Monday, March 21, 2005
WIZARD WORLD L.A.: DC'S VERTIGO/WILDSTORM PANEL
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LONG BEACH, Calif. -- An Asbsolute edition of Watchmen, a new writer for Hellblazer and a new WildStorm series were among the highlights of DC Comics' Vertigo WildStorm panel on Sunday at Wizard World L.A.
Watchmen: The Absolution Edition will be released in October. Written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen will be re-presented in an oversized, slipcased hardcover, completely recolored by WildStorm FX and original series colorist John Higgins.
The collection also includes rarely seen supplemental material, samples of Moore's scripts, conceptual art and more.
There's been a great deal of painstaking work on the recoloring," DC's Bob Wayne said. "It's something that Dave Gibbons has been waiting for for a long time."
"I've already seen quite a few pages flowing through," WildStorm editor Alex Sinclair said.
Asked if the edition meant that Watchmen figures would be released soon, Wayne said no.
The Watchmen release follows June's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 Absolute Edition.
In others news from the panel:
* After a run of 41 issues, Mike Carey is departing as writer of Hellblazer. His replacement is Denise Mina, a Scottish novelist who has written five books, including her latest release Field of Blood. Mina's first issue will be Hellblazer #216 in January.
"You're definitely going to see a lot of supernatural things," Hellblazer editor Jonathan Vankin said, "but my feeling is she'll probably bring it down to earth. It'll be a lot more human in a lot of ways, and down and dirty."
Vankin said Mina's first issue would be a standalone issue and strongly hinted that Tim Bradstreet might be providing interior art.
"Having read the first script, it's a throwback," Bradstreet said. "It feels like stuff I grew up reading."
Vankin said Constantine would be visiting Mina's home turf of Glasgow.
* Jill Thompson's Dead Boy Detectives manga mystery, guest-starring Death and spinning from the pages of The Sandman: Season of Mists, will be rleased in July.
* Wayne said that, if sales merit, there will be additional collections of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol.
* DC released an image from The Fountain, an August release. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, renowned for his works Pi and Requiem for a Dream, is teaming teams with painter Kent Williams for the graphic novel, which is based on Aronofsky's film of the same name, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.
* Swamp Thing writer Joshua Dysart said he is trying "to capture an EC vibe while still keeping the metaphysics that Moore pounded into the series."
After a four-issue arc with regular artist Enrique Breccia, Richard Corben returns for an issue. "Talk about terrifying, writing for Richard Corben!" Dysart said.
Dysart said the next arc will feature Alec Holland as a young botanist going to school and will deal with his relationship with Linda, his first wife.
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* Wraithborn, a six-issue mini-series written by Marcia Chen with art by Joe Benitez and Joe Weems, debuts in September. Wielders of a mysterious power, the wraithborn defend humanity from supernatural beings called wraiths. But when Valin, a young man trained to be a great hero, finds that his powers have been given to a timid teenager Melanie, he's forced to protect her while trying to survive the wraiths¹ onslaught.
Look for more on Wraithborn soon here in The Continuum.
* Fables writer Bill Willingham said that the story arc focusing on Blue Boy will reveal the Adversary.
* Vankin said that Harvey Pekar called The Quitter, an original hardcover scheduled for October, a prequel to American Splendor and his best work ever. The book will be 96 pages.
* The Authority: Human on the Inside -- by John Ridley and Ben Oliver -- will come out in softcover this year. WildStorm's Ben Abernathy said he hopes to have more WildStorm work from Ridley.
* Wintermen, originally a Vertigo project by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon, will be released by WildStorm in August.
* Sinclair said that Carey and Whilce Portacio continue to work on WetWorks. "We're currently looking for when to put it on the schedule," Sinclair said.
* Vankin said that Carey's scripts faithfully adapt Neverwhere, but also provide an original look at Neil Gaiman's novel. The comic is not based on the televsion series.
* With Ed Brubaker's depature to Marvel, it's unlikely there will be any more Sleeper after Season 2.
* Sinclair said Majestic #4 will feature an "oh my God" ending that writers Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett are known for. A three-issue arc will follow.
* Sinclair said that in The Intimates #8 the kids are of school for the summer. "They're told not to use their powers, but they are teenagers," Sinclair said, adding there will be a new character, Flora.
* Abernathy said that Kurt Busiek is nearly finished with the fourth issue of Astro City: The Dark Age, delayed from last winter until June.
* The 5-part story "Fact versus Fiction" begins in June's Ex Machina #12 when Mayor Mitchell Hundred is summoned for jury duty just as a new super-hero arrives in New York City.
* Andy Diggle teams up with artist Leinil Yu and Gerry Alanguilan for the 6-issue Silent Dragon in July. It is the story of Renjiro, a yakuza kingpin in the year 2063. Now, Renjiro's Black Dragon clan has taken control of the island of Hokkaido. But the government¹s not taking this lying down, and Renjiro will find himself forced to help defeat his own forces.
Copyright © 2005, The Comics Continuum