Batman Cacophony is coming and it's a 3 issue Batman story written by Kevin Smith and art by Denny O'Neil. It starts after the conclusion of Batman RIP. James Robinson says that Jack Knight will never return. Please quit asking. He feels like he brought the story to a satisfying conclusion, and he has no interest in bringing it back. It's a matter of artistic integrity. Geoff Johns reports that the reason that Superboy Prime is in The Legion of Three Worlds is because "Superboy Prime needs a good asskicking." All speedsters are going to be important in Legion of Three Worlds, but especially the young speedsters. George Perez wants to draw every single Legionnaire ever and Johns is going to give him the opportunity. There are 2 Green Lanterns left by the 30th Century, and they have a separate oath we will hear in Legion of Three Worlds. There may be another Legion series forthcoming and the Legion of Superheroes is making an appearance in the television series Smallville. That episode was written by Geoff Johns. Keith Giffen is working on Paul Levitz in an attempt to get him to do a Legion series with him. Johns also says there's a line he's not going to cross, and Beppo the Supermonkey might be one of them. He joked that he might do a story if Beppo wasn't wearing a cape. Milestone characters are being worked into the DCU proper. There's a new creative team coming to Supergirl in October and she's not going to be portrayed as a slut any more. There's something coming called "Battle for the Cowl," but details are sketchy. However, there IS a two issue special entitled "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" written by Neil Gaiman with art by Andy Kubert in January 2009. Batwoman is going to become a member of the JLA. Zatanna will be getting her own series following Reign of Hell. A Power Girl story is forthcoming where the characters from Earth 2 arrive on the DC Earth and want to take her back. Dan Jurgens will be taking over the writing chores of Booster Gold with issue #15. Every DCU character that is dead has the possibility of becoming a Black Lantern. Brave & Bold is going to feature the old Impact superheroes. It's going to be written by J. Michael Straczynski. Captain Marvel will be appearing in JSA. There WILL be a multiverse after Final Crisis. Blue Beetle will be joining Teen Titans. There will be reprinting of old DC material, but they aren't going to be labeled "archives." At a Superman panel, Geoff Johns revealed there would be a new Superwoman introduced soon. After the Brainiac storyline, the bottle city of Kandor is grown to full size in the Arctic, and 1000 Kryptonians decide that Earth is New Krypton. Also, there are plans for Doomsday's return. Supergirl will be given a rogue's gallery all her own in upcoming issues, possibly with new versions of older characters associated with Supergirl. * Editor's Note: Special thanks to Mike Grabois for some of the DC information! Spotlight on Mike Grell and Mark Ryan Mike Grell grew up in northern Wisconsin where they only had 1 television channel. So, he learned to entertain himself by drawing. He wanted to be Tarzan or The Lone Ranger when he grew up, but as a teen he realized that this was impossible. He tried to be a lumberjack like his father, but after a summer cutting down trees with his father, he decided that the work was too brutal. Mike then decided that architecture might be a viable career, but he found that he might have to have knowledge of math, and maybe even calculus. Then Vietnam War intervened. Mike joked that he has never won anything in his life except the draft lottery. After serving in Vietnam in the Air Force, Mike decided to do commercial art in Chicago, while aspiring to be a cartoonist for a newspaper strip. Seeing Neil Adams' work in comics changed his mind. Knowing nothing about the comics business, he went to New York and met with Julius Schwartz. "What the hell makes you think you can draw comics?" demanded Julie. Mike showed him his portfolio. Julie showed his portfolio to Joe Orlando, who offered Mike a story to draw shortly thereafter, and Mike's career was off and running. Mike said that he had no idea how difficult it was to break into comics, so he just naively went up there and did it. Mike's favorite character is Green Arrow. He always saw him as an urban hunter and it was that take that spawned The Long Bow Hunters story. Mike Gold and Mike Grell told a funny story. Grell got into a squabble with an unnamed colorist at one point at DC, and Mike Gold sent them both a letter saying "Gee, I always wanted children." Mike related the story about how Tyroc got his silly costume in The Legion of Superheroes. DC was very paranoid about handling black characters "just right" and because they were so nervous about it, they did nothing at all, which increased the problems. Mike had drawn a story about a young black man who started out the wrong way, but learned from it and in the end became the hero that he wanted to be. Murray Boltinoff would not publish it with the young man being black. He had told Mike to wait, that they were developing a black character for the Legion. Sure enough, the script came floating in for Mike to draw. He read the story about why there were no black people in the 30th Century and was offended. All of the black people migrated to an island, which was shipped into another dimension. Mike found that extremely racist and so he designed the silliest, most blaxploitation costume he could. Therefore Tyroc's duds are a statement of protest against the company at the time. When asked if Tyroc's stereotyping was bad, why was Dawnstar ok, Mike responded that he just designed Dawnstar's look and costume, and that Paul Levitz delivered the tracking power. Currently Mike is working on an online project called "The Pilgrims" with actor/writer Mark Ryan. It a dark military intelligence story and it will be online free at comicmix.com in a few months. Mike Grell is also going to be writing Warlord again and drawing some covers. Spotlight on Keith Giffen Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming started off this panel asking for questions about anything but their new run on Ambush Bug. Ambush Bug, they stated they would discuss much later. The first question came up about Keith's Justice League run. He said that it was not intended to be revolutionary and that when it took off he was extremely surprised. Keith says that there are currently no plans to do anything additional with Trencher. He feels he has done everything he can do with the character and has told all there is to tell. The reason his artistic style is constantly changing and evolving is to keep from getting bored. Keith enjoys writing the CBR articles for a lark. Keith is ready and willing to do more work on Legion of Superheroes with Paul Levitz. All Paul has to say is yes. Keith jokes that he'll wear Paul down and get him to do it. When Paul doesn't want to do something, Keith claims he says no outright. Thus far, Paul has not said no to working on the Legion with him.

