Comic Book News for 7/27/10: The Post San Diego Comic Con Edition! Scoops & Reveals Galore!

The Avengers in 2012 are going to kick some serious A!

(Examiner's Note: Due to the sheer volume of news from this past weekend, a link for every tidbit will not be provided. Links will be provided for images only, and the websites from which the news was gathered in the "for more info" section. It is also impossible to cover everything. Enjoy the madness!)

MARVEL SDCC NEWS:

- Amazing Spider-Man (the comic) is going through a creative shift. For over the past two years, it has shipped three times a month, since after 2007, it merged with Sensational Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It also had a rotating team of writers. Now, Dan Slott will be the sole writer in charge of the title, and it will ship twice a month. His upcoming revelations involve Mac Gargan returning to his identity as the Scorpion (he'd been Venom for years), the return of the Hobgoblin, and a possible costume change for Spidey himself around Halloween. Dan Slott noted this is the first time he has been given complete control of a franchise; in his prior ASM work, he worked with other writers, and in other titles, he reacted to what other writers did. This is fresh off his work writing for the upcoming video game, "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions". That game (available Sept. 7th) will allow the player to play as several versions of Spider-Man; Classic, Noir, 2099, and Ultimate (although "Ultimate" is just a younger, symbiote empowered web slinger). The game will also unite several generations of Spidey voice actors; Neil Patrick Harris ("MTV Spider-Man") as Classic Spidey, Christopher Daniel Barnes ("Spider-Man: The Animated Series") as Noir Spidey, Josh Keaton ("Spectacular Spider-Man") as Ultimate Spidey, and Dan Gilvezan ("Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends") as Spidey 2099. In further Spider-News, writer Paul Tobin (who has been writing the Marvel Adventures Spider-Man as well as the back-up strips from HERCULES: FALL OF AN AVENGER) has been announced as the next writer on Spider-Girl, the second ongoing title attempt for Arana. Writer Zeb Wells and artist Clayton Crain will also work on a mini series based on Carnage, in which the symbiote that formerly belonged to Cletus Cassidy, who has been dead for years, returns to earth and apparently bonds with a woman. This is interesting because according to "legend", when Venom was being created in the 80's, it was once originally intended to be a woman (as Spider-Man had few female adversaries), but for whatever reason that plan fell through.

- Red Hulk, or "Rulk", revealed to be Thunderbolt Ross in recent issues of HULK, will apparently be joining one of Brian M. Bendis' teams of Avengers (either AVENGERS or NEW AVENGERS). The purpose is to "redeem" him. This is coming from the same team who felt that having the Sentry in their ranks would do wonders for his sanity. Writer Jeff Parker (best known for AGENTS OF ATLAS material as well as X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) will be writing a mini series to redeem Rulk, and will replace Loeb as the regular writer on HULK. Greg Pak will continue writing INCREDIBLE HULK while Jeph Loeb, promoted to the head of Marvel's TV division, concentrates on that and leaves monthly comic writing (for now). At this point the only "monthly" comic that Loeb is still writing is ULTIMATE X, which isn't exactly monthly. Meanwhile, another Ultimate title, ULTIMATE THOR, is being released this year.

- Marvel's film panel revealed some large announcements, as well as united the entire cast for what will in 2012 be considered "THE AVENGERS" film. Firstly, Joss Whedon was officially announced as the director of the film, a fact that had been an ill kept secret for quite some time. Kevin Feige (producer as well as President of Marvel Studios) officially announced that Mark Ruffalo, who last week was rumored to be in negotiations to replace Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner, had indeed accepted the part. He would be the third actor to portray Banner on film since 2003; for the record, only one actor has played James Bond since then. The other announcement was that Jeremy Renner was playing Clint Barton/Hawkeye. The panel also included Robert Downy Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man in two films), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Evans (Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, who is the tallest and largest actor of the lot), and Clark Gregg (SHIELD agent Paulson). In addition, Marvel Studios have gotten back the rights to Frank Castle/The Punisher from Lion's Gate, and Feige hoped to "bring him into the fray soon". The tone of "CAPTAIN AMERICA: FIRST AVENGER" was stated to be similar to the tone of "RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK", and footage was seen of Evans in the suit and of Hugo Weaving in some Red Skull paint (Red Skull will not be CGI), with hints that HYDRA will also be involved in the film. "THOR", meanwhile, was described as an "epic", and footage seen showed the Destroyer armor attacking SHIELD agents. In additional spoilers, both films will be linked in that in "CAPTAIN AMERICA", the Nazi's may stumble upon Yggdrasil, the Tree Of Life from Norse mythology. The angle of the Nazi's using mysticism to try to win the war was naturally in "Raiders" as well as in another comic book film, "HELLBOY". Other artifacts that may be connected to "THOR" are the Cosmic Cube and the Infinity Gauntlet; the latter, as well as helmets for Thor, Odin, and Loki, were also on display at the con (www.superherohype.com/news/articles/104605-sdcc-the-helmets-from-thor-revealed). Marvel has also set up official websites for "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER" (captainamerica.marvel.com/) and "THOR" (thor.marvel.com/), which have their official logos. Super Hero Hype also has images of Cap's shield and the Infinity Gauntlet props here: www.superherohype.com/news/articles/104711-sdcc-captain-americas-shield-and-infinity-gauntlet-from-thor.

