MattBrady
03-17-2007, 05:14 PM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/HoH%20poster.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_HoH%20poster.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a><i>by Albert Ching</i>
Only a couple of the non-big two publishers held panels at WW:LA, but IDW was one of them. The company, responsible for buzzworthy books like <b>30 Days of Night</b> and a boatload of licensed properties, held their affair Saturday morning, with only about three dozen fans on hand - although perhaps some were holding out for the arrival of Kiss's Gene Simmons, who was scheduled to join the panel a half hour into it to talk about his new joint publishing venture with IDW, "Simmons Comic Group" (or maybe people just partied a little too much Friday night. Or were still parking).
IDW editor-in-chief and publisher Chris Ryall presided over the panel, which consisted of <b>Angel</b> and <b>Star Trek</b> writer Scott Tipton, <b>Spike: Asylum</b> writer Brian Lynch and <i>Super Hero Happy Hour</i> creator Dan Taylor, with Simmons to join later.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/SPIKE1_Messina.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_SPIKE1_Messina.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>First up on the presentation was <b>Spike: Shadow Puppets</b >, described by Lynch as "Kind of a sequel to the 'Smile Time' episode," referring to the fan favorite season 5 <i>Angel</i> episode; he said it's also a sequel to his previously-published <b>Spike: Asylum</b>.
Ryall then told the crowd that Joss Whedon said in the new issues of <i>Buffy/Angel</i> magazine, "I am talking to Brian Lynch, about doing sort of a 'season 6 of <i>Angel</i>.'" Ryall then continued, "After <b>Shadow Puppets</b>, we will be doing some new <b>Angel</b> books, with Brian and Joss, picking up where the show left off. They will be post-show, and definitely canon, and co-written by Joss." Presumably this is the companion to Dark Horse's "Buffy season 8" that fans have been waiting for.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/G1-Galvatron-sketch.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_G1-Galvatron-sketch.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Ryall moved on to <b>Transformers</b> comics, including a <b>Galvatron</b> spotlight comic and prequels to this summer's movie, saying, off-the-cuff, "If you're not looking forward to the movie, hopefully this will build your enthusiasm."
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Scarface_Di001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Scarface_Di001.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>IDW is doing another <b>Scarface</b> mini-series in July, called <b>Scarface: Devil in Disguise</b>," written by: Joshua Jabcuga with art by Alberto Dose. It'll be five issues and, Ryall describes, "A little bit darker, a little more serious in tone."
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/FA17_BillyTucci_MarkSparaci.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_FA17_BillyTucci_MarkSparaci.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Peter David's <b>Fallen Angel</b> was next, and Ryall promised "We've got a few good things coming up in the book," including an arc with art from Kristian Donaldson that "plays off his DC run." Ryall continued, "We've got a crossover with Billy Tucci's <b>Shi</b>," which will be drawn in part by Billy Tucci (with Joe Corroney during the Fallen Angel section).
A couple of <b>Star Trek</b> projects - <b>Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell</b>, written by Scott & David Tipton and illustrated by David Messina (5 issues, starting April 2007) and <b>Star Trek: The Original Series: Year Four</b>, written by David Tischman and illustrated by: Kelsey Shannon, Steve Conley, Leonard O'Grady (6 issues, starting July 2007) - were briefly discussed.
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/STcover3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_STcover3.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/trek-01.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-01.jpg" hspace="3" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-03.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-03.jpg" border="0"></a></center>
As announced earlier today on Newsarama (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=105464), IDW will be releasing <b>The Complete Milt Canniff's Terry and the Pirates</b >, celebrating this year's 100th anniversary of the strip.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/30-day-teaser-16-blood-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_30-day-teaser-16-blood-1.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>Capitalizing on the <i>30 Days of Night</i>" movie, out in October, there''ll be a new mini-series, written by Steve Niles and Bill Sienkiewicz. It'll introduce a comic original to the movie, and Ryall commented that "just having Bill Sienkiewicz drawing vampires out in the woods is exciting to me."
A Q&A followed before the arrival of Gene Simmons, with Ryall saying there's no plans for a “Star Wars/Transformers" crossover despite the success of those toys and no more "<b>Transformers: Evolution</b> in the near future but possibly in '08." Spike's old vampire girlfriend, Drusilla, won't be <b>Shadow Puppets</b>, but could be in “Angel season 6”, and so far they don't have <b>Tank Girl</b> reprints scheduled because they're not show about the situation with publishing rights.
When asked about comics on the web, Ryall said he believes it's a great tool for promotion but won't ever replace paper comics, saying "it's hard to replace that tactile sensation." As far as an adaptation of the <i>30 Days of Night</i> movie, Ryall said it "seems kind of crass," prompting Taylor to joke, "Marvel will be putting one out."
Gene Simmons and his son Nick then arrived, roughly 25 minutes into the panel, with about 50 people at the panel by this point, and a few more joining as it continued. Ryall started a slideshow on the Simmons Comics Group projects, starting with <b>Gene Simmons House of Horrors</b>.
