Tag Archives: SDCC 2010

DC Nation Kickoff – Live at Comic-Con

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) Continue reading

San Diego Plans: Watch for Liveblogging

I’m not at preview night, but I will be in San Diego over the next few days for Comic-Con International. Mostly I plan on having fun, but I do plan to cover some of the DC panels live.

SDCC Crowd Outside

Since my old Twitter-to-liveblogging solution doesn’t seem to be working anymore (I don’t know whether it’s changes in WordPress or changes in Twitter), I’ve gone looking for alternatives and settled on Cover It Live. Among other things, it not only handles live updating from my end, it will also automatically update your view, so you don’t have to sit there hitting reload. They officially support the iPhone, and it seems to work on Android as well, though I have no idea how well other mobile devices will handle it.

The panels I’m planning to cover live are:

I’ll try to catch at least one more of the other DC Nation/Editorial panels, but I don’t know whether I’ll try to cover them as they happen.

And there’s still the possibility that I won’t be able to get into the panel. Or I’ll get in, but the wifi (if there is any) and cell reception won’t work. We’ll see…

» Full index of Comic-Con coverage

Speed Reading: Sackboy & Zombie Flash, Brea Grant, Young Justice and SDCC

Some weekend linkblogging…

That F’ing Monkey continues its Friday Flash focus with a Flash Sackboy and a piece of original art from Flash: TFMA, the series following Bart Allen’s brief career as the Flash. Let’s just say it’s from the storyline that had Marc Guggenheim as writer and Ethan Van Sciver on covers.

Robot 6’s regular feature on collections spotlights Hugues Charron, headlining the profile with a Todd Lauzon painting of a Zombie Flash.

Heroes’ speedster Brea Grant is this past week’s Geek a Week. (via Bad Astronomy)

DC is finally reprinting Young Justice!…sort of. They’re releasing a set of eight DC Comics Presents one-shots reprinting various hard-to-find stories, including JLA: World Without Grown-Ups as DC Presents: Young Justice.

Collected Editions reviews Justice League: Cry for Justice, concluding it’s both better and worse than advertised. Of course, when the introduction to the book is essentially an apology by the writer, you have to wonder…

Comic-Con

Warner Bros. promotes this year’s giant bags for Comic-Con…and their wardrobe possibilities.

Dark Horse sponsors events at more than 50 comic stores for fans who are #NotAtComicCon.

Ethan Van Sciver has posted promotional art for Montreal Comic-Con featuring a Superman/Flash race and Green Lantern with the starting pistol.

Update: Here’s one more. Kerry Callen (of the excellent Halo and Sprocket) redraws Flash v.1 #133 for Covered. That’s the classic Abra Kadabra story in which the Flash thinks to himself, “I’ve got the strangest feeling I’m being turned into a puppet.”

San Diego Velocity Variant

Velocity SDCC Variant CoverTop Cow has released its list of Comic-Con Exclusives, including a variant edition of Velocity #1.

I’m not sure, but I think this might be the first cover for the series that features her new costume (which I have to assume is glued on). The standard covers for #1 and #2 were originally going to be pin-up variants for the series that was scrapped, and had her previous costume. The ChrisCross variant was originally going to be a standard cover for that series, and featured a new costume that ChrisCross designed.

I like the detail of her holding up the Comic-Con badge, but…sometimes I wonder whether there are two Kenneth Rocaforts: the one who draws the incredible interior art, and the one who draws the covers that belong on something like Maxim. Yeah, I know it’s Top Cow, but I always feel like I need to explain that no, really, I read it for the articles.

As for the issue itself, I thought it was quite good.

Cons: SDCC Transportation & Tips, LBCC Lifetime Memberships, EVS at Philly

Some quick convention notes:

Flash: Rebirth artist Ethan Van Sciver will be at Wizard World’s Philadelphia Comic Con* this weekend, and will be signing this afternoon from 3:00-3:45.

Comic Con InternationalComic-Con International is gearing up for next month’s event with transportation news: they’re adding shuttle service to hotels in Mission Valley, Shelter Island, and North Harbor Island. Also, they’re partnering with some downtown San Diego parking lots to sell pre-paid parking. Amazingly enough, spaces in the lot below the convention center still seem to be available!

If you’re headed to San Diego, or to any other convention this summer, you may want to check out my Tips for Comic-Con.

Long Beach Comic ConLong Beach Comic Con has only been around for a year, but they’re already offering a limited-edition lifetime membership for $129. That’s comparable to three years at the full-weekend price of $45…or just over one year at Comic-Con International (currently $100 for 4½ days). They’re running a contest though the end of July to win one of the lifetime memberships.

I enjoyed the first LBCC last October, and I definitely plan on going back this year if I can.

*I don’t link to the individual convention pages anymore because they keep moving them around. Not to mention renaming the cons.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Flash-related Exclusives

In case anyone wasn’t aware, one of Mattel’s exclusives for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC is going to be Starro The Conqueror. How does this relate to The Flash? Many of you should be aware that Starro, the alien conqueror with the ability to enslave his enemies using starfish-shaped spores, debuted with the Justice League of America in the Silver Age classic, Brave and the Bold #28. As a special bonus to commemorate DC Comics’ 75th Anniversary, Mattel will be releasing Starro with all five members of the original Justice League. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and of course, our favorite scarlet speedster, The Flash. Take a gander.

Starro Packaging

Starro and the Silver Age Justice League of America

Starro Spores that can only be acquired at the Con.

Unfortunately these guys aren’t going to be released in the DC Universe Classics(or DCUC) line. The exclusive for that line has been revealed to be Plastic Man.

These are instead done in the Infinite Heroes style which is Mattel’s 3.75-inch line of figures. Think DC Universe Classics shrunken down to the size of G.I. Joes. I don’t think the line has been as popular as Mattel had hoped. A lot of this having to do with the quality of the initial figures. Limited Articulation (Which I actually liked for the most part), poor sculpts and sloppy paint apps have plagued this line from the very beginning. The figures have been more plentiful and easier to find at retail than DCUC, but I can’t say how much of this is because of collectors not really wanting them.

These guys don’t look too bad though. Mattel went back to the drawing board a little while ago and the results weren’t terrible. Not perfect by any means but they are heading in the right direction. I have been waiting for a regular version of the Flash released in the Matty Exclusive Crisis on Infinite Earths Infinite Heroes 4-Pack for a while and while I’m not ecstatic that I have to pay 50 bucks for him I’m still happy to have him. Honestly I’m sure they are going to release him as a single card later on, I really just want it now. 🙂

The packaging is probably the coolest part of this set. Well besides the Starro Spores. But you can only get those if you go to the actual con or purchase them after the fact on eBay for what I’m sure will be ridiculous prices. You can’t see it in the pictures but the packaging is set up exactly like the cover of Brave and the Bold #28. Attack of the Show had an exclusive preview of all the Mattel items coming to SDCC, including this set. The awesome set up of the cover is shown in the first video which can be seen HERE. The segment on the Starro set is about 2 minutes and 18 seconds in. This looks so cool, that it may be the one item that I keep MOC (or Mint On Card, meaning unopened and in pristine condition for the uninitiated).

Can’t wait to order these guys. I may go the extra mile for the Starro Spores as they look too freaking cool to pass up. I already have a Starro-possessed Flash Heroclix so it would be kind of cool to have a large scale version of it too. Do any of you guys plan on picking the set up? At SDCC or from Matty later on?

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson