MattBrady
09-04-2006, 08:58 AM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/titans/tt42.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/titans/tt42_t.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a><i>by Vaneta Rogers</i>
The biggest news at the "DC Big Guns" panel on Sunday at the Toronto Comic Book Expo was Geoff Johns' announcement of his <b>All Star Batgirl</b> comic with artist J.G. Jones, which will begin at the end of next year.
But Johns also announced he would be doing something with Ethan Van Sciver in 2007 that would be a "big Green Lantern-related project that's going to hit around April." Johns joked that he "stole" Van Sciver back for the project, which he said will set up the stories for the next year in the regular <b>Green Lantern</b> series that he writes.
"We've got some more candy for Green Lantern fans," said Van Sciver, who was also on the panel. "We kind of want to do the next level of <b>Rebirth</b>, so that's what we're going to do," Johns said.
Joining Johns and Van Sciver on the panel were Jim Lee and Terry Dodson. The rest of the panel was guided by questions from the audience.
- Dodson said he is committed to the bi-monthly <b>Wonder Woman</b> ongoing series for five issues, "but hopefully longer. It's a matter of deciding if I'm enjoying it enough to stay on, which I am right now. The best part of working on it is working with Allan Heinberg, who's a huge fan of Wonder Woman and a huge fan of comics. It's been a real kick."
- One audience member asked about monthly comics that sometimes don't come out every month. Johns said that while they're committed to something like <b>52</b> coming out on a tight schedule, it's hard to always do that with a monthly book. "Sometimes it just takes longer to do it," Johns said. "It's really hard to get that sometimes. And sometimes the companies don't give you the leeway. Like with <b>Green Lantern: Rebirth</b>, when we launched the monthly, I kept asking if we could launch it in June. But they said, 'No, you have to launch it in May.' So we were always working a month behind... It's not like we don't try. We're all working as hard as we can."
- Asked what they most recently drew or wrote, each panelist answered:
Johns: "I just finished <b>Teen Titans #42</b>. It's like a Blue Devil/Kid Devil issue that nobody's been asking for, but I did it anyway. And so it reveals how Kid Devil got the way he is and why, and it ties into a lot of stuff we're doing in <b>52</b>."
Van Sciver: "<b>Superman/Batman #30</b>, which is my last issue on that title before I hop over to working on the Green Lantern project with Geoff. It's Superman, Kilowog, a lot of new Plastic Man stuff. A brand new redesign of Plastic Man. And a super secret thing with Superman."
Dodson: "The last thing I drew and am still drawing while I'm here is the origin of Hercules in the issue of <b>Wonder Woman</b> I'm doing right now."
Lee: "I finished a page Friday in the hotel, and it's Spartan and Voodoo from WildCATS and they're getting it on. I had to send it to the inker for Saturday, and I was real concerned it would be held at customs," Lee laughed. "There wasn't anything too bad, but the editors said, 'You know, this is an all-ages book.' But I said we'll just blur everything out. So when you see it, it might look digitally stretched or blurry, but the original looks really hot.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Nov06/52_Cv28_previews_t.jpg" border="0" align="left">“I was very lonely that night."
- A member of the audience wanted to know the process that Johns goes through when working with director Richard Donner on the upcoming <b>Action Comics</b> stories the two are writing beginning in October. "We have dinner, we talk, we work out the story beats, we figure out what goes on each page. Then I'll write the scripts, send it to him and get his feedback," Johns said. "And then he says 'good job, kid.'"
- What do they think of exclusives at DC and Marvel? "I think it's good from the standpoint that you can count on someone to be there hopefully for the rest of their run on the book," Lee said. "So if you're trying to make editorial plans and you think the guy could be poached in two or three months, you could lose a lot of sleep over that."
- If you could steal one character from Marvel, who would it be?
Johns: The Hulk. "We don't have a good Hulk in the DCU."
Dodson: "Do you have a good Spider-Man in the DCU? I think we need a good Spider-Man."
Van Sciver: "I'd bring Jean Grey over ‘cause I really like Phoenix."
Lee: "More redheads? I'm down with that."
- Johns described the story for the <b>Justice Society of America</b> comic he's doing with Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham, which will launch in December with a new #1 issue: "Alan and Jay and Ted really want to expand the Justice Society into a real society," he said. "So they're doing a big recruitment drive. They're trying to bring in as many legacy characters as they can. They trace all these bloodlines of old heroes. So while they're trying to bring them in, someone else is trying to eliminate them. That's kind of the first arc."
- Each panelist was asked, "What is your favorite villain and to which villains would you like to add depth?"
Van Sciver: "Sinestro and Sinestro."
Johns: "Yeah, Sinestro and Sinestro."
Dodson: "Green Goblin and Darkseid. I'd love to have Wonder Woman punch out Darkseid. It would be a kick in the pants."
