Review Shots For 3.30.11

This is the official warning to any and all who read these reviews. Progressively Aggressive holds a severe DC bias. I don't DISlike Marvel by any means... but I don't read the books, and I'm not a fan of the overall Universe. Plus, let's be honest, I've spent thousands of dollars over a number of years on DC books. I'm not made of money... come on, there's a recession going on, for God's sakes.

Detective Comics #875
Scott Snyder & Fracesco Francavilla

It's always refreshing to tell when a new writer coming into a long-standing book has been a long-time reader. That is most definitely the case with Scott Snyder and Detective Comics. In this issue, we see the longer version of the Jim Gordon / James Gordon Jr. confrontation that Snyder teased us with in his debut issue. Snyder understands the "mystery" genre, and the opening monologue from Bullock at GCPD reads like pitch-perfect old-school noir. Snyder writes Gordon like the old, weathered cop that he is. In the latest issue we find Gordon tailing a case from decades ago, and into intercuts a flashback when his "damaged" son James was just a child. The creepy factor is dialed up to 10, and we never really get any clear answer as to whether or not James is a psychotic killer or just... damaged.

Francavilla literally draws and colors everything in this issue, and it looks amazing. His color selection is either blacks and blues or firey auburns and oranges, both used to amp up the tension of the scenes. It's going to be a shame to see him go to Marvel for American Panther, because his Tim Sale style is matches up insanely well to this type of story.


Action Comics #899
Paul Cornell & Jesus Merino

I think Paul Cornell gets the DC Universe. The general rule of thumb for these characters, which writers like Grant Morrison, Joe Casey and Mark Waid stapled down in the nineties, is that you write the most off-the wall, unexplainable, and unintelligible material you possibly can for these characters to face, but you treat it with such nod/wink cool and confidence that people eat it up.

In the penultimate issue to Cornell's Lex Luthor epic, Luthor faces off against Braniac for control of the black spheres and becomes... well, something different. It's unclear as to what exactly has happened to Luthor, and I don't want to spoil anything, but we finally get to see what was on the other side of the "door" the rings created. The face-off between Luthor and Braniac is both hilarious and dead-on, as two super-geniuses shout out the fantastically over-the-top maneuvers and equipment that could never exist in real life - which is kind of the point.

The issue sees fill-in artist Jesus Merino, most likely because Pete Woods will be doing 50 pages of interior work in the 900's issue next month, and he fills in nicely. Merino's style is very old school, with precision lines that don't overuse cross hatching and lighting effects like Woods' work does. With that, merino works better on books like JSA or Superman, where the style matches the subtext. Here, Woods' overly computer-enhanced work fits the space age material Cornell is writing, and I would've loved to see what he did with Luthor on the final page.


Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8
Peter J. Tomasi & Fernando Pasarin

We get to see the third side of the initial conflict this week, with Guy Gardner facing off with Hal Jordan in "War of the Green Lanterns". The issue serves as set-up, which is a bit concerning since the last "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps" issues served the same function. But I assume not all readers are following all 3 books, so a set-up was needed in each.

We're starting to get a full picture with this issue. The 4 earth-bound Lanterns, as well as Kilowog and Ganthet, have been affected by Parralax way back in "Rebirth", so they're less influenced by its control. The issue itself is one big fight between Hal and Guy, before they reach the same conclusion that Jon and Kyle did in GL Corps. It's not an uninteresting issue, but it's certainly retreading on familiar ground. We get a verbal argument followed by a construct-based brawl, and while the fight itself is fairly cool (takes place across an entire planet) some of it is admittedly hokey... Guy shoots construct hockey pucks at Hal while wearing a construct hockey-jersey. Why not just shoot him with the thing?

My major complaint with Pasarin's work is that it's too clean. There's no scratches, the line work is too pristine. I love Pasarin's work in this issue, but I still recognize his faults. The fight takes place on a snowy planet, so clean pencils would work exceptionally well there. But Pasarin can pack a lot into a page; a splash containing an entire fleet of the Corps bearing down on Guy, Kilowog and Arisia is amazing. A reviewer at Comic Book Resources compared it to George Perez, and I'd be hard pressed to disagree.


That's it for this week! If you have thoughts, comments, hate-filled bullshit that essentially just disgagrees with me (but in an overly-rude, completely unnecessary fashion), leave a comment or email us at progressivelyaggressive@live.com

So Arnold Schwarzenegger is Retarded, Right?

He'd have to be to be excited about the new Stan Lee created comic book about him titled The Governator. Looking past the incredibly stupid title that was obviously hatched by a comic writer in his fucking nineties, there's a lot to get me excited about... and I mean the kind of excited you get watching a car sliding on a sheet of ice towards another unsuspecting car at a stop light.

So let's take a look at the quotes from Super Hero Hype and Entertainment Weekly. I'll be dissecting them as I go, because I'm sure you'd agree with me that some of this shit cannot go without consternation.

To quote Stan Lee: "The Governator is going to be a great superhero, but he’ll also be Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’re using all the personal elements of Arnold’s life. We’re using his wife [Maria Shriver]. We’re using his kids. We’re using the fact that he used to be governor. Only after he leaves the governor’s office, Arnold decides to become a crime fighter and builds a secret high-tech crime-fighting center under his house in Brentwood."

