DC Panel
Moderated by Bob Wayne
Panelists: Paul Dini, Dan Didio, Jim Lee, Kurt Busiek,
Michael Turner, Talent Caldwell
This panel was basically a promotional panel for
upcoming DC/Wildstorm comics.
In February, a 6-issue mini series is coming out
featuring Kal-El on Krypton. Talent Caldwell reported
that he had only drawn one picture of Supes in
costume, thus far. Michael Turner says that in this
series Superman is doing different things, like riding
a speed bike. It may look like he's doing different
things, but everything isn't like it seems.
A 6-issue series of The Question will start next
summer, and it will be written by Rich Veitch.
Lex Luthor/Man of Steel 6 issue mini is forthcoming,
with the basic premise, "Can you trust an alien?"
Superman/Batman is one of DC's best selling titles
currently, and there is a 6 story arc coming written
by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Michael Turner. The preview
should be in Wizard soon. After that, Carlos Pacheco
will be taking over.
There is a self-contained comic novel coming out, but
it's not tied to the DCU continuity. It's called
"Superman, Secret Identity," and it's written by Kurt
Busiek and drawn by Stuart Immonen. The story is about
Clark Kent, a kid who is always teased about his name,
and one day he actually discovers that he does have
superpowers, like his names sake. The idea behind the
story is that of secret identity . . . that all of us have
various facets to our personalities, yet we only show
part of ourselves to others.
In the Flash, in February, Kid Flash and the Golden
Age Flash confront The Flash about who is he is. It's
written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Howard Porter.
Issue #200 of Wonder Woman will feature JG Jones cover
art, and will be 64 pages long. Greg Rucka will be
scripting. In February, George Perez's Wonder Woman
will be collected into a trade paper back.
DC Direct will start a series of 1st appearances
figures. Wonder Woman, Bats, and Captain Marvel are
some of the characters that we can expect.
Kyle Baker is writing and drawing Plastic Man.
JLA Liberty and Justice is coming. It's written by
Paul Dini with art by Alex Ross and it features the
Silver Age Justice League.
JLA-Avengers #4 is going to be late because George
Perez developed tendonitis in his drawing hand while
drawing the cover to #3. He apologizes for it being
late.
George Perez's next project is a graphic novel he
started in 1989, featuring The Teen Titans. A lot of
the art is done and George jokes that it explains "why
Garth has a mullet." It also has the World Trade
Center in the story and Perez doesn't plan on removing
it, stating that it's his tribute to the victims of
9-11. Marv Wolfman scripted it, and it's half done
currently. It's an untold tale of the era but it has
repercussions to the modern characters.
JLA is going to feature the old Uncanny Xman team of
John Byrne and Chris Claremont.
The big event coming in the Wildstorm Universe is Coup
D'etat. The Authority takes over the US Government and
it effects the rest of the Wildstorm Universe. It's a
good starting point for new readers.
Arrow Smith-Astro City is a one issue event that kicks
off the regular Arrow Smith series. Speaking of Astro
City, Astro City Dark Age is coming, set in 1970, and
explains why the 70's were a dark age for Astro City.
Neil Gaimen's Sandman: Endless Nights made the New
York Times best seller list, a first for a comic.
In the Spring, Swamp Thing: Bad Seed should debut. It
features such characters as Sargon the Sorcerer and
John Constantine.
Howard Chaykin is going to be doing a 6-issue mini
series of Challengers of the Unknown where all of the
characters lose their memories.
In #8 of Outsiders, Huntress will be joining the team,
but she won't be around forever.
Bruce Timm and Paul Dini are doing a 6 issue series
of Harley and Ivy, due in April. Paul brought the
xeroxed copy of an issue as proof and waved it around.
The second wave of action figures based on Hush are
coming. Featured is Robin, Batwing, Catwoman, and
Superman.
Joe Quesada: Cup of Joe
In this panel Joe answered numerous questions from the
audience.
Secret War is going to be coming out quarterly. It's a
marketing experiment on Marvel's part, to see if the
market will buy a quarterly book. They think that
quality is so high and the story so engrossing that
the fans will buy it on a quarterly basis.
There are plans for Black Widow and Dr. Strange. Dr.
