A rock star surprise guest announced a new imprint as DC Entertainment kicked off its stellar lineup of Emerald City Comicon (ECCC) panels with two big announcements and a guy from the audience named Jim (Lee) is chosen to compete in a live art competition!
Co-Publisher Dan DiDio lead the DC Entertainment panel with creators with Emanuela Lupachino, Amy Chu, Marguerite Bennett, Klaus Janson, Chad Hardin, Robert Venditti, and Steve Orlando talking about their current and upcoming Rebirth titles.
Two aspiring artists got the opportunity of a lifetime when DiDio talked about the Talent Development Workshops and were challenged to draw during the panel. A third competitor came out of the crowd…co-publisher Jim Lee.
DiDio then restated the motivations behind Rebirth and focus on core characters, double shipping and lower price and teased the DC Universe: Rebirth by Geoff Johns and an all-star art team having “the most stunning moments in DC Comics history.”
The big news: My Chemical Romance front man Gerard Way joined the panel announcing a new imprint. DC’s Young Animal will be mature audiences books:
Doom Patrol by Way and Nick Derington will pay homage to Grant Morrison’s run and the team’s entire history.
Shade, the Changing Girl by Cecil Castelluci and Marley Zarcone.
Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye by Way and Jon Rivera with art by Michael Avon Oeming. Way will answer why the sci-fi spelunker has his special eye.
Mother Panic by Jody Houser, Tommy Lee Edwards with covers by John Paul Leon will be set in Gotham City with a new character.
DiDio then took readers back to the DC Challenge of the mid-80’s: 12 issues. 12 creative teams. One story.
DiDio announced the Kamandi Challenge will have 12 teams, 12 issues telling one story of Jack Kirby’s Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth with a map drawn by Kirby.
Here are the creative pairings:
Dan Abnett and Dale Eaglesham
Peter J. Tomasi and Neal Adams
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
James Tynion IV and Carlos D’Anda
Bill Willingham and Ivan Reis
Steve Orlando and Phillip Tan
Marguerite Bennett and Dan Jurgens
Keith Giffen and Steve Rude
Tom King and Kevin Eastman
Greg Pak and Joe Prado
Rob Williams and Walter Simonson
Gail Simone and Ryan Sook
Len Wein and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.
The biggest pop culture event in the Pacific Northwest runs through Sunday in Seattle at The Washington State Convention Center. The now four-day event will include a panel each day from the publisher.
By Editor