Saturday 30 March 2013

WonderCon: DC Comics - The New 52 Panel Recap

The big Room 300AB was packed full with rabid comic book fans and the panelists were introduced: Ann Nocenti, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Kyle Higgins, John Layman, Jimmy Palmiotti, Brian Buccellatto, Scott Lobdell, and James Robinson.

Snyder kicked off the panel talking about Batman: Zero Year, which covered the same topics as other discussions about the story this weekend (check out the write-up of the actual Zero Year panel).

He did offer some new details, though. “It’s divided into different chapters and each chapter is a very different moment in this era of Bruce’s life.” He also teased that’d we’d learn lots more about the Wayne and Kane families and all of our favorite villains. There will also be back-up stories co-written with Tynion and drawn by Rafael Albuquerque that will show new facets to Bruce’s training – “no ninjas, no Himalayas.”

Snyder also touched on Superman Unchained – I’ll again refer you to yesterday’s panels here and here – and spoke again about the epic fold-out page.

Tynion talked about Talon, and said that things are going to be changing drastically for Calvin Rose. He referenced the Talon #7 gatefold cover, saying that Bane is one of his favorite Batman villains. “You can’t do a small Bane story. We’re expanding Bane’s mythology, and we’re going to be bringing him back to his iconic core.” He also revealed that Talon #9 and Birds of Prey #21 would be tied together, as Calvin and Strix meet. “We’re going to have these two renegade Talons clash for the first time,” said Tynion.

With Tynion taking over Red Hood and the Outlaws with issue #19, the writer said he wants to continue the spirit of what Scott Lobdell has established thus far. “It’s one of the few real adventure books in the DCU right now. You can cover any type of story. I really wanted to take advantage of that,” said Tynion. “People will start to see where we’re taking the series with issue #19.”

Robinson repeated the same general info about Earth 2 that was revealed at yesterday’s panel, but pointed out that New Gods like Steppenwolf and Big Barda are making a big appearance in the series.

The panel showed off the cover to Nightwing #21, which will continue Dick Grayson’s move to Chicago after discovering that Tony Zucco is still alive and living under an alias. “Once he gets to the city, there’s a whole mythology that Brett [Booth] and I are building that there used to be masks in the city years ago, and now they’re all dead. There were capes, but not anymore. So what happened to them is a mystery we’ll be weaving in and out of the book. We’re just trying to build a new world for Dick Grayson and Nightwing.” The characters on the cover of Nightwing #21 are called Ether and Ghostwalker, who are Chicago’s now dead incarnation of Batman and Robin that is a part of this larger mystery.

Nocenti touched on Catwoman, where there will be a Gotham gang war coming that will incorporate some of the cop characters from Gotham Central. Layman also touched on Detective Comics #19, which will be an 80-page special, 50 pages written by himself, 10 are a Talon back-up by Tynion, and the rest is pin-ups.

Palmiotti brought up Batwing #19, which he says will explain everything in regards to what happens to David, the current Batwing, as well as who the new Batwing is. “It’s somebody that’s tied closely to the Batman family,” said Palmiotti, and joked how awesome it would be if it was Alfred. “The new Batwing is going to be pretty much all over the world, and anything goes. We’re having a blast writing the book.”

Palmiotti added that All-Star Western will have a questionable guest star that will “take Jonah Hex on a crazy ride. The die hard Hex fans will just shake their heads and laugh and the new fans will just say, ‘what the hell are you guys doing?’ If you haven’t been reading All-Star Western, next month you’re gonna want to pick it up.”

Buccellato says issue #19 would find Barry without powers where he has to “go all John McClane” on his enemies for that issue. However, issue #20 would see the launch of the Reverse Flash arc, who is going around killing people that have been touched by the Speed Force. The writer also revealed that The Flash Annual would feature the first New 52 team-up with Barry Allen and Hal Jordan.

A cover for Superman #18 reveals the presence of Hector Hammond, and Lobdell said that “whatever you’re thinking about Hector Hammond is wrong.” He said that this story would have the opening volleys of a “psionic war” that is starting in the DC Universe, and that it would explore how powerless Superman is against that kind of power set.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.


Source : ign[dot]com

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