- Marvel plans to resurrect properties that used to belong to CrossGen Comics next year. CrossGen was a briefly running comic book company that began at the start of the decade, which mostly dealt mystical or supernatural themes. Many writers and artists from CrossGen later wound up working for Marvel. It is worth nothing that while Marvel may be willing to revive these properties, they still have not touched the "Ultraverse" line of characters from Malibu Comics they acquired in the 1990's, probably because the creator's contracts require they see a cut of any profits made with their characters. Disney acquired CrossGen in 2004.

- Fred Van Lente, half the writing team for INCREDIBLE HERCULES as well as a talented writer in his own right, has dropped hints that he will be getting his own Avengers title. He hasn't stated what it is called or what the roster will be, but speculation is that it could be a "Space Avengers" title. More hints of the roster could be revealed out of CHAOS WAR, the finale to the years long run of Hercules by Van Lente and Greg Pak, which features quite a few Avengers in the "God Squad" such as Thor and Sersi. The fact that Nova, one of the main "space heroes" of Marvel's "Cosmic" line, was featured in the first arc of SECRET AVENGERS for exposure may not be a coincidence. At the screening for the animated "PLANET HULK" earlier this year, Joe Quesada stated that he wanted to better involve the "space books" with the rest of Marvel this year, and this could be the steps that lead to it.

- There was quite a lot of Marvel Animation news from SDCC this year. While confirmation of information such as "IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES" and "MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD" getting second seasons was a part of it, the highlights were more information about the "Marvel Anime" that is coming as well as the first trailer for Disney XD's upcoming series, "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES". G4 will offer the premieres for "Marvel Anime" next year, which are four 12 episode series written by Warren Ellis which feature Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, and the X-Men. Footage of the Iron Man Anime was shown, and the armor itself is CGI merged with 2D animation. All of the plots, naturally, feature the titular character(s) traveling to Japan for some reason. The Wolverine anime looks to adopt Frank Miller's story from the iconic 1980's WOLVERINE mini series, while the X-Men anime follows on the heels of some old Grant Morrison material with them facing off against the U-Men, a cult that wants to graft mutant organs onto their bodies for power. Iron Man travels to Japan to face the Zodiac, while Blade naturally goes to stab some vampires. Considering that, unlike America, Japanese anime was interested in vampire series long before the "TWILIGHT" craze in recent memory, a Blade anime could be a perfect fit. IGN, meanwhile, has video of the "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES" trailer that appeared at SDCC (where the first two episodes were also screened) here: tv.ign.com/dor/objects/14288081/the-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes/videos/avengers_trl_comiccon_072110.html. It features the premise for the show (a massive jail-break of super-villains, some of whom are very powerful, with Loki involved in some long term plot) and Iron Man being encouraged not to face it alone. The founding team from the comics: Iron Man, Hulk, Giant-Man, Wasp, and Thor, are all featured prominently, with Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow and Hawkeye also revealed, as well as Nick Fury. Disney XD has an order for 52 episodes of the show (two seasons worth), and in addition, shorts revealing the origins of many of the featured heroes will also be shown on the network. The show is written as a "Marvel Universe show" and while there are some modern angles and designs taken from the film franchises or Ultimate, it is a show that seems to be inspired by the original Marvel Comics material, just jazzed up for a modern audience. The show's head story editor is Chris Yost, who is being more faithful to the founding line up of this team, regardless of political correctness, than Bruce Timm was willing to be for "JUSTICE LEAGUE". Other hints (or spoilers) are that Graviton is the first major super villain of the first two episodes and that the Hulk speaks in (mostly) complete sentences (similar to how he spoke in original 1960's comic material, before he began talking in "third person"). The voice cast includes Rick D. Wasserman (Hulk in "PLANET HULK") as Thor, Wally Wingert (a longtime bit part voice actor, his best known appearances being on "FAMILY GUY" and "INVADER ZIM") as Hank Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man, Phil LaMarr as JARVIS/Wonder Man, Colleen O'Shaughnessy as Wasp, Fred Tatasciore reprising his role as the Hulk, as well as vocal performances by Nolan North, Mark Hamill, David Kaye, James Ramer, Chris Cox, Liza Ortiz ("POKEMON"), Dawn Olivieri ("HEROES"), James Arnold Taylor, Kyle Herbert, Crispin Freeman, Jennifer Hale, and Tony Todd. Bits of the theme song are also revealed, and apparently are Linkin Park Lite. Curiously, there was no mention of what will likely be the last animated direct to video film with Lion's Gate, "THOR: TALES OF ASGARD", which goes on sale next spring.

