Speed Force

So, DC is finished with their week of announcements for 2010. I figured I should jot down some of my thoughts.

Earth One OGN Series: I like the concept, but I’m not particularly interested in the Superman or Batman books. I’m mildly curious about how JMS will approach Superman, but my real interest is in what happens when it expands beyond Superman and Batman. Give me a series of Flash graphic novels and I’m there. More thoughts on the concept and the name.

War of the Supermen: Sorry, I can’t get enthused about this one.

Wonder Woman #600: While numbering is trivial compared to story and art, there are very few characters who have been in near-continuous publication for the last 70 years. It’s nice to acknowledge that.

Of course, then there’s the question of how The Flash should be numbered, considering that they’ve relaunched several times with new characters.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne: I was kind of hoping they’d take a little more time with Dick Grayson as Batman before bringing back Bruce, but they seem to be treating it like the Death of Superman, Knightfall, or Artemis as Wonder Woman. (And yet somehow, today’s readers detest the 1990s. I don’t get it.) Still, Batman lost in time sounds like fun. I’ll probably pick this one up, though I might wait for the trade.

Marc Guggenheim on Action Comics: I think he made the best of a bad situation on Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, given that he was brought on board to do one thing: kill Bart Allen.

Francis Manapul & Geoff Johns on Flash: No really new info here, but I’m definitely liking Manapul’s art. (Covered here.) Overall, I’m still in wait-and-see mode. I had hoped to have a better sense of what The Flash post-Rebirth was going to look like by now, or that Flash: Rebirth itself might have won me over.

Legacies, History of the DCU, and Who’s Who: If they had only announced one of these three, I’d definitely be getting it. With three, I’m not sure…especially since Legacies is going to be 10 issues (the initial post only said 7) and Who’s Who will be 15 (the initial post only said 12). Though it’s not clear whether The History of the DC Universe will be a new book or simply a “new edition” (i.e. reprint). Legacies looks like it could be very interesting, as long as it doesn’t get too hung up on explaining things. If I could only choose one, I’d probably get Who’s Who and pick up the issues of Legacies that cover the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era.

The Rise of Arsenal and The Fall of Green Arrow: I’m sure there’s an audience for this out there, but it’s not me. It looks like everything I don’t like about today’s DC in one place. At least it’ll be easy to avoid.

So, there you have it: My take on the DCU in 2010. How about you? Which projects do you find appealing?

Friday

• Waiting in line to get into WonderCon… #
• Almost ready to go in, all I can see of the main floor is the giant T-shirt booth. #
• Waiting for DC Nation to start. Batman across the aisle, Green Lantern a few rows up. Techs getting slideshow ready. #
• Realized I’m right next to audience Q&A mike. Might want to move…. #
• Ian Sattler: This is a really long story – ina good way #
• 8 Bat books in June, & Paul Dini is on both Batman: Streets of Gotham & Gotham City Sirens. #
• Catwoman,Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn as a serious teamup? (Sirens) #
• Sattler to yawning GL cosplayer: Have the willpower to stay awake during our presentation! #
• Wonder Woman movie is phenomenal. #
• GL trailer looked very impressive. Really going scifi cosmic, w/ the corps, Sinestro (in his modern uniform) etc. #
• Uploading WonderCon (and vacation) pics to Flickr #
• *sigh* Flickr Uploadr got stuck. Retrying now.. then sleep. #

Saturday

• Wow… WonderCon is a LOT more crowded than yesterday #
• Spotted 3 Rorschachs so far. And a zillion Wonder Woman tiaras. (I think they’re today’s DC giveaway) #
• Autograph area is PACKED #
• A balloon just went racing across the hall until it ran out of air. #
• At DC Universe panel… #
• Judd Winnick reads Top 10 Things You Expect From Judd Winnick Writing Batman #
• Ian Sattler on Flash:Rebirth: everything you want in a Flash Book x10 #
• And yes, Wally will keep playing a role in the DCU #
• James Robinson: goal is to make books so good that you CAN’T wait for the trade #
• Arg! Final Crisis IS linear, except the final issue, and that’s a straight framing+flashback parallel structure. #
• People leaving after Star Trek panel at WonderCon #
• Crowd Control: “There’s plenty of room, they all left after Star Trek because they’re crazy.” #
• More WonderCon photos up at Flickr #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Note: Somehow when I added the headings, I added the wrong days of the week. This was Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday.

WonderCon From Above, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Having a great time at WonderCon so far. The con floor is divided into 3 main areas – publishers, comic dealers, and Artists’ Alley. There’s a bit more variation, but that’s the main breakdown. Not too many people in costumes today. Everyone seemed very patient in the line waiting to get in, much more than I’d expect in, say, San Diego.

Talked to some artists, picked up some autographs, bought some trades I’d been meaning to pick up. Got over to the Boom booth to pick up the Farscape exclusive, hit the DC Nation and Boom panels, saw an interesting one on the real archaeology behind the Indiana Jones series.

Also attended the screening of the direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman movie coming out on Tuesday. It’s incredible. It’s epic. Ares is the main villain, there’s an all-out war that nearly gave the film an R rating (I think the final cut is PG-13), and it doesn’t shy away from any aspect or implications of Diana’s origin — and because it tackles everything head-on, it works.

After WW, there was a brief trailer for the next direct-to-DVD animation, Green Lantern, which looks to be very cosmic and sci-fi in tone.

More comments on Twitter, and first batch of photos are up on Flickr.

Update: I have a more thorough con report up at K-Squared Ramblings.

A couple of fan redesigns of Bart Allen’s costumes: Kid Flash by PO! and The Flash (Bart Allen) by Ming Doyle. (I found the first through a Google alert, and the second on the DC Boards.)

Comiccon.com interviews the creators of Will Triumph Fights Alone. The power ring on the cover, with its yellow band, circular setting, and lightning insignia looks oddly familiar.

Comics Should Be Good’s Top 100 battles adds more Flash material, including Flash vs. Zoom (Blitz) (thanks, Craig MD) and #47, Flash vs. Professor Zoom (Return of Barry Allen)

Hero Complex has 10 favorite Wonder Woman battles including Wonder Woman vs. Zoom.

Update: I missed this one in my rush to post this before heading out to a family gathering that, as it turned out, was starting several hours before we expected. Newsarama has an interview with Greg LaRocque about his new project, The Dreaming. LaRocque worked on The Flash during the late 1980s and early 1990s with both William Messner-Loebs and Mark Waid.