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Another
one bites the dust.
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WonderCon
2005:
Comics! Most
of these announcements come from the DC camp, unless of
course you consider Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s
extension on Astonishing X-Men as Derek
previously mentioned. Here are some brief tidbits picked
up at the Con this weekend, in case you haven’t already
heard:
Switcharoos
It looks
like Alex Ross’ stint over at JSA is more
permanent than initially thought. He recently signed on
to be the sole cover artist for the title, so fans of Ross’
work should be happy to see more work from him. The bonus
is, hopefully Ross’ covers will attract more readership
to an already excellent title. More on JSA below.
In other
news, it looks like Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans
is going to get a replacement artwise as Mike McKone will
be stepping aside (jumping over to an exclusive contract
at Marvel) and Ivan Reis will be taking up the reigns,
art-wise. Reis is expected to jump onboard after the Teen
Titans/Outsiders upcoming crossover. For an idea as
to what to expect from Reis in regards to Titans,
check out the artwork in Wizard Magazine’s Teen
Titans 1/2 if you can find it.
Rags
Morales will be joining Greg Rucka over on Wonder Woman.
Project
Updates
As mentioned
above, Ross is taking up the cover-duties for JSA,
but it seems as though he is also comfortable championing
the title's upcoming arcs. Writer Geoff Johns’ had
little to say about the series, but Ross was eager to jump
in, touting that he and Johns had discussed planned arcs
from three years down the road and that JSA is
one of those rare team books that allows one writer the
kind of creative freedom over the members of the team without
having to work with several other writers regarding events
in each members’ individual books. Ross’ excitement
for this title is warranted, as it consistently remains
one of the better books on the shelves.
One
tidbit sure to get fans of Alex Ross titillated was the
confirmation of his upcoming bi-monthly JLA series
Justice, which he described as his “ultimate
Superfriends payoff” pitting the League against a
large group of marquee villains a la the Legion
of Doom. He will be partnering up with Jim Kreuger on this
one, and although there will be a slight delay in the book
due to its bi-monthly status, fans were assured to be treated
to something special with each issue. Dan DiDio heralded
Ross’ work on Justice as some of the best
stuff to be circulating the DC offices in quite some time.
Bob
Wayne mentioned April’s upcoming Judd Winick penned
team-up between Superman and Shazam! with art by Ian Churchill.
Churchill will also be joining Jeph Loeb for an upcoming
Supergirl series, which has yet to be given a start
date.
It sounds
as if Geoff Johns’ is taking some deep interest in
getting into Hal Jordan’s lifestyle in preparation
for his Green Lantern series, to follow the “Rebirth”
mini-series. He has plans of taking some test flights with
some pilots soon, and has been spending time with pilots
to prepare for the series.
Not
much was revealed in regards to the upcoming one shot, DC
Countdown, although Alex Ross stated that he had been
getting some pressure to reveal the identity of the mysterious
figure in Batman’s arms on the cover. Apparently this
isn’t the final cover for the one-shot, but it has
raised a slew of questions nonetheless.
It’s
no surprise that Dan DiDio decided to take a glancing jab
at their competition when discussing the All-Stars line
of books on tap. He stated that the motivation behind the
All-Star line is to take key figures in the current, working,
DCU and highlight them in more iconic, singular books, something
anyone can jump onto at any given time. He prefaced this
by stating that DC didn’t feel it necessary to create
“ultimates” because they already have a universe
that works for them, and the need to re-create seemed superfluous.
Instead, we will be given the already announced All-Star
Batman and Robin with the creative team of Jim Lee
on pencils and Frank Miller penning the adventures for the
dynamic duo. He promised that the stories will be more “reigned
in” than Miller’s DK2,
his follow up to The Dark Knight Returns, although
being Frank Miller, he still has surprises up his sleeve.
That
said, fans can look forward to another iconic All-Star title
in Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman. Apparently
this was something Grant had been campaigning to do, and
after a successful pitch for his upcoming Seven Soldiers
of Victory, they pretty much felt that his request
could not be denied. All-Star Batman and Robin
begins in July, with All-Star Superman ramping
up in September.
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