Peter Parker meets Miles Morales June 13th in Spider-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli! Marvel.com revealed this issue 4 variant by Mike Deodato.
You know a new character is making an impact when you see a fan dressed up like him/her at a con! Take a look at this Miles Morales Spider-Man I met at Fan Expo Vancouver! By Editor
The Easter Bunny shared the spotlight with some of Marvel’s most famous heroes at the 134th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Marvel.com revealed this photo of Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man at The White House for the April 9th event.
Can you imagine the kids seeing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?
By Editor
3 artists. 1 hour. A room packed with fans – 3 lucky ones would leave with a sketch. We all left with great stories in a unique non-panel panel experience. This was one of my favorite part of Fan Expo Vancouver this past weekend.
Mike Choi, Stephen Sadowski and Georges Jeanty were pitted in this friendly competition. While they created art, fans asked questions, laughed at the name-dropping (I’m talking to you Mr. “Joss Whedon called me up “Jeanty) and the wisecracks (Mr. “Well Nathan Fillion called me” Mike Choi with the quick wit comebacks.)
When asked about their favorite heroes: Stephen Sadowski revealed Nightwing. Sadowski is usually sporting a Nighwing logo t-shirt at most cons and he was showing his Nightwing pride here. He reflected that seeing Burt Ward at Fan Expo reminded him of why he loved Robin. Dick Grayson didn’t have powers. He just wanted to be a hero. He said his favorite work was on JSA with Geoff Johns.
Georges Jeanty named the Thing as his favorite hero and references the classic Marvel Two-in-One series in which Ben Grimm was paired up with a different hero each issue.- Jeanty also named Tigra and couldn’t believe he saw a fangirl dressed as the Avenger at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. I remember seeing her too – great body paint work!
What were the weirdest fan requests? Sadowski said there’s a guy who goes around collecting sketches of superheroes eating pie. After many close encounters, Sadowski said he finally gave in and did the hero/pie sketch. I asked from the audience “who was the hero eating the pie?”
“Wildcat,” he responded. I can see that, he’s a boxer, needs the carbs.
Jeanty revealed his biggest fan request was a commission of Buffy kissing Willow. He produced a rated G version of the Slayer kissing the witch on the cheek – much to the disappointment of the guy who expecting a racier kiss.
The results – Choi produced a beautiful Emma Frost sketch. The White Queen in the audience didn’t win.
Jeanty revealed an adorable but empowering Buffy, the Vampire Slayer sporting a Supergirl uniform.
Stephen Sadowski showed that Aquaman is awesome – and a fangirl dressed as Mystique walked away with! By Editor
Tony Daniel made a rare appearance at Fan Expo Vancouver, the city’s first major comicon. The creative force of DC The New 52 Detective Comics shared his take on Batman’s foes and the new villains he’s bringing to plague Gotham City.
“Batman has the greatest rogue’s gallery of all the comic book characters in the world probably so it’s easy to use those characters and find something fun and creative that you’ll enjoy as a writer and the fans will enjoy because they love seeing these villains.
What I try to do in Detective is bring in a little bit of the new as well as a little bit of the old. I created a character named the Dollmaker who I think fits in rather well with the other characters, the other villains taking up residence in Gotham City.”
Daniel launched his Detective Comics run with a violent showdown and shocking cliffhanger for Batman’s archrival and his favorite villain.
“My favorite villain…well my favorite villain is the Joker but I’ve only used him sparingly. I worked with the Joker in Grant Morrison’s RIP. That was a lot of fun. (Say Thank you to my gushing!) That was…you know…I can’t believe I was part of that it was just a great experience. I’m lucky to have done the work with Grant on that. And then of course Detective Comics #1 I show a nice fight, battle that goes on between Batman and the Joker and we leave it off with his face hanging on the wallI would love to get back to him. I can’t say when but I’m sure it will be soon because we can’t leave him hanging there so to speak.”
Detective Comics #8 was the start of a backup story starring Two-Face. Daniel says you may experience conflicting feelings for Harvey Dent with this tale.
“He’s pretty much the protagonist of the story so you gonna end up rooting for him. He’s kind of the good guy in the story but he’s still a bad guy so it’s the perfect noir style story which I absolutely love that. Those old school detective stories. The Jim Thompson stories. He’s a great noir book writer – one of the groundbreaking writers from the 50’s and 60’s. I love that pulp fiction type atmosphere and I’m going to bring that to my Two-Face backup story so I’m having a lot of fun with that.”
Daniel praised artist Szymon Kudransky as the perfect fit for back up story.
September will mark the one year anniversary of DC Comics The New 52 with big plans for Detective Comics. Daniel says he will change-up the villains.
