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DC Editorial And BPRD Panels At C2E2 With Josh Wegler

Published Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:39:43 -0500

Last updated Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:39:46 -0500

One Little Bleeder Josh Wegler, Bleeding Cool forum regular has been having a blast at C2E2. And he decided to share a few of his notes. Take it away Josh!

I spoke to a few booths such as Moonstone books and HB Comics and the general consensus is that it's a really well run show but a bit thin and sales have been okay. In the case of HB Comics it's a bit hard for them to gauge because in addition to it being a new show, they had space in Indie Island which was set up for them by Haven distributions. They are normally in artist alley.

My take on it is that it is definitely better run than NY was in its first year as I had tickets for that show and couldn't even get in. The crowd did seem sparser but the McCormick place feels larger than the Javits in NY. As far as I know there are no panels at Chicago that are so popular that they could empty out the floor.

Notes from the DC Editorial Panel:

The panel was moderated by Ian Sattler, and the rest of the panel was Bill Willingham, Brian Azzarello Paul Levitz and James Robinson

Ian started off by asking how many people were at the Rosemont last year, and how the Twilight panel ran long and they tried to cut the DC panel short, but he let it run long to the dismay of the con people. He then recapped how everything he said was going to happen happened, which isn't any easy thing to do in comics. He also claimed to have picked the winners of the Superbowl.

Each panel member spoke briefly of their upcoming projects:

Robinson speaks about 100 Minute War which is an upcoming Superman arc. Its title stems from the belief that 1000 Kryptonians fighting a war would happen end in a 100 minutes. It's going to wrap up 3 years worth of storylines and is going to be a weekly book starting with issue 0 which will be given out on Free Comic Book Day.

Brian Azzarello spoke of First Wave. He talked about how he approached the Spirit not as a reverational fan but as someone who liked the character which he said was a distinction that people may not understand. He said the fan would not have be able to be objective in making the decisions needed in writing the character.

Ian calls up a fan in a Scarecrow yellow lantern outfit and hands him a copy of First Wave.

Paul Levitz on Legion. He said its like a wonderful reunion with characters you haven't seen in a while, except you get to be God and fuck with them. Its like a high school reunion.

Bill Willingham, Ian interjects to say that the latest issue of JSA was very bleak. Willingham says that the Public Execution issue was but it actually gets worst but gets better in a grand scale. "How long is Obsidian going to remain a damned egg!" Mentions a JLA – JSA crossover.

They go to Q&A

Q: After Superman 100 minute war will there still be 10 planets?
Robinson: Pluto is no longer a planet.

Q: Will the Outsiders play a part?
Robinson: Yes.

Q: Superman Tie ins after done how many titles will remain?
Ian:Can't really go into it but you will have Superman, Action Comics and Supergirl.

Q: Will there be a Flash Secret Origin?
Ian: Don't you know it already?

Q: Who will Kneel first Lane or Zod?
Ian: They both do kneel at the same time.
Robinson: Don't underestimate Lane he's a very clever old man.

Q: to Levitz will you work in old plot points such as three worlds?
Levitz: James Steerling has wrapped up a lot of them . Levits will pick up on recent Superman stuff and said Earthman will be more pivotal.

Q: How has the structure and behind the scenes changed of because of the recent shakeups?
Levitz: I can't walk into my old office. Originally when Kahn was made president there were some changes and to the way things were done, and it resulted in such projects as Dark Knight and Ronin. They are currently going through a period of reexamination and change. He hopes the new guys will change and grow on what he did.

Q: Thanks for the DC podcasts.
Ian: Thanks but we have nothing to do with it, but I'll gladly take the credit.

Q: Is the current Third Generation JLA the team we should get used to or will it change when Batman returns?
Robinson: The current team will be the team for some time and they will be completely immersed in the DCU. He's plotted out about four years worth of stories and will not write miniseries within books. It will have everything to which Ian jokes including a musical issue.

