AICN COMICS SDCC REPORT: Radical, BOOM!, & Marvel Cup o Joe reports!

Hey folks, Ambush Bug back again from the San Diego Comic Con. Day Two went by in a blur. This morning brought me a slight hangover and blistered feet from walking around the con all day. I started right off the bat with an interview with Radical Comics Publisher Barry Levine. This was a fun interview that will be posted very soon.
After that, I wandered the floor, chatted with fellow @$$Hole superhero who flew in today for the con, and get to the Radical presentation just in time to chat with AICN’s own Harry Knowles who hosted the panel. Believe it or not, this was the first time I met Harry and I can’t say anything but nice things about the guy.

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Much of the panel focused on talking with Radical’s talent; Steve Niles, Rick Remender, Jim Steranko, Nick Sagan, Steve Pugh, Jimmy Palmiotti, M. Zachary Sherman, David Hine, and Nick Simmons. Much of Radical’s amazing artwork was highlighted with a few announcements; Jimmy Palmiotti’s TIME BOMB about a Doomsday bomb that was planted in WWII and goes off in present day. A group of soldiers is sent back into time to stop the making of the bomb. Sounds like really cool military stuff with a hint of sci fi.
Also announced was a title called EARP which reimagines the legendary tales of Wyatt Earp as a story of a near future lawmen in a time when society is nearly about to crash. It’s set in Las Vagas and looks to be serving up a plateful of gritty justice ROAD WARRIOR style.
The panel was jam packed with folks and Harry kept things light with some quick jokes. Honestly, it was one of the more entertaining panels I’d been to and I have to say it was definitely memorable since I sat right next to Tiny Zeus Lister for part of the panel!

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I rushed to catch the last half of BOOM! Studios presentation. I had a chance to chat with both Marketing guy Chip Moser and Publisher Ross Richie, both super great guys who couldn’t be any nicer. Although I missed the first half of the panel, I got to see covers for BOOM!’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? maxiseries, covers for 28 DAYS LATER which follows the character Selina from the film and bridges the gap between the first and second films, and JENNIFER’S BODY, Diablo Cody’s Megan Fox vehicle written by Rick Spears and drawn by the super cool Jim Mahfood. We also got to look at Howard Chaykin’s DIE HARD: YEAR ONE which follows John McClain’s adventures as a cop and is set in the late seventies New York. The art on this one by Jean Paul Leon and covers by Jock look damn nummy. The panel ended with a roundup of BOOM! Kids books and the announcement that both THE MUPPET SHOW and INCREDIBLES will be getting ongoing series after their initial miniseries is over.

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Ran from BOOM!’s panel over to Marvel’s Cup o’ Joe panel where the announcements were few, but fun. DEATHLOK will be getting a new 7 issue mini and Bob Gale was announced as the writer for Marvel.com’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Jeph Loeb announced that soon there will be two Hulk titles; he’s continuing his RED HULK series while INCREDIBLE HULK begins anew with #600 and follows a powerless Bruce Banner training his son Skaar to be the new Hulk. Also announced was that Red She-Hulk will be making her first appearance soon.
The rest of the panel was spent accepting praises from eager fanboys who love everything Marvel and dodging questions asking about failed deadlines and the rising cost of comics. There was definitely an air of pissed-offedness across the crowd about Marvel’s inconsistencies with how they price their books. It was handled with levity with Jeph Loeb giving a dollar to the guy who asked the question, but the excuse that books are now being priced due to creative level of input to the title caused a lot of groans from my section of the floor.

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I wanted to stay and cover more, but I’m getting ready for my own panel tonight. Not to beat a dead horse, but I just wanted to toss out a reminder that I’ll be hosting a Horror Comics/Film panel Friday night, July 24, from 6:30-7:30 in Room 30 AB at the Convention Center.
This will be a rare look into horror comics and film. I’ll be talking horror with Marv Wolfman (creator of BLADE, writer of TOMB OF DRACULA, TEEN TITANS, & VIGILANTE), Kevin Grievoux (co-writer, actor in UNDERWORLD), Tim Seely (creator of HACK/SLASH, soon to be adapted into a film by Rogue pictures), Whitley Strieber (writer/creator of COMMUNION & THE NYE INCIDENTS), Todd Lincoln (director/producer of THE NYE INCIDENTS & writer/director of THE APPARITION for Dark Castle/WarnrBrothers), Jeff Katz (writer of FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH), Steven C. Miller (writer/director of AUTOMATION TRANSFUSION), and Ryan Schifrin (creator of SPOOKS & director of ABOMINABLE). It’s all been coordinated and put together by Peter Katz and hosted by me!
I can’t wait for the event and if you like horror, you shouldn’t miss this panel. But if you do miss it, fret not. The panel will be videoed and posted on AICN in the near future (plus I believe it’ll be Twittered as well). So be sure to check out the panel if you’re at the con! Gotta go. More reports from the con later!