Boy was I dreading this one. Not the trip to San Diego, although this summer has been quite strange for the usually roasting Southern California coastal city, but the convention itself.
Heard way too many horror stories from various podcasters, bloggers and forum posts about how chaotic the scene was, the bad smells, crowds, and just about how this was the Super Bowl of geekdom. And while never having been in a Super Bowl site city at the same time as the Super Bowl, I do have a sense of how chaotic that scene can be.
But, the city and the convention did surprise me in terms of its organization, as I will point out in this long overdue blog post.
Wednesday
I actually got in on Tuesday night with my father; we were staying at his brother’s house in La Jolla, a suburb about a half hour up the coast from San Diego. My cousin would be joining us as well, though he wasn’t coming in until Wednesday night. This was also the night of the 2010 Bat-Meet at Dick’s Last Resort in the Gas Lamp district, a few blocks down from the Convention Center. So after the Bat-Meet I had to go meet my cousin at a bar uptown at a meet up HE was having for a wedding that he was in town for. I joked with Dustin and Apple at the Bat-Meet that I guess I’m so popular that I had two parties to be at in the same night.
I did get to spend the day in La Jolla, and later in San Diego, which was enjoyable. I could have done without the cloud cover, but what can you do. It was very misty each morning in that area, so misty I kept sending Josh (huge Beatle fan, operates Bertone Beatle Bonanza site and podcast) texts referring to a Paul McCartney & Wings song (“Mull Of Kintyre”) that celebrated a beautiful scenic piece of land in Scotland that McCartney owned at the time. The joke being that somehow San Diego, also known for scenic cliffs and landscapes, had traded weather patterns with Western Europe! This wasn’t the only Beatle related thing I did all day interestingly enough. Actually not the only thing I did via a character limited social messaging device now that I think about it; when I got down to the town of San Diego proper just to see what the crowd was at the Convention Center for Preview Night, and to get a copy of the schedule of events, I saw that Dustin had tweeted about being online waiting for the Center to open. I replied with the first lines to the Wings song “Venus & Mars” which goes “Sitting in the stands of the sports arena/Waiting for the show to begin…” I’d imagine that anticipation sense was going through everyone’s mind in that crowd.
The other Beatle thing that I did was when I grabbed dinner in a bar near where the Bat-Meet was. Nothing against Dick’s Last Restort’s menu, but I figured it would be busy as hell and since the Meet was happening around 9pm, I kind of just wanted a causal sit-down meal. So I did, unknowingly right next to a music act that was about to perform! I engaged them a little before they went on and the lead guy asked if I had any requests. I replied “Johnny Cash” and they did some Cash tunes before asking me if I had any other. For no other reason other than he had been on my mind earlier in the day, and I figure his material can be a letdown, musically, after Cash’s style, so I said “Paul McCartney.” And they actually pulled off a couple of tunes rather well.
I spent about an hour before the Bat-Meet checking out the bar at Dick’s. It seems like a Hooter’s-esque place in terms of décor and the like, and they were quite busy that Wednesday night. I’d guess the crowd was mostly from the con. Meeting both Dustin and Apple at the meet-up was a good highlight. The Dynamic Duo of this site are very good guys, and I’m sorry that my stay at the meet wasn’t longer, though from Dustin’s comments in the podcast, I’m not sure if I missed anything worthwhile.
Thursday
Thursday morning my cousin and I head down to San Diego from La Jolla, and start the long day’s journey into night by getting into the first line to go to another line to be on another line. The line went surprisingly smooth for 8am on the first official and full day of the convention. Well, surprising considering what I’ve heard, (and what I experienced this past October during Wizard’s Big Apple Con where I had to get back on the incoming for first time that day line to get back into a convention I already had a credential for). Since we picked up the badges in the area where the autographs were, I noticed there was a “Mattel” line and so I went on it, hoping to get exclusive toys for my nephews. Unfortunately the line was disbursed with a simple “we aren’t giving out the toys up here” and I heard something about the toys being available only to people at their booth downstairs in the Convention Hall the night before. After hearing this I decided it wasn’t worth going on a wild goose chase all weekend long for, and resigned to picking up the toys on eBay once I returned to the Home Office.
Interestingly enough, the Mattel booth was my next destination to take photos of merchandise there for the website. Camera in hand I proceeded to take photos of any new Batman related piece of merchandise on display from Mattel, and DC Direct. I even stopped by Graffiti Designs to take shots of cool Batman related shirts on display, as well as a Mezco and a novelty company’s booth. Plenty of Batman related merchandise, and I didn’t go strolling through the vendors over at the “flea market” end of the Hall.
