On the Road
"WIZARD WORLD PHILLY 2007"
Reviewing Wizard World Philadelphia 2007.
Copyright © 2007, Glenn Walker
Here's the blow-by-blow as it happened. This also appeared in a slightly different form on my and various other blogs through the intrwebs.
Friday - Of Flashes and Earths
I arrived late, for reasons I'd rather not get into, and was at first surprised at how empty it was considering the massive lines waiting to get in three hours after they opened. Same security folks it looks like. I guess the Wizard folks like these blackshirts. Early on I ran into my friend Rob Kelly of the Aquaman Shrine who was hunting down sketches. He was having a ball.
After walking the floor a bit I went to the Counting Down panel. While waiting for it to start I over heard a guy in his twenties talk about how he hated Flash and Justice League because of all the history involved. Man, was I in the wrong room.
The panel consisted of a few rather silent folks like editors Jim Califore, Eddie Bergenza, Mike Carlin and others and was moderated by Director of Sales Bob Wayne. And Countdown pins were offered as a bribe to sit through the whole panel. Talk about desperate, man.
There was a phone call made to Dan DiDio in Charlotte at the Heroes Con. That struck me as interesting. Heroes was more important that WW Philly? Wizard has taken a few steps down since the NY Con, eh? DiDio joked about Flash being cancelled with issue 13 and there being an All-Flash #1 coming shortly thereafter. There was much kidding about this, and it wasn't until I got home and read them intranets that I found this was actually true, with Mark Waid returning as writer for the new series. You know it would be nice if these guys took their jobs seriously.
They discussed a few new things like Countdown to Mystery featuring Doctor Fate by Steve Gerber with Eclipso back-ups, a new Suicide Squad by John Ostrander, and a new Infinity Inc. with Steel and his niece. They also promoted the heck out of Countdown Presents, a six-issue series concentrating on the search for Ray Palmer. In the mini, Donna Troy, Kyle Raynor and Jason Todd explore the multiverse, including the Wildstorm universe, the Crime SyndicateÕs Earth-Three and the vampire world from "Blood Rain."
From there I snuck over to the Bendis panel just in time to hear him explain his theories on the return of thought balloons and to watch Mike Oeming and David Mack arm wrestle. No, I'm not kidding. Bendis really explained his use of thought balloons. And my first impression of Bendis in the flesh? A short Curly Howard, but a lot smarter, and almost as entertaining.
Saturday - James Steranko and Carmine Infantino
Lines around the block, so nice to walk right in avoiding both the crowd and the Stormtroopers, both in costume and out. The Bride and my friend and colleague Ray are with me today.
The costumes are here in force today. Lots of pirates and ninjas and Star Wars characters as opposed to superheroes though. Yesterday we had a Spider-Man and a hot sexy female Boba Fett, and the Suicide Girls of course, but that was about it. Today we have many variations of Spider-Man, of both the black and the red and blue persuasions (mysteriously no red and gold ones). There were quite a number of women with cleavage straight out of the Renaissance Faire (the PhilCon girls spring immediately to, um, mind) and also folks who seem to wear a costume every day of their lives anyway. Let's face it, these cons attract all types.
The last time I was at Wizard World I attended the Steranko panel and it was my favorite part so I thought I'd check out the Jim Steranko and Carmine Infantino panel this time. The status quo was made at the start, that no stories that had been told before would be told today - all new stuff. And while there seemed to be a bit of disdain for the current state and works of the industry, they still talked some great stuff.
They continued a discussion the two men had started last night at dinner - the origin of the new look Batman. The books were losing money and were about to be canceled. Carmine came in, redesigned the costume, the Batmobile, simplified the whole look of the strip and the feel of the stories - that's when Lamont Dozier saw the book on the stands and the rest is history.
From there other incidents were discussed where the two of them crossed paths.
Steranko talked of how he was the inspiration behind Mister Miracle. While visiting Jack Kirby, the King wanted to know why there were so many magician super-heroes - what was the draw? - asking Jim because he was a magician. Although Steranko had no idea he did note that escape artists were more exciting with more sense of suspense, and got Jack a copy of his book about his own escapes. A few months later Mister Miracle appears. When visiting Carmine later, Jim was shown the book and told, "That's you." They also both talked about a project called "Rumbles" inspired by West Side Story. It would have been done by DC but they couldn't meet Steranko's price.