Q: will the JSA bring in the Thunder characters.
Willingham: he would like to bring then back as well as Amazing man but wants to keep the current team manageable as he can't write 30 characters and give them all proper face time, unlike Geoff Johns.

Robinson loves writing Dick Grayson because Bruce Wayne is more like a shark with a single focus when solving a crime but with Grayson you can go in any direction you want.

Q: Any more year ones?
Ian: Nope.

Q: Will the Dibney's be coming back in their current form?
Ian: "no…ish"

Q: Will there be an effort to deemphasize the big three and share the limelight with the rest of the DCU?
Ian: Really good question, pretty hard not to include Hal and Harry which makes it a big five, etc.

James Robinson: Supergirl will be in issue 45 and will get together with Dick Grayson making the world's greatest couple.

Q: asked by guy dressed as Batman who Ian prompts to speak in the Batman voice. Will I ever get a girl?
Ian: laughs at how the guy switched from third to first person and says I hope so.

Q: any plans for Animal Man?
Robinson: JLA 49

Q: are there any upcoming plans for Darkseid or the AntiMonitor?
Ian: Yes
Q: Both?
Ian: Not
Q: Which one?
Ian: Nope, come up to the stand and get your free copy of First Wave.

Q: JLA membership rotating?
Robinson: as of issue 43 that will be the team but there will be guest stars, much like the old black and white Mission Impossible where guest stars would come in who were suitable for the one job.

Q: Hawkman in the JSA?
Ian: Not right now, he will be in Brightest Day.

Q: Firstwave using Pulp back story or creating it?
Azzarello: Taking elements of both. Then talks about a character who was missing an eye in the original pulp books but in First Wave it was poked out by a robot.

Q: What other pulp characters would you have liked to have used?
Azzarello: The Spider
Ian: Ric Flair Whooo!

Q: After being on the corporate side of things does it affect his way of thinking when writing such as whether something will sell or not?
Levitz: First and foremost he wants fan appreciation and to know that people are reading what he is writing. He is anxiously awaiting May 19th for his book to come out and does not think about the bottom line when writing.

Q: Any other genres you would like to go into?
Robinson: Strange sports
Azzareelo: All I do is genre.
Levitz: I wrote a war story for Kubert but it hasn't been printed.
Willingham: A Space opera or something with the Space Cabbie.

Q: First Wave, will other nonpowered heroes make appearances?
Azzarello: Wildcat

Q: For Brian is First Wave going to be a limited series?
Azzarello: the name implies that there will be a second wave.

Q: will the multiverse be reintroduced?
Ian, no the multiverse is done and the door has been closed for now.
Robinson: Issue 43 has a big cliffhanger in it.

Q: Wonder Woman's lasso, Wondergirl's lasso will we ever find out the actual power set?
Robinson: JLA # 44

Q: will the JLA – JSA crossover feature a Thanksgiving dinner?
Robinson: maybe.

Q: Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison have been the writers spearheading everything in the DCU Will that expand?
Ian: that will be changing as we have lots of writers doing great work starting with Levitz and JMS.

Q: How involved is DC in the MMO with Sony?
Ian: Pretty seriously involved.

Q: Can I hear a nice Aquaman quote?
Robinson, His hair is fantastic.
Ian, yeah especially since he's underwater all the time!

Q: Will we be seeing the JLA team members that were there during Blackest Night?
Robinson: Vixen is coming back, Gypsy maybe. Cyborg has a three backup stories in the JLA book that will be leading to a big arc.

Q: DC collected books have missed some stuff, will they be going back and fixing that?
Ian, yes we are working on it,

Q: What is the future of the supernatural characters, especially the Spectre.
Ian: Brightest Day

Q: Cry for Justice, Shazaam?
Robinson: He has plans for him in the future.

Ian then asks the audience for books they would like to see and people yelled out everything from Kamandi (which Ian said he we love to bring back but they haven't figured out how to do it well) and old school OMAC to the Secret Six and Lobo (which Ian said is coming back).

