With the Flashpoint panel band-aid torn off, the DC brass showed up at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 to finally address fans about their massive New 52 initiative, which finds appropriately, fifty-two new comic book series launching in September, including a completely relaunched, reformatted, and rebooted (kind of) superhero Universe. As we’ve mentioned on this very site before, a lot was riding on this panel, as this was – truly – DC’s chance to sell the comic book public on their big new idea.
John Cunningham from DC introduced Dan Didio to applause from the audience. Didio then took MC duties, introduced EIC Bob Harras, Editor Eddie Berganza, writer of JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL Dan Jurgens, writer of LEGION OF SUPERHEROES Paul Levitz, writer of STORMWATCH and DEMON KNIGHTS Paul Cornell, J.T. Krul and Freddie Williams III, and WONDER WOMAN artist Cliff Chiang, and Scott Lobdell, who is writing more stuff than we can count.
Didio then laid it out for the audience. “The words that I heard in the beginning were worried, scared, nervous.” Didio then called directly to people in the audience who felt bad, working the crowd like a revival meeting. Audience members aired their fears, as Didio called them out one by one, until he asked, “What do we need to do to change your mind?” Immediately, an audience member shouted, “Detective #900!”
After a pause, Didio said, “…What do we need to do to change everybody else’s mind.”
Then an audience member shouted out, “More women writers!” to cheers from the audience. Continuing, the audience member said, “Why did you go from 1% to 12%?” Throwing it right back – somewhat aggressively – Didio said, “Who do you think we should hire?” When the fan couldn’t answer, someone jumped in with “Nicola Scott!” To more cheers from the audience.
Continuing, Didio said, “Everything we are trying to do about the New 52 books is about being more successful, more vibrant, and continue. We can talk about numbers, and renumbering, but those numbers won’t matter if we don’t have anyone to read them.”
The idea of the panels over the next four days, Didio said, is to win fans over to, and to convince them that The New 52 is a good idea. Moving on to talking with the writers and artists, Didio showed off images, and asked the creators to comment:
- All 52 covers together.
- Justice League International: “For the first time, I think, we’re going to have the Justice League as a United Nations sponsored group dealing with some of the biggest threats we see on Earth.” Booster Gold is the leader. Fire, Rocket Red, Ice, Vixen, and Lady Godiva will all be on the initial roster… We also saw Batman in the preview pages.
- Wonder Woman: “We’re definitely hit the ground running, we don’t need to go over Wonder Woman’s origin again.” Diana will be going up against a new character called Zola who has anger against the gods. Said Chiang, “We’ve taken some cues from the competition, and her pants are actually retractable.” The gods are modern, not classic gods of myth. They’ve been around a long time, so they can change the way they look.
- Captain Atom: “We really want to emphasize the sense of isolation he has,” said Krul. Captain Atom is rendered in grey wash, to separate him from the world.
- Teen Titans: “They’re younger characters, and I wanted to make sure they had a fresh start. We’re also trying not to repeat any of the characters,” said Lobdell. Robin seems to have jetpack, and Wonder Girl is separated from Wonder Woman and Diana.
- Green Arrow: “It’s a matter of honing who the character is. He’s going to have a company again, called Q-Corp. It’s a little Apple-esque with the Q-Pad and things like that,” said Krul. He’ll be using different weapons, and fighting more powerful villains. He goes up against new villains in the first arc, who seem to be trying to become famous. George Perez is inking the book.
- Demon Knights: “This is medieval superheroes. This is the maleficent seven. It’s the end of Camelot, very messy. If you like Game of Thrones, if you like Dragon Age, it’s that sort of swords and sorcery,” said Cornell. It connects across the DCU in ways that we’ll find out later. There’s a character in the title called The Horseman, who rides her horse because she can’t walk. He wasn’t trying to replace Oracle, but she is there for diversity.
- Stormwatch: “Yes, they still are, in the question you’re all asking. I’m going to get a T-shirt that says, yes they’re still gay,” said Cornell. Inked pages showed off a monster that looks new, but will be familiar to fans of the DCU… Mr. Mind, maybe? In the first issue, Stormwatch fight The Moon. Seriously. “It’s a team that’s falling apart at the seams, as they’re insisting they’re the ones in charge.”
