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Baltimore Comic-Con Recap, Part 1

Posted: Tuesday, September 23
By: Tim O'Shea

Just to be covering Baltimore Comic-con held this past weekend (September 20 and 21, 2003 at the Baltimore Convention Center) was an achievement in and of itself, thanks to hurricane Isabel. Baltimore’s BWI was closed the night before I was to fly to Atlanta. It reopened Friday morning, but as I sat in Hartsfield watching Headline News, waiting for my flight, they showed that parts of Baltimore were under water.

Fortunately, all my worrying was needless. I made it and a majority of the professionals made it (with the exception of a select few, such as Judd Winick and Mike Wieringo, who were indirectly or indirectly impacted by the weather developments and were unable to attend). And attendees were there in great numbers as well. While final numbers are not available at present, one con volunteer estimated the line, prior to the start on Saturday, was 10 times the size waiting to get in last year. This article is the first part of SBC’s two-part coverage, with part two appearing tomorrow.

Not surprisingly, the guest line-up may have been a major influence on the attendance upswing. One of the bigger names (who was only able to attend on Saturday) was Jim Lee, whose popularity has only grown more thanks to the soon to conclude Hush (with Jeph Loeb) on DC’s Batman. Lee was there in support of DC, Wildstorm, and most importantly, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Lee’s presence at the con was in fact, courtesy of the CBLDF. The other names that attracted autograph lines on the Lee scale included George Perez (hot on the heels of the release of JLA/Avengers 1), Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Walter Simonson, Mike Kunkel, Mark Waid and of course, local favorite, Frank Cho.

The con struck a perfect balance of diverse panels, attendees, and participants. Personally, I always view a con to be successful when families attend and all members of the family seem to have fun. Sometimes at cons you’ll see the spouse or child dragged to a con and looking miserable. That wasn’t the case here, family members of all ages seemed to enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend all the panels, but the ones I did make were worth my time (again, panels are a tricky proposition, particularly with the unexpected logistical challenges that come with them-- trying to merge personalities, schedules, etc.).

Given the plethora of negative press that CrossGen has garnered in recent weeks (given their admitted financial challenges), I was pleasantly surprised to see a strong turnout for the CrossGen panel on Saturday morning. The panel consisted of Ron Marz (serving as host) along with Brandon Peterson and George Perez. At the outset, Marz acknowledged the fiscal “hiccups” that CrossGen is currently enduring. All three men remain optimistic about the long-term prospects of CrossGen, with Perez going so far as seemingly endorsing the company with his praise, acknowledging that he has far less to lose (given his recent “freelance” success with Avengers/JLA) than the 100+ families who look to CrossGen for salary, benefits. As Perez noted, that if they’re willing to stay committed, he cannot help but believe in the company as well. Marz is not viewing CrossGen’s current plight with rose-colored glasses by any means, noting “we’re not out of the woods yet.”

That being said, CrossGen is clearly trying to turn some negatives into positives, as Peterson noted at the panel. The shake-up, as Peterson described it, gave CrossGen a chance to stop and look at the big picture, as they prepared/planned the upcoming War, which will be drawn by Perez. In fact, Marz presented the first issue’s script to Perez at the panel. In discussing the War, it became readily apparent that Perez would not be returning to his monthly assignment on Solus, once The War wraps up. Why that is remains uncertain. As part of the War, CrossGen has acknowledged that some books will stop publishing, while other, new ones may begin. Marz emphasized that unlike DC/Marvel “event” comic miniseries (where toys [characters] are taken from the shelf, but then “returned” to the same place at the story’s end)—with War “all the rules are off—for good, dramatic reasons…people tend to die in wars.”

Marz was clearly enthused about the prospects The War will afford the CrossGen universe, at one point likening Perez as the Babe Ruth of comic book art. At the same time, Marz did not ignore the problems it has encountered—at one point admitted that CGE had “stubbed its toe” to a certain extent with the creator owned Code 6 line. But along with the bad comes the good, it seems as Marz discussed that Mike Ploog (The Monster of Frankenstein, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night) will return to comic books to pencil ABADAZAD, his first monthly title in over 10 years, which is being written by J.M. DeMatteis and published by Code 6 starting in December. SBC hopes to find out more regarding CrossGen’s long-term plans in an upcoming interview.

