Wizard World TexasSo this past weekend, I went to Wizard World Texas at the Arlington Convention Center. Arlington is conveniently located between Dallas and Fort Worth in the middle of the "metroplex," as it is known 'round these parts.
Here's the layout of the convention floor: (click on the photos for bigger versions)
Friday afternoon, I attended the Crisis Counseling panel with Dan DiDio, Senior Vice President, Executive Editor, DC Universe and Bob Wayne, VP of Sales.
•Dan was very eager to talk about Infinite Crisis, as this was the first time he could talk about it during a Crisis Counseling Panel. When he asked how people felt about the four miniseries, by round of applause, the two that received the biggest praise were Villians United and Day of Vengance (which got the most applause of all).
He then said that in the process of speaking during the rest of the panel, he may tell the truth or he may not. So bearing that in mind, he talked about the following things:
•The Donna Troy series was not meant to be its own series to begin with. She was gonna pop up here and there throughout the other mini-series, but Phil Jimenez was very passionate about telling her story, that it took on a life of its own.
•The IC specials that are coming out soon contain stuff that shows how the minis fit in with IC, but couldn't be included in the actual minis because it would have revealed too much of the big picture.
•There will be some "pruning" and "building" of the DC line coming up soon. Both of these aspects are Crisis related. Bob Wayne said that in the next couple of issues of Previews, we'll see a lot of books solicited as "Final Issue." Dan said you could describe it with the phrase "changes abounding."
•The reaction of fans to the return of Jason Todd has been more of a positive one than a negative one. When someone asked him if Jason Todd will die in IC, Dan DiDio said, "Yes, he will... if you dial 1-900...", at which point the audience broke out in laughter. He then related a story about a guy at a convention that came up to him and said, "I want my 50 cents." Dan said, "Excuse me?" Again the guy said, "I want my 50 cents." Dan said, "What are you talking about?" The guy said, "I spent 50 cents to make a phone call so Jason Todd would die, and now he's back, so I want my 50 cents back." The audience got a big kick out of this as well.
•On "his watch," dead means "dead." Ted Kord is "very dead." Donna Troy was the only "fake" death that there will be, because they knew they were gonna bring her back.
•"52" ships 2 weeks after the last issue of Infinite Crisis, in May. (I got the sense that he was being totally honest about this and not trying to fool anyone.)
•The bat symbol on the chest of the Spectre was "just for fun" and it's real purpose was to "clearly identify the city as Gotham."
•Marv Wolfman and George Perez are becoming more involved with Infinite Crisis every day, and Marv Wolfman will be co-writing a couple issues of Teen Titans with Geoff Johns, as well as the Teen Titans annual.
He then started the "lightning round" of questions where he would answer as many questions as possible as quickly as possible, with as short an answer as possible. Some of those questions were:
Is Barry Allen coming back for good ever?
"No."
Did Geoff Johns have to fight you to not have to kill any characters you made him kill in Crisis?
"Not physically."
How much is 52 gonna cost per issue?
(turns to Bob Wayne) "Bob?" Bob Wayne: "Next question!"
Will Jim Corrigan be hooked up with Spectre?
"I think they make a lovely couple."
Barbara Gordon in costume next year?
"What are you thinking about?"
Jay garrick gonna die?
Both: "Next!"
Is G'nort gonna save the galaxy?
"Not on my watch."
All new creative teams on Batman and Superman books, post-Crisis?
"Yes. There will be anywhere from 50% to 75% change on creative teams one year later."
Will Wally West survive the crisis?
"Next question!"
Is Hypertime or Zero Hour addressed in Identity Crisis?
"Hypertime will not be addressed, Zero Hour will."
Will post-Crisis Batgirl's costume be black or blue?
"It depends on who's... whoa, whoa, whoa..." (he catches himself as the audience breaks out in laughter) "Maybe I went one question too long. I'm not answering that now. You got the best of me."
Is the blue-eyed Luthor that works with the society, is he the pre-Crisis Luthor?
"I can't answer that question right now."
Then he put an end to the questions and graciously said goodbye and thanks.