- Marvel will release a TRON comic, hot on the heels of "TRON: LEGACY", this year. The benefits of being owned by Disney apparently means getting some publishing licenses from them. BOOM! Studios currently publishes other Disney properties.

- In more comic book tidbits, Black Panther and Kraven the Hunter are vying for the "Who Is The Man Without Fear" title after SHADOWLAND, the latest "urban heroes" event spawning from DAREDEVIL, finishes. The "space books" after THE THANOS IMPERATIVE will "regroup" before returning (although Rocket Raccoon & Groot are getting their own mini series, with HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola drawing the covers), meaning perhaps some wait and then a relaunch, to salvage falling sales. Relaunches for Runaways, Ghost Rider, and the New Warriors are "too early". Jeph Loeb will also re-team with artist Ed McGuiness for AVENGERS THREE, a mini series starring Captain America, Iron Man and Thor facing some monstrous threat (how rare). Finally, a POWER MAN & IRON FIST mini series will spring out of Fred Van Lente's SHADOWLAND: POWER MAN mini series. It would feature Iron Fist training a new character named Victor, who has taken on Luke Cage's old Power Man mantle. Finally, Danny Abnett and Andy Lanning, the creative team best known for NOVA and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, will be working on an IRON MAN/THOR comic together.

Stan Lee forges a new alliance.

INDIE & OTHER SDCC NEWS:

- Despite the massive amounts of people and the minimal security, in addition to the long, frustrating lines for many panels, acts of any violence tend to be rare at these sorts of conventions. Sadly, that streak ended this year when a report of a stabbing was circulated. Apparently, a fan got so angered when another chose to hold a spot for a panel for many hours, that he stabbed that fan in the eye with a pen. He was arrested and taken off the SDCC floor, and the reports are that the injury was not serious. Fans were seen mocking the incident with signs and costumes the next day.

- As Robot 6 (via Comic Book Resources) reports, the 22nd Annual Eisner Awards were announced at the SDCC, with a full list of winners announced (robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/sdcc-10-winners-announced-for-22nd-annual-eisner-awards/). Highlights include: THE WALKING DEAD, Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard's Image Comics series, won for Best Continuing Series; CAPTAIN AMERICA #601, written by Ed Brubaker with art by legend Gene Colan, won Best Single Issue; CHEW, by John Layman and Bob Guillory, won Best New Series; SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 5 by Bryan Lee O'Malley won Best Humor Series; Ed Brubaker won the Best Writer award for his Marvel work (including on CAPTAIN AMERICA, DAREDEVIL, and INCOGNITO), while DC's J.H. Williams III took home two awards for Best Penciller/Inker and Best Cover Artist. Dark Horse, Image, and Marvel properties seemed to take most of the awards this year.

- There was naturally a panel for "SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD", as trailers have begun appearing on TV hyping it's appearing in theaters next month. The film was screened for fans and it was described as "a rock and roll experience".