"Gene understands comics, he knows comics" and wasn't doing it just to put his name on a comic.
"We're very serious about this," said Simmons, proceeding to compare comics to Greek myths in a somewhat rambling speech espousing his love for the medium. "We don't consider this throwaway stuff. It's the biggest art form on the face of the planet," citing the box office success of <i>300</i> as a recent example. He further explained that invincible characters aren't appealing to him, and he enjoys ones with flaws.
In discussing anthology title <b>House of Horrors</b>, he pointed out that the first cover is by Todd McFarlane, and sarcastically groused that "in return for that I got to fly to Tucson, Wombatville, somewhere Todd has a store, and do a signing." (the store is actually in Tempe, Arizona, approximately 100 miles north of Tucson).
Simmons' son, Nick, the writer and artist of "<b>Skullduggery</b>, another part of the line, described the concept. "If you verbalize any story like this, it's going to sound bizarre," he said, although he filled in that it's about a race of people "one rung above" humans, and that it's a "horror comedy where they shoot each other in the face more than once per issue."
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Skullduggeryposter.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Skullduggeryposter.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Zippercovercolors.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Zippercovercolors.jpg" border="0" align=></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Dominatrix%20poster3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Dominatrix%20poster3.jpg" border="0" align=></a></center>
Simmons discussed the rest of the titles that make up the line (five comics in total), including <b>Zipper</b> by Tom Waltz and Adriano Lozano, which starts in September. Simmons compared the character to the Silver Surfer in being neither good nor bad. Next up was <b>Dominatrix</b>, written by Sean Taylor, art by TBD (as in "to be decided," not some new artist with an unconventional name) and covers by Alex Garner, starting in August 2007. Simmons said it's about a "clandestine, reluctant super-heroine" and, a bit more on the nose, that "it's very CIA meets T&A."
The last book to be discussed was <b>Indy: Race of the Galaxies</b>, an 8-issue series about racing in space, written by Tom Waltz with art by German Torres (no release month announced). It's tied to Indy Racing League, which Simmons is involved in promoting, and targeted towards 12 to 14 year-old-males.
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/WraparoundCover1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_WraparoundCover1.jpg" border="0"></a></center>
Ryall then spoke about Simmons' "passion for the industry," and being shocked that an iconic rock star had such a precise recall of specific comic storylines and creators.
Gene closed out the panel, boasting that the old '70s <b>Kiss</b> comics "sold a million copies a piece" and that "now if an issue sells 10,000, you're lucky." He said he wants comics to gain mainstream popularity and sees his line as a step towards that goal.
Only a couple of the non-big two publishers held panels at WW:LA, but IDW was one of them. The company, responsible for buzzworthy books like <b>30 Days of Night</b> and a boatload of licensed properties, held their affair Saturday morning, with only about three dozen fans on hand - although perhaps some were holding out for the arrival of Kiss's Gene Simmons, who was scheduled to join the panel a half hour into it to talk about his new joint publishing venture with IDW, "Simmons Comic Group" (or maybe people just partied a little too much Friday night. Or were still parking).
IDW editor-in-chief and publisher Chris Ryall presided over the panel, which consisted of <b>Angel</b> and <b>Star Trek</b> writer Scott Tipton, <b>Spike: Asylum</b> writer Brian Lynch and <i>Super Hero Happy Hour</i> creator Dan Taylor, with Simmons to join later.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/SPIKE1_Messina.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_SPIKE1_Messina.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>First up on the presentation was <b>Spike: Shadow Puppets</b >, described by Lynch as "Kind of a sequel to the 'Smile Time' episode," referring to the fan favorite season 5 <i>Angel</i> episode; he said it's also a sequel to his previously-published <b>Spike: Asylum</b>.
Ryall then told the crowd that Joss Whedon said in the new issues of <i>Buffy/Angel</i> magazine, "I am talking to Brian Lynch, about doing sort of a 'season 6 of <i>Angel</i>.'" Ryall then continued, "After <b>Shadow Puppets</b>, we will be doing some new <b>Angel</b> books, with Brian and Joss, picking up where the show left off. They will be post-show, and definitely canon, and co-written by Joss." Presumably this is the companion to Dark Horse's "Buffy season 8" that fans have been waiting for.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/G1-Galvatron-sketch.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_G1-Galvatron-sketch.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Ryall moved on to <b>Transformers</b> comics, including a <b>Galvatron</b> spotlight comic and prequels to this summer's movie, saying, off-the-cuff, "If you're not looking forward to the movie, hopefully this will build your enthusiasm."
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Scarface_Di001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Scarface_Di001.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>IDW is doing another <b>Scarface</b> mini-series in July, called <b>Scarface: Devil in Disguise</b>," written by: Joshua Jabcuga with art by Alberto Dose. It'll be five issues and, Ryall describes, "A little bit darker, a little more serious in tone."