First of all, I really like the idea of Stan Lee using Schwarzenegger's kids. It just sounds funny. But I love the description Lee gives of the entire book. It sounds so simple; an aging action star/roid freak/masochist who's now a governor and his family. Simple stuff, simple story. Done. But WAIT, there's a twist! After he leaves the governor's office, he's not just going back home to lounge around and eat sausage and smoke cigars and punch through layers of cement and brick that happen to be lying around... He's going to build a fucking crime-fighting center under his house!

My first question would be "Why?" I guess we'll just have to read to find out.

A further quote from the EW article: Along with the Arnold Cave, the Governator will have a fleet of super vehicles at his disposal, a closet full of “Super Suits” that allow him to fly and perform other super stunts, and a team of colorful sidekicks, such as Zeke Muckerberg, the precocious 13-year-old computer whiz who acts as the Governator’s cybersecurity expert. Naturally, there will also be recurring supervillains — including an evil organization called Gangsters Imposters Racketeers Liars & Irredeemable Ex-cons (or G.I.R.L.I.E. Men, for short). For Schwarzenegger, the cartoon is obviously the next best thing to being President. "I love the idea of a control center below my house with a path so that boats and submarines can go right into the ocean," he tells EW. "In the cartoon, my house is much closer to the beach than where we live, but, you know, it’s a cartoon."





Okay, here's where things get tricky... We know his kids are in the book, right? Why the Hell does Arnold need a "precocious 13 year old" to help him with computer problems?

"Hey, Zeke!"

"Yeah, Governator?"

"My Outlook is broooken, fix the thing or I break you."

"You got it, boss man!"

"I'll be outside by the pooool."

And on a side note, the character's name is "Zeke Muckerburg", and obvious (almost too obvious) nod to Mark Zuckerburg. Get it? Cuz of Facebook! But he's a kid! That makes it a joke!

Alright, back to the article. The evil enterprise raises a couple questions as well.

Gangsters Impostors Racketeers Liars & Irredeemable Ex-cons (or G.I.R.L.I.E. Men, for short)

Alright, one of these things is not like the other... What are liars doing getting murdered by Arnold Schwarzenegger? Or Ex-Cons, for that matter? Yep, you're not a reformed member of society until the Governator says you are, dirtbag! You can tell they aren't reformed because they tossed in the fact that they're "irredeemable". That means they're eeeevil. You would think that if Arnold had a base under his house he could stop bigger criminals that impostors, right? He's going to go use his super-suit to fuck up somebody stealing identities? And in front of children?? Harsh...

Arnold closes things out with the great quote;

"I love the idea of a control center below my house with a path so that boats and submarines can go right into the ocean,"

Really? Cuz I hate the idea. Was he saying that as an architectural thought, or was he referring to the comic?

"In the cartoon, my house is much closer to the beach than where we live, but, you know, it’s a cartoon."
This cartoon is bullshit and it is inaccurate! If you're not going to get the pathway to Schwarzenegger's house accurate to the foot then why the fuck are we even making this thing??

The comic book and animated series spawning from this aborted rape-baby of an idea are set to hit next year.

Geoffrey Rush is Tomar-Re

Hey y'all,

I'll have a full post later today, but I need to get this out there first and foremost. I'm not sure I have thoughts on it just yet, but the HeroComplex at LA Times is reporting that Geoffrey Rush (yes, the Geoffrey Rush of "Mystery Men" fame) is voicing the character of Tomar-Re in the Green Lantern movie. So... apparently this movie's still getting made.

PERFECT photo comparison, LA Times. PERFECT!

I haven't seen Rush in too many films, mostly because I don't like period pieces, but what I've seen him in I enjoyed. Hell, he was the only reason I sat through the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Oh, and House on Haunted Hill, he was good in that (yeah, I'm kidding.) So this is pretty exciting news, as I'm familiar with the character of Tomar-Re from the books. I'll be honest, I never pictured Tomar-Re with a slimy Brisbane accent. But the movie can use all the PR it can get, with Thor and Captain America getting sporting the limelight so much right now.

Oh, and Michael Clarke Duncan may be voicing Kiliwog, but that's speculation at the moment. I'm hopeful though, because I really want to see the scene where Kilowog looks at Hal and says "Gimme yo' hand, boss."

Behold the Majesty of Wonder Woman!

Newsarama has come out with screencaps of some behind-the-scenes footage of David E. Kelley's "Wonder Woman" pilot. Boy, does she look graceful!

Eek! My shoooooes!

A powerful Amazon warrior, fighting against the evil and corruption of modern mankind's Jesus Christ does that look like shit.

Not very warrior-like, is it? Just kinda looks like your mother-in-law performing a dare near Lower Wacker. But there's a couple other things worth noting... take a look at our comparison below;

I honestly liked the original version of the costume, although I still had reservations. I liked the blue bpants with the blue boots, to start. It at least looks a bit more streamlined, like it was designed all in one piece. It also detracts from the poor quality of the actual costume design. It beign rubber and form fitting really didn't hurt either.