- Image Comics' five "partners" - Robert Kirkman, alongside founders Erik Larson, Todd MacFarlane, Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri - held an Image panel at the SDCC, which offered some advice to aspiring creators or those with pitches to submit. That it is best to get the pitch, and the core concept, as simple as possible, yet as unique as possible. It should not take more than one or two sentences to describe the pitch (www.comicbookresources.com/). They also stressed being original and how their company has involved more genres than superheroes lately (especially with the zombie epic THE WALKING DEAD as their best selling series).

- BOOM! Studios and Stan Lee had a panel in which they announced the creation of a full line of superhero titles based on characters created by Stan Lee (www.newsarama.com/comics/sdcc10-stan-lee-boom-100721.html). It seems Stan Lee has been hiring out his imagination to a slew of comic book companies (a few months ago it was announced he was working with Archie Comics), but this panel had images and creative announcements for these characters. The first is Starborn, written by Chris Roberson with art by Khary Randolph. The second is the Traveler, written by Mark Waid with art by Chad Hardin. The third is Soldier Zero, written by Paul Cornell with art by Javier Pina. Mark Waid described the Traveler as a "time traveler with a heart", whose actions trying to prevent tragedies may as well cause him to be named "the Tamperer". Starborn is described as a "Star Wars" like science fiction epic, while Soldier Zero (which is Paul Cornell's only exception to his recent DC exclusive contract) is about the issues a soldier faces in a wheelchair (that at some point involve armor or something). An image of the characters is here: cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c71692/media/image/201007/php173HVOFULL_CHARACTER_CONCEPTS.jpg. Stan Lee described it as "fun" creating new characters, while having faith in the writers to carve out their own interpretations from what Stan Lee has simply created the foundation for. Mark Waid described many comic book stories as "wrestling matches" and wanted to delve into genuine emotions with his Traveler work. BOOM! usually outsells Archie Comics to some degree, and the creative teams will garner attention.

- The promotional trailer for Eric Powell's "THE GOON" film, a CGI animated feature, was shown at SDCC: www.spike.com/blog/goon-promo-trailer/97972. It is 2:35 minutes of PG-13 animated glory.

It will take something big, shiney and green to wash off the funk of "Jonah Hex"!

DC COMICS SDCC NEWS:

- Naturally, the main commotion at DC's panel was the "GREEN LANTERN" movie, which is due up next year. In addition to the official logo (as seen on the left), the DC panel included four promotional posters for the film, which all feature a different section of the "Green Lantern Oath" and have Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan), Blake Lively (Carrol Ferris), Mark Strong (Sinestro, in make-up) and Peter Sarsgaard (as Hector Hammond, also in make-up) in a fashion similar to the original themed powers for 2000's "X-MEN" (www.superherohype.com/news/articles/104733-sdcc-four-green-lantern-promo-images). At the panel were all the aforementioned stars of the film including director Martin Campbell and producer Donald De Line. Super Hero Hype has a summary of the Q&A from the panel here (www.superherohype.com/news/articles/104713-sdcc-green-lantern-press-conference). Campbell feels that while a lot of the Green Lantern mythos is complicated, that Hal Jordan's origin is concise and that the audience will be able to follow it. Reynolds compares this film to "the Star Wars of the DC Universe" and mentions that he had "an experience" meeting the art department for the first time. Reynolds also mentioned that while other actors had auditioned for the part, the costumes department had chosen his head as the mold for a test Green Lantern mask, so when it did come down to him, it fit perfectly. Reynolds also appears very passionate about the part and Warner Brothers is giving this feature a full court press; they need it after this year's implosions of "THE LOSERS" and "JONAH HEX".

- There was also a panel for "RED", an action comedy coming out in October starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker, and John Malkovitch. All attended the "RED" panel including original series writer Warren Ellis, who revealed that "they gave us [he and artist Cully Hamner] a lot of money...a LOT of money. I could buy most of you now. I went away and they made the film." The film is not a strict adaptation of the graphic novel, which is only 66 pages (three issues) long, as it has to "embellish" more from it to make the film run long enough. Willis stated that it was "fun" working on the film, and that "about 75 stars worked on it". Mirren mentioned being "sh** scared" about doing a "genre movie" after her Oscar winning turn playing the Queen of England (after all, things haven't worked out for Halle Berry). Super Hero Hype has a new trailer for the film here: www.superherohype.com/news/articles/104549-sdcc-the-new-trailer-for-red.

