The Week In Geek: Post Comic Con Edition
Welcome to a special post-San Diego Comic Con edition of The Week In Geek. While I usually just talk about movies and television around here, with the occasional comic book news, seeing as Comic Con just wrapped I thought I’d let the comic book news rule the week. Not to say there wasn’t any non comics movie news out of SDCC; I believe Steven Spielberg announced a Jurassic Park IV officially for instance. However, this was the year that the Big Two comic book companies (Marvel and DC for you non comic literate) took advantage of the relative lack of a big movie push and decided to put the Comic back in Comic Con again.
DC Comics & The New 52
DC Comics spent considerable amounts of energy (and at least four distinct panels) trying to convince angry and confused fanboys and fangirls that their new 52 Reboot/Relaunch thing was a good idea. I’d say based on feedback I was hearing, that they were at least partially successful at convincing fans this wasn’t going to be a giant clusterfuck. Lots of art and costume designs were shown at various panels, as well as some tidbits of information. Interestingly, not a single new title past the 52 #1 issues that we knew about was officially announced at all. Still, lots of new details were revealed, and here are what I think are the Top Ten nuggets of info on the new 52 you might have missed
#1.Marriage Is Bad. And So Are Children.
-Not only did Lois and Clark never get married in the newly rebooted DCU (that’s old news) but apparently neither did Flash Barry Allen and Iris West (the jury is still out on Aquaman and Mera) Also bad? Children. Roy Harper (Arsenal/Red Arrow) never had his daughter Lian, and very likely neither did any of the original Titans. If and when Wally West shows up again, expect his twins Jai and Iris to never have been conceived and probably never have married Linda Park either. Speaking of Wally West….
#2. Still No Plans For Flash Wally West
-Not only that, but it seems up in the air if Wally was ever Flash to begin with. It seems at least once at every 52 panel, someone asked about our Wally. This is hardly odd, as Wally West was the only Flash an entire generation grew up with (from 1986 to 2008; not a brief run) Dan DiDio just kept repeating that there were no plans for Wally right now. A certain fans asked Didio personally at the DC booth just what was up, and got this answer: apparently, Wally’s wife and children make it hard to make his Uncle Barry seem like the younger character. Again: Marriage/Children =Bad.
#3.Ryan Choi Is The JLA’s New Atom
-Fans were outraged when one of DC’s few Asian heroes, Ryan Choi/The Atom III was killed off, leaving only Ray Palmer as the Atom. Now it seems in this new DCU, Choi was never killed and there is no sign there ever was a Ray Palmer.
#4.Power Girl Is Still Around…Sort Of
-While there is no Power Girl yet, her alter ego Karen Starr IS in the new DCU, and will be seen in the new Mr. Terrific series. It was hinted that it wouldn’t be long before her Power Girl identity emerges.
#5 Cyborg: Founding JLA Member AND Teen Titan Too?
-Cyborg was now indeed a founding member of the rebooted JLA, however, Geoff Johns revealed that after the new origin of the Justice League is told in the opening arc, (set “five years ago”) it will be revealed that Cyborg went and joined the Teen Titans, meaning most of the continuity of my beloved New Teen Titans series remains intact. And for those fans who were miffed that J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter has been removed from the JLA’s founding, it was heavily hinted at that despite not showing up in the initial ads for the initial JLA line-up, J’onn would have a role to play in the League’s founding, and will show up later in the new Justice League series.
#6. The Justice Society of America Is Taking A Nap
-The Justice Society of America is said to be “resting” as a concept for now. But certain people on the DC panels reminded everyone that the Wildstorm characters were given a rest for a year, and are now back in a big way in the new DCU. Similarly the JSA would be back in around the same time frame next year.
#7.Darkseid and the New Gods WILL Be Back
-Grant Morrison revealed that the New Gods are indeed still around, on Earth 51, and will be seen in next year’s Multiversity mini series.
#8. The New Chick In The Justice League Stands Revealed
-In the Jim Lee drawn promos for the new JLA series, there was one mystery character, a blonde woman, that had fans in a tizzy. Was she Black Canary? Power Girl? Nope. Turns out she is a really, really old character called Lady Luck, created by none other than Will Eisner for the Spirit comics. Even an old DC fanboy like me didn’t know who that character was. And I know who the Red Bee is, ok? So that’s pretty damn obscure.
#9.Batman Beyond Will Return Soon
-When a fan asked why Batman Beyond wasn’t one of the 52 new titles, Didio said that there were big plans for Batman Beyond and the future DCU. This lines up with rumors that also coming soon was Superman Beyond and Justice League Beyond.
A bit of unsolicited advice to DC: You don’t seem to know what to do with characters like Wally West, Donna Troy and Garth (the former Aqualad…assuming he’s not dead in the new DCU) Why not have them time travel to the future, where they can be the Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman of the Justice League Beyond? It would surely make that book way more exciting for longtime DC fans like me who want to see those characters again.
