Batman/Wonder Woman news

[Steviekick 0]

both were borrowed from newsarama.com

 

DC's GOTHAM CITY PANEL @ WONDER CON       

 

by Jericho Wilson and Matt Brady

 

At Friday’s “Inside Gotham City” panel at WonderCon, Greg Rucka, Devin Grayson, Ed Brubaker, and Judd Winick all gathered to discuss Batman’s turf, as well as some upcoming events surrounding the Darknight Detective. All in all, the panel was relatively low on announcements, but high on creator-fan interaction and discussion.

 

Devin Grayson will write the Batman $0.12 Adventure, which will kick off the upcoming “War Games” crossover. The idea for the crossover came, it was reported, when the Batman group was meeting, and Bill Willingham had an epiphany about the social and criminal structure within Gotham. As could be expected then, the new, female Robin (introduced by Willingham in Robin) plays a large role in “War Games.”

 

According to Brubaker, someone the characters in Catwoman care about ends up dying during “War Games,” but the death won’t be discovered until after the crossover is over.

 

In regards to Nightwing, Grayson explained that, given his years in the town, he knows Bludhaven as well as Batman knows Gotham City. Because of recent events in his own series though, a trip to Gotham for Nightwing in “War Games,” will seem like a vacation for him.

 

Gotham Central #23-#24 will tie into the crossover as well, while #25 will begin a new storyline. It was also mentioned that the series will swap it’s current six-issue arc structure for three or four issue arcs, as the six issue stories were ended up to be too long.

 

“War Games” will also pick up some threads from “Hush.”

 

When asked to compare Gotham with Metropolis, as that’s the town he’s spending more time in these days, Rucka said, “Metropolis is a better city. In Metropolis, you have much less chance of being mugged. In Metropolis, if you leave your car unlocked, there’s a good chance it will still be there when you get back.”

 

Likewise comparing Superman with Batman, Rucka said, “I find it harder to believe in truth, justice, and the American way, while I find it easier to believe in some spooky-ass sonofabitch who hands a beatdown on some lowlife skunk.”

 

Rucka said that, a while ago, he began receiving e-mails from a fan that had gone through 400-500 issues worth of Batman books to create a map of Gotham City. The writer asked for a copy of the map, and ultimately, the entire Bat-team was so impressed with the detail, it’s currently being used in the DC offices.

 

Although, given that the map was based on stories over the years, it does have its limitations. “A lot of people don’t know this, but apparently Gotham is the world’s largest supplier of empty warehouses,” Rucka joked.

 

In discussing his own, recently-started run on Batman, Winick said that he understood the comments of some fans that not much happened in his first issue. He wanted to start out slow, he said. “I’d rather wait until the second act to blow up the building.”

 

Speaking in regards to Outsiders and Nightwing’s role within the group, Winick said that there will shortly be a power struggle for the leadership of the team. Winick also said that there will be a small scene involving the Outsiders in Identity Crisis, which he’s expanded into a full issue of the series.

 

Asked the perennial, “Why doesn’t Batman kill?” it was pointed out that such a vein was explored, albeit through a different character, with Azrael in the ‘90s, as he was a much more out of control Batman. Brubaker pointed out that in his view, the Punisher is someone like Batman who kills people.

 

When asked about more Bat-books, or spinning off other characters into their own books, Brubaker said, “If they cut out half of them [bat-books], we’d replace them all with one Commissioner Gordon comic.”

 

When asked how the writers would end Batman, if they were given the assignment to finish the character’s stories. Rucka said that in the next twelve to eighteen months, he would be doing his version of that particular story.

 

Asked about Donna Troy, Rucka said he missed her, but felt her death (in Graduation Day) served a purpose dramatically. “You never kill the characters you don’t care about,” Rucka said.

 

WONDER WOMAN @ WONDER CON       

 

by Jericho Wilson and Matt Brady

 

At Friday’s Wonder Woman panel Greg Rucka, Drew Johnson, and Dan Didio fielded questions ranging from storylines to sales to junior partners getting their own books.

 

The “Stoned” arc (it’s got Medousa in it) concludes in issue #210 with “pretty dramatic events,” Rucka said. Immediately following #210 will be a Wonder Woman-Flash crossover entitled “Truth or Dare.” In the two part story, Wally West and Wonder Woman are tethered together by Wonder Woman’s golden lasso, and get real with each other.

 

Superman will show up more in the series, now that Rucka is writing Adventures of Superman.

 

Cheetah will be coming back to the series soon.

 

When asked about DC movies, Rucka expressed mild frustration at the ability of Warner Brothers to successfully adapt DC characters to film, pointing to X2 as an example of a film which takes its comic book characters seriously and portrays them honestly.