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/FA17_BillyTucci_MarkSparaci.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_FA17_BillyTucci_MarkSparaci.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Peter David's <b>Fallen Angel</b> was next, and Ryall promised "We've got a few good things coming up in the book," including an arc with art from Kristian Donaldson that "plays off his DC run." Ryall continued, "We've got a crossover with Billy Tucci's <b>Shi</b>," which will be drawn in part by Billy Tucci (with Joe Corroney during the Fallen Angel section).
A couple of <b>Star Trek</b> projects - <b>Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell</b>, written by Scott & David Tipton and illustrated by David Messina (5 issues, starting April 2007) and <b>Star Trek: The Original Series: Year Four</b>, written by David Tischman and illustrated by: Kelsey Shannon, Steve Conley, Leonard O'Grady (6 issues, starting July 2007) - were briefly discussed.
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/STcover3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_STcover3.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/trek-01.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-01.jpg" hspace="3" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-03.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_trek-03.jpg" border="0"></a></center>
As announced earlier today on Newsarama (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=105464), IDW will be releasing <b>The Complete Milt Canniff's Terry and the Pirates</b >, celebrating this year's 100th anniversary of the strip.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/30-day-teaser-16-blood-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_30-day-teaser-16-blood-1.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a>Capitalizing on the <i>30 Days of Night</i>" movie, out in October, there''ll be a new mini-series, written by Steve Niles and Bill Sienkiewicz. It'll introduce a comic original to the movie, and Ryall commented that "just having Bill Sienkiewicz drawing vampires out in the woods is exciting to me."
A Q&A followed before the arrival of Gene Simmons, with Ryall saying there's no plans for a “Star Wars/Transformers" crossover despite the success of those toys and no more "<b>Transformers: Evolution</b> in the near future but possibly in '08." Spike's old vampire girlfriend, Drusilla, won't be <b>Shadow Puppets</b>, but could be in “Angel season 6”, and so far they don't have <b>Tank Girl</b> reprints scheduled because they're not show about the situation with publishing rights.
When asked about comics on the web, Ryall said he believes it's a great tool for promotion but won't ever replace paper comics, saying "it's hard to replace that tactile sensation." As far as an adaptation of the <i>30 Days of Night</i> movie, Ryall said it "seems kind of crass," prompting Taylor to joke, "Marvel will be putting one out."
Gene Simmons and his son Nick then arrived, roughly 25 minutes into the panel, with about 50 people at the panel by this point, and a few more joining as it continued. Ryall started a slideshow on the Simmons Comics Group projects, starting with <b>Gene Simmons House of Horrors</b>.
"Gene understands comics, he knows comics" and wasn't doing it just to put his name on a comic.
"We're very serious about this," said Simmons, proceeding to compare comics to Greek myths in a somewhat rambling speech espousing his love for the medium. "We don't consider this throwaway stuff. It's the biggest art form on the face of the planet," citing the box office success of <i>300</i> as a recent example. He further explained that invincible characters aren't appealing to him, and he enjoys ones with flaws.
In discussing anthology title <b>House of Horrors</b>, he pointed out that the first cover is by Todd McFarlane, and sarcastically groused that "in return for that I got to fly to Tucson, Wombatville, somewhere Todd has a store, and do a signing." (the store is actually in Tempe, Arizona, approximately 100 miles north of Tucson).
Simmons' son, Nick, the writer and artist of "<b>Skullduggery</b>, another part of the line, described the concept. "If you verbalize any story like this, it's going to sound bizarre," he said, although he filled in that it's about a race of people "one rung above" humans, and that it's a "horror comedy where they shoot each other in the face more than once per issue."
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Skullduggeryposter.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Skullduggeryposter.jpg" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Zippercovercolors.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Zippercovercolors.jpg" border="0" align=></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/Dominatrix%20poster3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_Dominatrix%20poster3.jpg" border="0" align=></a></center>
Simmons discussed the rest of the titles that make up the line (five comics in total), including <b>Zipper</b> by Tom Waltz and Adriano Lozano, which starts in September. Simmons compared the character to the Silver Surfer in being neither good nor bad. Next up was <b>Dominatrix</b>, written by Sean Taylor, art by TBD (as in "to be decided," not some new artist with an unconventional name) and covers by Alex Garner, starting in August 2007. Simmons said it's about a "clandestine, reluctant super-heroine" and, a bit more on the nose, that "it's very CIA meets T&A."
The last book to be discussed was <b>Indy: Race of the Galaxies</b>, an 8-issue series about racing in space, written by Tom Waltz with art by German Torres (no release month announced). It's tied to Indy Racing League, which Simmons is involved in promoting, and targeted towards 12 to 14 year-old-males.
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/WraparoundCover1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/IDWnew/WWLA/t_WraparoundCover1.jpg" border="0"></a></center>
Ryall then spoke about Simmons' "passion for the industry," and being shocked that an iconic rock star had such a precise recall of specific comic storylines and creators.
Gene closed out the panel, boasting that the old '70s <b>Kiss</b> comics "sold a million copies a piece" and that "now if an issue sells 10,000, you're lucky." He said he wants comics to gain mainstream popularity and sees his line as a step towards that goal.