If all goes well, a few minutes after this post goes live, I’ll be live-blogging the panel! Once it gets started, the view here should update automatically as I add to it.
11:30 Welcome to the Speed Force live coverage of the DC Nation Kickoff at SDCC! This is a bit of an experiment, and the network connection is pretty slow, so we’ll see how it goes.
11:31 Dan Didio is introducing himself and the panel
11:31 DD: There is no big announcement from DC, I think DC is big enough as it is!
11:32 DD: bringing someone back from the dead… Hawkgirl!
11:32 Bob Wayne is up next
11:33 Jeff Lemire
11:33 Bill Willingham now…
11:34 J.T. Krull & Nicola Scott
11:34 “The man who made Justice Cry….James Robinson”
11:36 DD: Last year everyone was saying there was too much Death in DC comics, and now they’re applauding it. (re: Action Comics)
11:37 Jim Lee has arrived
11:38 Dan Didio is asking what fans like about Superman & now Batman
11:39 DD is telling a story about a fan who screamed every time she heard him say the words “kill Nightwing,” so they started working the phrase into everything they said.
11:40 Bob Wayne: DD went up behind her in when she was in line to buy a coke and said, “Kill Nightwing” and she screamed again..
11:41 Important issues: WW costume change. “Who likes the costume change?” (show of hands.) “OK, we’re done.”
11:41 Jim Lee: wanted to do something different than anything seen before, there’s a reason in the story.
11:43 Fan: “I love the new costume…but if you lose the jacket it’ll be awesome.” Jim Lee: “Actually, it’s attached to her back…”
11:44 Fan: The problem is that there was no prep for the fans. Dan: Should we do one leg at a time?
11:44 On to Justice League…
11:47 James Robinson: importance of showing a hero with an ordinary prosthetic limb, not a super-powered cyborg arm, in reference to wounded veterans.
11:47 Green Arrow..
11:48 JT Krul: Forest gives Star City a unique setting for GA like Gotham for Batman.
11:48 Switching to Vertigo & Fables…
11:49 Bill WIllingham: Fables #100 is 100 pages long. 60 pages of final reckoning between one Fables villain and a long-time character. For the rest, Mark Buckingham writes & Bill Willingham draws.
11:50 DD: How many of you remember when Bill Willingham drew Justice League? (silence) And you call yourselves Justice League International fans – I knew they didn’t exist!
11:51 Fables board game, answering reader questions, etc. Now BW is leaving for a signing. On to Jeff Lemire w/ Sweet Tooth…
11:53 Jeff Lemire excited about Superboy launch, has seen art from first issue. Smallville is a great location to tell stories.
11:53 Opening to questions.
11:54 Fan dressed as black-and-white Superman: “It’s Bizarro!” “Actually, I’m George Reeves.”
11:55 “George Reeves” asks what the connection is between the Lazarus Pit and the Black Lanterns. DD: Not sure there is a connection, but ask Geoff Johns.
11:57 Fan re: lantern entities. “I have no idea what that purple dinosaur is for love…”
11:59 Fan asks about lantern deputies’ rings & whether they still have them, DD: see Untold Tales of Blackest Night in October
12:00 Dan Didio on books getting bad reviews: Not every book is going to please everyone. No one in this room likes exactly the same things. Goal is to make as much product for as many people as possible.
12:01 DD: The fact that we’re *talking* about an Arsenal book…
12:03 DD still taking the approach that if they touched a nerve re: Lian, the story worked
12:03 Fan asks about age-appropriate Wonder Woman book for his 8-year-old daughter, who was disappointed to hear that Super Friends had been canceled. DD: More kid-friendly books are on their way.
12:05 Fan asks Jim Lee what other characters he’d redesign. Answer: just about anyone, & adds, “You do realize Wonder Woman’s original costume is going to be around forever, right?”
12:06 Nicola Scott: I like them all as they are (costumes). Jeff Lemire: I’m going to give Superboy antlers.
12:06 Clarify Jim Lee’s comment on redesigns: basically that all the major characters’ costumes can be and have been adjusted over time.
12:07 Fan asks if they’ll please change Superboy’s & Supergirl’s costumes.
12:07 You mean switch them?
12:07 Fan behind her in Flash T-shirt & jeans, panelists joke that he’s wearing the Flash’s new costume.
12:09 JT Krul on why Roy Harper is a magnet for horrible things to happen. Because he’s been around so long *and* gone down dark roads, you can do more with him than with Green Arrow. You can’t do a story about Green Arrow where you remove his arm…until issue #7. “It’s going to be a team-up book!”
12:09 James Robinson (still on Roy): He’s a self-sabotager.
12:10 Fan asks if there are any active plans for Wally West. “He carried his own book for 20 years. I’m 21.”
12:11 DD: You’ll notice we didn’t kill him. All we’re doing right now is pulling him offstage for a little while so we can re-establish Barry. Once we feel that he’s fully established in the next year or so, you’ll see Wally coming back in a very powerful way.
12:14 Same fan asking about why DC is re-reprinting the same Silver Age stories over and over in new formats instead of continuing. (I’m beginning to wonder if I know this guy online.)
12:15 Bob Wayne: with Green Lantern at least, they *are* continuing the Showcase lines. Reason for announced HC color Omnibus is that the Archives are hard to find.
12:15 Fan on Wonder Woman’s new costume: “Two words. Soccer mom.”
12:16 Blue Beetle test footage? *whisper* (tomorrow)
12:18 Death’s appearance in Action Comics wasn’t an editorial push. Writer came up with idea, called up Neil Gaiman, got approval on his own.
12:19 Dan Didio: Goal is not to produce DC-centric or Vertigo-centric, but best book for a character & then figure out how to brand it.
12:20 Plugging the DC Comics Presents line, sounds like it’ll continue past the first round announced. “Blue Beetle might appear in that too.”
12:22 Favorite Teen Titans Villain – JT Krul: Deathstroke & Terra in Judas Contract. Nicola Scott: Deathstroke’s great, but I really like the one we’re creating now. James Robinson: You’re both crazy, the best Titans villain ever was the Mad Mod.
12:24 Dan Didio: Let me just say I have every issue of Justice League International (even Justice League Europe?) Yes. I bailed on Justice League Task Force.
12:24 What was Final Crisis? DD: When the heroes lose.
12:25 Infinite Crisis is about multiple crises hitting at once, Final Crisis is about how you act as a hero when you know you’ve already lost. (DD again)
12:25 Fan asks about Jack Knight. JR: Never say never, but focusing on Mikail for now
12:26 Fan asks Jim Lee about what he thinks is his best work. “Some of my work on Hush.”
12:27 DD: There will “absolutely” be more Batman Beyond comics – it sold far better than they expected.
12:27 Semi-permanent tie-in between Red Robin & Superboy? No plans right now, but maybe a yearly event?
12:28 Milestone? Static ongoing series launching next year.
12:28 Fan: Can we have maybe 2 years without a major Justice League roster change? JR: that’s the plan.
12:28 And…that’s the end!
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Great work, Kelson, thank you!
“DD still taking the approach that if they touched a nerve re: Lian, the story worked”
That, to me, shows that DiDio is disconnected from long-term fans. Stuff like Cry for Justice doesn’t make some of us excited for what’s happening. It pisses us off and makes us drop books.
Example: I was interested in the new Titans direction with Deathstroke’s team. I’m a Marvel Family fan, so I was very interested in Osiris’ story. But that one shot that ended with the stupid, poorly written death of Ryan Choi pissed me off so much that I refuse to buy Titans now.