separate than before.  Individual stories leading into a bigger overall story.  Geoff is effectively their boss on it.

With Damien, “stay tuned.”

 

A birthday issue for Lil’ Gotham?

Not really.

Did Batman Inc., impact the writing of Death of the Family.

No.  Synder knew about it but he had clearance to kill off whoever he wanted to.  It’s the death of the trust with the Bat-family and the death of his relationship with the Joker that his story was about.

When is Sinestro Corps War getting an animated feature?

“That’s handled by a different division.”

Aaaaaand that’s a wrap…

5 COMMENTS

  1. The Liefeld question is juvenile, as are the people who keep asking it or call the man names to his face at conventions. He gets work because of the people he knows and the fact that his name sells books, even if it’s not as much these days as it was in the 90s.

    Haters are going to have to at some point finally accept that Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, and Todd McFarlane had as big an impact on the industry of super-hero comics in the 90s as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko had in the 60s. This makes faces melt like they just stared at the Ark of the Covenant, but the truth will overcome any and all denial.

  2. While I am interested in a new 100 Bullets story, it really reinforces the idea in my mind that Vertigo is having trouble coming up with new, interesting projects. Sure, there’s the new Lemire book and the new Snyder book but most of the line seems to be spinoffs or rehashes – new Sandman, 100 Bullets, Fables, Unwritten. I wish them all the luck this year but it feels like a slow, painful demise.

    “Rotworld may have gone on one or two issues too long.”? Try six. Thank goodness for a tonal reset on Animal Man.

  3. I sincerely hope that Liefeld keeps getting work from all of the major publishers and continues to work until such time that he decides for himself that he has had enough. More Liefeld, less crying about Liefeld.

Comments are closed.