The new costume keeps everything from the waist up, but the pants have been tweaked to a darker shade, and look like they're made of cotton... so Wonder Woman's wearing baggy sweatpants... I assume its so she could do her "running across cars" manuevers in the show, but it still shouts "cheap" to me. Plus, the boots have been reverted back to the classic red. It's more traditional, and I for one am always a traditionalist when it comes to comic medium transitions, but it's a two way street. Why not get rid of the pants and go back to the panties? Because it's in poor taste. Agreed. But with that argument settled, you may as well go for broke on interpreting the costume. The blue boots worked. These red, floppy boots with the sweats don't.

Plus Wonder Woman looks terrified and horribly out of breath.

Wonder Woman! Grrrrrr..... ow, don't push!

Falling Skies Trailer

TNT has released a new trailer for their upcoming series, "Falling Skies."  It's set to air with a two hour debut on June 19th.  I'm thrilled there is a new Sci-Fi show set for release, but my initial impression is The Librarian vs. Cylon/bug people - I'm a bit skeptical to say the least.  Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think!  Feel free to either comment below, or send us your thoughts to ProgressivelyAggressive@live.com.




For more regular updates on the show, a web comic series, and additional trailers check out the show's official page
http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies/

The Real Problem I Have with Smallville

And no, it isn't the litany of fiberglass fiacial expressions from Tom Welling. And it's not that we have never seen Superman as Superman. Or the fact that we have to essentially sit through Superman being forced through the ringer of the prime-time WB teen demographic format (Supernatural, One Tree Hill, 90210, Vampire Diaries, I could go on...)

It's the fact that the show recognizes it has a television budget, and still goes for broke on costume/character design.

I'm sure that's part of the reason we haven't seen Clark in the cape and cowl, because it would look like a fraternity house president's older brother showed up wearing a storebought Superman costume. But do we have to suffer through the constant onslaught of ancillary characters dressed like their parents saw a comic book and decided to put a costume.

There are essentially two types of "bad" costume choices on the show. There's the "We don't have the money to put together what it should look like, so let's have the character wear a shirt the same color as the original costume." We won't touch too much on that today, since there's so many examples we could provide for that (Supergirl, Aquaman, Flash, Black Lightning, the entire Legion of Superheroes...) Today we're going with the second "bad" costume type;

Power Ranger costumes.

I've dubbed the phrase "Power Ranger" costumes after the kid's show, in which every character or bad guy of the week had costumes made out of either super-floppy rubber or super-shiny plastic. The helmets are two sizes too big, so the characters always looked like they were handicapped, and everybody moved really slow because the material was such Guatemalan
shit that any quick motion would rip a piece off. This is Smallville.


Here's the picture that sparked this whole post. I present... Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

You can see Booster Gold is the one wearing the styrafome outfit, and although it doesn't look too bad, it looks more like something a professional paintballer would wear. Blue Beetle, on the other hand, is the Japanese children's nightmare standing in the background. Besides the Power Ranger helmet, it also looks like his arms are a good half-foot away from his body. Can he see in that costume, let alone lift either of his arms?


How about some others?


Hawkman

Okay, this isn't terrible. The logo on the center of the chest is good, and I'm pretty impressed by the quality of his wings. But the helmet really doesn't look good at all, and doesn't seem to fit his head in the slightest. I best if he sneezed the thing would come shooting off of his face. Plus, not to be nit-picky, but Hawkman doesn't wear a shirt. The dude is just 250 lbs of man, and simply wears the straps and emblem across the chest. He doesn't wear a Spartacus: Blood and Sand chestpiece underneath of it (although that could be just the overall physique of the actor playing Hawkman....)

Dr. Fate and Stargirl

Good God, look at this fucking atrocity. Dr. Fate I honestly don't mind at all, even though he's wearing old lady's dishwashing gloves. The chestpiece is cool and the helmet looks spot on (and actually fits!).

My problem is with Stargirl. Stargirl represents the main problem with comic book costumes translating to the big (or small) screen. They're usually skintight with features that operate in different ways depending on the circumstances in the story (Batman's cape was actually explained brilliantly in Batman Begins). So Stargirl as an 18 year old girl wearing bike shorts and a long sleeved T/belly shity with a domino mask is a tough one to pull off. Tough, not impossible.

That fucking mask of hers looks like she's going to a costume party for children. It juts out from her face, is super shiny (Power Rangers), and honestly is giving her a bit of a five-head (so much forehead it's a five-head). Her cosmic staff is pretty much a lamp stand with a glow tube on top. Got enough in the budget to make CGI light come out of the staff when she shoots it? Good, then you should've had enough in the budet to just make the top of that staff completely CGI and track the damn thing. This all leads to my biggest gripe...

Martian Manhunter.

I imagine the writers of the show said "well if we pop prosthetics on a guy and face paint him green, it's going to look really bad." I can't imagine them saying that though, because they seem to have no problem doing it for other characters, but that's not the point. This is a black dude in a trench coat. They did put the red cross-hatch over the chest, as they did with Hawkman, and it's over green, so they got the colors right. But there is nothing that says Martian Manhunter to me. You can have a black dude on the show, if that was your point! Make him Mr. Terrific! Make him Black Lightning! If you think it's too racist then call him Jefferson Pierce and just pretend like that dopey kid in the earlier seasons never happened! It makes no sense to say that Martian Manhunter, an alien superhero, is just going to be a guy wearing the appropriate colors.

