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5 Badass Announcements from SDCC

NO FLY ZONE: 5 Badass Announcements from SDCC
© Mania

Greetings, Maniacs, and welcome to another week of The No-Fly Zone! This is Mania.com’s alternative comics column, where we tell shared universes to take a hike in favor of great storytelling. San Diego Comic-Con just wrapped, and there was a ton of announcements. The Con has become a pop culture exhibition for everyone from video game developers to movie studios. Oh, and they still have some comics there, we hear. In any case, here are five badass announcements from the comic book world that came out of this year’s event.

5. Vertigo Crime

Vertigo Crime

No, DC’s Vertigo imprint didn’t do anything wrong. But, the first two graphic novels in its Vertigo Crime imprint are finally coming out in late August. Vertigo Executive Editor Karen Berger announced the line at last year’s Comic-Con, with the first two titles being Filthy Rich by 100 Bullets scribe Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos; and Dark Entries by novelist Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera. She also touched on Jason Starr’s The Chill, which tells a noir story with a more supernatural twist. All three will be black and white hardcover graphic novels. Anything Brian Azzarello touches turns to awesome, so we should all be really happy. With 100 Bullets wrapping earlier this year, it’ll be great to see what the king of crime comics has waiting for us.

4. Boom! has Killer Licenses

Boom! Die Hard

Boom! has acquired some pretty amazing licenses, as they touched on at their panel. Some were made public before Con, but regardless—they’re still pretty interesting. First, there’s the stuff for the kids—comics based on Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and Toy Story. Boom! has had a lot of success with its other comics based on Pixar properties, like The Incredibles, so this is a good move. Speaking of which, The Incredibles is going monthly. The publisher also has a deal for a tie-in with the upcoming horror-comedy film, Jennifer’s Body. Though the film might look, at first glance, like another teen slasher romp, Diablo Cody of Juno fame wrote the screenplay. CEO Ross Ritchie didn’t give a lot of details on the tie-in, from what it looks like, but it should be interesting. But most exciting is the new Die Hard and 28 Days Later comics that will be coming out from Boom! Die Hard: Year One will show John McClane’s early days as a New York cop in the 1970s. The 28 Days Later title will follow Selena from the first film, who survived the final infected’s final assault at the end, and ultimately nursed Jim back to health. She was absent in 28 Weeks Later, so the Boom! series will fill the gap. Licensed comics are a great way to get new readers interested in the medium, so this is great news.

3. Dark Horse Finally Goes to the Movies

Dark Horse Movies

Dark Horse has a development deal with Universal Studios, and the publisher revealed a slate of comic-to-film adaptations at this year’s Comic-Con. Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy is probably the most notable, but the slate also includes a couple of long-in-development adaptations from horror-meister Steve Niles, including Criminal Macabre and Freaks of the Heartland. A few years ago, just about everything Niles touched was going to become a movie, and only the (incredibly awesome) 30 Days of Night has since come out. It’s not his fault or anything, but it’s nice to see a couple of more on the way. Dark Horse also announced movies based on Arch Enemies, The Secret, and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. We’ve always maintained that film adaptations are a great way to attract new readers to comics. Umbrella Academy was a surprise hit for Dark Horse, and it has a built in audience, given that Way fronts the band My Chemical Romance. A movie would only garner more readers.

2. Kirkmania!

Robert Kirkman

Comic writer and all around snappy dresser Robert Kirkman came with a bunch of announcements about projects old and new. While touching on upcoming stories from Invincible and The Walking Dead, he also explained that The Astounding Wolf-Man will end with #25. Kirkman said, “I just knew that this story arc couldn’t be topped currently—so it’s fitting that there are four or five issues left—we’ve still got time to perfect our ending.” (Thanks, Newsarama). And, Haunt—Kirkman’s collaboration with Todd McFarlane—is finally coming out. Kirkman and McFarlane fleshed out the idea, with Kirkman doing the scripting. McFarlane will also ink art provided by Ryan Ottley and Greg Capullo. The comic is a sort of supernatural espionage story about two brothers—one dead, and one alive—who reside in one body. The project has its roots at Comic-Con three years ago, when Kirkman asked McFarlane publicly why he didn’t work on comics anymore. After some talk, Kirkman outright asked McFarlane if he would collaborate on a comic with him. Now, finally, in October, Haunt will hit the stands. With that kind of creative talent involved, it should be worth the hype.

1. Marvelman at Marvel

Miracleman

Well, Maniacs, Hell has frozen over. After years of rumors and legal battles, Marvel finally acquired the rights to Mick Anglo’s Marvelman. Without rehashing the entire saga, get this: writing for Warrior in 1982, Alan Moore began a postmodern superhero epic based on an old British character—one meant as a replacement for Captain Marvel in Britain. In 1985, the now-defunct Eclipse Comics collected his work and reprinted it in color and had Moore continue the story for several issues, renaming it Miracleman to avoid a lawsuit from Marvel Comics. Neil Gaiman picked up the title at #17. Eclipse went bankrupt after issue #24 came out. The book and character entered a legal clusterfuck that has taken years to resolve. Todd McFarlane bought the remaining assets of Eclipse. Gaiman still had a claim to ownership based on his work. Mick Anglo is still alive and had a stake. It’s really complicated. A few years ago, rumors surfaced that Marvel was working to acquire the rights to Marvelman. And then, we waited. Only now has it been cleared up, with Joe Quesada announcing to this year’s Comic-Con that Marvel Comics has obtained the character—ultimately from Mick Anglo, from what it appears. Quesada has been reticent about the publisher’s plans for the comic, but the hints he’s dropped thus far suggest reprints and new stories. Whether the character will exist inside the Marvel Universe remains to be seen, but at least Moore and Gaiman’s work on the series can finally see the light of day again. It’s really wonderful stuff, and everyone should read it if Marvel gives us the super-deluxe leather-bound omnibus edition we so desperately need.

That’s all for this week, Maniacs. As always, a lot came out of Comic-Con this year, so keep your ears peeled for more details over the next few weeks!

Kurt Amacker is the writer of The No-Fly Zone, Mania’s weekly alternative comics column. He is also the author of the comic miniseries Dead Souls, published by Seraphemera Books. Dead Souls is available from the Seraphemera Books website, Amazon.com, and at comic shops everywhere. He can be reached at kurt_amacker@seraphemera.org.