Marvel

There is a 6 issue series starting in November called "The Legend of the Blue Marvel." This is a tale about a black superhero in the racial divide of the 1960's. At that stage of civil rights, white people found a black superhero frightening and for the good of the country, the powers that be asked The Blue Marvel to retire, which he did. The story revolves around present day characters needing something The Blue Marvel has, and their search to find this low key superhero. Nick Fury will return to Secret Warriors. Big Space comics are coming. The Punisher will continue in 3 issue writer arcs. Greg Hurst is one of them. One of the Marvel panelists remarked that if the fans disliked big events so much, why did they keep buying them? Marvel is putting out big event stories because they sell. Marvel's big announcement they were hyping all convention was the upcoming event miniseries, War of Kings. This storyline will spin out of events in Secret Invasion, and Uncanny X-Men, and pit Cyclops' brother, Vulcan, against Black Bolt, with the Inhumans, the Shiar, the Starjammers, Nova, and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the middle. The story is set to begin in spring of 2009, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Later this year, or early next, there will be a new X-Men miniseries, X-Infernus, the sequel to the Marvel crossover from almost 20 years ago, Inferno, and feature the newly returned character, Magik. The departure, and possible death, of Kitty Pryde will be dealt with by characters in upcoming issues of Uncanny X-Men. A sequel to the alternate future X-Men story by Chris Claremont, GeNext has been announced. The critically acclaimed Agents of Atlas miniseries will be returning with an ongoing series, by Jeff Parker. Kevin Grevioux will be working on a new Sentry miniseries. Iron Man: Director of SHIELD will be ending shortly, to be replaced by War Machine: Agent of SHIELD, written by Greg Pak, and art by Leonardo Manco. Artists Danny Miki, Khoi Pham, and Paolo Rivera have signed exclusive contracts with Marvel. Next year will be Marvel's 70th anniversary, and there are plans in the works. Eric Shanower, known for Wizard of Oz comics back in the day, will be writing a new adaptation of the book for Marvel, with Skottie Young on art. New Thunderbolts creative team has been announced, of Andy Diggle, and Roberto De La Torre. Fans confused by the changes in Spider-Man over the past six months should keep reading the three-times a month series for the next year and a half, for things to be explained. Possibly the biggest announcement of the convention is that Marvel is planning to take a break from the big summer events after Secret Invasion. There was a special screening of the upcoming Nicktoons Wolverine and the X-Men series. In a move that's sure to thrill many fans and leave other wondering what Professor X has been smoking, Wolverine is thrust into the leadership role for this outing. This 26 episode story-arc promises 21 episodes of continuity and 5 of stand-alone stories. The creators hinted that if it was popular enough, they have three or more extra seasons planned out. Although the story starts out with the tired Mutant Registration Act/Sentinels storyline, it was intimated that they may move beyond that. Key characters include Wolverine, Rogue, Angel, and Beast. The island nation of Genosha also seems to play a major role. Wolverine and the X-Men will be airing in early 2009.