I've pointed out some of the costume choices I hate (and believe me, there are more), so I may as well touch on the one costume I think is done well on the show.

Green Arrow

This is just a nicely thought-out costume. Ollie's costume has never been an overly-complicated one. He's a man of the people, a street-level fighter, and his costume should reflect that. This has the main offerings; the hood, the smaller arrows attached to the glove gauntlets, the "G" on the belt (which is a great touch), and the armbands near the shoulders. Again, it's a bit plastic-looking and has a zipper in the front, which is just dumb, but if you don't show it then you don't notice it.

Ollie does wear sunglasses in the show, and although I'd like to see him in a domino mask to detract a bit of the "motorcycle fetish" it's got going, I've seen the domino mask on Stargirl... stick with what you've got, Green Arrow...

That's enoguh rambling for today, Podcast next weekend since we missed it this weekend! Stay tuned, sorry for the wait!

Geoff Johns to Write Aquaman

I think we all knew this news was coming. Geoff Johns will be writing an Aquaman series once Brightest Day concludes.
I personally have a ton of questions; Is it an ongoing or a mini? Who's your artist? Does this mean you aren't writing Flash anymore? What physical limitation are you going to give him (suggestion: table saws for feet)?

Before I answer those questions in an overly "jokey" manner, I want to touch on the news itself.

Johns said in an interview waaaay back in December that he loved the character of Aquaman, and he wanted to see the character return to prominence in some fashion. When prodded whether or not he'd be involved in the character's revitalization, Johns responded "Sure". Glowing endorsement!

Well now here we are, and Johns recently tweeted that he would be writing Aquaman at the end of Brightest Day. We've heard recent news that "The Flash" is being cancelled after 12 issues, coinciding with the Flashpoint event. I'm not sure if that's because DC is revamping their Universe following the event, or because of the monumental delays from the book's conception. With DC being uber-mum about it, it's difficult to say.

I do have my fears about this title, if it is in fact going to be an ongoing. Number one, obviously, is how well the character will be received? Let's be honest, ever sicne Superfriends Aquaman has been kind of a joke. He communicates with sea life, he's king of Atlantis, and he can swin like a mother-fucker. It doesn't necessarily stand up all too well next to Superman, Flash or Green Lantern. Johns has treated the character with the utmost seriousness in Brightest Day, and I think that's the way the character would have to be played. He's a bad-ass underwater guy with a trident and sealife-telepathy. If any in-jokes get made about that, it's curtains... er, fishnets. You know what I mean.

With the character a common pop-culture joke (It's Sea-MAN. Swallow, come!), everything about this re-launch needs to be perfect. That's why I'm also nervous about who the artist paired with Johns will be. My money is on Ivan Reis, since the two have worked together for around half a decade, but don't count out some dark horses. Remember, Doug Mahnke was the artist during Aquaman alongside Will Pfeifer's "Sub-Diego" storyline, and did pretty damn good. I think drawing underwater stuff for Mahnke is a lot like drawing outer-space stuff; just go balls out crazy with it and draw everyone "floating".

Think about it though; Reis and Johns back on Green Lantern after the "War of the Green Lanterns" storyline? Cuuuuummmmm.

With it being Johns, one of DC's very limited superstar writers, the artist most likely will be top-teir. After seeing what Jesus Saiz did with Aquaman in his one-issue Brave and the Bold stint, I wouldn't mind having him try it full time. But with Reis not officially slated for anything in the near future after Brightest Day, my Monopoly money is on a Johns/Reis Aquaman book.

Let's talk themes. A book isn't going to survive long without some sort of hook for the project. The Flash deals with issues regarding time travel (or at least has of late), Green Lantern deals with issues of emotion, war, the creation and destruction of ideals (individually and within a "governing" structure), Batman currently is tackling the issue of "branding" and ideal... they have a hook. I'm curious to see what the hook would be for an Aquaman relaunch, because if it's just a "fish out of water" situation I'm going to shit blood. And it's going to hurt like crazy.

Here's what I don't want; the eco-warrior, fighting to protect the natural wonder of our Earth's bodies of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

The reason I read comics is to escape real-world issues. If I see Aquaman pulling Japanese people out of the water and using sea cucumbers to suck out the radiation, I'm gonna plotz. And I'm not even Jewish. The best comics are ones that deal with real-world issues in a very obscure and abstract way. Look at Greg Rucka's Batwoman: Elegy book. It dealt with homosexuality in the military, and became a big deal after the book came out, but all people cared about was a lesbian bat-character. Compare that to John's "Aquaman vs the oil spill" issue of Brightest Day, and it's a clear distinction; no heavy handed comic book characters.

What's a heavy-handed comic? Behold.

With all this being said, I'm still super-excited for the book, because I've been clamoring for some Aquaman for years now. You just can't blame me for being nervous that they'll screw it all up...

Superman's a Bit of a Douchebag

This picture is from SuperDickery.com, check out there site for even more of these, or click the pic!

Oh Superman.... you Guido fuck.

