Best SDCC DC Announcement

Johns on the Flash... eh. I'm sure it'll be competent, but will it be worth the bother?
Smith on Batman... his run on Green Arrow was quite good, but his Spider-Man/Black Cat series was dreadful and took literally years to finish!
So that leaves Gaiman.

Spider-Man/Black Cat didn't actually finish, did it? IIRC they even put out an uncomplete trade.

Nope, they did eventually push out the last 3 issues straight up, three years after the issue #3 was published - that's why that collected hardcover was released last year, in 2007. Believe me, the whole finale was too ridiculous to ever forget.

I must not have read it then, because I have no recollection of it.
Ongoing Black Cat series, lead writer on Spider-Man and Daredevil/Bullseye: Target to thread.

The actual answer to this is the return of the Milestone characters and their integration into the DCU. Though I haven't actually *read* Static or Blood Syndicate since I collected them in the mid-90s, I have very very fond memories and Static in particular deserves to be a big character for them.

In terms of the actual choices I think the Geoff Johns Flash book will probably be the most entertaining, and the Gaiman one is more interesting for its implications re. the Bat-titles' direction.

I don't think I've ever knowingly read a Kevin Smith comic!

What Tom said (the ILC version of "Nabisco OTM").

The Milestone announcement will hopefully mean that the aforementioned books see the light of day on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf soon. Might've been better to coincide this merger w/ the years Static had his own Cartoon Network show (2002?), but whatever -- synergistic timing's never been a strong suit of the Big Two.

And how did the announcement of JMS bringing in the ARCHIE superdudes via Brave & Bold get glossed over? 10 demerits for Mordy!

As for Kevin Smith -- I think the accepted ILC concensus on his spotty body of funnybook work is that his Green Arrow run (the 1st 15 issues of the last version of his solo book) is the least punchable thing he's done, and that's definitely up for debate.

His Daredevil thing was awful, especially as it was followed by Bendis' classic run. And yeah -- there was other DC news, but this was really just an excuse to squeal about the Gaiman book.

Is it squealworthy? His track record writing superheroes is....?

Sandman?

I'll check out the Gaiman thing, but I'm not going to try and predict the quality, it really could go either way.

(xpost)

Wading hip-deep into multiverse continuity w/ one of the company's bread winners isn't the same thing as working with a D-list cast of characters in your own little corner of the world. Tho Gaiman did OK w/ that Marvel Eternals mini from a few years back. Then again, I'm kinda bullish on Gaiman as a whole (possibly due to my overreactive response to "OMG Sandman" rhetoric).

I think with a nice, brief self-contained story NG should be fine for Batman.

frankly batman is pretty gothy anyway

Seems to me that if you write Sandman, you're allowed to expect excitement on any project you work on subsequently.

I like the middle bit of Sandman, but it didn't have any superheroes in it as I recall!

1602 was good (I am in the ILC minority here possibly) but it was very much "What if Neil Gaiman did superheroes?" hey-nonny-no. Eternals I thought was pretty awful - raised serious suspicions that he doesn't really know how to pace comic action to make it exciting (to me).

Never read his Miracleman and he didn't get a chance to finish it did he?

I'm not saying his Batman will be bad mind you - could go either way.

And I think it's quite funny that his comeback commission for DC is "do something a bit like this Alan Moore thing". Plus ca change?

(I bet they've asked him to do Watchmen 2 at some point)

He finished the first book of three with Miracleman, just barely started the second and then Eclipse went kaboom.

(nb I'm saying the bit of Sandman I liked was the non-superhero bit. The finding-its-feed stuff had the Martian Manhunter in it, and that dragged-out final story has some Infinity Inc. connections I believe. But superheroes weren't why Sandman was good, when it was.)

Finding its feed?

I have spent too long on forums that allow you to edit things, I have become weak and decadent :(

Controversial opinion: Gaiman is better at novels than comics.

I can believe that! I've heard good things in particular about his childrens' books, and I'm keen to read those.

Darwyn Cooke and Donald Westlake on adaptations of the Parker novels. This followed closely by a second Fletcher Hanks collection. Of the above, Gainan on Batman is the only one that isn't twitch-inducing.

The Darwyn thing doesn't excite me that much, although I'm assuming it will obviously be good. But I'd prefer to see him get on with that creator-owned project he's been dropping hints about.

Nice of Matt to notice that this thread is about the best DC San Diego announcement. ;)

People in your supercell who you have no idea who they are, or you have a vague idea and just don't talk to them anymore

WRONG TAB

You meant "people in your superteam".

I bet superheroes never use facebook or myspace - there's probably a whole 'nother social networking site for people with amazing powers.

Darwyn Cooke and Donald Westlake on adaptations of the Parker novels

oh, is this a thing? is it because Criminal is doing well (if it is)?

There's been a pretty good resurgence of crime comix in general, hasn't there? Not just Criminal, but also 100 Bullets and...

uh, it'll come to me.

100 Bullets has been around for 8 years, tho -- the start of that more coincides w/ Bendis & Brubaker & Rucka getting their Big Two shots based on their indie / Vertigo work.

