Top 10 Biggest Comic Book news out of #SDCC San Diego Comic-Con 2018

Biggest Comic Book news out of #SDCC San Diego Comic-Con 2018

10. Gail Simone at Lions Forge: Simone will become the architect of this diverse line of superheroes. Not much detail on the direction the brand will take going forward, but Simone is a veteran creator with a proven following and some hotness at the moment with Domino and Plastic Man. 

9. X-Men: I won’t list Black and Uncanny as separate announcements since Uncanny’s return didn’t even feature a creative team (although Jordan White insists on Twitter that they have four issues in the can but are retaining a tight lip about the team, perhaps until Extermination concludes, I suppose hinting that it’s a Brisson title), but it’s exciting to her the title is coming back. Black will be a series of one-shots focused on villains. Magneto by Chris Claremont, Mojo by Scott Aukerman, Mystique by Seanan McGuire, Juggernaut by Robbie Thompson, and Emma Fros by fan-favorites Leah Williams and Chris Bachalo. Why is Mojo getting so much attention from X-teams? No one is sure. It’s a terrible character. 

8. Hellboy: the 25th anniversary of Hellboy will feature a new Hellboy and the BPRD mini, a series of one-shots, and some new collections. Mignola’s retirement from Hellboy continues to be productive. 

7. Shazam & Aquaman: it’s hard to get too excited about Aquaman but Kelly Sue DeConnick (Bitch Planet, Captain Marvel) has a track record of solid writing and a Allan following as a result. She could do for Aquaman’s movie tie-in what Greg Rucka did for Wonder Woman’s: make it mean something for establishing a higher base for comic sales going forward. Johns on Shazam with Dale Eaglesham could be a huge hit or a major bust. It’s a risky title but a great creative team. 

6. Marvel and DC both go digital: DC Universe premiered at SDCC 2018, a multimedia hub including new tv shows, digital versions of DC comics, and more. Marvel launched a series of digital first comics including Jessica Jones with Kelly “Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda” Thompson, Bendis’s handpicked successor on his creation. Other titles will stay in the defenders universe including Luke Cage, Daughters of the Dragon, and Iron Fist. Hard to get too excited about these books given the limited creator investment and the mostly flagging content, but I’ll buy Jessica Jones when it’s in print. 

5. Marvel Knights: For the 20th anniversary of the imprint, Marvel is relaunching the Knights under the management of phenom creator Donny Cates (Venom, Thanos, Doctor Strange, Redneck). He’ll produce what sounds like a single bookend volume to kick off individual stories written by Tini Howard, Matthew Rosenberg, and Vita Ayala. No certainty on what titles will be included but Punisher, Black Panther, Daredevil, and Karnak (of the Inhumans) are all on the promo art. If Cates is doing more than a single book on this imprint, it’ll be a bigger deal than #5. 

4. So many Batman & Joker books: Snyder & Jock On Batman Who Laughs mini, Silvestri on Batman/Joker book, Johns on Three Jokers, and King & Taylor on Batman Secret Files. Everyone loves Batman. Everyone loves Joker. 

3. Miracleman: The Silver Age: To be clear, there’s no details including a release date, but the team ensures us that the books have been cleared legally to proceed on Gaiman’s final chapter of the Miracleman saga. I’m excited. You’re excited. Miracleman is a legendary property written by two of the very best creators in the history of comics. Anything new on this work after 30 years would be a major, spectacular project. We know now that it CAN happen. 

2. Berger Books: Karen Berger’s (long-time editor at Vertigo) new imprint at Dark Horse will kick off with Ann Nocenti & David Aja’s The Seeds, an exciting title featuring one of the greatest artists of the modern era and a fan favorite indie writer. But an equally big announcement is G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel, Cairo) and Christian Ward (Thor, Eisner Award winning Black Bolt) on their new space epic The Invisible Kingdom. Wilson, an expert at human-centered storytelling focused on relationships but not skimping in action, described the book as Dune meets Cowboy Bebop, which has our attention. 

1. Grant Morris on Green Lantern: when Grant Morrison writes for one of the big two companies, it’s always huge news. His last project, Multiversity, explores the hundreds of universes contained in the DC multiverse. This new book with Liam Sharp (Wonder Woman, Brave and the Bold) will focus on Hal Jordan as a space cop, a sort of cosmic police procedural. If not be surprised now that the Source Wall has come down and the multiverse appears to be “leaking” to see Hal and the GL Corps tasked with investigating what has come through in the deepest reaches of space. Morrison is always best when unleashed from the tethers of continuity to create unexpected and odd characters and situations. DC at the moment, especially cosmic DC, seems a great place to do this. I’m here for it. 