Lee: "Joker, and the Penguin is a character I'd love to give more depth. I just drew him in one panel is all I've ever done, but he would be a character I'd love to draw again."
- Johns mentioned that Van Sciver had sketched a redesign of Sinestro on the paper tablecloth at dinner the night before. "I've got it in my back pocket," he said.
- One fan said he had read in a recent interview that the Guardians in Green Lantern aren't quite as benevolent as they seem, and he wanted to know their intentions. "That's something that Ethan and I are going to develop and explore in the project we're doing," Johns said.
- Are we ever going to see the android Hourman again? "Probably. We don't have plans for him in the Justice Society, but I'll be on that book for awhile, so ..." Johns said.
- Will Manhunter be in <b>JSA</b>? "No plans for her."
- A fan said that by now Batman is so old that he should have a walker, and wondered when the company would let older characters age. "As soon as you want to read Batman with a walker, we'll do it," Johns said.
- Who does each panelist think is the most underrated hero in the DCU?
Johns: "Booster Gold."
Ethan: "Plastic Man."
Dodson: "Wonder Woman."
Lee: "Matter-Eater Lad. The guy can eat anything. What a great power that is. Nobody fully appreciates the ability to eat anything. Think about it."
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/titans/TTCvr39_t.jpg" border="0" align="right">- After the response about Booster Gold being underrated, Johns was asked by a fan, "Would you consider doing an ongoing Booster Gold story?" to which he responded, "Well he's dead, so... oops!"
The fan countered, "So was Hal Jordan." Johns looked at Van Sciver and joked, "Booster Gold: Rebirth!"
- Will Resurrection Man come back somewhere? "That's an ironic question," Lee said. "It's a pretty lame power if you're not coming back." Johns added: "I don't know of anything."
- Van Sciver said he's doing a cover for <b>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</b> comic from Wildstorm. "It should be fun. It's great. It's a guy wearing somebody else's skin," he said.
- Johns was asked, will the Teen Titans roster change? "There will be three new members joining the team in Issue #41. Raven's one of those," Johns said.
Many questions that were directed toward Johns concentrated on <b>52</b>, including:
- Will the Time Masters be in <b>52</b>? "Yes," he said, adding, "You'll see lots of Rip Hunter in <b>52</b>."
- Since there are so many issues of <b>52</b>, do the creators guide the story based on how fans are reacting or what sells well? "No, we really can't. We work so far ahead on <b>52</b>, we're like, 'hopefully they like it,'" he said.
- What is the process of working with three other writers when everyone lives so far away from each other? "We get on the telephone all the time. And we've had a couple week-long summits where we just talk and talk and talk, until we want to kill Steve Wacker," Johns joked.
- One fan pointed out that in <b>52</b>, Alan Scott said when he returned from space that his one eye was not his own, and simultaneously, Adam Strange is missing both eyes. Johns was asked, does Alan Scott have Adam Strange's eye? "Congratulations for asking the weirdest question ever," Johns said to a lot of laughter from the crowd, but then answered simply, "yes."
- Are there more projects after <b>52</b> coming for the creators who are working on the series or for the characters who are spotlighted in it? "Everybody's talking about their next projects after <b>52</b> right now, and some of them involve the characters that are coming out of <b>52</b>. I can't say who because some of them won't be making it out of <b>52</b>, and some of them change. A lot of us have already talked about what characters we'd like to tackle," Johns said.
- Johns said that in <b>52 Week 21</b>, the new Infinity Inc. will fight the new Teen Titans from the missing year, "but they're terrible. It's like Beast Boy and bunch of D-list teenagers that really can't cut it."
- Is Osiris related to Isis? "You'll see in an upcoming <b>52</b> issue," Johns said, but then he pointed out, "in real mythology, he is her brother."
- Each was asked what characters at the big two they were interested in doing:
Lee: The Legion of Superheroes. "Starring Matter-Eater Lad!"
Dodson: "At this point I've drawn the characters that I find most interesting. So for me it depends on who the writer is, what the project is," he said.
Van Sciver: "I want to do Ghost Rider at Marvel. I'd love to do Ghost Rider at Marvel."
Johns: "Can I write it for you?"
Van Sciver: "Sure! ... At DC, I've drawn almost everybody. But I'd like to spend more time with the Flash," he said, then turned to Johns and added, "if you would write it."
Johns: "OK, I'll do it. .. Ghost Rider actually, all kidding aside, and Hulk. I'd like to do those at Marvel. At DC, I like all DC characters. Batman," Johns said, then turned to Van Sciver and asked, "want to do Batman?"
Van Sciver: "Yeah, I'll do Batman too."
- The panelists asked for one last question. A fan said he heard Johns hint online that he wanted to do a Sinestro Corps one-shot, and he wondered if it would happen. Johns laughed and said, "I don't know." Then he looked at Van Sciver, who said, "We like Sinestro a lot."