The Owl and the Tree

Hey everybody!

Some buddies of ours are looking to raise funds for a short film project in their production company. It's a cool project and hopefully a bad-arse film called "The Owl and the Tree" (do you like autistic kids and the fathers who love them? I do.), so if you're able to contribute anything to help get this film off the ground, please do! We'll be mentioning them on our show as well, but check out their site below and remember the old saying...

"Give a hoot. Make a movie."

http://www.theowlandthetree.com/

Panel Review - Avatar: The Last Airbender Beginning and Beyond

Avatar: The Last Airbender Beginning and Beyond

Panel: Avatar_Mom, Erica Hayes, Kevin Coppa, Michael Kirkpatrick

Okay, so before I begin with the recap, let me preface this review by saying I am a big fan of Avatar - the cartoon series, NOT the motion picture.  In addition, let me just add that we were running on fumes by the time we reached this panel and were in a surly mood.  John thought we were going to view a panel on James Cameron's Avatar and was expecting to see semi-nude blue cat people prancing across the projector screen.  Instead we were treated to amateurs who quite possibly had the most rediculous panel I have ever attended.

To give you a good picture of the mood we were in I will provide some of the notes John and I made just as the panel began.

Okay so before the panel started some deuche was up there playing with a puppet of Zukko.  I’m so hungover at this point that I find him extremely irritating.  Scott Pilgrim just walked in with a long flaming (literally) pink sword.  The panel is comprised of a fan collective.

The panel began with a required legal disclaimer, that for us, set the mood for the remainder of the panel.  Avatar_Mom stated with air quotes, "We in no way are affiliated with the Avatar series, Nickelodeon, it's parent or subsidiary companies.  We are entirely comprised of fans banded together in order to support the show."  While at the panel I was like, FUCK THIS.  Now, after some rest and peaceful reflection, I get it.  Really, I do.  It's a fan collective, like many others, that banded together and through constant badgering, raised the cartoon to cult-classic status.  We even got a shitty live action movie directed by M. Night - I suck at writing - Shamalamadingdong.  But keeping more to the point, the panel began with...

Avatar_Mom: So who watches Avatar?

All hands raise except John.

Puppet tells joke about large blue cat people.

John cringes.

Avatar_Mom mentioned she was upset that the show didn't get the initial attention she felt it should have received.  She talked about how they are here today for the fans who made the show a cult classic, not representing the show itself.

Puppet dude is gonna show us a REAL LIVE special effect.  Apparently, some kids are gonna fire bend.  

We are informed Nick Magazine has been cancelled 

Avatar_Mom: Basically fans bitched and moaned enough where previously unreleased material is now being considered for release.  

Nick magazine material has now been picked up by Dark Horse Comics.  The Avatar Comics are only released overseas right now.  In December a 240 pg collection of material (out of print & never released) will be released in the United States.  In 2012, Avatar Graphic novels to be released.  The series takes up where original series left off with a focus on rebuilding the broken separated world.  On Free comic book day one option will be an 8 pg flip comic 1/2 Star Wars Clone Wars 1/2 Avatar.  A primer for what will be released in 2012.  Avatar_Mom encourages audience to go out and ask for the preview as this will be what determines the material released in the future. Is that even true?

Legend of Korra 

Avatar_Mom: "I'm excited for a female lead.  This show is slated for a 2012 release."

Avatar_Mom apparently sees emotion in a 15 second gif image where the characters have no faces.

In the new series, Avatar_Mom tells us that the new backdrop for the show will be different from what we remember.  Now there have been technological advancements turning the world into one with a steam punk feel.  We are told there will be cars and motorcycles.  This segment is concluded by a presentation of a fan made AMV created by Chaobunny.

At this point, puppet man asks for his two volunteers to come to the front to be "challenged by Zuko (his puppet)."

Two kids get up and move to the front.  He then asks for two more volunteers "but you won't be on camera."

Two kids dressed in full Avatar regalia - complete with body paint - come to the front and are instructed to hold the green screen for the other two.  This wouldn't seem so bad, but at the time we were looking at two kids dressed like they are going to Disneyland being toyed with by a man holding a puppet while two black kids in Avatar costumes hold a screen up looking oh so sad they weren't picked.  I mean dude, these kids clearly came to C2E2 with the main focus being this panel.  These other two kids don't look like they even give a fuck. 

 For the sake of having a good time, I have included verbatim our notes with our best attempt at capturing his exact dialogue.  The poor chap sitting next to us couldn't keep it together either and we all had a good laugh.

Guy kneels and tells little kids to get close.  

That kid's face is priceless - "We're here for the real fans."

“Put out your hands kids.”  Grunt  (pretend to fire bend) 

“Now put it out flat and concentrate, yeah like that”  

“Let’s see what you guys got”

"Don’t feel afraid" grunt

"Generate your chi"

"Theres no fire you get from candy, use your chi"

A spotlight shines down on the two kids holding their hands out.

"Go ahead and grip it and lift it a little higher.  Go ahead, keep it right there.  Yeah stop right there, almost touching shoulders.”

"You ever hear the expression Hollywood is hurry up and wait.  Okay, slight. alright. Now we're recording.  I'll have Zukko lined up in in an awkward position, I’ll be underneath you. This is not the safest studio.”