Boom Studios

Mark Waid announced that Boom had gotten permission to create original comics featuring Pixar characters. The Incredibles will have Darwyn Cooke covers and Mark Waid will be writing. Roger Bainbridge will be drawing The Muppet Show. After those initial comics launch, we should be seeing comics based on Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. and Wall-E. Mark reports that this year he has spent working on the Boom Studios infrastructure. He states he will get back to writing comics in 2009. These books will include all new content and stories. Farscape is going to become an ongoing series. It picks up right after The Peacekeeper Wars. Hyneria will be featured in a 4 issue arc. This series is going to be written by Rockne O'Bannon, and will be considered Season 5 canon. There's a Eureka book forthcoming, too. Boom Studios also developing a TV show in the horror genre for Showtime. They are also working on a way to pay to download comics on their website. They have also closed a deal with Sony, for movies on the web. Andrew Cosby is to direct. A new Lovecraft Book will be debuting August 2009 titled Necronomicon. It will not only be a treat for Lovecraft fans, it will also be easily accessible for non-fans as well. Salem: Queen of Thorns #2 will soon be hitting the shelves. Theremnant is an exciting new book coming soon written by Stephen Baldwin and drawn by Andrew Cosby. It is described as 24 meets Supernatural. Walt Becker Last Reign: Kings of War is a new post-apocalyptic book conceptualized by Walt Becker, director of Van Wilder and Wild Hogs. The book will be written by Michael Allen Nelson and it will deal with a science fiction feudal society. There are several Boom Studios books in various stages of production in Hollywood. Their horror book Tag originally written by Keith Giffen has been sold to Universal. The post-apocalyptic book North Wind, where the world is covered in ice has been optioned and the original author, David DiGilio, is writing the screenplay. Foundation about a covert group dedicated to keeping Nostradamus' predictions of the future from becoming real has been optioned by Paramount. There is a deal with Sony to produce a movie based off of Second Wave. Mark Waid developed the nickname "Lilac" on the panel due to the hue of the shirt he was wearing.