- Legion of Superheroes: “Number one for the third time! Going to keep doing it, until I do it right!” joked Levitz. “Cornell may have the medieval universe, but I have the whole damn universe to fuck around with.”
Didio then opened up to questions. The first fan asked about the Marvel Family, which Didio said would happen, but it wasn’t part of the initial fifty-two initiative.
The next fan said she was burned out by all the crises, and aksed, “Do you have your shit together?” To huge laughter to the audience. The question was, what’s the reason to pick up The New 52?
“Listen, I’m very much aware of the fact that people spend money for our books. We have to be very much aware that we’re putting the best possible people with the best possible art,” said Harras. “Honestly, I think we’re going to deliver. Every morning when I sit down, and I sit the art that’s coming in, I’m like a kid in a candy store. Give us a chance in September.”
Didio then said that a crossover isn’t something they’re even discussing at the time, they’re more focused on every book standing on its own individually.
The next fan then said he’d love to see Neil Gaiman back at DC. Didio said that given his schedule, Gaiman has an open invitation.
A fan then said he’s going to buy all fifty-two comics, and urged DC to keep the course, as long as the quality is there, to applause from the audience. He had no question, by the way.
The next question was, will Booster know it’s a relaunch. Jurgens stated that this will actually be addressed in the last issue of Booster Gold.
On the subject of late books, Didio said they found that late books weren’t selling, so they’re mission is now to release everything on time, all the time.
Didio said that there are two primary series – other than series set in the Old West, the Future, or Medieval Times – specifically Action Comics and Justice League that are set in the past, to fill in the past timeline of the DCU.
There’s no plans for Wally West in the Flash series. Didio said that the idea is to show how the Flash is unique, and in order to do that, they needed to focus on Barry Allen.
On the subject of the timeline, Eddie Berganza has a timeline of the New 52, which he’ll never show off. “You all have history, but that doesn’t mean you have to tell it all at once,” said Berganza. “This is open for everybody to come and read. This isn’t a history lesson.”
Wonder Woman won’t be an ambassador for peace anymore, according to Chiang.
Another fan asked whether we could see anything with Wally West, and again, the answer was no. The fan aptly brought up that there are four Robins, why can’t their be two Flashes, but Didio deflected the question, saying that it was a problem they ran into with a lot of the characters.
The next question was about changing Barbara Gordon back to Batgirl, rather than as Oracle – a popular reinvention of the character. “We’re always going to have a Batgirl character, and the most recognizable will always be Barbara Gordon,” said Didio. “With Gail Simone in charge, I’m confident that Barbara will be as strong as she’s ever been.”
There’s no Batman/Superman title because they want to establish a new status quo, but it might happen down the road.
According to Paul Cornell, AUTHORITY characters The Engineer, Jack Hawksmoore, and Jenny Q will all show up in STORMWATCH. There are nine leads in the book.
DC is working with Barnes and Noble to get more comics in their stores, though they won’t change the digital price right now.
Asked about Thunder Agents, Zombies, and Stephanie Brown, Didio said, “Yes. No. Yes.” DC is coming back with a second Thunder Agents series in December, written by Nick Spencer.
Didio promised more diverse characters, including a new Latino character in Teen Titans.
Red Arrow’s arm is back, but his daughter isn’t.
A fan asked whether Lex Luthor still stole forty cakes in continuity, to which Paul Cornell said he desperately
The last question was from a mother, dressed as Stephanie Brown Batgirl, who has a seven year old daughter looking for female role models for her kid. Lobdell said that half the characters in Teen Titans will be females, and Didio listed Supergirl, Batgirl, and Wonder Girl. Honestly? The mother didn’t seem satisfied.
With that, the panel was over, and Didio promised there were three more chances to ask questions over the next few days. The general vibe of this one was about fifty percent confrontational, fifty percent supportive… So at this point, we’re not sure DC has won over the crowd. But like they said, they’ll keep trying.
We’ll be back soon with more panel goodness.
Related Posts:
SDCC 2011: MTV's Got Panels!
SDCC 2011: The TV Panel Roundup
--
Discuss this story in our Comics forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!
