NEW YORK COMIC-CON: VERTIGO PANEL

NEW YORK -- Brian K. Vaughan said his planned ending for Y: The Last Man is targeted for the 60th issue.

"It will be a double-sized finale issue," he said during DC Comics' Vertigo panel at the New York Comic-Con. "I've got it plotted out to the last panel. A lot of stuff will be answered and a lot of people will die."

As far as the Y movie -- set up at New Line Cinema -- goes, Vaughan said the "cash is nice" but isn't overly excited just yet.

"Hopefully, there will be a movie and hopefully, it will be good," Vaughan said. "If it doesn't happen, there's always the comic."

In addition to Y, Vaughan also has the graphic novel Pride of Baghdad coming up. He said he intends on remaining a member of the Vertigo family.

"Vertigo's who brought me to the dance," Vaughan said. "As long as there's a home for me, I'll always do Vertigo."

In other highlights from the panel:

* Editor Shelly Bond said that the Fables: 1,001 Nights of Snowfall original hardcover graphic novel, targeted for October, will be 144 pages.

"The burning question that will be answered is: what really happened between Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?" Bond said.

The book, written by Bill Willingham, will feature James Jean's first sequential painting and a King Cole story with art by Jill Thompson.

* Bond said Fables #50 will be double-sized. "If you think The Adversary was a big reveal, you are going to blown away by what happens in Fables #50," she said.

* Artist Cameron Stewart said he needed to get about halfway through the first script to decided to work on The Other Side, a Viet Nam story written by newcomer Jason Aaron targeted for the fall.

"It's the parallel story of two soldiers, one American and one North Vietnamese," he said. "It's moving and powerful."

So inspired was Stewart that he traveled to Viet Nam for research.

* The Papa Midnite mini-series will be collected into a graphic novel. Papa Midnite writer Mat Johnson just signed on for a new project, Incognegro, which a noirish tale of an African-American who looks white going into the south and uncovering the mystery of a lynching that's going to happen.

* Loveless writer Brian Azzarello said that after the first arc continues, there will be three one-shots focusing on the different characters, followed by another arc.

* Arrazello set an arc will be set in his hometown of Cleveland, with two brothers, one of whom is last Minuteman.

"This one gets all our ducks in a row," he said. "And then we get to the business of destroying the Trust ... or the Minutemen."

* DMZ writer Brian Wood didn't want to talk too much about the book's second arc because "the first issue hits really hard." He did say readers will see more of the Jersey Guys.

* Editor Jonathan Vankin said that The Extermiators is "my pet book." "It's really funny book, it's really sharp," he said.

* Karen Berger said that Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason -- five-issue mini-series by John Ney Rieber and Eric Nguyen, with covers by Tim Bradstreet -- should be out by the end of 2007. The book is set in present day as Wesley Dodd's mask is found in a cave in the Middle East.

* Dean Haspiel, a primary artist on Harvey Pekar's new American Splendor series, said he's drawing a 20-page "day in the life of Harvey" story, as well as a story of the day Pekar discovered he was a man. "That's when learned how to plunge a toilet," Haspiel said.

* Haspiel is also teaming with friend and novelist Jonathan Ames on The Alcoholic.

* Berger said that The Fountain will be available in softcover when the movie comes out, which hasn't been announced yet. The softcover will cost $19.95.