Yeah, that's true. I'm not really sure how far back I count as 'recently' for this crime revival. I probably had stuff like Gotham Central in mind as well.

I'm kind of perversely fascinated by the idea of, say, Kevin Smith on Detective and Gaiman on Batman (Or better yet: cowriting the same book! I haven't read the actual announcement yet to know who's writing what.) and tying the continuity of the two books together really tightly so that the two of them are pretty much working together to craft stories. That could possibly fuel some of the most batshit (pun intended!) comics ever.

From the 'man hisself (via his blog):

So I don’t have to write lots and lots of emails back to all the journalists:

1) Yes, I am writing a two part Batman story.
2) Yes, Andy Kubert will be drawing it.
3) Yes, it will be two oversized issues.
4) No, I don’t plan to say anything else about it until it’s all written and drawn.

Is anyone else at least a little bit excited about David Mack's adaptation of "The Electric Ant"? Kind of wish Paul Pope was doing interiors instead of just the covers, but eh. Interviews with Mack make it sound like he has a solid handle on the story and on PKD.

waitwaitwait let's all back up and talk about this Milestone thing

Gaiman's Batman is only two issues, no matter how much it sucks it isn't going to do any damage. Plus one of his older Batman stories was fantastic!

just barely started the second

No, he got exactly halfway through it (two issues of six came out, the third is drawn, he did a few pages of script on the fourth but knew he was never getting paid so gave up)

Kevin Smith's least punchable comics are Walt Flanagan's Dog drawn by Matt Wagner in his zip-heavy B&W style and Jay & Silent Bob drawn for four glorious issues by The Best Cartoonist In Western Comics Who Doesn't Write His Own Stuff, Duncan Fegredo. I don't think he's done anything non-punchable in any medium since then, though. Liked the first issue of Clerks too, with the Beto cover. Second issue had dude raping a comatose girl with a candy cane and kinda lost me.

Huh. I didn't know that much was done. I was just going by what I got from the stand - two issues in "The Silver Age" seemed like it was just getting going. It sure was an unexpected direction. Too bad I'll probably never see it come to any sort of fruition.

I'd argue that the resurgence of crime comics starts with STRAY BULLETS, but I've been wrong about stuff before. And yes, I'd rather see Darywn's creator-owned work see the light of day (ditto for Grant Morrison), but I don't think that PARKER will disappoint.

Oh, are you kidding, guys? Best announcement? Khoi Pham signs Marvel exclusive! New regular artist on Mighty Avengers! All incoherence and eyeball-gougingly bad art all the time!

Seriously, fuck that guy 'til he learns to draw. Put him on something with Loeb. They deserve each other.

Best DC announcement. Jeez.

Best DC announcement. Jeez.

So it turns out I am illiterate. OH NO

That is to say, um, SDCC DC close together make...brain go...nah, I got nothin'. Illiterate it is!

And yeah, I voted Gaiman. Not too hot on his Big 2 work lately (1602, Eternals) but there's serious potential here- his Riddler story from Secret Origins is still great.

Yeah, I just kind of blatantly ignored the DC part of the thread name.

ON THE DC TIP: I'm probably happier about the Milestone and Archie revamps than anything else. More because they might actually put out collections of the old stuff at some point (Xombi trades, please, DC!).

Oh: and Static Shock! on DVD. Thanks!

one of his older Batman stories was fantastic

that Riddler thing from Secret Origins, right? That was brilliant (the art was fantastic too).

another overlooked announcement: Judd Winnick is leaving Green Arrow after five years of dull.

I am also hot & bothered by the Cooke/Westlake biz.

"Whatever Happened To..." was also a series of backups in DC Comics Presents (the Superman team-up book) that caught up with (mostly) Golden Agers who hadn't been seen in a while and mostly killed 'em off. The Moore thing was probably a bit of a riff on that, but ultimately superceded its own reference point. The implication, though, is a hard reboot for Batman, which could be very special.

Huh. I guess I blatantly avoided the whole "Best DC announcement" part of the thread too.

But I'm not gonna change my answer. Nuh-uh.

that Riddler thing from Secret Origins, right? That was brilliant (the art was fantastic too).

Yes, and yes: Bernie Mireault, Matt Wagner and Joe Matt!

I think there was some Kevin Nowlan in there too.

Huh. Hard reboot? Please don't tell me what Batman R.I.P. is (I still have no idea and probably won't end up reading it until it's in hardcover and at my library... likely mid-2009) but I thought one of the points of Infinite Crisis/OYL was that Batman lightened up? Though I read the first Morrison trade, it looked pretty interesting, whatever he's driving at. So does this mean yet ANOTHER Batman reboot?

Gaiman is writing "Whatever Happened To Batman", which calls back to Moore's "Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow" which was a sweet kiss off to the Silver Age Superman before/simultaneous to the Byrne hard reboot. Probably, Gaiman's Last Days of Chez Wayne will serve a similar purpose. I'm just guessing though.
Although, um, DKR pretty much satisfies that narrative.

Awesome news about second Fletcher Hanks collection!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

(Xombi trades, please, DC!)

Yes, this.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

SHOCK OF SHOCKS, HORROR AND CHAOS IN THE STREETS