 

When asked how much control DC has over characters like Wonder Woman being translated into other media, Didio said, “The real influence we have on other media is to tell the best stories we can.”

 

Rucka also commented that one-time frontrunner (in the eyes of some fans, at least) for the role of Wonder Woman, Charisma Carpenter more than likely ruined her chances by posing nude for Playboy.

 

Rucka said that there will indeed be a Wonder Woman equivalent of “Hush” for Batman, and the current Brian Azzarello/Jim Lee arc on Superman. When asked if such a defining, big storyline was coming, Rucka said, “Yes, very big. You may not like it, but it’s a good story.”

 

  In discussing sales for Wonder Woman Rucka and Dan Didio said that the latest figures put the book at around 31,000 copies. Didio said he was happy with those figures because the series is steadily climbing up with each issue from prior to Rucka taking the series. The most recent peak was at #200 which saw roughly 40,000 copies move. In Rucka’s opinion, the series should be selling 80,000 copies a month.

 

When asked about a Wonder Girl series, the sales figures were again referenced as the reason why there is no book starring Cassie. Although, according to Rucka, Wonder Girl will be appearing for a “long stretch” in the series shortly.

 

Wonder Woman will be appearing in Adventures of Superman #628, although not in the way readers would expect, according to Rucka, who explained that the issues’ story deals with the relationship between Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Wonder Woman.

 

Wonder Woman will appear in Adventures #633 or #634.

 

Rucka, when asked why female characters have trouble gaining traction in the marketplace, said that while cheesecake seems to do well, offered that there may be a mild form of sexism going on the marketplace.

 

When asked about a romantic relationship, Rucka again said that, in his view, putting Wonder Woman in a romantic relationship seemed to be paramount in the eyes of many writers. Didio however, added that in his view, romance is a valid story element, and Rucka later added that he has, only recently, started seeing romantic possibilities for the character.

 

On how his writing of Wonder Woman has evolved, Rucka said that now, he can better see that her sense of humor being important to her character, as is her anger.

 

Steve Trevor will be returning to the series, as Rucka said that he recently found a way to put him into the series that he likes.

[Steviekick 0]

actually this happened at Wondercon...

 

here's some more...

WONDERCON'S DCU PANEL       

 

by Jericho Wilson and Matt Brady

 

Saturday’s DCU panel at WonderCon allowed for a handful of announcements, but as always, the meat comes in the Q&A with the creators. On with the show.

 

note – due to time constraints, several projects were not mentioned in the presentation, additionally, some titles not listed here were mentioned, but nothing new was added. Newsarama has attempted to include all pertinent, “new” news mentioned at the panel. Finally, a project’s omission from the panel by should not be taken to mean that the projects are off of DC’s schedule or in imminent danger of cancellation.

 

The presentation began with a recap of the recent Superman creative team launches, as well as the success of Superman/Batman, issue #8 of which has gone into a third printing.

 

The publisher’s two biggest, upcoming projects, Identity Crisis and Green Lantern: Rebirth were also given their props, with Greg Rucka adding about Rebirth, “This is well worth your time – it ties up threads nobody even knew were loose.”

 

As announced in WizardWorld LA, the Majestic miniseries, starring the former WildStorm character now transplanted to the DCU, will debut in August, with the creative team of Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning with art by Karl Kerschl and covers by Ed McGuinness.

 

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo is scheduled for an October release, while Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards’ The Question six issue miniseries is scheduled for a November release.

 

Superman: Godfall will be collected into a hardcover in August.

 

JSA kicks off the two-part “Waking the Sandman” story in June, bringing Silver Age hero Cave Carson into the mix to find the missing Sand, who’s been trapped underground ever since he literally prevented the earth from pulling itself apart. Artist on the arc is Jerry Ordway.

 

As Newsarama reported, JSA: Strange Adventures by Kevin J. Anderson and Barry Kitson kicks off in August as the team meets real-life pulp writers from the ‘40s during an adventure set in the Golden Age. With a villain named Lord Dynamo, and a zeppelin crewed by robot zombies, the series already has a fan in Howard Chaykin, who praised the idea behind the series, saying, “The villains of the 1940s are my favorites – they’re just absolutely nuts.”

 

July’s Plastic Man kicks off the “Continuity Bandit” storyline that finds Plastic Man fighting through a mix of storylines to find to track a villain that’s disrupting the entire DCU.

 

Also as previously reported, DC Comics Presents, a tribute to Julie Schwartz kicks off in July, with four tribute issues that month, and another four in August.