Puppet: “Alright guys, here we go, ready! grunt That’s not fair.”

Children are then sent back to their seats to applause.

Q&A

• Is it true that the new Avatar is going to fall in love with the airbender? "We don’t know what’s going to happen romance-wise in the show, but there’s definitely going to be romance. Emotional story-writing is a lot of fun."
• Whereabouts of parents? "The fandom has been speculating but nothing official. Not really sure."

The Q&A was done without a microphone, and we could not hear the remainder of the questions.

Panel Review: DC Nation

DC Nation Panel
Panelists: Dan Didio, Bob Wayne, Paul Cornell, Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Bill Willingham, Gene Ha

Dan Didio (co-publisher) started the presentation by mentioning that he was a bit rusty, and hasn't done a DC Nation since last October. The format of the DC Nation panel has always been something of a "Town Hall Meeting", so there wasn't much format to the panel so much as there was a freedom from the audience to shout out and ask questions at will.

In order to "keep him in line", Didio began to present his panelists, who in turn ran through the crowd to the front of the stage, a la "The Price is Right". First up was Bob Wayne (Sr VP Sales), followed by Paul Cornell (Action Comics, Knight & Squire) running at full speed. Scott Snyder (Detective Comics, American Vampire) followed in tow, and "because every panel needs class”, Didio presented Gail Simone (Secret Six, Birds of Prey). Didio stressed that now that DC is more compartmentalized, he wanted to give the same amount of attention to Vertigo writers and stories as well. Bill Willingham (Fables) closed out the initial panel. Didio mentioned (without further explanation) that Willingham would be his butler all day tomorrow. 

In order to "round out" the panel, Didio called upon the audience for a volunteer to sit up top with the other panelists, and chose an individual named "George".

"The last time we did this, the last person had a Spider Man shirt on," Didio joked.

Explaining the panel,  Didio stated that he loves feedback, and wants to know what people think on the feedback. Didio mentions the “Hold the Line at 2.99” campaign, and asked if its something people want, to loud applause.

“The goal is to sell as much of it to you as possible." A very honest statement, if nothing else.

Didio asks how the letter pages are faring, referring to the latest marketing strategy from DC that brought back the "Letter Columns" from the 80's and 90's which allowed readers to send in their thoughts to be displayed at the backs of each of their favorite books.  “How many people here read comments when there were letter pages?” After hands raised, Didio asked if individuals had ever written letters. One audience member had a letter posted in almost every book available, was asked to stand and give a bow.

The first topic of conversation, Brightest Day, popped up on the main screen. Didio asked who liked each character, to varied applause. Didio asked who liked Outsiders, a book he himself had been writing for several months (and is set for cancellation).  A gentleman in the back screamed he loved it, to which Didio responded by meeting him in the center of the room for a power embrace. “For a while I wondered who read that comic, now I know.”

Another running joke of the panel was a dinner conversation between Dan Didio and another executive at DC that had been recorded and put on the internet some months ago. It was never fully explained what the conversation was regarding, but the panelists (as well as the audience) made reference to it several times (I can only imagine it was about killing Dick Grayson...)

War of the Green Lanterns was then displayed. Sticking to the tried and true formula that DC keeps when discussing story arcs, Didio kept things simple. “All I can tell you is there’s a bunch of GL’s and they go to war.”

Gene Ha (Green Lantern, Flashpoint) arrived in silence during the course of the panel, and sat behind "George" for almost half of the panel before Didio noticed him. when introduced thunderous applause.