Later that day, I went to the "Marvel Lowdown withe Nick Lowe" panel. Nick Lowe is an associate Editor at Marvel.
You can read all about what was said here over on Newsarama, but I did ask him one question. That being: "If you guys can trim the number of mutans in the world drastically, why can't you trim the number of X- and mutant related- books being offered every month?" His answer was basically, "When people stop buying the books, we'll stop putting out so many every month."
Sprinkled throughout the convention, inbetween panels, I met several artists and got several books signed.
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While Ethan Van Sciver was sketching in my friend's Green Lantern: Rebirth hardcover at the Wizard booth...
I watched Wizard Magazine Senior Staff Writer sketch something in someone else's sketchbook.
When I figured out is was Batman, I asked him for one as well. He ended up drawing the Trinity:
(He said that was supposed to be Wonder Woman in the back. Whatever...)
Ethan Van Sciver was very nice and very happy to meet some fans.
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I met Gravity artist (and fellow listener) Mike Norton in Artist Alley. Mike was cool and signed my Gravity issues and did a sketch for me in the back of his sketchbook that I bought. Thanks, Mike!
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I wanted to meet David Mack and have him sign something for me (at the Beckett Comics booth), but I didn't have any of my Daredevil issues he did. I went to a dollar box close by and found two of my favorite issues, and took them back for him to sign. Having never read Kabuki, I ended up buying the first volume for 20 bucks. David was so appreciative, he gave me several other individual issues of stuff that ended up totalling up to more than 20 bucks!
That's his girlfriend, Mandy, who is the model for the covers of the latest issues of Kabuki as published by Icon.
I caught him sketching something in a sketchbook later on in the convention.
He was a really nice guy.
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Brian Hitch was at the Lions Gate Films booth promoting the upcoming Ultimate Avengers DVD.
The Lions Gate Films booth had a bunch of cool movie stuff in it, among which was the puppet from the Saw movies. Have you seen those? They are messed up, I tell you. But I enjoyed them.
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The line for this guy was incredibly long. I couldn't believe it.
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Sunday afternoon, I finally braved the line to get some books signed by Michael Turner. Mike, Peter Steigerwald, Marcus To and Jason Gorder were at the Aspen Comics booth. I got my Identity Crisis issues signed by Mike and Peter.
Mike was really nice and said the last few months have been pretty rough for him as far as his health is concerned. He looked really tired to me.
While in line to meet them, I fell in love with this Fathom print, but by that time, I was already out of money.
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I also was able to meet my favorite author of comics and novels, Peter David.
Having a $#!tload of comics and novels I wanted him to sign, I actually spread the bunch out over the three days for him to sign. He was very cool about it and loved seeing what people brought him to sign.
I attended two panels given by Peter David. This guy was a hoot! For the first panel he did, "Writing Superhero Comics: The Basics," he came busting in the room dressed as Tim the Enchanter from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
When someone asked him a question, he made them address him as "Almighty Peter."
Just listening to him talk was so much fun.
His next panel was a "Creater Spotlight" panel. The first thing he did was read a script that he had written for Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (which he lovingly refers to as "Eff-in" Spider-Man, because of the way the title is sometimes abbreviated: F-N-S-M)
When I asked him if Spider-Man would actually be "changed" because of the "The Other" story, he said "As much as a character like Spider-Man can be changed." He did say that Peter Parker would end up with some new powers and abilities that he hasn't had before. I'm really excited about that.
Celebrities in attendance were:
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Sean Astin (Sam Gamgee)
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Margot Kidder (Lois Lane)
(Yeah, yeah, I know. What're ya gonna do?)
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Edwin Neal (the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre")
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Ron Perlman (Hellboy)
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Summer Glau (River Tam on "Firefly")
Of course I got a couple t-shirts and a kick-ass Superman hoodie, and I got some trades and hardcovers at bargain prices, too. I searched the entire floor for some Flash trades, but there was nary a one in sight. I couldn't believe it.
All in all, I had a fan-friggin'-tastic time and I will definitely go again next year.
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