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October 11, 2012: New York Comic Con Superman Panel Report

The "DC Comics - The New 52: Superman" panel just took place from 6.30-7.30pm at the New York Comic Con, with moderator Bob Wayne, editors Matt Idelson and Eddie Berganza, writers Grant Morrison (Action Comics) and Mike Johnson (Supergirl), joined by artist Mahmud Asrar (Supergirl) and incoming Action Comics team Andy Diggle and Tony Daniel. Also in attendance were writer Sholly Fisch and artist Cully Hamner.

Grant Morrison started off discussing "Action Comics #15", showing an image of Superman fighting "Super Doomsday" alongside the Daily Planet building.

Superman's first exposure to Kryptonite in this "New 52" continuity will happen in the upcoming "Action Comics Annual" to be written by Sholly Fisch with art by Cully Hamner. Fisch explains we'll see a "new direction for Steel that no one was expecting. It's got Luthor, it's got Lois, it's got Jimmy... And Superman and Kryptonite Man hit each other!" As for the back-up story written by Max Landis, it was described as "The most deranged thing you've ever seen".

As for the "H'el on Earth" crossover, Eddie Berganza says, "We have Supergirl coming in to help... or not. They're not one big happy Super family, and you'll see a lot of changes there in this story."

Look for a Superboy/Batman team up in the last part of the "H'el on Earth" saga, with Superboy wearing Superman's Kryptonian armor. While Supergirl will meet up with the Flash in a story titled "The Fastest Girl on Earth".

Incoming "Action Comics" creative team Andy Diggle and Tony Daniel met for the fist time in person at this convention, with Diggle saying, "It's ridiculously exciting to be writing Superman, and incredibly terrifying to be following Grant Morrison. If you see the last page in Superman #0, you'll get some clues to this new costume, and where he might be that he's wearing it."

Coming off a long stint on Batman books, artist Tony Daniel commented that he's "excited to flex some different creative muscles, with people flying through the air, bursting through buildings... coming out during the day, I haven't done a lot of that stuff in a long time."

Jim Lee and Scott Snyder joined the panel to announce their new stand-alone Superman comic book project. "2013 is the 75th anniversary of Superman, so we were talking about adding an additional book to the family. We were waiting for the right creative team to come along - I didn't hire myself I promise."

"Scott kind of walked me through this incredible story, and I started visualizing the story in my mind immediately. I was describing what we'd do with camera angles, story telling, narrative," continued Lee.

"That discussion turned into us doing this new Superman book. For me it's a nice departure, too, going onto a solo book instead of a team book. I was a huge fan of Scott's work from the beginning of American Vampire. And obviously the Court of Owls stuff just blew my socks off. He's got a great story... which I can't tell you about."

Snyder said "We're going to try to deliver to you the biggest and most kick-ass Superman story we can. I'm writing the features and the back-ups. It'll be big and gamechanging but have a lot of intimacy, a lot of American History. This is the Superman story I'd tell if I could only tell one before they kicked me right off."

Moving on to discuss "Superman: Earth One - Volume 2" by J. Michael Staczynski and Shane Davis, Eddie Berganza explained, "Superman is a kid learning a lot of things, including the potential of his powers. A lot of people don't trust this guy in tights flying around above them." With the Parasite being the main villain of the story, Bergzana continued, "The main theme of this story is power, that power corrupts and power can fail you."

The panel then turned questions over to the fans, and Grant Morrison explained, "I was originally going to just do 6 issues, but when I had started I realized I needed 17 issues to back my story up. I really enjoyed doing the one-offs, if I could change anything at all, I think I'd try to do every issue as a complete story, I think that's really fun especially for Superman".

When someone asked if there was any chance of seeing the old "classic" costume again, Jim Lee answered, "I don't think History is all about looking back. The great thing about a character with this rich history is it gives you a deferrment to work from where this story comes. To keep the characters relevant and modern, you have to be fearless and keep looking forward, keep moving. I understand your connection or your desire to see some of the old trappings of the costume. In 75 years they'll be pining away for this costume right now." Cully Hamner added, "You know, the basics of the costume are still there, you still have the red cape and the S on his chest. I think evolution is a good thing, I don't think you should shy away from it."

When asked who was the more dominant personality in this continuity - Superman or Clark Kent, Sholly Fisch answered, "Both characters are 'real'. Whether he's Superman or Clark Kent, he's always trying to be so good and make things better. Either way, he's a good guy. When you come down to it, he's a hero."

As for whether Superman has died and returned in this continuity, Morrison said, "YES. A lot of that stuff happened, you'll see in Action Comics #15, #16, and #17, a lot of that stuff that happened."

Andy Diggle explained his inspiration for the Superman stories he'll be telling saying, "The thing I liked about Grant's take on it is the younger, edgier, more emotional Superman. I'm very excited to see how he'll evolve in his last few issues. For me, Christopher Reeve was my Superman, he embodied that sense of decency. I've written a lot of not-decent characters in my time, a lot of cynical and darker characters. That is inspirational, that he just does everything he can earnestly to help everyone. I'll take all my darkness and cynicism and put that into the villains!"

Diggle added, "I'm looking forward to not just doing the huge scale space adventure Superman stuff, but the actual Clark Kent journalism stuff too."

[With thanks to Newsaram.com for their live coverage of the panel]

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