• Speed round. Flashpoint coming up. Who’s the breakout character from Flashpoint? Wait and see. Is Flashpoint only happen on New Earth or is it the multiverse? As many as DC wants. How far along is Kubert on the book? He’s gettin’ going I guess. Why should I read Flashpoint? No answer, “Go Sox” is said to cheers and boos. Do we get to see all the rogues or just Citizen Cold? No comment. Any teasers on long term effects or plans for characters? Bill Willingham - Snow White has a big cameo.
• Gene Ha arrives in silence, when introduced thunderous applause.
• Where do we stand on Flashpoint? Lots of gibberish to say that things happens. Audience member asks if it’s like Zero Hour, and is given a free Flashpoint T shirt.
• Didio compares that Flashpoint is a throwback to Elseworlds, since they’ve received a lot of requests to bring Elseworlds back. 
• Audience member brings up the teams that will be working on the books. Didio mentions that there are a lot of people working on the regular books and finding fantastic teams that aren’t currently working on other things. 
• Bob Wayne mentions that Free Comic book day will include a Flashpoint preview in the Green Lantern issue.
• Thanks for bringing back Andy Lanning, any more work? Yes.
• Are you going to help me co-sign a loan so I can afford Flashpoint? You can read the main series by itself you can, the other minis don’t affect the main story directly. Fan said he’s not going to buy it because he can’t afford. Didio says that he wants to bring as many books as they can that are of high quality, so that its a tough decision to buy books as opposed to not buying any.
• Fan says thank you for Batman Beyond to applause
• Anymore with Arkham? Snyder: More with Arkham, character-wise he can’t say anything else.
• Anymore Shazam? Didio (who has heard this question at every DC Nation panel forever): "I don’t know. Stay tuned. Who likes Shazam?" Cornell and Simone say they do, Paul maniacally nodding his head.
• Will wonder woman keep her pants on? Yes.
• Fan complains about the length of time on waiting for paperbacks. Didio: It’s all about selling, they need to make profit so we have to pace them differently.
• Another Wednesday comics? Didio - Yes. If given the opportunity, what would the panelists write? Gail would do Batman, Cornell would do Captain Marvel. Gene would do Elastic Man for format purposes (an interesting idea). Willingham would do Detective Chimp (to huge audience applause). Snyder would do Wonder Woman (no pants). In a hilarious moment, when prompted as to what he'd write, "George" said Blackest Night. The crowd grumbled and hissed derisively, as well they should have.
• More biweekly comics? Didio stated he was a fan, but its extraordinarily taxing on the systems, so there is nothing planned in the near future.
• Any comics reaching 900? Didio brought up Action Comics, which has been out consistently since 1938. Cornell, the current writer on the book, mentioned how honored he was to be on the book Among the perks of the 50 page issue are backup stories from other authors, the conclusion to the "Black Ring" Lex Luthor story, the return of Superman to the book, and a "battle royale". 
• A Fan praised Robo-Lois from the Action Comics book. Is he going to take a break to do Dr. Who? Didio - “He doesn’t need to take a break to do that.”
• Didio polled the crowd with the question, "Who has Fables 100?" A fan replied, standing and saying it was a "really awesome old school magic battle." Did anyone play the board game?  Willingham - We’re gonna have robo-snow white.
• Didio praised Vertigo for some of the talent that’s come out of that. Didio brought up American Vampire, to massive crowd applause. Snyder brought up an original ad that collaborator and penciller Rafael Albuquerque created that read “I don’t fucking sparkle”.
• Didio brought up the comics code, which DC no longer uses. DC has since instituted their own ratings system in the same way the Marvel instituted a few years back. Didio's reasoning behind the change was to make everyone aware that it doesn’t change the product but "it was a request from fans and they want to make it accessible to as many people as possible."
• Any possible future Fables novels? Willingham - Yes. Possibly.
• Any possibility of an ongoing Deadman series? Any possibility for more Batmen in Detective Comics? Snyder - It’s one of Grayson's strengths is team-builder, so there will be more coming up in regards to team-ups. 
• Any 100 page issues with the main story and then re-prints, any more of that? Didio - Reprints in the 100 pagers has been ongoing, they're going to continue that process.
• Any more Teen Titans Go? Didio - No, we’re doing Young Justice now.
• Brightest Day has great heroes, but they can’t sustain their own books. Any more Showcase books? Didio - We’re looking at Adventure comics as a showcase book. Legion right now, but the lead may change soon. The point of BD is to help support these characters for ongoings.
• How is Borders’ bankruptcy affecting trade sales? Bob Wayne - Market share isn’t affected by stores closing, because the size of the pie may shrink but not the percentage. As for how it affects the sales, it hurts the impulse buys but they hope people will migrate to local comic shops or other locations.
• I really want to buy Batwoman, when is that coming out? Didio - Several issues are in the can, but delayed because they wanted to have it come out when it would have a stronger impact in the market. 

Didio interrupted the Q& A format to make a point that has been plaguing the DC line for close to a year, which is the consistency (or lack thereof) of their books. He mentioned a quote from a year back,“We’ll keep selling late books if you keep buying them” to which people then just stopped buying them. "We have to build that reader loyalty again, it’s the heart and soul of what comics is all about. When you walk into a store to look for a book, it should be there."

• With Jack of Fables ending soon, anything to fill its void? Willingham - There are plans in place, no details from the table.
• Assuming Wally West survives Flashpoint, will we see more of him? Didio - Next question.
• When will we have the greatest super heroes back in JLA? Didio - So, Wally West! Bob - Isn’t he going to be the newest Nightwing?
• Anymore Earth One books? Another Superman, Batman Earth One coming soon.
• Preacher books? Bob - Collecting Preacher in hardcover, more coming in hardcovers soon.
• Is Barbara Gordon getting a new name after Oracle? Gail - Big things coming up in ’11 for Birds of Prey, so stay tuned.
• Is Paul staying on Action Comics? Paul - We don’t know at the moment (to which Didio agreed).
• A fan asked where Didio would be eating dinner that night, to loud applause.

Didio concluded the panel recapping that there were big things to come after Flashpoint, and urged the crowd to hang in there a little longer. With that, the panel concluded and I got my picture with Gail Simone...

 

Panel Review: Green Lantern

Green Lantern
Panel: Eddie Berganza, Doug Mahnke, Tyler Kirkham, Joe Prado, Ivan Reis, Christian Alamy

As the panel entered, Berganza mentioned right off the bat that the artist panel was near completion on the final issue of Brightest day, to huge applause. it was apparent from the start based on the members of the panel that this would be a discussion on the artwork of the various Green Lantern books.

Joe Prado (Blackest Night, Brightest Day) was introduced first.Prado discussed his overall role in the Blackest Night and Brightest Day series, working as a designer for the characters and symbols, and adding his pencils to the Brightest Day series.

