DC Panel of Upcoming Attractions

Worlds of War will result in changes in Superman as he grieves for his friends lost during this event. DC will be putting out JLA comics done in the animated style to go along with the animated cartoon. Rick Burchett will be working on some of the issues. JLA-Avengers will feature "lots of hitting." With Busiek writing and Perez drawing, Busiek commented that there will be lots of characters featured. JLA/Haven is an upcoming maxi-series where an alien prison city named Haven crashlands on Earth. Haven will be a permanent part of the DCU. The introduction of Haven into the DCU is part of an ongoing effort to make the DCU unique with new characters. JLA #60 is Mark Waid’s last issue, Joe Kelley takes over writing chores after that. Empire is Mark Waid’s 4 issue mini-series, reprinting the first two issues he did under the Gorilla imprint plus two additional issues. Empire is based on the idea of what happens when a supervillain actually wins and takes over the world. What next? The Power Company is a new comic written by Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett. The Power Company is going to be a superhero comic about superheroes in the corporate setting. Expect 7 one shots in January, each featuring a different member of the Power Company. The ongoing series starts in February. Expect it to be "big business meets LA Law.." There’s a trade paperback coming out entitled "The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan" featuring the high points and low points of his career, plus his redemption. Green Arrow #9-10 explains Ollie’s return, also expect a Green Arrow Secret Files. There still Superman’s secret weapon. Superboy is also getting his own archive series, and expect the release of a Smallville set of PVC figures. Batman and Superman are getting busts from DC Direct, too. Deadman is also getting the archive treatment, featuring his Silver Age stories from Strange Adventures, The Brave and the Bold, and Aquaman. Deadman is also getting his own ongoing series, written by Steve Vance. Prior to the regular series, there will be a Deadman mini-series entitled Deadman Dead Again, each issue done by a different artist. In the fall, Suicide Squad gets a relaunch, written by Keith Giffen. This time the team is led by a well preserved Sgt. Rock. Doom Patrol is also getting relaunch, and the new team is led by Cliff Steele. There’s a new artist for Doom Patrol from Kuala Lampur, that the DC folks are mighty impressed with. This new artist is signed to an exclusive contract by DC, and hasn’t been published in the US before. His influence is Chinese comics, rather than Japanese or US comics, aBatman/Deathblow. Catwoman gets a relaunch in November. Slam Bradley is going to be investigating Selena, and she’s going to be questioning herself and redefining herself. Expect her to have short hair and for her to be a Robin Hood type. Batman is going to have a 10 cent comic (yes, 10 CENTS) in January. It begins the huge mystery story which will unfold in the Bat books. The mystery will not be in every book, and it won’t always be the focus of the book. If you want to try to solve the mystery, there will be a puzzle piece on the pertinent Bat books. The puzzle piece means that a clue is inside of the comic. Frank Miller is coming along with The Dark Knight Strikes Again. They are waiting until all 3 books are completed before they release it. Currently, #1 is done, and Frank has #2 scripted and penciled. The Warner Brothers stores are closing, but DC direct should be handling a lot of the merchandise formerly carried by Warner Brothers. Also, there is a hope that other WB merchandise will appear in stores in your local mall. A member of the audience questioned Aquaman being dead, and the panelists were rather non-responsive to the question. My interpretation of the exchange is that Aquaman isn’t dead, but DC doesn’t want to reveal their plans currently.