SDCC Day 1 News: DC Universe, Morrison on Green Lantern, Johns on Joker/Shazam, & More!

Day one SDCC News is up! We’ll be keeping you posted here on all the announcements and goings-on. 

Biggest announcement: Grant Morrison & Liam Sharp on Green Lantern. This book has been rumored for quite a bit now, but knowing the exact team will bring the excitement to a fever pitch. Morrison has a cult following esp. w DC fans and will give this title a real shot in the arm. A crime procedural in space sounds pretty compelling. Sharp is just off of his solo creating the Batman/WW Brave & The Bold and his run on WW w Rucka was well liked. This book should sell well & be high quality. 

Runner up: two Geoff Johns titles, Shazam w Dale Eaglesham & 3 Jokers w Jason Fabok. Johns recently announced he was stepping down from his VP position w DC to rejoin the creative team & he’s hitting the ground running. Shazam seems like a stretch for a guy of his talent. But they’ve got a movie coming out & his vision will help sell it to the comic book faithful. Eaglesham is a talented artist who should realize Johns plots well. 3 Jokers should be a top-selling book & a creative success. Recent stories hinted that the Joker has not always been one man but is rather a spirit of chaos/murder. This tale will resolve that thread w a fan favorite villain & a very hot artist. Should be a solid book. UPDATE: Johns also dropped some info on his new imprint at DC. It’s called The Killing Zone, it’s politically motivated, & it deals with characters from the Golden Age (1940’s) to the 2040’s (Legion?). It’ll hit the stands in May 2019. No details yet on what will be released at that time but it’ll be multiple characters & properties under one banner telling a semi-unified narrative. 

Also, Kelly Sue DeConnick & Robson Rocha (recently of Deathstroke & Supergirl) are taking over Aquaman ahead of a the movie’s release. This should be a vote of confidence in a team that will see interest in this cast of characters at an all-time high. DeConnick has a solid fan base & the recent success of their Mera solo title bodes well for interest in this book. 

Clone Wars returns for a new season on the Disney streaming service. Not a lot of detail to this announcement, but it’ll be red hot given that the next Star Wars film isn’t for over a year & the intense polarization over The Last Jedi & Solo. The Clone Wars is nearly universally well received by fans & should be a notch in the belt of the Star Wars universe Disney envisions. 

Wolverine returns! Logan will be back in his solo title this Fall with Charles Soule (architect of the character’s death) & fan favorite artist Steve McNiven at the helm. Word has it that Wolvie has a new power set that heats up his claws to ridiculous temperatures, which I don’t know — sounds dumb — but maybe it’ll be cool? Soule is a talented writer & I’ve liked all of his work including Daredevil, Vader, & the series returning Wolverine to the MU. We’ll have to see the reasoning behind it. 

DC Universe streaming service: it’ll be 74.95 annually. You’ll get to watch Titans & (another Geoff Johns production — and his creation). Dick Grayson says fuck and kills people, apparently. Raven looks cool. Starfire is portrayed by a black actress. Beast Boy looks like Beast Boy. Stargirl will feature the JSA, which is way more interesting than Stargirl is. At any rate, no one is subscribing to this & everyone will stream it, right? Right. Hard to know if these will be any good or just more of the Arrowverse type garbage we’ve gotten from DC tv. The extra dark version of Titans seems to hint that they still think everyone should be Batman or more dark/grim than even that.

Mark Silvestri Batman/Joker team-up was announced during the Black Label panel. Some story details including the kidnapping of Jim Gordon & a new villain, but no release date or format details at the moment. 

There should be a bevy of additional announcements from Marvel coming up, including FF, Gaiman & Miracleman, & at least one, maybe more, X-book. HBO, MCU, & Star Wars are all OUT on SDCC this year, so it’ll be nearly all comics, TV, & DCU films. I’d expect Fox to show us more Venom & maybe some Phoenix, Netflix may have some Millarverse material for us, & BBC will definitely be getting folks hyped for the new (and first female) Doctor. I’ll be around tomorrow with more news.