“One of the characters we’ve seen before in the Penguin arc at the Iceberg Casino. He’s the guy that shows up and gives Batman some trouble and we deal with a lot of radiation and villains that are experimental. We have one guy who is a new 52 version of Professor Radium so we haven’t seen that guy in a long time and I kind of breathed new life into that character but he’s new…he’s a 52 version so he’s not the same Professor Radium so hopefully people will like that. It’s a story I’m writing and Ed Benes is doing the art work.”
Daniel expressed his ambition to create a story with Clayface and a bigger arc with the Scarecrow. Detective Comics #1 ended with a shocking fate for the Joker and Daniel hopes to dive back into the fate of Batman’s archenemy.
In the Fan Expo Sketch Duel against Whilce Portacio and Yanick Paquette, Daniel revealed his early comic book dreams were inspired by KISS and how the love of the rock band led to this first commissioned work. I asked if he shared my love for the movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
“I did and when I was a kid man I loved that show. I like 7-year-old – it was a long time ago. As a kid those guys are like superheroes. They’re more than like rock stars. Every kid in my class loved KISS just because they look crazy and had the makeup on – dragons and space guys and what not. What I remember it was so weird. But back then you didn’t have video recorders, Tivo – you watch it once and when it’s over you’re like, man what did I just see. Today you can rewind and watch it again. It was such a weird – you know maybe that screwed me up or something it was very…I just remember it being very bizarre. I’m sure if I watched it now I might feel disappointed in it (laughs) but it was super cool back then as a child.
(I interject asking about how KISS art was his first paying work so to speak)
Yeah it was my first commission. I drew a giant poster size picture of all of four characters. One kid was gonna buy it from me for like two dollars and another kid was gonna give me a big giant stack of basically the entire collection of KISS trading cards and I went with the trading cards and ended up getting into a brawl afterwords with the guy that lost. So yeah, you know blood, sweat and tears from age 7 on with the art.”
Detective Comics #9 arrives May 2nd featuring Mr. Toxic and the Two-Face backup story.
By Editor
My only regret – not bringing more books to be signed – including Gambit and the X-ternals – anybody remember that one?
Thanks again for all the amazing fans who showed off their geek love at Fan Expo Vancouver!
An amazing first day at Vancouver’s first major comicon! The Canadian city is in the heart of majestic mountains. Fan Expo Vancover is at the convention centre on the waterfront. It looks like Asgard on Earth – a perfect setting for Thor!
Adam West & Burt Ward (TV’s Batman & Robin) are big attractions along with their famous Batmobile. Many costumed fans – including a few Batmen – waited for the photo op with the famous ride!
I had the opportunity to interview the legendary Len Wein and Whilce Portacio, stay tuned for more. One of my favorite non-panel panels was the sketch duels – 3 artists, 1 hour, great conversation between creators and fans. Round 1 was Mike Choi, Georges Jeanty and Stephen Sadowski. Mystique won Sadowski’s Aquaman sketch! Tony Daniel, Whilce Portacio and Yanick Paquette were round 2 – the fans challenge – draw Harley Quinn with the character of your choice! Tomorrow is Esad Ribic vs. Tim Bradstreet.
Fan Expo Vancouver brought stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and one of my favorites Kristin Bauer of True Blood!
I’m working on more posts including some cool fan costumes! Stay tuned.
$500+ million global and growing! The Hunger Games will go back on more than 100 IMAX screens from April 27th to May 3rd according to Deadline. Lionsgate chose Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine, Like Water for Elephants) to direct the sequel Catching Fire.
What do you think of the choice? Given the spectacular visuals of I Am Legend I’m exited to see how Lawrence will stage the Panem uprising. I really hope Gale is developed more. I don’t want to be too specific and spoil but there’s a favorite scene from Catching Fire that’s the really heartbreaking with Cinna that I hope gets the proper direction it deserves.
A Geek Gives Thanks: I want to take a moment again to thank all the thousands of fans who watched my interviews with Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth when The Hunger Games Tour came to Seattle. I appreciate all the support, comments and I wish I had more of Josh sound bites for you! By Editor
X-Man Logan’s next 80 million dollar movie adventure in Japan will shoot in star Hugh Jackman’s native country. Fox’s The Wolverine will start shooting in August in Sydney said the New South Wales Deputy Premier according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I couldn’t be more excited to return to Australia to film the next chapter in the Wolverine saga, thanks to the significant support from the federal and NSW governments,” Jackman said. “It will be great to work with the highly talented crew and to provide employment opportunities to so many people across all levels of the industry. Not to mention, [wife] Deb and I will get to spend some time with the family back in Australia.”
The film has been said to be based on the first Wolverine limited series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. Logan is currently wrapping up an adventure in Japan in his solo comic book series by Jason Aaron.
James Mangold is directing. Let the casting speculation begin for the Silver Samurai, Lady Mariko, Yukio and maybe the Viper!
By Editor