Battlestar Galactica

Richard Hatch was the featured guest in the first panel of Battlestar Galactica. He talked about the many ways the show could return after the final season completed. The song "All Along the Watchtower" is a clue as to what's going on in the last season. Richard Hatch sees his character of Tom Zarek as a darker version of Nelson Mandela. Hatch says that Tom is not a bad guy, he was just an idealistic man who was changed by spending 25 years in jail. Richard Hatch says he is happy with the finale. The show is portrayed correctly from a military standpoint because a lot of the people involved have military backgrounds. We will also see some cast members singing in the last season. A fan asked about Dirk Bendict, the original Starbuck, and why he wasn't in the series. There was a small cameo originally written in for him in the current series, and for some reason it was rewritten. He refused to appear in the mini-series when asked. The second panel featured most of the Battlestar Galactica cast and executive producers Ronald D. Moore, and David Eick. The panel was moderated by Kevin Smith and big laughs were had by all. The entire cast is satisfied by the ending of the Battlestar series, which actually wrapped up 2 weeks prior to San Diego. When asked about the most dramatic moment in the series, a lot of them thought the landing of the ship on New Caprica was excellent. James Callis talked about how trapped Gaius Baltar is now, surrounded with fawning acolytes, with his carrying a load of guilt and shame of the millions of humans whose deaths he's been responsible for. Katie Sackhoff states she hopes she's not the final Cylon. Michael Trucco explained that his role as Sam Anders was developed so he could get between the dynamic of Apollo and Starbuck. He was in a couple of episodes early on, and then he was brought back the next season in a semi regular role. He was feeling pretty secure, and then his script rolled in, and there he gets the bulletin "Guess what? You're a Cylon!" He joked that at least he knew he couldn't be killed off, at least. Trica Helfer, who plays 6 explained she had suffered a lot of bruises while filming the TV series. She recounted the scene in the first season where she was sitting on a toilet and Gaius came barging in. She said she's a really tall girl, so when Gaius came slamming that door open, it nailed her really good in the shins. She also said that she and Katie bonded over the scene where they beat each other up. She joked they were comparing bruises for weeks. There is a prequel to Battlestar Galactica forthcoming after the final episode. There will be a movie followed by a regular series that is the prequel to Battlestar, called Caprica. There are also other Battlestar properties in development.

Heroes

The lucky 6000 fans that got into the hall got to view the first episode of the next season of Heroes. It was twisty, exciting and raised a whole host of questions. It was so intricate, I can spoil a few things to whet your appetite without giving much away. However, I am going to put it under a cut for those who do NOT want to know anything. Jump past the spoilers                                             Sylar gets to Claire and obtains her powers. Peter Petrelli shoots Nathan and he dies. Hiro opens the safe that he was not supposed to open and the contents are stolen. Someone who was not super powered before gains superhero abilities.                                                                                         It all adds up to a great big "Uh Oh." Go watch it when it comes back. It's going to be worth it.

Chuck

This panel featured a lot of the cast of Chuck. Sarah's and Chuck's relationship will be more prominent and honest this next season. Chuck's college sweetheart who broke his heart so much so that he left college returns. John Casey gets to experience "an emotion" this season, and he's ordered to kill Chuck. Morgan Grimes as new manager of the Buy More, orders a cage match to determine who will be his assistant manager. The Buy More crowd will be featured more this next season. We saw a lot of small clips from the upcoming season and it looks to be hilarious. Oh, and Zackary Levi who plays Chuck reports that getting to kiss all of these women in his show, "doesn't suck."

Masque of the Red Death

Fans of Wendy Pini from her Elfquest books were delighted to see previews of her new work Masque of the Red Death, a futuristic Sci-Fi adaptation of the classic tale by Edgar Allen Poe. The advanced proof pages on display showed that Wendy has not lost her touch when it comes to exceptional comic art, and gave readers a new title to look forward to.

Greatest American Hero

William Katt, who played the lead role in the early 80s television series, Greatest American Hero, offered samples of an upcoming comic book adaptation of the story. Katt, whose Catastrophic Comics produces the Sparks comic book series, was on hand along with former GAH co-stars Robert Culp and Connie Selleca to promote the new series. Also in the news for GAH fans are the announcements of a series of animated shorts and a live-action movie.

Groo the Wanderer turns 25

Sergio Aragones was on hand to sign copies of the Silver Anniversary issue of his comic, Groo the Wanderer. Groo, Aragones' socially inept master-swordsman whose oft-repeated line of "Did I err?" has lived up to his name by wandering through several different publishers over the years, until going out of print a few years back. The title has been brought back by Dark Horse comics, and Aragones hinted at new adventures to come, including a meeting of Groo and Conan.