Strange will be a "re-invisioning of the character."
What happened to Valiant comics? Quesada states that
he quit. He says that he didn't feel like he was being
treated fairly. It wasn't a financial issue but an
issue of honesty. He states that they would switch him
on projects and not tell him the truth why. If they
had been honest about the reasons, he might have done
it and stayed on.
Marvel is now looking at new talent. Each and every
submission that comes in will be evaluated personally.
Marvel has hired two folks to look at the writing and
the art. Joe reports that he signs personally every
letter that goes out of the Marvel office regarding
new talent. He suggests that prospective writers and
artists look at the Marvel website for submission
guidelines.
Joe reports that this year he learned patience as an
editor. He'd like to shout to the world all the good
stuff Marvel is doing, but has learned to wait until
it's time to talk about it.
Quesada reports that Brandon Peterson and Michael
Ringo have signed exclusives with Marvel. Someone in
the audience reported that DC was trying to lure one
of Marvel's creators over to DC at this con and Joe
responded that this was typical, traditional business
practice between the Big Two. Quesada admitted doing
the same thing during this con himself.
The reason there is no more Ash is that it wasn't cost
effective.
Joe Quesada reports that the idea for the film is
"spectacular."
Joe was questioned about the lack of a Marvel booth at
this con. (As an aside, DC had one, but it was smaller
than the one they use at San Diego.) Quesada explained
that the publishing business was tough right now. The
comic market is growing again, but still, they have to
be frugal. Conventions are cutting back booth space,
and the cost of shipping the Marvel booth is
expensive. Joe likened it to the budget of a small
country, in fact. Marvel is looking at where they want
to spend their money, and they may have a smaller
booth in the future. They cut back on the conventions
they attended last year, but this coming year they may
expand again.
Joe admits he'd be willing to reprise his role as the
pizza delivery guy in a Kevin Smith movie, but he
jokes that next time he'd like to make out with J-Lo.
Joe Quesada states that the West Coast office of
Marvel often teams comics creators with the movie/tv
folks who are producing the comic property movie/tv
show. However, the comics folks are not always
credited in the movie/tv property. He states that Tim
Bradstreet was on the set on The Punisher movie and
that Brian Bendis was involved with the Spiderman
cartoon.
The Punisher is going to the Maxx imprint. It's going
to be serious and dark, with the Punisher being a dark
vigilante. Gone is the black humor.
Joe Quesada states that he misses drawing, but thinks
being Editor in Chief is the greatest job in the
world. He says that writing is painful for him, and
that he wants to get better at it.
Quesada said that when he was in England he met with
Alan Moore and tried to mend the fences from the past.
There are more Thunderbolts coming.
Joe Quesada's favorite movie is X-Men 2. He's most
looking forward to the Man Thing movie. He wishes that
someone would make an Iron Man movie.
When questioned about his relationship with Bill
Jemas, Quesada stated that Bill is still with the
company in a creative capacity.
Marvel Knights will be kept to 4 titles for awhile.
Joe hates alternate covers.
Alan Davis has signed an exclusive and will start
releasing projects soon.
There are major shake ups in the X books coming soon.
Colossus is dead!
Quesada states that he reads all Marvel titles on a
monthly basis. He also reads Batman, Oni, and anything
Bendis and Millar does.
Joe thinks good TV properties include The Hulk and
Black Widow. He thinks The Punisher would work on
Showtime or HBO.
Joe thinks that aging comics characters was a mistake.
If they change too much, they lose their iconic
nature. Consistency is more important than continuity.
Joe Quesada ended the panel by joking "Marvel wants
total world domination."
JLA/Avengers
Kurt Busiek and George Perez discussed their series
JLA/Avengers and also answered various questions from
the audience.
Wonder Woman doesn't like Hercules in the DCU because
of his relationship with the Amazons. In the DCU,
Hercules apologized to Diana for his treatment of the
Amazons, but the Marvel Hercules didn't apologize.
This angered Diana.
Captain America would beat Batman. In the who'd win
scene, Perez insisted on drawing it in the rain,
because the characters don't move much, and he wanted
to give the scene dynamism.
