The New Guardians
San Diego ComicCon happened last weekend, and while there was a ton of really great movie and TV news, comic stories were pretty lacking.
The big two players, Marvel and DC didn’t announce ANYTHING big this weekend. No major Green Lantern stories, no big Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor stories…not even a big Spider-Man story. Marvel’s big story was a single slide with the CrossGen sigil (the company which was bought from bankruptcy by Marvel’s parent company Disney a few years back).
The indies didn’t fare much better other than Oni Press who used the buzz created by Scott Pilgrim to introduce the world to the rest of their titles.
So what would I expect to come out of the world’s biggest comic convention? Read on fair reader, and I will Monday morning quarterback this bad boy for you.
1 – A Digital Comics Roadmap
Where was the panel by ComiXology? Why didn’t Graphic.ly hold court? Where was PanelFly? There were no mentions of any panels about the future of comics. I didn’t see a single report of a panel by one of the digital comics vendors.
A few weeks before San Diego DC and ComiXology quietly released the DC Comics application. Wasn’t this an opportunity for DC to toot it’s horn and declare that early indications are promising?
2 – DC Comics “Multiversity”, the Return of Bruce Wayne, and whatever the heck is happening with Superman and Wonder Woman
There was plenty of implied big stuff happening at DC, but you had to read between the lines to figure out what they were doing, and who they were doing it with. They have a half dozen creative chiefs, and I didn’t feel like any of them sat in a room and said “Okay, this is what we’re going to do this year, let’s get some spotlight on these three things.”
What about some nice line art for one of Morrisson’s Multiversity titles?
Really? There’s no plans for some good Green Lantern stuff before the movie? I know they’re just getting off the whole “Blackest Night” storyline, but now would be a good place to discuss the whole “search for the avatars” or whatever the heck storyline they’re doing in GL right now. “Hey kids, did you know there are a BUNCH of different coloured lanterns? Yeah, check out these half dozen mini-series we’re doing about these unique characters this year”. Hey, we’re launching this new Green Lantern series next month, set yourselves down for a spell and we’ll tell you all about it!
3 – Mondo Marvel anyone?
A Sigil, that was the big reveal this year. Last year it was Marvelman…a year later and we’re no closer to having Alan Moore’s stories collected (which let’s face it are the only reason anyone has ANY interest in MarvelMan at all). So another year will go by and nobody will care about Crossgen. Well played.
Meanwhile there was a huge opportunity to start hyping the books about characters who are having films made for them. Let’s talk about the back to basics approach to X-Men, what does the post Brand New Day world look like for Spidey?
4 – Everyone Else
Hey, Dark Horse, Boom!, IDW, Dynamite all of you guys…your panels were weak. This is your opportunity to tell us about the best thing you’re going to do in the next year. Dark Horse you’re finishing Buffy Season 8…will there be another? IDW, a new Rocketeer? in 2010? They have one already, it’s called Ex Machina. Boom, what are you going to do with Disney now that Marvel are owned by them?
There WAS some good stuff, but it all came from film, tv, games, and toys. The rest of you missed your best opportunity to get great news out.