At one point, far into the DC Comics panel, several audience members were discussing the seemingly increased frequency and degree of success by DC. In answer to their observations, Mark Waid noted (in so many words, Waid said it better than I’m paraphrasing) that the root of DC’s success could be traced to Dan DiDio’s guidance of DC. As hokey as this moment may sound through my recounting of it, Waid’s sentiment was genuine. I’ve sat through my fair share of presentations where employees are spouting the company line to please the boss. This was not the case with the panels at Baltimore, as there’s a genuine enthusiasm for the medium, particularly among the DC creators (and to be fair, I sensed it in many indy, Marvel, CrossGen and self publishing creators I met over the weekend as well). Sitting in on the panels (and the DC panel in particular) reminded me why I needed to just avoid the Internet if I wanted to feel more optimistic about the comics industry (the irony of my role as an Internet journalist is not wasted on me when I make this seemingly lunk-headed observation…trust me).

The DC slide presentation/panel was interesting on several levels (Waid’s wit is worth the price of admission, but when Walter Simonson enters the comedy mix as he did on this panel, it can only get better). Both Simonson and Jim Lee joined the panel in mid-presentation, but at the start the panel consisted of Geoff Johns (writer on Hawkman, Teen Titans, Flash and JSA), Waid, Howard Porter and Ron Garney. The latter two names haven’t been recently associated with DC, but they soon will be. While Garney’s project remains a super-secret, Johns confirmed that Porter would be the permanent artist on Flash starting with 207.

DiDio led the presentation/panel for the most part, deferring to creators, as the subjects warranted. By far, however, DiDio seemed to be the most enthusiastic about DC’s (as well as Wildstorm’s and Vertigo’s) upcoming releases and plans. Right out of the gates, he seemed most animated when discussing Darwyn Cooke’s DCU: The New Frontier, which aims to document the advent of DC superheroes in the 1950s/1960s, in tandem with the quest for space. Not surprising, a young fellow by the name of Hal Jordan will play a major role in the project. DiDio also discussed Kyle Baker’s Plastic Man (much in the vein of Jack Cole); Wildstorm’s Twilight Experiment by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (a project that depending how it goes “there are sequels” according to Jim Lee) [SBC will run an interview with Palmiotti in the next week or so]; Life Eaters, a graphic novel based on David Brin’s Hugo nominated novella "Thor Meets Captain America," with art by Scott Hampton; Vertigo’s Vertical (a uniquely sized comic, in reference to the name) from Steven Seagle, Mike Allred and Phillip Bond ; Grant Morrison’s Vimanarama (for Vertigo); and Otherworld (the first project under Phil Jimenez’s DC exclusive contract), which DiDio characterized as a personal project for Jimenez. I found it interesting when Palmiotti/Gray’s Monolith (with artist Phil Winslade) was characterized as bringing the mystic nature back in DC (in addition to its normal “home” at Vertigo).

DiDio clearly long term plans for Superman with the various new creative teams (including such writers as Austen, Rucka and artists like Jim Lee [who claimed {partially tongue in cheek} he wanted to make Superman “super sexy”, a comment that elicited some great comedy from fellow panelist Garney]). According to Lee, events in Superman 200 will connect with elements of Waid’s Superman: Birthright. In discussing Birthright, Waid explained that his job on the book was to “show you why I love these characters.” He also shared that his writing on Birthright 4 and 4 are the best things he’s ever written.

DiDio also acknowledged that the overwhelmingly positive response to Winick and Raney’s Outsiders has been a “pleasant surprise.” He noted that the book itself has helped set a tone for how he’d like the DC universe to achieve to a certain extent going forward. When asked about Gotham Central (an audience member thanked him for the series existence), he conceded that the sales were not as strong as they’d hoped, but that DC felt the series was worth committing to for the near term.

Toward the end of the panel, Brian Azzarello’s Lex Luthor: Man of Steel (where the writer asks “Can you trust an alien?” and writes it from Luthor’s perspective) was discussed.

Last, but definitely not least, Walter Simonson briefly addressed his upcoming work for DC with Michael Moorcock, as well as the new DC anthology series, Solo, (an issue of which Simonson will draw).

Those wondering about DiDio’s future DC plans should be encouraged by his philosophy regarding comics. He aims to place the “right people on the right books…I like superheroes fighting supervillains [in the stories he reads].”

Tomorrow SBC will delve further into the diverse presence at the con, as well as more panel coverage. This second part can be found here