Wondercon 2011 Edition: DC Nation

Day one of our very own local, Bay Area based geekfest for all things Poparts is here!! Hello Wondercon = )

After cruising through the floor a bit we headed straight to the DC Nation panel-- headed up by Co-Publisher, Dan DiDio that was hoarse from the geeky-fab trifecta of C2E2, Megacon & Wondercon but his signature hype and energy was definitely in abundance. Along the panel were VP of Sales Bob Wayne, Executive Editor Eddie Berganza and creators- JT Krul, Eric Wallace, Frank Quitely, Francis Manapul and the legendary Len Wein.

DiDio took the audience by our horns stating how a code of silence is in effect for everything post- Flashpoint and jumped right into asking

around the crowd on what everyone is loving about Brightest Day. We went from getting a heat-check on Deadman to Aquaman to the Hawks, Manhunter, Firestorm and all of the other resurrected 12. Responses were overwhelming on the popularity of Aquaman and Deadman, while there wasn't as much buzz and excitement for some of the others.

Speaking of Aquaman it was mentioned that the new Aquaman ongoing would be headed up by Geoff Johns which was well received by most in attendance.

Other DCN topics consisted of War of the Green Lanterns, Flash (a fan thanked Manapul for making a book he could share with his 6 yr old), Wonder Woman- both the book and TV series (yes, with emphasis on the costume) and JLI-- that seemed to create a major buzz on the love of Booster Gold amongst fans. From there, DiDio asked peeps to stand-up to gauge how long we have been reading comics for-- and then this transitioned into the announcement on DC Retroactive. Which will celebrate the 70's, 80's, 90's with 3 one-shots by the creators that made their mark in each era with DC's icons.

Superman one-shots will be written by Martin Pasko (‘70s), Marv Wolfman (‘80s), and Louise Simonson (‘90s) / Wonder Woman will be by Dennis O’Neil (‘70s), Roy Thomas (‘80s), and William Messner-Loebs (‘90s) / The Flash will be written by Cary Bates (‘70s), William Messner-Loebs (‘80s) and Brian Augustyn (‘90s) / Justice League of America will be written by Cary Bates (‘70s), Gerry Conway (‘80s), and Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (‘90s) / Green Lantern will be Dennis O’Neil (‘70s), Len Wein (‘80s), and Ron Marz (‘90s). Batman scribes will be Len Wein (‘70s), Mike W. Barr (‘80s), and Alan Grant (‘90s).

Each of the Summer specials will have 26 pages of all-new story, including 20 pages of classic reprinted stories and exceeding the $2.99 line at $4.99.

More questions and audience comments revolved around Multiversity, if the Anti-Monitor is just going to go away (I think he rocks BTW), whether the Titans will return back to a more heroic feel (please don't let it Eric Wallace!!) and DiDio spoke on why the DC trinity will always revolve around Batman, Wonder-Woman and Superman. Real interesting stuff like how they are DC and it is there obligation to do those characters justice. Wayne eventually brought up what about DC Nation on the Cartoon Network??!! And DiDio clarified it will be animation based on lesser exposed characters (ala the second features in the DVDs) paired with behind the scenes in everything DCE. Sweet!! Finally, someone yelled what about Nightwing!!??? Which may or may not have been staged (funny being that it was DiDio that was going to kill him off a few years back but didn't cause of Grayson's popularity amongst fans)-- and he exposed a Nightwing shirt on under his button-down that incited cheers, claps and the like. You like?!

Now how about some cosplay?!!