Virgin Comics - Stan Lee and Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison's CGI web animated project MBX looks great. The landscapes seen were a mix of advanced technological societies in a variety of conditions and much more barren and open landscapes. The animation of individuals incorporates motion capture in many of the scenes. Morrison said that his goal is to go back to one of India's myths of an early war and retell it by tying it into today. Other than the MBX footage presented on the screen and Morrison's brief comments on it the majority of the panel focused on general questions to Morrison and Stan Lee. Stan Lee said that he believed the reason for the San Diego Comic-Con image being repeated over and over on the backdrop was that the presentations were going for a similar style as those that people see at the U.N. When asked why films seemed to be catching on to comics, and what the differences are between now and the past, Stan Lee responded by saying that some people may see comics as storyboards to movies and that more recent comic movies are now getting the "good" actors, directors, writers, etc. When asked about how the two of them worked during their "eras" Morrison responded by saying that his era has been the "Marvel Method," which is much more of a collaboration between writers and artist, where writers see an artist's creations. Stan Lee started by joking that he wondered by it was called the "Marvel Method" and not the "Stan Lee Method." He continued by saying that the reason the "Marvel Method" was created was that there was a desire to move away from the situation where artists were sitting around waiting for stories so they could do their work. So, Stan Lee said that he started coming up with story concepts and handing those off to the artists so they could then create a large amount of the story from their own mind. He finished his comments on the question by stating that he went from writing full scripts to the new method in order to keep artists working. When asked about sharing their takes on characters Stan Lee mentioned a bit about his early impressions of Superman and Batman. He said that while he admired Superman the character seemed a bit one-dimensional as he didn't know much about Clark Kent's life. In regards to Batman he said that early Batman stories seemed like detective stories to him. He was more interested in knowing more "personal" elements of the characters. When asked why some properties have survived for so long Morrison and Stan Lee both spoke about the X-Men. Morrison said that for him he saw the X-Men metaphor for the generation divide of adults vs. youth. Stan Lee said that he saw the X-Men as a metaphor of good vs. evil, fearing people and prejudice. Stan Lee also said that until that moment he didn't know Morrison's take on the X-Men was the generation divide but that he liked that take on them. When asked what his favorite Stan Lee story was Morrison responded by saying it was the Fantastic Four story, "This Man, This Monster." When asked about how much of the outside world they bring into comics Stan Lee responded by saying that he believed people did not like to be preached to, so doing something like that has to be subtle. He would often use his Silver Surfer and Thor stories in the area of social commentary if he wished to do so. He said that when he was writing the focus was making a story that sells. When asked how someone becomes a writer Morrison responded that a person trying to do so must keeping working and that he believed a new generation of writers is "needed." When asked what Stan Lee character he would like to write if possible Morrison responded by saying he would like to write Iron Man or the Hulk. When asked about the process of making a character Stan Lee responded that he didn't know exactly what the process was. He said that in creating a character you can sometimes start with a power, a title, or the character itself. When asked if there was a character or storyline he regretted Stan Lee initially said he couldn't think of one, but just as he was finishing his sentence he said he did remember one situation. He said that he found the he didn't have an idea for an issue of Fantastic Four, but he did think of the name "Diablo." Jack Kirby then drew a character to go with the name and Stan Lee liked the design. The problem was that he didn't remember much more than that, and that the only thing he really remembers about that issue was that the story was made for the name "Diablo." The panel ended with someone requesting that Stan Lee and Grant Morrison work on a hero together for Virgin's superhero line.

Doctor Who

Both Julie Gardner and Steven Moffat were very tight lipped on giving things away regarding the future of the show. Russell T Davies was not present at the panel as originally planned because he was working on scripts. Steven Moffat had a number of amusing stories and answers for questions, most of which didn't not directly tie to the show itself. A dating tip he offered was that you should never bring a toothbrush on a date as it's difficult to explain why you brought it if your date sees it. When talking about the general reception of the show in the U.K. Moffat said that he has seen how Doctor Who is treated. He talked about how he has heard parents tell their children, "If you're not good, no Doctor Who." He followed up his story by saying, "That's how fandom is born. I was good." When asked where he gets his inspiration for the creatures in the stories that he writes Steven Moffat responded by saying that he gets his inspiration from other episodes of Doctor Who. Right before the end of the panel an important bit of information was quickly given, and that is that Dr. River Song has met David Tennant's Doctor, but that is NOT the only Doctor she has met. The panel finished with an extended trailer for this year's Christmas special. It appears to be taking place during a more Victorian era, and as the original trailer clearly showed the Cybermen are returning. What was not seen in the original trailer were Cybermen that appeared to have golden Cybermen faceplate with an organic primate-like body. There were a number of these new Cybermen in one of the scenes.