The biggest news at the "DC Big Guns" panel on Sunday at the Toronto Comic Book Expo was Geoff Johns' announcement of his <b>All Star Batgirl</b> comic with artist J.G. Jones, which will begin at the end of next year.
But Johns also announced he would be doing something with Ethan Van Sciver in 2007 that would be a "big Green Lantern-related project that's going to hit around April." Johns joked that he "stole" Van Sciver back for the project, which he said will set up the stories for the next year in the regular <b>Green Lantern</b> series that he writes.
"We've got some more candy for Green Lantern fans," said Van Sciver, who was also on the panel. "We kind of want to do the next level of <b>Rebirth</b>, so that's what we're going to do," Johns said.
Joining Johns and Van Sciver on the panel were Jim Lee and Terry Dodson. The rest of the panel was guided by questions from the audience.
- Dodson said he is committed to the bi-monthly <b>Wonder Woman</b> ongoing series for five issues, "but hopefully longer. It's a matter of deciding if I'm enjoying it enough to stay on, which I am right now. The best part of working on it is working with Allan Heinberg, who's a huge fan of Wonder Woman and a huge fan of comics. It's been a real kick."
- One audience member asked about monthly comics that sometimes don't come out every month. Johns said that while they're committed to something like <b>52</b> coming out on a tight schedule, it's hard to always do that with a monthly book. "Sometimes it just takes longer to do it," Johns said. "It's really hard to get that sometimes. And sometimes the companies don't give you the leeway. Like with <b>Green Lantern: Rebirth</b>, when we launched the monthly, I kept asking if we could launch it in June. But they said, 'No, you have to launch it in May.' So we were always working a month behind... It's not like we don't try. We're all working as hard as we can."
- Asked what they most recently drew or wrote, each panelist answered:
Johns: "I just finished <b>Teen Titans #42</b>. It's like a Blue Devil/Kid Devil issue that nobody's been asking for, but I did it anyway. And so it reveals how Kid Devil got the way he is and why, and it ties into a lot of stuff we're doing in <b>52</b>."
Van Sciver: "<b>Superman/Batman #30</b>, which is my last issue on that title before I hop over to working on the Green Lantern project with Geoff. It's Superman, Kilowog, a lot of new Plastic Man stuff. A brand new redesign of Plastic Man. And a super secret thing with Superman."
Dodson: "The last thing I drew and am still drawing while I'm here is the origin of Hercules in the issue of <b>Wonder Woman</b> I'm doing right now."
Lee: "I finished a page Friday in the hotel, and it's Spartan and Voodoo from WildCATS and they're getting it on. I had to send it to the inker for Saturday, and I was real concerned it would be held at customs," Lee laughed. "There wasn't anything too bad, but the editors said, 'You know, this is an all-ages book.' But I said we'll just blur everything out. So when you see it, it might look digitally stretched or blurry, but the original looks really hot.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Nov06/52_Cv28_previews_t.jpg" border="0" align="left">“I was very lonely that night."
- A member of the audience wanted to know the process that Johns goes through when working with director Richard Donner on the upcoming <b>Action Comics</b> stories the two are writing beginning in October. "We have dinner, we talk, we work out the story beats, we figure out what goes on each page. Then I'll write the scripts, send it to him and get his feedback," Johns said. "And then he says 'good job, kid.'"
- What do they think of exclusives at DC and Marvel? "I think it's good from the standpoint that you can count on someone to be there hopefully for the rest of their run on the book," Lee said. "So if you're trying to make editorial plans and you think the guy could be poached in two or three months, you could lose a lot of sleep over that."
- If you could steal one character from Marvel, who would it be?
Johns: The Hulk. "We don't have a good Hulk in the DCU."
Dodson: "Do you have a good Spider-Man in the DCU? I think we need a good Spider-Man."
Van Sciver: "I'd bring Jean Grey over ‘cause I really like Phoenix."
Lee: "More redheads? I'm down with that."
- Johns described the story for the <b>Justice Society of America</b> comic he's doing with Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham, which will launch in December with a new #1 issue: "Alan and Jay and Ted really want to expand the Justice Society into a real society," he said. "So they're doing a big recruitment drive. They're trying to bring in as many legacy characters as they can. They trace all these bloodlines of old heroes. So while they're trying to bring them in, someone else is trying to eliminate them. That's kind of the first arc."
- Each panelist was asked, "What is your favorite villain and to which villains would you like to add depth?"
Van Sciver: "Sinestro and Sinestro."
Johns: "Yeah, Sinestro and Sinestro."
Dodson: "Green Goblin and Darkseid. I'd love to have Wonder Woman punch out Darkseid. It would be a kick in the pants."
