COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: MATT WAGNER PANEL

By Ernie Estrella

SAN DIEGO -- Matt Wagner unveiled two new projects at his spotlight panel at Comic-Con International on Thursday.

"I will be writing and doing covers for Dynamite's relaunch of Zorro," Wagner said, "I liked how they brought the Lone Ranger back for a modern audience so when I found out they got the license for Zorro I called them up and I almost never call and offer my serves with such fervor."

Wagner will use the 2005 Isabella Allende Zorro novel for the roots of his story. "It's Zorro Year One," he said. "I get to cherry pick what I like from that. It's Zorro: Year One and it explains everything. His thirst for justice, his opposition to oppression, his horse, the cave... just everything! It won't be a straight adaptation because he only showed up in costume for the last 40 pages of the book. I plan to have him around more often than that but she had so many amazing plot twists.

"I'm trying to take Zorro back to his pulp origins and not his saturday morning matinee sideshow. The original novel by Johnston McCulley was called the Curse of Capistrano and you see any of the movie and you could call him a curse. He's the pre-cursor of Batman. He strikes at night."

Wagner's second announcement was that he will be writing the new monthly Madame Xanadu series from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. Art is by Amy Hadley from TokyoPop's Fool's Gold.

"Amy's art has quite a bit of femininity to it and this story is about a female character and explain her origins through the centuries," said Wagner. "It starts about 900 and skips a couple of centuries every couple issue. DC has some plot points but no one really knows anything about her so that's what I like about her."

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Grendel and Wagner elaborated on his plans.

* Dark Horse will reprint Devil by the Deed re-colored with the red, black, and white palette which has now become Hunter Rose's signature look.

* Grendel Archives will be reprinted for the first time for $15. This is the first Grendel stories in black and white. The stories stopped midway when Wagner was offered an opportunity to do Mage for Comico Primer but it was never finished.

Longtime Grendel editor, Diana Schutz commented on being able to edit this story the second time around since she was not the editor when the then-teenager Wagner originally published. "It was interesting to look at the work of a 19-year old guy and see how accomplished he was at a young age."

* The complete Batman / Grendel story will be collected for the first time in soft and hardcover by the end of this year.

* Next year will see God and the Devil, Devil's Reign and Devil's Quest in new trade paperback collections.

* Behold the Devil is the first of two new Grendel stories Wagner will be working on to release next year. It will be a brand new Hunter Rose story and will be written and drawn by Wagner. The color palette will continue the red, white, and black color scheme. "We find out that a portion of Hunter Rose's private journal had been ripped out. "I styled the book to introduce and reintroduce the character and to fill in some cool stuff for those who already know.

"We just did a #0 issue of Grendel as a $0.50 floppy that introduces the character and the concept to new readers while still putting something nice for the longtime fans." The bulk of the issue will be a teaser of a definitive Grendel interview in the works.

* In September, Dark Horse will release an oversized Art of Grendel book. One hundred advance copies will be available at Wizard World Chicago.

* Wagner is brewing up a new Grendel Prime story.