- DC naturally had a slew of comic book announcements. Much of their attention was on the "Return Of Bruce Wayne" event that their Bat-books are launching. Bruce Wayne was believed to have been killed at the end of 2008's FINAL CRISIS, but instead he was lost through the time stream (the common anti-death equation for heroes these days; ask Steve Rogers). However, with the sales of Grant Morrison's BATMAN AND ROBIN, which features Dick Grayson as Batman and Wayne's son Damien Al Ghul as Robin, has sold quite well, so there is perhaps a hesitancy to return to status quo. As such, when Wayne returns to the DC Universe, he apparently will launch what is being dubbed as "Batman, Inc.", an attempt to combine his efforts as Wayne and Batman across Gotham and the world. Chloe Sullivan, a character best known from the "SMALLVILLE" TV series, will also be inserted into DC Comics as an official character. While characters made for TV's various cartoons have eventually made the leap into comic panels (such as Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya), Sullivan is the most recent from a live action show. J. Michael Stracynski (JMS) talked about his SUPERMAN run and stated that Superman would continue to "connect" with the common man by walking across America and rooting out various causes, inspired by the character's birth during the Great Depression as a working man's hero. JMS also spoke of growing bitter about Marvel's insistence on "events" and feeling that DC was the more creative company of the moment, which was why he left Marvel (although he promises that THE TWELVE, a 12 issue mini series for Marvel that is about two years late, will finish soon). JMS also spoke of his WONDER WOMAN run and seemed to specify that Diana would regain her powers as she overcame a series of mythological challenges, and that both her old and new continuity would exist at the same time (yet would not impact her spin off characters such as Donna Troy and Wonder Girl). DC gave no concrete answers about their next event, BRIGHTEST DAY, but hinted that some signs have been dropped and would become obvious in six months time, and would involve the White Lanterns.

- Getting considerable buzz was WB Games, DC Entertainment and Sony Entertainment Online releasing a five minute theatrical style trailer for their "DC UNIVERSE ONLINE" massive multi-player online RPG coming out in November. The character designs for the game were all done by Jim Lee, and the voice talent for the game is headlined by Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker (robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/sdcc-10-watch-the-dc-universe-online-cinematic-teaser/). To date Marvel has no plans to release a MMORPG (although they once tried to sue CITY OF HEROES for not making it harder to create Marvel-like characters on their game), so this could be one niche that DC could fill.

- Not to be undone by Marvel Animation, DC had quite a display about their next cartoon series, "YOUNG JUSTICE", which has Greg Wiesman ("GARGOYLES", "W.I.T.C.H.", "SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN") as producer and story editor alongside Bradon Vietti ("SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY", "JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS" and "BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD", which is on sale today), as well as Peter David as one of the writers on the series, revealed an in depth sneak peak (spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/23/cci-first-look-at-animated-young-justice/). The show seems to be more of a TEEN TITANS 2.0 more than it is based on the comic book series of the same name, which Peter David also worked on. It features the Justice League (a fifteen member strong cabal with a "Hall Of Justice" base and featuring similar character designs as "JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS") mentoring Young Justice and Batman (voiced by Brian Greenwood) issuing missions to the squad. They are led by the new Aqualad (Kari Peyton) and consist of Robin (Jesse McCartney), Superboy (Nolan North), Kid Flash (Jason Spizak), Artemis (Stephenie Lemelin) and Miss Martian (Danica McKeller). Other known voice talent includes Phil LaMarr as Aquaman, Rob Lowe as Capt. Marvel, Alen Tudykk as Green Arrow and Marina Sirtis as the villain Queen Bee. This show has it's own continuity, and is "a young universe", in which Superman and Batman's careers have lasted "about ten years" as the show starts. This series mixes iconic characters (such as the original Robin, Dick Grayson, alongside the classic Kid Flash, Wally West) with newer characters like Miss Martian and this version of Aqualad (who is debuting in the comics around the same time), as well as the 1990's clone version of Superboy. Robin is the youngest of the team, but as Batman had been training him since he was small, is the most experience; Superboy, meanwhile, is only about four months removed from an incubation chamber. It appears as if Greg Wiesman is giving this show the same intellect and care that he gives all of his TV shows, and Warner Brothers was wise to scoop him up from Marvel and Sony the first chance they got. In sadder cartoon news, the second season of "BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD" will be the last for the show. However, that still would be 52 episodes, a healthy episode total for syndication. The rest of season two will air this fall on Cartoon Network.