John Cunningham again moderated the panel and again began promoting We Can Be Heroes, DC All Access and the DC NYCC App.
On this panel: Brian Buccellato, James Tynion, Paul Levitz, Nicola Scott, Cliff Chiang, Charles Soule
Cunningham showed slides featuring the various books he was covering.
Buccellato pointed out that Flash #24 basically the last issue of the Francis and his run, though #25 is Zero Year flashback. They’re sad to move from the Flash but looking forward to Detective comics
Levitz teased that World’s Finest #16 featured Power Girl’s powers out of control. They sway between not having powers and having too much power. World’s Finest Annual is a flashback on their adventures on Earth 2. The World’s Finest book leads into something big that can’t be announced yet.
Scott spoke on Earth 2 #16. Nicola talked about how the issue involves the state of the planet. The next arc bridges the arc between James Run and Tom Taylor’s run.
Chiang set up Wonder Woman #24; the book has been building to a larger epic. #25 she battles with Strife. Cliff comes back to art on #27. The war with the First Born escalates.
Soule really tried to sell people on Swamp Thing. This is the story that’s been building since he took over the book on #19. The thread has to do with Seeder, who isn’t quite as good with his powers as Swampy is. The fight between Seeder Swampy is just the first fight between the two. The upcoming annual is about behind the scenes stuff about Swampy’s job as the Avatar. He meets a German botanist who takes Swampy under his wing and trains him for his battle with Seeder. Lady Weeds a swamp thing from the 1800s. The last six or seven pages of the annual will be a big deal to people, particularly Swamp Thing fans.
Soule also spoke on Superman/Wonder Woman. It’s described as a good blend between what Azz and Cliff are doing with Wonder Woman and incorporate it into the new 52.
Tynion turn brought up Red Hood and the Outlaws #24. This is what Tynion’s been buidling to since he took over the book. Jason Todd has taken over the League of Assassins to take on the Untitled in an effort to stop them, because he’s the only one who can. It leads into the Zero Year issue. The focus on be on Jason Todd as a teen in Gotham during the Blackout, the remnants of the Red Hood gang and how they affected his life growing up in Park Row/Crime Alley.
Tynion also added that Zero Year books might take place in the past but they focus on characters.
Tynion took the time to plug Talon #12. Sebastian Clark is coming back to Gotham. We’ll see the legend of the Gotham Butcher and how he got that name. This is the storyline that features everything Batman was worried about happening with Calvin and the Court of Owls actually happens.
Q&A time!
Will Wally return? Buccellato says “One day.”
A young woman pointed out that the characters that made The New 52 so diverse seemed to be the first characters whose books were cancelled. She asked what’s to stop diversity from being a long chain of tokens? Cunningham replied the marketplace is partially ot blame for lack of diversity. Nicola added that if you enjoy diversity, you should keep an eye on Earth 2. (My take, Cunningham saying that readers are to blame for the lack of diversity, seems shortsighted, flawed and a bit callous.)
One fan was worried about Earth 2 and wondered if Tom Taylor would pick up Robinson’s threads in Earth 2? Scott replied that the way the story’s told is Tom’s, but Robinson’s threads will be followed up on because of the nature of the book. Scott also expressed hope that Earth-2 will get a spinoff.
One brave fan asked how the panel felt about the Batwoman situation (Willams and Blackman leaving the title.) No one really gave an answer. But Cunningham said he has been enjoying Andreyko’s outlines.
Another fan who loved The Flash and Batman asked if Brian and Francis would bring the Flash art style to Gotham? Buccellato replied “Not really, it’s going to showcase a different side of Francis’ art.”
A Young Justice fan pointed out that the Young Justice line of The New 52 is basically just Teen Titans now and asked “Will DC have a Youth Movement?” The answer was yes.
A young woman asked the panel if they had advice on breaking into the industry. Buccellato tackled it first. He said “do the work.” He offered up the notion that if you do something ten thousand times you master it. He also suggested that artists to network with people in the industry and show their portfolio to everyone they can. His advice for writers was to self publish or do webcomics. Tynion added that he had nothing to add. Levitz addressed the young woman by name and told her “you passed my class, you’ll do fine.”
Another fan had an Injustice Question that went unanswered because Tom Taylor’s not on the panel.
Stephanie Brown’s biggest advocate pointed out that DC is lacking female creators on their books and asked if DC was trying to get more women creators in. Cunningham replied that DC is looking for a more diverse crew of talent. Nicola added that she’s never found being a female in the industry has a hinderance.
A fan asked about Red Robin and was assured that Tim Drake will be a key figure in Batman: Eternal.
Another diversity question; Cyborg seems like an afterthought hardly a major player. Is that something that might be corrected? Cunningham pointed out that Geoff Johns is a huge Cyborg fan, and assured everyone that Cyborg is not an afterthought. He also stated that Cyborg plays a huge role in Forever Evil.
I fan asked if making Calvin undead cheapened his skillset? Tynion doesn’t think so. He’s put a lot of emphasis on the emotional arc of Calvin. It was always planned that he’d be undead again.
A female fan questions Wonder Woman’s costume, what happened to Wonder Woman’s clothes. There was an awkward pause as no one stepped up to answer, before Chiang offered up an answer. He liked her redesign with the pants initially. But he found that when he drawing her that artistically it didn’t work well. The pants and boots were too difficult to differentiate and the pants made it challenging to convey things like movement. Artistically , Cliff was happy when Wonder Woman lost her pants. He also added that while some people claim that Wonder Woman’s costume is little more than a bathing suit, he tries to treat her outfit like a uniform. Nicola added that loves Wonder Woman’s iconic look. Cunningham added that the backlash DC got when they took the pants from Wonder Woman’s costume was dwarfed by the reaction they got when the added pants to her costume.