#10. Action Comics And Detective Comics Were Almost Not Rebooted To #1
-DC Publisher Dan Didio was very hesitant to renumber DC’s two flagship books that hadn’t been renumbered in over seventy years, but then he was told “unless you reboot those two books too, no one will take this relaunch seriously”. Good point.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics didn’t exactly sit on the sidelines with their announcement this Comic Con and let DC hog all the attention. Several news series were announced in fact. The biggest news in terms of new series is the re-launch of The Incredible Hulk, with the team of writer Jason Aaron and artist Marc Silvestri. Once again, the characters of Bruce Banner and The Hulk will be split into two distinct physical bodies, but this time it is hinted that Banner will be seen as more the antagonist and less the hero.
Also another big Marvel announcement is the return of what once a perennial title alongside Fantastic Four, X-Men and the Avengers– The Defenders return with (most) of their original line-up in a new series by Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson. In the place of the Hulk will be Betty Banner, the Red She-Hulk (they really need a new name for her. And no, not “She-Rulk.”) Also new to the Defenders will be Iron Fist, joining classic original team member Dr. Strange, Namor and the Silver Surfer.
On the X-Men side of things, Marvel teased the cover of Wolverine and the X-Men #1, as well as Uncanny X-Men #1. So far, the X-Men event Schism has made everyone assume that with the X-Men split into two camps, one Wolverine and one Cyclops, that would have Cyclops as the leader of the Uncanny team. But so far, Cyclops seems totally absent from any promo images for Uncanny #1, suggesting he just might quit the X-Men all together at the end of Schism.
Also in the X-Verse, it was announced at SDCC that in December, Jeph Loeb would be re-teaming with artist Ed McGuiness for Cable: Reborn. I’m sure someone is excited about this, but I was glad they finally killed Cable off. He was dead for what, a year? Why couldn’t they bring back an X-Man people love, like Nightcrawler? *sigh*
On the movie side of the Marvel Universe, things were a wee bit quieter, but not silent. There was no Avengers movie panel, but they did reveal new artwork for the film at the Marvel booth, revealing what the team will look like next summer.
Of course, the big highlight was actor Andrew Garfield’s heartfelt speech on how much Spidey has meant to him over the years and just what getting this role means to him. He’s either truly sincere, or a really good actor. Either bodes well for the Amazing Spider-Man next summer.
Over on the TV side of things, Marvel made a LOT of announcements: First off, while Sony retains the rights to all things live action pertaining to Spider-Man, the animation rights are now soley those of Marvel Studios. Their first venture will be Ultimate Spider-Man, based on the long running Brian Bendis version of the character. Interstingly, it appears that this version of Spider-Man will be at least loosely tied into the Marvel movie-verse, as actor Clark Gregg reprises his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson from Iron Man 1 and 2 and Thor, doubling as “Principal” Coulson at Midtown High. How cool would it be if eventually Marvel got Robert Downey, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans to voice their movie characters in the Ultimate Spider-Man show? We can never have a live action Spidey cross over with the Avengers, but this could be the next best thing. Ultimate Spider-Man will premier next year on Disney XD.
The Hulk will be getting a huge push in television as well; first off for Disney XD there will be the new animated show Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H which will feature the the Green Goliath and his multicolored pals the She-Hulk, The Red Hulk, and Rick Jones, AKA A-Bomb (essentially, the Blue Hulk) Batman The Animated Series and Detective Comics writer Paul Dini will join the show as a producer, which bodes well for this actually being any good. Aside from the cartoon, There is the new Guillermo del Toro produced Incredible Hulk television series for ABC, that should be ready for pilot season next Fall. Not tied into the movie version of the Hulk, this would be “a brand new take on the character” set in his early years, before everyone knew his secret, and focus on the love story between Banner and Betty Ross.” How they plan to pull of the cgi monster on a weekly basis is anyone’s guess though.
Other shows in development include “AKA Jessica Jones“ at ABC, based on Brian Michael Bendis’ comic series “Alias” which Loeb described as a story about “a failed superhero. We obviously can’t call it Alias, thank you JJ Abrams“ Loeb said the show would feature Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers as well as Jessica’s boyfriend Luke Cage. “Cloak and Dagger” was announced next for the ABC Family network, about “two teenagers who discover each other and find their powers both complement and complicate their lives.” Also for ABC Family is “Mockingbird” about Bobby Morse as “a Peter Parker Nerd” who is recruited to a secret organization. Which sounds a lot like Alias. But not Alias the comic book that is the basis for AKA Jessica Jones, but Alias as in the JJ Abrams television series. Confused yet?
Ok, that’s a wrap for now. Next week we return to a relatively normal post Comic Con news cycle. It’ll almost seem quaint.