After the "Batman" TV show, Stan Lee tried to hire Infantino away for $3000 more than he was getting at DC. He was all ready to leave when Leibewitz took Infantino to dinner. They talked about everything but comics, and at the end of the meal he said to Carmine, "I always thought you weren't afraid of a challenge, but you disappoint me." Carmine said to him, "I'll be in tomorrow morning."
Steranko at the end of his run at Marvel wanted to do something different and experiment in style. "My Love Story" was a romance comic written by Stan Lee and Steranko illustrated it in an arty ad-style with very simple stark colors. Carmine was so impressed over at DC he bought a dozen copies, brought them into a writers meeting and said, "Top this or you're fired."
Carmine then talked about and confirmed something I've wondered about for many years. The Silver Age Flash is based more on Captain Marvel than the Golden Age Flash. He had tried to peddle a comic strip called Captain Whiz (based on Billy and named after his comic) and the Colors of Evil in the 1950s but no one would buy it. But when Julie Schwartz said they were going to try a new Flash, Carmine took all his designs for Captain Whiz and the Colors of Evil and they became the Barry Allen Flash and the Rogues Gallery. Cool stuff.
Carmine also mentioned 'Marston's book' and at first didn't want to talk about it but then relented. After his death the widow of William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, gave Carmine a book of his notes for the character. Regarding Marston's apparent obsession with bondage, female superiority, fetishes, etc. - it's all true. Everything in Wonder Woman comics meant something twisted. Dr. Fredric Wertham was right when it came to Marston and Wonder Woman, and don't even ask about the little girl with the lollipops.
In the press room, Ray and I got to see Hayden Panettiere of "Heroes" fame. She is so tiny and thin that the picture of her on the cover of the Wizard World guidebook should say "actual size." As a matter of fact when they say on TV, "Save the cheerleader, save the world," there is a very real chance they really mean, "Give this girl a sandwich." Seriously, I'm worried she's not eating enough.
More Saturday - Cup o' Joe
Next up was the Cup o' Joe panel featuring Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. Also in attendance were CB Cebulski, Tom Brevoort, Jim Rosemann and Jim McCann. As with all such panels, it began with a slide show. Images accompanied the announcement of the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man, House of M: Avengers and the next big crossover, "X-Men: Messiah Complex." There was also mention that Peter David would be writing She-Hulk which generated much applause. Other highlights were that Joe Q said Bendis had a man-crush on Luke Cage and Brevoort said the 'lost' Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four would finally be published in November.
The highlight of the panel was spurred by Comic Widows columnist Ray Cornwall when he asked a serious question about Marvel's position on women in comics, with regards to the recent Mary Jane statue and "Heroes for Hentai" debacles. Somehow this prompted Joe Q to do an insulting yet entertaining imitation of Stan Lee saying, "I love hentai! They don't call me 'the Man' for nothing!"
That Ray, buddy o' mine, turned the discussion with that question. The next question came from a delightful woman concerned with the exaggerated anatomy (lips and breasts and hips) of late. Another woman questioned Marvel's intent for making comics for female readers and why they don't have more women on staff. Ray will be remembered, and loved by women comics fans everywhere.
Next I followed Quesada over to the Bendis interview. This was a live version of Brian Michael Bendis' column at wizarduniverse.com, his questions for Joe Q culled reader questions online. The questioning began with talk of Joe's weight loss. Emphatically, he's okay, healthier than he's been in some time.
Regarding change Quesada stated that the incest in the industry is stagnating it. Comics fans who read comics and grow up to make comics make the same comics they read as a kid. He said the industry has to evolve and find a new way of doing things because, "look around, we're going out of business," it's a matter of survival. It made sense at the time he said it, but in hindsight it felt like a slam at comics traditionalists and old schoolers.
When asked about the worst pitch he had ever seen, Quesada related a story of a proposal with many characters, featuring the Silver Surfer versus Jesus Christ and had a last page revelation of the villain - who was Freddie Mercury. Seriously. Hmmm, I don't know, I'd buy that book, how about you?
Joe Q talked about his return to comics after he had discovered girls and baseball. After over a decade he was shown copies of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, giving him something to aspire to. From there he told of his first job at DC doing the Dungeons & Dragons spin-off Spelljammer, and how editor James Owsley (now Christopher Priest) hired him on a million-to-one shot, making him the luckiest s.o.b. in the industry.
When asked if there was anything he wouldn't do, in light of Spider-Man going public and Bucky returning from the dead - Bendis chimed in with "Spider-Man will never kill anyone just to get an erection."