By the time I had snapped my last photo, it was time to cover the first panel I was instructed to cover for the site. The Widening Gyre, which was scheduled only to feature artist Walt Flanagan, tracer (joke from Chasing Amy…or I think a colorist would be considered a tracer, right?)…err, colorist Art Thibert and Batman group editor Michael Marts. My cousin, who once interned for a few years in Kevin Smith’s production company when it was still based in New Jersey, was thinking of going, but instead opted for another panel instead spotlighting some television programs.
Well, it turns out the writer of the series, Kevin Smith, did show up unexpectedly, and armed with copies of the final issue (that was due out the following Wednesday) in order for the Q&A to be about the series as a whole and prep for discussions of the next volume of the story due out in January 2011.
The panel went well. Smith must have had Batman 1989 or something on his brain as he referred to Silver St. Cloud as Vicki Vale a number of times. Not sure why it took Josh’s question to get anyone, especially Marts, to call him on his mistake. Also, as I stated, Smith handed out copies of the title for people to read quickly before the panel started, the guy sitting next to me asked a question that was completely contradicted by the reveal at the end of the book. A fact Smith responded to him with and it seemed the guy did not have a copy, so I shoved the copy I had into the guy’s hand so he could see why his question was off the mark.
There were some good questions asked, mostly concerning influences and how the next part of the story will go, Smith promised that there would be more action oriented story telling in the second volume and that Bruce would be “more Bat than Man.” Also I inquired about a possible dream meet-up between Batman and the dope smoking comic book character alter-ego of Silent Bob from the movie Chasing Amy, Bluntman. I think the general consensus was that it would be something to be done in the Vertigo imprint.
Now, my cousin was wearing a shirt that featured a line from Clerks, “I’m not even supposed to BE HERE today!” which is the sad sack mantra of Dante Hicks in the film. When I heard after the panel that Smith would be signing down at the DC booth, I headed down there with the intention of getting him to sign the book for my cousin (not a collector…or even a reader, but since I had nothing else on hand) and since he almost went to the panel and since Smith was there unannounced, I thought it would be fun if Smith personalized the autograph with that iconic phrase. He did oblige and was nice about it, even remembered my cousin when I brought him up. Then interestingly enough, my cousin made his way down to where DC booth was. I showed him the comic book, and he went to try and carry a conversation with Kevin as he was signing. It took a while, but it actually happened, which I guess was nice. I then proceed to fail miserably at telling Walt Flanagan, who was signing next to Kevin, a joke at Art Thibert’s, who was next to Flanagan, expense. It wasn’t all that funny and it was a reference to the “tracer” scene from Chasing Amy, so maybe its for the best that the attempt failed. I also kind of felt bad for Thibert as just about everyone on the line was there for Kevin Smith, and a good percentage of them knew who Walt Flanagan is from various different things (he also is the manager of the comic shop Smith owns in Red Bank, New Jersey and is the co-star of a podcast called Tell ‘em Steve-Dave) but I’d say it was a safe bet that no one knew who Thibert is, other than he colored Flanagan’s drawings in the issues. But, such is life I guess.
After my cousin finished the conversation, he headed to other panels while I walked around some more. Afterward I was kind of kicking myself for not getting one of the two to record a promo for the podcast, there is more to that tale on Saturday though.
The rest of Thursday was pretty basic, soaking everything in and enjoying the atmosphere. I did stop by the podcasting panel, and tried to get TheBatmanUniverse.net a few shout outs, I’m not sure that it helped matters though.
Leaving the convention center was interesting. On the way out with several hundred people, the sea of humanity was stopped as this long freight train slowly made its way across the tracks parallel to the center. It was quite amusing, and annoying.
Friday
To set this up, a month or so before the convention, I broached the subject with the head of the research department of a research firm that I work for about the convention being something worth mining raw data on consumer product trends; what people are buying, what people are looking at, what will be hot in the coming months or so. He thought it could be worth something and gave me the green light Friday morning to get tidbits from people involved and at the least get contact info for future products. So now I could consider the convention a “business trip” on two different fronts!
So not only was I covering the Mattel-DC panel Friday morning, but I’d be combing the floor looking for stuff that could be used by the firm on consumer product trends. This turned out to be a double edged sword actually, approaching various people I became aware that it would be hard to even get “sound bites” from them about shop talk while working an immensely crowded convention hall. It is easier to do “hey record this few second clip for my podcast” than “hey can we chat for a few moments about what’s going on here” in a way that goes beyond general small talk conversation. Yet on the other side I’ve only gotten a couple of hits from the multiple emails I sent out from the business cards I obtained. So next time I’d have to try a different approach to this.