"I got to go crazy", Prado said regarding the redesign of Hawkman, Martian Manhunter and the White Lantern symbol, affectionately referred to as the "pizza symbol".

Doug Mahnke (Batman, Green Lantern) and Tyler Kirkham (Green Lantern Corps) were introduced next,, followed by Ivan Reis (Green Lantern, Blackest Night), who has been working with Geoff Johns since 06'.

Once prompted, Reis elaborated on his experiences at the Green Lantern feature film set, referring to it as "Alice in WonderWorld" (an example of one of the many mistakes he would verbally make). Reis did how fascinated he was by the design process for films as opposed to comics, and the way the material he had been drawing over the past few years translated to the film.

"Sinestro was crazy," added Reis. "because I got to see him in make-up, shorts, and sandals. And an umbrella." Hopefully an image soon to be translated into the comics...

The front screen lit up with the cover image to "The War of the Green Lanterns" to audience applause.

"Geoff never gets tired of events," said Berganza.

Kirkham, the newest artist on the panel, was asked as to how he felt coming onboard with the team. "Intimidating. The world is so large and epic, but it's a really good challenge to come into. I'm still learning all the characters and the worlds, all the alien races, but it was very intimidating. I look at [the other artists] for inspiration, not the same style but keeping the Universe similar."

The question was asked to the panel of how to make the characters and worlds look a little more real. "The construct colors are looking a little bit more like the movies (referring to inverting the colors of the constructs to make them more expressive on the page). It's a lot of fun to see that match up with the CGI in the movies," replied Kirkham.

The topic of the "emotional entities" came up among the panel, and Mahnke was asked how he came up with the character designs.

"Most [of the designs] come from Geoff giving a lot of information, he isn't short on words. There's no lack of clarity."

Each entity was displayed on the main board, to which the audience screamed out the names of each. "I just call them by the different colors. Out of all of them so far, the one that I enjoyed the most is the octopus-like one, then I try to use my thoughts on it. Octopuses are kinda sympathetic."

The other panelists agreed on the Butcher as their favorite entities. Mahnke noted that he enjoyed it because he had so little time to complete the image, and he still felt it came out looking great.

On inking Mahnke's pencils, Alamy quipped "It's a lot of fun, but it's time consuming with all the constraints, especially when you don't want to sacrifice integrity. It's the most demanding job I've had so far."

Before the Q&A opened up, the panel was prodded as to the entity that most represented them.

"Is there a lazy one?" asked Alamy. "I'll pick anger. Or hope. I hope to get a raise." Prado agreed on Hope as well, adding "I always hope we have more time to do the pages."

Ivan noted that he wouldn't be able to choose a color, since his home uses all of the emotional spectrum. "My home has all of those colors. My bedroom is blue. My studio is red, blue and orange, the front of my home is red, and another part of my home is purple. And the toilet is black."

After Kirkham noted he would choose red since it's the opposite of who he is, Mahnke boldly stated "Parralax. Think of the things you could do if you could create fear." This cued the most uncomfortable audience laughter of the panel.

Q & A

Are you going to get more into the Indigo Tribe? ** Windows computer start-up chimes in immediately** Berganza - That would be Geoff Johns telling me not to reveal anything.

Any more Black Lanterns? - Well we did the Tales of the Black Lanterns (audience applause)

Did you guys know that the White Lantern would be taking back the lives of the people it brought back? No. Maxwell Lord is the only one who completed his mission and is still alive, where will we find out why? Not all of them die, there’s a special connection between the ones who’ve died.

When Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns showed up they were villains, but are now anti-heroes. Are we going to see a return to villainhood in their own book? Yes, but they will have a mission, it won’t just be crazy people killing things. It all fits into the next step. 

At the end of the War of GL Prologue, do we know who isn’t going to be a Lantern anymore, and who is your favorite lantern? - Special place in my heart for Kyle Rayner. That doesn’t mean he’s safe, he may not be Goeff’s favorite. Christian - He’s doomed.

What’s your favorite issue of BN/BD? Ivan - The 0 issue of BN because he was starting a big run. Mahnke: The Brightest Day where Aquaman is “killed”

Audience member praised Tales of the Black Lantern Corps, mentioned group suicide scene. Was that kept out because of younger viewer reasons? Not due to censorship, we just ran out of room. Originally the scenes were there, there was about 100 pages per issue, then 79, before it was cut down

Are we gonna see more Saint Walker? Any Deadman ongoing? - Saint Walker definitely, for Deadman keep an eye on Brightest Day that’s all I can say.

Emerald Warriors question - Is the main thing of the War of the GL based on the mind control guy? It’s much more than just mind control. 

Why not a Tales of the Corps monthly, why just Red? Panel asked if crowd was excited for Red Lanterns, crowd cheered. What about a Sinestro Corp book? Louder cheers

Any idea on when we’ll see an Orange Lantern oath? It’s coming.

What’s your favorite oath? Christian - Green Lantern oath in French, recited first line to crowd applause. Panel all agreed on GL oath. Ivan tried reciting GL oath in Spanish but couldn’t remember the words. Admitted that he doesn’t read the comics.