On that note I should get out of here, but after the panel I got a chance to meet Bendis. He knew exactly who I was and offered props for my honesty, and he said he'd thought I was warming up to him lately. Well, that all depends on the issue, doesn't it? All in all, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.
Sunday - Skrulls and the Wolfman
Got a late start today and friend and fellow Comic Widows writer Anthony came along for the ride this time. The main thrust of the trip today was to attend the Avengers panel, so after showing the press room to Ant, trying to do some writing and helping myself to one of their kindly offered Cokes, I was off to Avengers-land.
In attendance: king of the Annihilation pimps Bill Rosemann, the gracious Molly Lazer, Jim McCann, CB Cebulski of Loners (applause) fame and of course, Bendis (who was late).
The panel began with (what else?) a slide show. We got to see House of M: Avengers again. They said that libraries and bookstores had requested more House of M because it were so popular(!). They pushed Avengers/Transformers really hard. It made me wonder if they were worried about this one, or just really proud of it. It's got the pre-Civil War Captain America in it, now there's a selling point.
Then we dived into Skrull territory. With the dead Electra being revealed as a Skrull in the most recent issue of New Avengers, the vibe has been Ð who can we trust? Who is a Skrull and who isn't? Bendis pointed out that this has been going on for almost three years at least, referencing the "shadowy figure on page two of New Avengers #1." Hmmm, I had always thought that was Nick Fury, but maybe it was the Skrull double of Nick Fury?? Nevertheless, Bendis said the Skrull story will come to a head early next year.
Next slide was about appearances of Tigra, Machine Man and Sleepwalker in upcoming issues of Ms. Marvel. The cover shown looked like a 'catfight' between Carol and Tigra. I'm glad my buddy Ray wasn't there today. ;-)
The talk returned to Skrulls. Bendis put forth the idea that this was a great opportunity to get more for your money with your comics. You could re-read all the books from the last few years, play detective and look for clues as to who is and who isn't a Skrull. What is out of character behavior because of a change of attitude, and what is a change because of Skrulliness? The Skrulls have always attacked with rayguns and spaceships, why should they when they are shapechangers and could just infiltrate us? This is especially viable with the state of the world today with terrorism and all that. Who can you trust?
Next up for me was the Marv Wolfman panel, which wasn't really a panel at all, but just himself with a slideshow. He talked his career from fanzines to Warren to Marvel to DC and today. He of course spotlighted Tomb of Dracula, New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths. When the slides were done he went to the room for questions.
Regarding Crisis Marv said he hated continuity. Continuity ties the hands of good writers with the stories of bad writers. Interesting. This was merely the first of many astonishing statements from Mr. Wolfman. He doesn't read any series he's written after he's left that book. He never saw Deathstroke as a villain. He didn't want to kill the Barry Allen Flash, that was forced on him. He thinks we are in the 'real Golden Age' now because we have so many truly talented people in the industry today. What about your generation and before, Marv? Told ya, astonishing.
Wolfman discussed his creation of the current version of Lex Luthor. He grew up in the 1950s where Luthor in his prison grays would escape every other issue, and thought the super-suit was a mistake, as Luthor would never be Superman's equal physically. He surmised Luthor's greatest weapon was his brain, so he should use it to conceive crimes he could never be convicted of. Also, jealousy not vanity would be why Lex hates Superman. Better idea, better motivation. He also praised Michael Rosenbaum for his portrayal of Luthor on "Smallville."
Marv talked of Dick Grayson and how he preferred Robin as the responsible leader of the Teen Titans rather than the jerky pun-spouting brat who was Batman's partner. He said when the Bat-editors wanted Robin back he suggested they create a new one. They loved it, and came up with Jason Todd and Marv made Dick Grayson Nightwing. He didn't care, as long as he got to keep Grayson.
He briefly discussed new projects like a new Superman series, and he just finished the script for the new animated Teen Titans movie. All in all, a pretty enjoyable if surprising panel of one. By that time, Anthony and I were hungry and beat. After a stop at Philly's Hard Rock we were done.
I had a lot of fun and really wore myself out. I was stunned by the amount of folks who knew me, both from Comic Widows and especially Avengers Forever. I have to say that comparatively this was a smaller con than most Wizards I've been to. Perhaps New York and the Heroes Con in Charlotte are taking a bite out of Wizard's reign? Only time will tell.