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WonderCon

March 2, 2009: DC Universe Panel at WonderCon 2009

By Jeffrey Taylor.

Attended by Ian Sattler, Bob Wayne, Judd Winick, Liz Gherlin, James Robinson, Ivan Brandon, Joe Casey.

James Robinson, who is known for his foul language, reminded his fellow panel members that there are "Seven dirty words we can't use. Two of them are 'Final' and 'Crisis'."

Robinson spoke again about Superman, but the information was the same as Friday's DC Nation panel.

Superman has gone to live with the Kryptonians which will be the World of New Krypton book. Superman will be among his people and dealing with what Zod and Alura are doing. It will involve the DCU and impact other books. Pete Woods handles the crowd scenes perfectly.

Robinson reiterated that "Superman and Action Comics will not have Superman in it." Which is contrary to what Ian Sattler explained in our interview.

Guardian will be leading the Science Police in Superman.

Dan Didio had asked Robinson to give Metropolis a personality, like he gave to Opal City in Starman.

Supergirl has always felt like a weak sister, which Robinson says has been changing with the events in New Krypton. Sterling Gates has been returning her to the original premise. So Kryptonians being banned from Earth means she'll need a secret identity.

Geoff and Gary's collaboration on Superman: Secret Origin will be an all new story utilizing the framework of Superman's early years, but not just a rehashing of past origins.

You'll be delighted by the fresh look Geoff is giving Superman's origin.

We are building toward a gigantic event in 2010. All of Geoff's stuff with Brainiac and the Legion are all going to tie in and pay off soon.

Judd Winick will be writing Batman starting in June. He is known among fans for introducing homosexual characters, so he made a funny joke list of the top ten things we'll be seeing in his run. The #1 was that Batman and Superman will be exploring their relationship to its fullest in a story called, "Meet me at midnight and I'll be your Apollo."

Then they went to questions from the audience.

When asked if Doomsday is going to be in Black Reign, Sattler said he's not dead. Robinson said maybe.

The Superman issue featuring the man on the cover of Action Comics #1 who was running away from Superman as he threw the car will probably never see print according to Robinson. It was solicited quite some time ago, then changed, and now Robinson says, "We're trying to look forward, not backward."

When asked why Robinson chose to return to the Jim Harper Guardian after Grant Morrison had fleshed out a different one in Seven Soldiers of Victory, he said he preferred Jim Harper for his history with Superman and Metropolis. It's also interesting to watch him dealing with whether or not he has a soul since he's a clone. Plus now he has a daughter who is another clone of him, but female.

Black Lightning is going off the grid in Outsiders. So Black Lightning is not playing as big a roll in Superman as Robinson originally intended.

There's a conversation in Superman #686 where you'll see Steel settle in to being an anti-Luthor instead of Steel. Finally he will be forced to don the armor. The things that he can do are unique, not just scientific. Also Vanessa will return.

One young man approached the microphone stating, "I'm a little slow sometimes because I smoke a lot of weed. So I got a little lost reading Final Crisis," and he asked for clarification. Sattler said that reading it works better in one sitting. A lot of the after effects are still coming. Look back in the other Final Crisis books too.

Another person asked how each creator approached continuity.

Judd Winick said, "With great care and frustration. Comic books are the only ongoing medium that has been around this long. Sometimes you're writing from A to B but sometimes there are certain parameters. We have editors. Right now we're trying to tie certain books together, then we try to do the same with the whole universe."

Sattler said there's usually a baseline continuity of unchangeable things, then the story skirts those lines.

Robinson explained that there are layers of continuity. Whatever you think of Final Crisis, it all tied in elegantly. It's a constant challenge. He had to incorporate Mon-El's history into current continuity, but had to ignore one aspect. Geoff Johns has done a marvelous job with continuity with the Toyman story and Brainiac. At times Robinson wishes he could just write the trades because of lateness schedules.

Bob Wayne explained that all the continuity problems were Ian Sattler's fault.

Someone asked if Kon-El/Superboy would be returning in Blackest Night. The panel was unable to say yes or no, but simply that a lot of dead characters would return. The person who asked the question exclaimed that he thought it was obvious that he was.

Q: Will DCU online tie in the with comics?

A: That's a good question.

Q: Was it a good idea to celebrate Legion's 50th anniversary by canceling both the books?

A: Look at Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds and Adventure Comics, plus they will be appearing in another book later this year.

Q: Pricing - Are co-features going to be the norm to make up for the price increases?

A: Bob Wayne mentioned that there have been a few. Dan Didio is a fan of that format. Strange Adventures will be like that. He understands we're looking for value. Back up features also allow creators to do regular ongoing work with a lower page count.

Captain Atom will appear in Superman. There are plans in a couple of the Superman books.

Someone said Final Crisis was hard to follow and generated a lot of negativity among fans. He asked how much does DC pay attention to the negativity and does it change how they work. Answer: They listen to fans, but don't let certain vocal groups of people direct their stories.

There will be definitive differences between the Fourth and Fifth Worlds.


2009 Comic News

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