Lee: "Joker, and the Penguin is a character I'd love to give more depth. I just drew him in one panel is all I've ever done, but he would be a character I'd love to draw again."
- Johns mentioned that Van Sciver had sketched a redesign of Sinestro on the paper tablecloth at dinner the night before. "I've got it in my back pocket," he said.
- One fan said he had read in a recent interview that the Guardians in Green Lantern aren't quite as benevolent as they seem, and he wanted to know their intentions. "That's something that Ethan and I are going to develop and explore in the project we're doing," Johns said.
- Are we ever going to see the android Hourman again? "Probably. We don't have plans for him in the Justice Society, but I'll be on that book for awhile, so ..." Johns said.
- Will Manhunter be in <b>JSA</b>? "No plans for her."
- A fan said that by now Batman is so old that he should have a walker, and wondered when the company would let older characters age. "As soon as you want to read Batman with a walker, we'll do it," Johns said.
- Who does each panelist think is the most underrated hero in the DCU?
Johns: "Booster Gold."
Ethan: "Plastic Man."
Dodson: "Wonder Woman."
Lee: "Matter-Eater Lad. The guy can eat anything. What a great power that is. Nobody fully appreciates the ability to eat anything. Think about it."
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/titans/TTCvr39_t.jpg" border="0" align="right">- After the response about Booster Gold being underrated, Johns was asked by a fan, "Would you consider doing an ongoing Booster Gold story?" to which he responded, "Well he's dead, so... oops!"
The fan countered, "So was Hal Jordan." Johns looked at Van Sciver and joked, "Booster Gold: Rebirth!"
- Will Resurrection Man come back somewhere? "That's an ironic question," Lee said. "It's a pretty lame power if you're not coming back." Johns added: "I don't know of anything."
- Van Sciver said he's doing a cover for <b>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</b> comic from Wildstorm. "It should be fun. It's great. It's a guy wearing somebody else's skin," he said.
- Johns was asked, will the Teen Titans roster change? "There will be three new members joining the team in Issue #41. Raven's one of those," Johns said.
Many questions that were directed toward Johns concentrated on <b>52</b>, including:
- Will the Time Masters be in <b>52</b>? "Yes," he said, adding, "You'll see lots of Rip Hunter in <b>52</b>."
- Since there are so many issues of <b>52</b>, do the creators guide the story based on how fans are reacting or what sells well? "No, we really can't. We work so far ahead on <b>52</b>, we're like, 'hopefully they like it,'" he said.
- What is the process of working with three other writers when everyone lives so far away from each other? "We get on the telephone all the time. And we've had a couple week-long summits where we just talk and talk and talk, until we want to kill Steve Wacker," Johns joked.
- One fan pointed out that in <b>52</b>, Alan Scott said when he returned from space that his one eye was not his own, and simultaneously, Adam Strange is missing both eyes. Johns was asked, does Alan Scott have Adam Strange's eye? "Congratulations for asking the weirdest question ever," Johns said to a lot of laughter from the crowd, but then answered simply, "yes."
- Are there more projects after <b>52</b> coming for the creators who are working on the series or for the characters who are spotlighted in it? "Everybody's talking about their next projects after <b>52</b> right now, and some of them involve the characters that are coming out of <b>52</b>. I can't say who because some of them won't be making it out of <b>52</b>, and some of them change. A lot of us have already talked about what characters we'd like to tackle," Johns said.
- Johns said that in <b>52 Week 21</b>, the new Infinity Inc. will fight the new Teen Titans from the missing year, "but they're terrible. It's like Beast Boy and bunch of D-list teenagers that really can't cut it."
- Is Osiris related to Isis? "You'll see in an upcoming <b>52</b> issue," Johns said, but then he pointed out, "in real mythology, he is her brother."
- Each was asked what characters at the big two they were interested in doing:
Lee: The Legion of Superheroes. "Starring Matter-Eater Lad!"
Dodson: "At this point I've drawn the characters that I find most interesting. So for me it depends on who the writer is, what the project is," he said.
Van Sciver: "I want to do Ghost Rider at Marvel. I'd love to do Ghost Rider at Marvel."
Johns: "Can I write it for you?"
Van Sciver: "Sure! ... At DC, I've drawn almost everybody. But I'd like to spend more time with the Flash," he said, then turned to Johns and added, "if you would write it."
Johns: "OK, I'll do it. .. Ghost Rider actually, all kidding aside, and Hulk. I'd like to do those at Marvel. At DC, I like all DC characters. Batman," Johns said, then turned to Van Sciver and asked, "want to do Batman?"
Van Sciver: "Yeah, I'll do Batman too."
- The panelists asked for one last question. A fan said he heard Johns hint online that he wanted to do a Sinestro Corps one-shot, and he wondered if it would happen. Johns laughed and said, "I don't know." Then he looked at Van Sciver, who said, "We like Sinestro a lot."