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Emerald City Comicon: DC Nation Panel
Posted: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Posted By: Caryn A. Tate
The DC Nation panel at Seattle's Emerald City ComiCon featured MC Dan Didio, Ian Sattler, Bill Willingham (whom Didio announced as the writer of the upcoming DCU: Decisions), Stephane Roux (the artist of Decisions), Gail Simone, Aaron Lopresti, Ethan Van Sciver, Kurt Busiek, J. Michael Straczynski, Phillip Tan, and Greg Rucka. Mr. Didio conducted the panel in an informal, interactive, and fun style. Jokes and laughter were prevalent during the hour long panel.
Mr. Didio started off by giving the audience a brief description of DC Nation and how it works (namely that it would involve questions being asked of the audience by panel members). When he asked how many people had bought DC Universe 0, there was resounding applause and cheering.
DCU: Decisions: One audience member asked Mr. Willingham whether it was true that the idea for DCU: Decisions came up in a bar, to which the initial response was: "It is common knowledge that Dan Didio is a drunk, and every idea at DC started in a bar somewhere." Moments and much laughter later, Mr. Willingham continued, "Yes, it is true."
When Mr. Didio was asked why Decisions is a good idea, he responded that they were looking at current events, the mood of the country, and how most people are excited about the upcoming presidential election, and they decided to tell a relevant type of story in the DCU.
Brave & the Bold / New Reader Friendly Titles: One reader asked whether DC has any smaller, character driven stories coming up that are geared towards new readers. Mr. Straczynski responded that his upcoming run on Brave & the Bold will be stand alone or two issue story arcs, featuring characters who haven't been paired up before. Upcoming pairings in the title include:
- Batman & the Spectre ;
- Deadman & Wonder Woman ;
- Flash (Barry Allen) & the Blackhawks ;
- Batman & Dial H for Hero ;
- Doom Patrol & Legion of Superheroes ;
- Superman & Sgt. Rock ;
- Two Face & Hawk & Dove ;
- Challengers of the Unknown & Legion of Superheroes
Ms. Simone went on to say that Wonder Woman will have huge, action-packed stories, but that there will be no need to read other books or prior Wonder Woman tales to understand what is happening.
Long Waits on Releases: A reader asked about Action Comics Annual #11 and the "horrible wait" surrounding it. Mr. Didio responded that nobody wanted the issue to take as long as it did, but that some people involved in the project got sick and other issues came up. He continued, "We're not proud of how long it took." He stated that as a publisher, DC tries to find a way to give the readers what they want in a timely manner, but that sometimes personal and life issues arise.
Blackest Night: A Green Lantern fan asked, "Will Blackest Night have many current, established Lanterns?" The answer from Mr. Van Sciver was, "Many, many of them."
The same fan went on, "How many of them were heroes previously?" Mr. Van Sciver responded, "Many, many of them."
DC animated: An audience member asked that since DC now has creators like Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Dwayne McDuffie, if there is any chance of getting Bruce Timm to work on some DC titles. Mr. Didio responded that Bruce Timm has an open invitation to write for DC whenever he wants, but that he is currently busy with the current DVD animation projects.
Batwoman: One fan of the character asked Mr. Rucka about any appearances of Batwoman, to which he responded, "Look for an announcement at San Diego." This was met with a disappointed exclamation throughout the room. Mr. Rucka returned to the microphone and answered: "Okay, yes, there's a book coming."
He continued by asking how many in the audience had seen Phillip Tan's art. With only a few hands raised, Mr. Rucka went on to say that Phillip Tan's art on Final Crisis: Revelation looks amazing, and that it's possibly the best looking book he's ever worked on. (He went on to say that Batwoman shows up in issue #2.)
Astro City: A fan of the title asked Mr. Busiek about the timing of the released issues, and he responded, "There will be gaps between arcs because we want to be sure they come out on time."
Rucka/Brubaker team up: A fan of Mr. Rucka & Ed Brubaker asked, "When will you team up on Batman again?" Mr. Rucka responded that Ed can't until he's non-exclusive to Marvel again, but that he was open to do it when the offer was made and the timing was right.
Manhunter: Mr. Didio stated that the new Manhunter series will be out in June.
Shadowpact : When asked if he would do Shadowpact again, Mr. Willingham responded that if it can't fly as a series, he would like to pull the characters into other stories now and then.
Amazons Attack: One reader asked about the low popularity of the "Amazons Attack" event, to which Mr. Didio responded that it didn't go as well as they thought, but that it was actually conceived to be a part of Infinite Crisis. He handed the microphone over to Mr. Rucka, who elaborated that the event was designed to be the fifth miniseries during Infinite Crisis but got put on the back burner. By the time it was executed, it was in a different DCU environment with a different creative team.
Mr. Van Sciver went on to say that he and Mr. Rucka were going to be the creative team on the title at the time that it was conceived.
Absolute editions: A fan of the Absolute hardcover editions asked Mr. Didio if there would be any upcoming Absolute Preacher, Transmetropolitan, etc. His response was that there is an Absolute Sandman coming out, but that he was unsure about the others at this time.
Ambush Bug: When an Ambush Bug fan asked about any upcoming appearances by the character, it was revealed that there is an Ambush Bug miniseries on the way.
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