Back to Batman, the next Bat-related thing was I decided to take in the State Of The Bat-Books panel (actually Return of Bruce Wayne was the official title) where I met up with Apple again as well as Josh. This was an entertaining panel as pretty much all of the major players in the Bat-Office right now were there, and pretty informative about where the titles and characters are headed in the coming months. No doubt the next Comic Cast will be filled with tidbits from this panel. I did get off a question about the two out of continuity satellite books, Batman Confidential and Superman/Batman, but other than the continued usage of mystical monsters in Confidential, Mike Marts had nothing really to say other than “yeah we have some good storylines for those books going.” Kind of disappointing to hear when you are reviewing one of those two books.
Saturday
This would be the last day of the convention that I would attend, as I had plans with my cousin to head up to Los Angeles for some Hollywood sight-seeing and a Dodger baseball game, so I had to pack in just about everything I didn’t get to on Thursday and Friday. Which pretty much was scope the vendor side of the convention hall? I wasn’t shopping really; it was just that I hadn’t been there all weekend and its pretty amazing that you literally could spend an entire day, or at least most of it in only one part of the convention if you wanted to, and get a lot out of just that one section.
I mean, there were people that all they were doing was hanging out on line in the theater line for various movie panels and previews that were being shown, I’m sure there were people just there for artist alley, the autographs room, and the exhibition portion of the hall. The set up of the convention center itself was just so massive that you could literally not even realize that stuff was happening on the other side of the center. I will say though that this would cause confusion though, especially since there is no PA system wired for the building. If you didn’t know something had changed or whatnot or if you could say pick up your pass for future days you literally had to be at the place where it was happening to know what was going on. It isn’t a huge deal, but a central information thing, maybe a board or something, giving out updates, delays. Saturday evening’s events were thrown into flux because of a fight between patrons, except for an announcement to the people online outside the convention for Saturday evening events in the big viewing hall I don’t think anyone would actually have known about it until they saw the news about it.
I did run into Apple on the floor of the vendor’s area, which was a nice random moment; we talked briefly about the DC Universe Online panel that was coming up later that day. I also did a lot of walking around getting business cards for the research firm project; most of the companies I approached were nice about it, except for Marvel, who actually had a rent-a-cop tell me not to bother the people working the booth for some reason. Yeah, but that’s what people working the booths are doing, talking with people about whatever they want to talk about. I mean I know I’m talking with essentially interns and whatnot, but why have people there if they can’t interact with people at the convention?
And now the story of my rather epic fail attempt to get Kevin Smith to record a podcast promo…
I’m made aware of a panel Kevin is going to be at for the anniversary of Film Threat, an movie preview and commentary magazine and website that has been around for a few decades, basically the forerunner for sites like Ain’t It Cool News and such. Afterward was scheduled to be his usual Saturday night panel down in the theater hall. So I decide to hang out where the panel was, and wound up listening to an interesting war comics panel, of course later I see that Smith had tweeted that his friend Jason Mewes (Jay in most of Smith’s early films), was signing autographs at a booth, so afterward I realize that maybe that’s where I should have been in the first place.
Well, in part because of the commotion of the day from the stabbing incident, Smith was late in getting to the panel, so they started without him. He wasn’t too late for it, only a moment or so, but enough that obviously the only shot I had was after the panel had ended. It was a good panel, and worth going to; And I so I waited for my moment to approach Kevin afterward, but he was quickly whisked away by a police security detail for I assume preparations for his own panel that night. Denied! Oh well, I did notice during the week that Josh had taken a photo of Kevin Smith for another website Josh was working the convention for so maybe Josh was able to get the recording that I couldn’t.
So there it is; My 2010 San Diego International Comic Convention experience. I’d recommend anyone going to it as a “bucket list” sort of thing if you are into pop culture. It really has become more Hollywood and mass pop-culture friendly in recent years, so I’d say don’t go there expecting to get the same experience that you’d get at the next comic book or baseball card show in your area. I’d say the autograph room, artist alley and the vendor area were the only things that had that flavor of your standard show, but the whole package of San Diego is a different thing entirely.
The next convention on my list is October’s New York Comic Con,(8th through the 10th) which from all accounts should be a stark contrast to Wizard’s Big Apple Con which I attended last year (this year is from October 1st to the 3rd) and did not impress me in the least. I’m kind of expecting a something like San Diego on a lesser scale, and less of a mass-pop culture (TV shows and movies) presence. Well, it should be fun at the very least, being on my home turf and all.