BPRD Panel:

The panel consisted of Scott Allie, Mike Mignola and Guy Davis:

Mignola started by saying that there will be no Hellboy 3, the crowd laughed.

Allie plugs the online campaign for BPRD and says you can sign up on the Dark Horse website and it will give members all types of fun stuff like VIP passes and whatnot, He then talks about new Hellboy stuff coming out like Hellboy en Mexico coming out on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo.

Mignola said that July will have a major arc for Hellboy. "In the Storm" drawn by Duncan Fegredo and promised that there will be major changes for the Hellboy universe. He also plus a two part Abe Sapien book coming out with covers by Dave Johnson. There will be several collections coming out such as Witch finder and in August will be a BPRD series called Hell on Earth by Mignola and Davis.

There will be a new Baltimore comic called the Plague of Ships and will it plug in a huge gap that happens in the middle of the main novel.

There will be a new Screw On hardcover with a bunch of other Mignola stuff.

Q: Plans for an any animated features?
Mignola, they don't really start up those sorts of things, they wait for people to come to them with offers and take it from there.

King of Fear wraps up the Plague of Frogs storyline. Everything will be put into four tpb's to be released in 2011.

Q: What is Mignola's library like?
Mignola says that he has the downstairs of his house with books that range from victorian era books to modern stuff. Whereas the library in his studio is filled with folklore.

Q: Will Hellboy be coming back to the BPRD?
Mignola: Can't answer that but again promises that there will be major changes for the BPRD and Hellboy and unlike other publishers that give you the illusion of change, these changes will not be undone.

Q:Will there be another story about pancakes?
Mignola: He said tha the 2 page story of lil' Hellboy eating pancaks was a happy accident. He was called up by an editor asking for a two page submission for an anthology of Dark Horse characters as kids, and instead of saying no, Mignola gave the smart ass answer of "yeah sure, I'll do two pages of Hellboy eating pancakes" to which the editor said great thanks, and so Mignola was stuck having to figure out how to proceed.

Q: Is Mignola going to draw more?

A: Duncan will be wrapping up the middle arc of Hellboy's life and Mignola will write and draw the next chapter of Hellboy coming out in the fall.

Q: Did Mignola like the movies?
Mignola laughs, and jokingly says he hasn't seen them. Then he says that he knew that the movies were going to be different than the comics and he went into it knowing that and that also he was heavily involved in them and can't really be objective about them. He said there were things he liked and things he didn't.

Q: How'd you get the idea of the Screw On head.
Mignola: At the time he had noticed how there were all these Batman action figures coming out like Arctic Batman and scuba Batman with different outfits but all with the same head. So he thought about doing something incredibly commercial where he would have a character with different bodies but one head where you could pop the head into whatever body he might need at the time. As he wrote it, it got a little twisted so he thought he could try it as a Nick Toon but as he continued to write it it got so screwed up and wacky that he realized no one would want it and so he published himself.

Q: Will Josh Dysart write anything?
No.

Q: When did you realize that you wanted to do comics?
Davis didn't want to go to college after high school or get a real job.
Mignola always wanted to draw comics.
Allie, in college couldn't decide between literature and art and had a college advisor suggest he look into comics and helped design a curriculum to that included both.

Q: Guy, describe your work day.
Guy: Wake up around noon, run errands start to draw around 5 and work until 4 or 5 in the morning.

Q: what are Mignola's favorite Hellboy storylines?
Fans really responded to the Corpse, but he also likes stuff like the Crooked man and the Christmas story and that there aren't very many stories he's ashamed of.

Q: How'd you come up with Lobster Johnson and will we be seeing more of him?
Mignola: You will be seeing more of him and overall he has about a ten year career and the last stories showed you everything right before his death so we want to take things way back to the beginning. He first came up with the name and later when he was trying to create a pulp style character he used that name.