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James Robinson Glad He Had The Balls To Do Airboy – And With Bill Willingham And Amy Chu, Delve Into Their Work For Dynamite At New Jersey Comic Expo

Dynamite Entertainment held a panel today at New Jersey Comic Expo, hosted by Jeremy Atkins, with panelists Joe Rybant, Bill Willingham, Amy Chu, and James Robinson.

Red Sonja was a big topic of conversation, with Amy Chu taking on a new arc and an issue zero coming out in December. Red Sonja has some elements of similarity to her work on Poison Ivy for Chu. There are different fanbases she's trying to "rope in" to this specific arc. Red Sonja is no longer in the Hyperborean age and is now set in the modern day, which opens the story up to new fans. The first issue will be only 25 cents so pick it up! She's aiming for elements of "fun".

Chu will also be writing a KISS spin off comic. Because the current KISS comic has been doing so well, she'll be working on the origin story of Mr. Blackwell. This will also bring the story more into the present day. When she pitched the idea, she wasn't sure Dynamite would go for it since it's more soap-operaish in exploring the backstory of a person who will have tremendous power in the future, but they did, and that's what readers are going to get. Chu recently had a conversation with Kelly Sue DeConnick, who is a die-hard KISS fan, and this inspired her to make sure she's reaching out to diehard fans, and she wants to hark back to the "formative years" and first experiences of KISS for fans, she said.

Atkins asked the panelists to speak about their favorite works from their own careers. Willingham said he'd have a hard time answering that, and James Robinson talked about Airboy, which he was glad that he had the "balls to do it", as well as finding a talented newcomer to team up with. He also spoke about Fantastic Four, which he feels he put "everything" he could into. Those were the ideas that popped into his head at that time, but he said that he could easily think of other works at other times which deserved to be mentioned.

Chu said that since she's new, she tried to be "Buddhist" about things and not feel too attached to them. She's just glad they are out there, published, and wants to keep getting better. If she thinks too much about it, she thinks of the imperfections she wants to improve on, so it's not a great idea to be too focused on past work for her.

Willingham said that even when working on fan-favorite comics, you have to make a lot of guesses now about what you will need later. He frequently inserts elements into works that he doesn't yet know the purpose of, but later will develop them and hopefully they make him look like he planned things well. Of course, he often wishes he had done more of that somehow, but he tries to think more along the lines of "for who I was at the time, it was pretty good".

James Robinson said, there's about 50 percent of planned elements and about 50 percent of unplanned material in his stories, kind of like something he recalls Neil Gaiman said about Sandman. That extra 50 percent can be developed on and hopefully built upon.

Willingham added that it "spoiled him for the rest of his career" that Buckingham decided to make Fables his "home" for 13 years. It influences him because it doesn't translate to working with other artists, Willingham said. He's also used to an artist who "shows up each and every time" with great commitment, which is unusual through the course of so much time.

Asked what a dream project would be for them, Willingham said that the projects he wants to do now are things that he has created and controlled so that no one can put limitations on his characters. But he knows that there are certain characters out there he couldn't resist. For a long time he felt he'd like to write Thor, but lately it's been done so well that he may not need to as much. For a long time, he would have killed to write Doctor Strange, but his timing is terrible, because everyone is going to want to write Doctor Strange now due to the movie. He's been interested in Aquaman, but every time he asks DC, he's missed the boat with a new series launching already. Not finding a way to work on these characters had a bright side, which is that it forced him to go out and make his own characters.

Chu said she's a huge fan of Godzilla, and if she could write "any version", she'd be happy.

James Robinson said that any of the British characters in the Marvel Universe, like Captain Britain, would appeal to him. He'd like to "reintroduce" those characters for people who weren't around to read them originally when they appeared.

Asked what they have in store for Vampirella, Dynamite are looking at a March launch with a zero issue, like Red Sonja. The problem with the zero issues, said Rybant, is that the distribution is vast, but that there's a hook in the story they simply can't reveal or it'll spoil the issue.

James Robinson misses the days of going to stores and being "surprised" by covers and stories, whereas now everyone wants to know things so far ahead.

Chu says she's not too bothered by that since average readers are necessarily reading Previews, and there are still people going into comic shops discovering things. It just gets "loud" online, agreed Willingham, with those who do read about things ahead commenting and engaging, whereas there is a wider world of readership.

It would be great, said Rybant, if you could somehow just give retailers the information they need to order comics, but that's just not the world we live in anymore.

An audience member asked if the panelists had ever worked on comics that turned out very differently than they intended, going in different directions.

Willingham said absolutely that was true. It can be a process of realizing "oh that was what the comic was about all along".

Chu says she hasn't gone "radically off course" on a project, but if you watch the extras on a DVD, where you hear directors talking about choices that were made, those are the sort of changes that happen for her. Like a character taking on a more major role than expected, or another character's role becoming less important.

James Robinson answered that it can be frustrating if work begins to feel like it's not your work due to changes over time. Willingham asked Robinson if doing a single book or one-shot is easier since it's less likely to change a lot, and Robinson said that's somewhat true, but commented that some editors feel they do a good job by only stepping in when necessary, whereas some editors feel they aren't doing their job unless they are "picking around" and changing things. And it's simply a matter of which approach one encounters.

A fan asked about a Red Sonja film, since the last news was that a film was not moving ahead. Rybandt said that it's probably still in some form of development, but since they don't own the license, they aren't in the know at the moment.

Chu reminded fans that, more importantly, there's a Red Sonja Funko POP, and there's a blood-spatter Red Sonja coming out.

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