COMIC-CON: IDW PUBLISHING PANEL

SAN DIEGO -- IDW Publishing opened its Comic-Con International presentations on Thursday with old friends, new creators and several announcements.

Panelists included COO Greg Goldstein COO, Jeff Webber e-books editor, Star Trek writers Tim Jones and Mike Johnson, special projects editor Scott Dunbier, writer Bill Willingham and creator J. Scott Campbell.

Below are highlights.

* Ryall said that instead of looking back at the panel despite the company's 10th anniversary, IDW decided to look forward.

* Webber said there will be platforms and online distribution announced soon for IDW's material. "We've got a huge catalogue," he said, noting materials such as classic G.I. Joe from the 1980s.

Webber discussed IDW's iPhone agenda. "When you're reading it and swiping through it, you're not thinking about the technology."

* Webber noted Star Trek: Countdown and then Transformers dominated the book category on iTunes.

* Dunbier announced that IDW will be publishing Danger Girl collections next year. There will also be new material, with Campbell providing covers.

"It seemed like a natural fit for me," Campbell said. "Scott was pretty much an integral part of the book as editor."

Campbell said he hoped for "bigger and bigger projects" for Danger Girl at IDW.

* Bob Schreck, a 30-year comics and publishing veteran, will be joining the staff of IDW Publishing on Oct. 5. Schreck will be senior editor for IDW, and focus on developing new projects and bringing new creators to the companyıs existing brands.

For more details, CLICK HERE.

* Bill Willingham is teaming with Gene Ha on Backroads, which debuts next year.

"Gene Ha has been one of my favorite artists for as long as I've known and we've been friends for seven years," Willingham said, noting that he and Ha just couldn't seem to connect at DC.

Willingham said the story came from discussing with Ha what he would like to draw. The story is about the passage ways in all the things that exist and chararacters who you might

The first story will be six issues. "If that works out, we might be doing it again and again," Willingham said.

* Winter World, by Chuck Dixon and the late Jorge Zaffino, will be collected in December. It will include the never-before-published sequel, Winter Sea, to the mini-series. The book will be published in black and white and Dunbier promised "gorgeous production."

* Ryall showed off the covers and Laura Martin's recolored art from The Rocketeer collection.

* IDW will adapt the Star Trek movie in a six-issue mini-series that launches in January.

The writers explained that the mini-series will include elements from original drafts of the script that didn't make the movie.

* Clive Barker has created and co-written Seduth, about a creature from the fourth dimension. It will feature art by Gabriel Rodriguez and will incorporate 3D art.

* Jennifer Love Hewitt's The Music Box is scheduled for November and is created and co-plotted by the star of The Ghost Whisperer.

* Brea Grant and Zane Austin Grant have created a book called We Will Bury You that is scheduled for the spring 2010. It deals with zombies in New York in the 1920s. The art is by Kyle Strahm.

* IDW will continue the saga from the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie in a new mini-series.

* The Weekly Word News will launch in January, by Ryall and Alan Robinson, based on the tabloid.

* IDW is teaming with Peter Beagle (The Last Unicorn and Fine and Prive Place) and Harlan Ellison (Phoenix Without Ashes), with more details to be announced.

* Transformers: Nefarious will be a six-issue mini-series, written by Simon Furman, with art by Carlos Magno. It is scheduled to launch early next year.

For more details, CLICK HERE.

* Good Charlotte guitarist Billy Martin will now turn his talents to comics with Vitriol the Hunter, a new comic book series from IDW Publishing co-written by Brent Allen and featuring Martin on interior art as well.

This futuristic tale of a vigilante is slated to launch in February. It is scheduled for six issues.

For more details and comments from Martin, CLICK HERE.