Torchwood

The Torchwood panel was Julie Gardner, John Barrowman, Gareth David Lloyd and Naoko Mori. This panel was largely the cast and Julie Gardner sharing stories of their time on the show, how they all interact and how they all were cast in Torchwood. In regards to the next series of Torchwood (series 3) there will only be five episodes. There will be a major storyline that runs through all five episodes. It is expected that there will be a lot of action in it and it is currently expected to air in the Spring of 2009. John Barrowman was very excited about what he already knew about the next series even though he didn't share any details. Gareth David Lloyd stated that there will be more information on Ianto Jones coming up in the third series. There was also a great show of enthusiasm from the fans in regards to Naoko Mori returning as Toshiko Sato if possible. Non-Torchwood things that happened during the panel and appeared to be of great interest to the fans were that John Barrowman and Naoko Mori had originally been in Miss Saigon together and thanks to the request of a fan those in attendance were treated to short shared number between the two. Also, when asked about his willingness to be cast as Captain America if he were offered such a role John Barrowman said that he would definitely be interested in such a role. Interestingly, I saw John Barrowman the following day with a large pin of Captain America's shield on his lanyard.

The Big Bang Theory

The panel consisted of executive producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, plus the series stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar. It was moderated by Adam Savage of Mythbusters. The panel started with a number of pieces of footage from the first season of the show and what is considered to be the music video for the opening song by the Barenaked Ladies. The show has had a pretty good response from the scientific community. While they show does sometimes received letters saying some of their science is incorrect the show's consultant David Saltzberg says the things they have used are correct. The executive producers and the cast are aware of the website sheldonsshirts.com. When asked about what their "geekiest" thing was the actors offered the following: Kunal Nayyar has played badminton at a state level in India. Simon Helberg said he had a "ducktail" that was braided and when he later cut it off he kept it in a bag. Kaley Cuoco is "awesome at ping pong" (this was endorsed by the rest of the cast) Jim Parsons enjoys talk radio more than music. Johnny Galecki grew up doing theater. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady said that the original pilot of The Big Bang Theory was made two and a half years ago, but it was then remade with the current cast. Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki were in the original pilot. The executive producers said it was one of the times when a network supported a good idea enough to get it going. The question was asked of the character of Sheldon has Asperger's (Syndrome), and the reply was that the way Jim Parsons plays the character is how believed the character should be portrayed based upon what was written. The similarities have now been noticed though. When asked how Leonard and Sheldon became friends Johnny Galecki said that he didn't know how the two started their friendship. He seemed to imagine that on some level them being friends worked and made sense, not that it was what people might consider the development of a friendship. There were a few comments made on the second season of the show. The first comment was that in regards to the date at the end of the first season, the results may not go well. The second was that Sara Gilbert will be returning as Leslie Winkle in about two episodes. The third was in regards to a question, and that is the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet may popup as an issue which is disturbing to Sheldon as he doesn't like change (the idea has already been talked about by the writers). In a closing story to illustrate just how much the cast gets along they talked about how they all rented a boat together earlier in the week. Chuck Lorre's response one of shock to find out that all of his stars were out on a boat together with Kaley Cuoco driving. It was added that Simon Helbert also drove the boat and was wearing a captain's hat, which he was asked to wear to the panel by the other cast members, but he didn't.

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Copyright © 2008 Sheryl Roberts