 

DC finally dips into the Charlton library with Action Heroes Archives, which will reprint classic Captain Atom stories by Steve Ditko. Collected in the volume will be stories from Space Adventures #33-#42 and from Captain Atom #78-#82.

 

DC’s Dan Didio added that if the volume sells well, DC would very likely do another volume, collecting the Captain Atom stories from issues #1-#77 of the original series.

 

In regards to what will be happening with Beast Boy in terms of Doom Patrol and Teen Titans continuity, all Titans writer Geoff Johns said was “I’m involved.”

 

Chaykin’s six-issue Challengers of the Unknown debuts in June.

 

In speaking about the upcoming Bloodhound series by Dan Jolley and Leonard Kirk (with covers by the occasionally pipe-chomping Dave Johnson), Didio said, “The DCU is getting a little bit tougher, and we’re introducing characters going in that direction,” Didio said.

 

Also in that direction, the panel served to debut the first piece of art from the upcoming Manhunter series by Marc Andreyko, Jesus Saiz, and Jimmy Palmiotti (with covers by Jae Lee). The August-debuting series features a federal prosecutor named Kate Spencer who has been pushed to her limit by a justice system that puts super-villains back on the street to strike again. To fight back, Spencer raids an evidence locker of confiscated meta-human weaponry to deliver her own brand of justice.

 

June sees the debut of Sam Kieth’s Scratch five issue miniseries, placing Batman in a full-on monster story set in a small town.

 

According to Didio, one of the reasons that Scratch is set in the DCU is that, “After Vertigo, we realized that we had no monsters left in the mainstream DC Universe.”

 

Catwoman: When in Rome, the six-issue miniseries by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale is scheduled for a fall release.

 

According to Loeb, “For those of you who haven’t read Daredevil: Yellow, this is the first time Tim has gone back to full ink wash on pencils.” Loeb then impressed the audience with Sale’s recipe for his ink-washing, which involves dilution and heating of inks all in specific ratios, to achieve the look he’s after.

 

Batman: The 12-Cent Adventure ships in August, which will kick off the three-month “War Games” crossover. As previously reported, the special issue will be written by Devin Grayson, with art by Ramon Bachs and Raul Fernandez and a cover by Cameron Stewart.

 

In the Q&A potpourri following the editorial presentation:

 

Didio said that Metal Men is “under review,” when asked. Reportedly, Evan Dorkin is working on a series for DC starting the sentient robots.

 

When asked when Batman will see a “consistent” (although it’s likely the individual meant “continuing”) creative team, Dido said DC will have a consistent creative team on the series, but it won’t be stable, indicating that the arcs written and drawn by rotating teams will continue for the foreseeable future.

 

Devin Grayson confirmed that Patrick Zircher’s last issue of Nightwing will be #93.

 

In replying to a question about making a Green Lantern movie, Didio said that DC’s first concern in moving towards that direction is making the book sell. Johns added that once Warner Brothers sees good stories being told, and the books selling well, the studios would see that Green Lantern is still viable and popular, and move ahead on a movie from there.

 

In discussing Gotham Central, Rucka said that rumors of the book’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and added that it would be nice to see the series selling another 10-20,000 copies a month. The writer said that he felt one of the things that hurt the series was that it took two years to get the first trade out.

 

Asked if he would be addressing the origin of Beast Boy in Teen Titans, Johns said, “Kind of.” He added that the next Titans arc, which features Beast Boy will show the character becoming contagious, so that every kid under the age of 13 in San Francisco turns into a green animal.

 

When the question of how to bring more kids into comics was raised, Chaykin pointed out that, on the whole, the population of the United States is getting older, and that he’s looking to reach, and intrigued with the idea of an older demographic being brought into – or back to - comics. He then described the experience of seeing 50 and 60 year olds in Europe sitting and reading graphic novels.

 

Didio said that there will be an announcement of the new Legion creative team “any day now.”

 

“He’s coming fast, he’s coming furious, he’s gonna hit hard,” Didio said, when asked what Grant Morrison will be doing in the main DCU.

 

Asked if anything will be done with the Spectre, Johns said, “Read Rebirth”

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

woah, sorry if this is ignorant, but I have a couple quick questions. I haven't been able to read comics for a while since there are no decent comic shops in my area and I rarely see them in the stores these days.

 

Female Robin? How recent did this happen and why?

 

I see mention of Grayson as Nightwing still, but if Robin is becoming female, what happened to Tim Drake?

 

Any explanation would be cool, just makes me curious...

[starvenger 0]

I need to get this off my chest, but Wondercon is NOT the SDCC. It's run by the same people though...