Greg Capullo's New Contract And James Robinson On Tip Toe (UPDATE)

Published Sat, 30 Mar 2013 08:00:24 -0500

Last updated Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:36:17 -0500

David Nieves reports from Wondercon, from the Batman and James Robinson panels…

The jam packed room 208 in the Anaheim Convention Center could barely contain the amazing Scott Snyder and his writing chum James Tynion IV. The two took the stage to tease the audience on the upcoming Batman Zero Year.

Snyder thanked the audience for their support of him ever since his Detective Comics run. He had more Dick Grayson stories to tell, but when DC decided to bring back Bruce as Batman in the New 52 Snyder chose to create the Court of Owls story and mold Gotham itself in a new way to challenge Bruce Wayne. Interesting fact, the Owls story was in the works before he even knew about the DC reboot.

Scott touched on the relationship between him and artist Greg Capullo. Snyder was not one to leave details to an artist and Capullo did not work with full scripts, but eventually the two became the symbiotic pair we see today. The writer described himself as Greg's comic book wife, because of Capullo's "WWE wrestler like physique." Recently, the artist renewed his contract because as he told Snyder, Gotham is the only place he wants to be. Currently Scott is in the process of renewing his own contract which would have the pair staying on Batman till around issue #50.

The panel then showed off the WTF cover of Talon #7, which featured Bane surrounded by the Court of Owls. Snyder praised James issue as one of the best Bane stories he's ever read and that will have major ramifications for the bat universe in the future.

Snyder then gave the crowd an impassioned sell on the new Zero Year story. The birth of which came from the realization that the events of Year One could not be part of the New 52. He could have transcribed a new Year One or he could tell a new origin in a way that has never been seen. There will be "different characters, challenges, and tech", in short a different Gotham for Batman to be born in. While he doesn't expect to reach the heights that the original Year One reached, Snyder and Capullo want the audience to see just how much they truly love the character.

While there were no questions taken from the audience, the cover to Batman #22 was unveiled to the crowd. Capullo continued his streak of nailing the tone of each story with the image of the molding of the bat symbol.

Distinguished gentleman James Robinson hosted his own spotlight Friday afternoon at WonderCon. It was a fun filled hour with Robinson touching on his current work, his classic Starman, and even some of his screenwriting experiences. Most of the time was spent with the audience asking questions trying to get secrets out of him and James playing dancer, tip toeing around the major spoilers. Some of the more notable information to come out of the panel included:

– Earth 2 will get a Starman , Ted Knight.

– No Ted Kord in Earth 2 or in the new 52 as far as he knows.

– Fans will get a Red Arrow in Earth 2, possibly an amputee.

– Rumblings continue for a Plastic Man series but he's heard no official word.

– Wildcat will make his debut after the Doctor Fate arc, Hourman will make an appearance just not soon.

-Doctor Bedlam and other Fourth World characters will be making their way into the books at some point.

On top of all the teases, James got a bit personal with the crowd when he talked about his screenwriting experience on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The first draft of that script was apparently very different from the disappointing final product we all saw when the movie released. Robinson mentioned how excited he was that his first script for it garnered the interest of Sean Connery, who at the time was contemplating his retirement from acting. Such a disappointment for the writer when the events of 9-11 forced the studio to change his script to what the film eventually became. The silver lining for him, and all of us, the experience only deepened his love for the art of comics. To him it's in the control of the final products, despite the money not being as great as in film, he enjoys knowing his voice will be what comes out of the story.

Robinson made a small mention about currently working on an independent film project after shying away from them for such a long time. The only detail he gave about it, the premise, a mystery set in a different time period.

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