Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment Panel Wrap-up
Robert Kirkman sat down to talk about his new Skybound Lable and what we can expect to see in the upcoming months.
Firstly he talked about Witchdoctor passing it over to writer Brandon Seifert. Stating that the first issue sold out (at a distributor level at least anyway) and that the second issue “is this fairy changeling kind of story”. Also announced was a one-shot issue out early next year that branches series one and two.
Kirkman then took back the mic as he announced Thief of Thieves. He explained his goal for the series was to write the series more like the writers of a TV as he’s been doing on The Walking Dead, “It’s going to be me plotting the series with a bunch of different writers”. Co-writer Nick Spencer explained that the book was about a thief named Conrad Paulson, a man whos job has “become his addiction.” After a failed attempt to quit he deciedes to only steal from other thieves. “It was a real honor to get asked by Robert to do this story…there’s so much to explore in this character and his life. If you’re interested in a noir book that’s a little bit of a caper, check this out.” said Spencer. Thief of Theives launch in February 2012 with art from the just announced Martin borough.
Kirkman and Liefeld talked about “The Infinite”. A Deluxe Edition on sale at the show before it hits comic shops on August 3.
Next up we get some news on the future of Invincible. A new cover was shown focusing on the mystery hero wearing Invincible’s costume. “There’s going to be a lot of things coming up in recent issues following up on ‘The Viltrumite War’…and we’ve got Cory Walker coming back to do issues #85 and 86 of the series” reported Kirkman. He then explained how the war pushed back the schedule of the series as he gave Ryan Ottley more time to work on the issues. “This is a monumental part of the series that we’re going to be looking back at 10 years from now, and I don’t want to cut corners.”
A series of graphic novels called Album will soon be launched starting with Album One which contains a story called The Passenger. Coming from both Kirkman and Charlie Adlard The graphic novels will run around 56 pages and come out in the oversized album format. Describing “The Passenger” the writer said “It’s basically about a future where sadly, we’re still very much dependent on fossile fuels.” A company that mines crude oil in space sends men on year-long trips out into space to harvest fuel, but in the series one ship is beset both by space pirates and a killer robot whose trapped on the vessel with the crew.
IDW Publishing Presents: The Greatest Panel of All Time
IDW announced the launch of the ongoing 30 Days of Night series with creator Steve Niles and artist Sam Keith. “The series starts 10 years later. We’re starting over from scratch and seeing what these vampires are up to. I’m picking up on things that started in the original series and developing them for new stories.”
Chris Ryall spoke on John Byrnes new series Cold War. “John loves Ian Fleming novels and has always wanted to do an espionage novel. It’s a lot darker than some of the stuff you’ve seen from John. It’s a dark and gritty.”
Tom Waltz talks on The Courier, saying it’s “James Bond meets Austin Powers meets Lord of the Rings. Everything that’s cool from the ’80′s is mixed into this one.”
Eric Powell began talking about his new Godzilla project. Calling it “Mad Max with monsters in it.” Ryall then showed slides of upcoming Godzilla titles and announced stand alone titles for other monsters in the Godzilla universe.
Tom Waltz then spoke on the origin of the deal between IDW and Capcom. “We got to sit down with the game developers and we’ve put together story that is a perfect fit for the property that fills in gaps between the games.” Dead Rising is out from IDW later this year, check here for more on that.
Star Trek and the Legion of Superheroes was then revealed, written by Chris Roberson with covers by Phil Jimenez there is more on that here.
Another new project from Steve Niles Frankenstien Alive, Alive!. A thirteen issue series with artist Bernie Wrightson.
Danger Girl, GI Joe, Transformers and TMNT are all in for Infes2ation in January until the summer of 2012.
Chris Ryall announced IDW releasing Popeye comics as well as new Kiss comics. Not only that but they will be re-launching The Crow as well.
Tom Waltz introduced his new project Codeword: Geronimo. Involving tales about the U.S. military and featuring actual events leading to the Seal Team Six take-down of Osama Bin Laden.
Aspen Comics
Aspen Comics have hit us with a fair amount of announcements so far this year.
Shrugged: Volume Two, a continuation of the Michael Turner created 2004 series has been unveiled. Co-creator Frank Mastromauro resumes the story of Theo and an angel and a Devil who advise him. “We’re trying to focus on the relationship between Theo, Ange and Dev. Theo is going to be in his senior year of high school. He’s not going to be the main cool kid on the block, but he’s been through so much that now he has more of a confidence to him,” says Mastromauro.
Also announced was Fathom: Kiani Volume 2 which follows the events of Fathom: Volume Three. Written by Vince Hernandez this volume solves the mystery of what happened to Kiani after not knowing whether or not she died at the hands of Aspen Matthews.
Hulk writer Greg Pak and artist Tony Parker are getting together for Dead Man’s Run. In a future where Hell exists as an underground prison for the reanimated dead, a young man enlists a team of the damned to escape and save his innocent sister’s soul, reads the tag line. Sounds pretty good to me
And finally Aspen finished up by announcing a new series that has been designed by Aspen founder Michael Turner himself. Named Homecoming it is the last thing designed by Turner before he passed three years ago. Being completed by Executive Assistant Iris creators David Wohl and Brad Foxhoven and Fathom writer Scott Lobdell it promises to bring you a high school experience unlike anything you’ve seen before!
Image Comics Show
David Baxter speaks on his new book Marksmen It features post-apocalyptic Navy SEALS. He described the book as a “What If” featuring San Diego as a backdrop. “It’s a lot like Logan’s Run.” It will sell with a cover price of only $1.
Scott Snyder’s new psychological horror story Severed was featured at the panel. “I’m writing it with my best friend and it really came out of an interest in American history around World War I where things were kind of expanding very rapidly. You could become whoever you wanted in this newfound sense of mobility. It’s about the optimism and terror of that concept.” says Snyder
Ben McCool talked on his new Twilight Zone inspired title Memoir about a small town in America waking up without their memories. The trade paperback would be out by the end of the year and will be in colour not black and white like the monthlies.
It has been reveiled that Dave Gibbons will be the surprise artist on Pigs #5. “I found out Dave Gibbons follows me on Twitter and I asked if he’d do a cover and he said ‘yes’ so the DAVE GIBBONS is doing the cover to PIGS #5. We want this to be the most controversial book in the world and I think we’re at the right publisher for that.” said Nate Cosby
Top Cow: We Create…Excitement
A load of news on Pilot Season 2011.
Joshua Hale Fialkov pitches The Test while Jeremy Haun describes his new series The Beauty as being about an STD that makes you gorgeous. “It gets really, really messed up,” says Haun. Matt Hawkins continues by Comparing it to blade runner and saying “It’s a sci-fi procedural. Would you give up a significant portion of your life to make yourself more attractive?” Hawkins then talks of Flesh Digger saying “It’s a cool horror book, you’ll dig it”. Morgan Davis Foehl and Dennis Calero team together for Pilot Season: City of Refuge about a San Francisco where the capacity of violence is removed from its citizen. Pilot Season: Theory of Everything a series touching on science, wormholes, ways of time travel, and alternate dimensions. Lance Briggs (who’s some sort of sports guy) reveils that he is doing a comic with Phil Hester.All we know is that it’s about someone becoming “Heaven’s greatest soldier.”
Artifacts is becoming an ongoing series. Hawkins calls it “their Justice League, their Avengers.”