Kurt states that he will work with George any place,
any time. George responded that working with Kurt is a
lot like working with Marv Wolfman. Marv, in George's
opinion, is the high bar by which all writers are
measured.
Busiek is recovering from mercury poisoning, and it's
a long slow process. The doctors theorize that the
mercury poisoning may have come from bad dental
fillings, but the source still isn't known. Kurt says
that they are treating it, but it's going to take a
long time to recover. George Perez says that he has
arthritis, and diabetes, and now he's got tendonitis
in his right hand. He and Kurt joke they are the
unhealthiest team in comics.
Kurt Busiek opined that 2 folks working on a series is
better than 3. He also theorizes that JLA/Avengers
might have been better if Mark Waid wrote it alone.
Kurt stated that a 6-issue Thunderbolt series is
coming from Marvel in March, and that it's just the
beginning.
George Perez uses xeroxed pages of what he's drawn to
keep characters consistent in JLA/Avengers. Each
character has different ears. Captain America's nose
is softer and his eyes are rounder, which is how he is
differentiated from the other 2 blond heroes.
Perez admits to having a memory for various faces. He
says that all of the Amazons are beautiful women, but
are a little different. He likens it to a beauty
pageant, where all the women sort of look alike, but
when you really look, they are different.
Perez's influences include Curt Swan, Jack Kirby, and
Barry Windsor-Smith.
Perez states that in June, he will have had 30 years
in the comic business. He says that one has to keep
enthusiastic for what one is doing. If one is excited
about the work and the art, it will be translated onto
the page, and the fans will be able to tell. He has
turned down commercial art jobs and jobs in animation
to keep working in comics.
Busiek's comic influences include Roy Thomas, Jo
Duffy, Mark Goodwin, and Cary Bates. He cites
inspirations outside of comics in Robert Towne (writer
of Chinatown) and Nevil Shute (author of On the
Beach.)
Busiek had discussions with Tom Brevoort prior to the
JLA/Avengers crossover. Tom wanted to have an
adventure where the characters met, they fight, they
team up, they win, and then have something come out of
it for the Marvel universe.
Busiek and Perez discussed the differences in the
Marvel and the DC universes and characters. DC has the
more powerful characters, but DC characters tend to
puzzle out situations. The Marvel characters tend to
be the brawlers, they fight now and ask questions
later. Busiek stated that it's an interesting
dichotomy between the universes. Perez joked that he
was "channeling Jack Kirby" when drawing the Marvel
characters.
George Perez's pet peeve is when artists show off
instead of telling a story. He says he tells new
artists to draw like they doing a silent movie. If the
writer has to insert dialogue explaining what is going
on, the artist has failed.
Kurt Busiek says that knowing who a character is isn't
enough for a writer . . . the writer has to bring the
character alive on the page. Kurt's advice to new
writers is: Learn to be yourself, don't try to write
like anyone else. There is more to writing than
formula, and to try to keep characters in their iconic
form.
When Perez was questioned about the Teen Titans
cartoon, he replied that he had been invited to the
premiere party. On seeing it, he stated, "I'm not the
target audience." He implied he was not thrilled with
it, but that the royalty checks "salve a lot of
wounds."
Guillermo del Toro, director of
Blade 2 and the Upcoming Hellboy Movie
This panel featured Guillermo del Toro, director the
Hellboy, and Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy. The
acoustics were terrible in this panel, I know not why.
I was sitting in the back and it was a real strain to
hear what was said. However, some things I can tell
you.
We watched the new trailer for the Hellboy movie. It
wasn't the trailer shown at San Diego. This was a new
one made for Wizard Texas. It was a cool trailer and
the movie looks promising. It's got some good action,
stunning special effects, interspersed with some dark
humor. I'm personally going to see this movie, based
on this trailer.
Posters for the movie are coming in early spring.
Also, before the movie debuts, a 200 page Hellboy
movie art book is coming out. It will include the
screenplay plus the story boards. It will be a real
"making of" type book. Both del Toro and Mignola are
hopeful that the book will make it out before the
movie.
Del Toro reports the movie will be faithful to the
comic. He and Mignola fought about how Hellboy would
talk. Del Toro and Mignola have about 3 more plots to
Hellboy sequels if this movie is a success.
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