Posted by SteveJRogers
Only 4 days left!
Just a reminder that there are only four more days left to enter the DC 75th anniversary contest. All the details can be found here, Remember to go and download your favorite animated DC films as well as all kinds of other DC projects on iTunes, Amazon, and WBshop.com.
Posted by Dustin
We have teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring you some prizes in celebration of DC Comics' 75th anniversary. In celebration of this event Warner Bros. has made tons of movies and TV shows based off of DC Comic's characters available for download and On Demand.
Celebrate 75 years of DC Comics with films and TV series inspired by some of the most popular SUPER HEROES including BATMAN, SUPERMAN and other iconic DC Comics characters. To celebrate this milestone, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is highlighting dozens of movies and shows that are available For Download on iTunes, WBshop.com and more; and via (cable) On Demand on Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others.
With On Demand and Download fans can watch their DC favorites virtually anytime, anywhere. Highlights include the blockbuster film THE DARK KNIGHT with Extras on iTunes, all SUPERMAN movies, and full length DC Universe animated original movies including GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, BATMAN UNDER THE RED HOOD, SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY and more. Individual episodes and complete seasons of fan favorite DC inspired TV series are also available for download in HD including the complete series of SMALLVILLE, HUMAN TARGET and BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.
All you have to do to win the prize is send us an email to contest@thebatmanuniverse.net telling us what DC Comics character you want to see be made into a film or TV series. It does not have to be a character within The Batman Universe. It could someone considered unpopular like The Ten-Eyed Man. Send your responses to us no later than August 15. The most creative responses will be picked. We will pick two winners and Warner Bros. will send you one of the two prizes we have shown below. Also keep in mind that we may use your ideas to post on the site and that your name will be linked to the idea.
Posted by Dustin
Alright so there are all of our reviews for the film. Plenty of different perspectives on what to expect when watching the film. Be sure to enter into our Batman: Under the Red Hood contest for your chance to win a copy of the blu-ray version of the film chocked with all kinds of special features.
Remember that you can find the film available at both Amazon
So with everyone's reviews, Batman: Under the Red Hood ends up with the following overall rating.
Posted by Dustin
Throughout the day, we will be posting up a number of reviews for the new film Batman: Under the Red Hood. We wanted to make sure we gave everyone a chance to see it if they wanted to before reading the reviews. So expect a new review every two hours today, and find out it we think it is worth picking up. Also if you haven't picked up and want to own your very own copy, we will be giving away a blu-ray copy of the film. All you have to do to win is email at contest@thebatmanuniverse.net and answer the following questions:
1. What issue did Jason Todd first appear in?
2. What issue was the first time we ever saw the Red Hood in comics?
3. What issue was the first appearance of Black Mask?
Send those answers in and by next week, we will have a winner. Good luck.
Posted by Dustin
I had the chance last week before Comic Con, to head up towards LA and pay my respects towards Bob Kane.
Posted by Apple
Last Wednesday we held the first ever Bat-Meet in San Diego. It was an opportunity for fans of not only the podcast and website, but also Batman to get together and meet up. Comic Con International happens once a year and when everyone from around the country converges on San Diego, it is an excellent chance to meet fans that you would never meet in person. The event took place a Dick's Last Resort. They had a screen showing movies and you would never guess what they were playing while we were there. The Dark Knight. I don't know if that was planned, but it was cool to say the least. If you are planning on heading out to San Diego next year, make sure you make some time for Bat-Meet 2011.
Posted by Dustin
Alright, so as some may know, I recently moved back to where I grew up, Chicago. Well, this week marks the first convention on a major scale in the city. I attended today and will be attending all weekend. I have to say that I am really pleased with what I have seen so far.
While not be as big as San Diego Comic Con, it has the potential to be much larger. The exhibit hall was very large and spacious. I mention the latter since at SDCC, in order to move around, you really have to some times get to know the person you are standing next to. There was plenty of space throughout the entire convention hall. The DC Nation panel was held in a room that could be compared to half of the size as Hall H at SDCC. Plenty of room.
I keep mentioning plenty of room because it did not feel cramped at all. Even thought this convention is not in the dead of summer it is still being pretty well attended. There were plenty of people scoping out deals with the vendors and getting sketches from their favorite artists.
DC turned out big to push the con, as they had their own booth to the extent of what we would see at SDCC. Not as spread out, but all of the contents was the same. Plenty of free swag from DC as well. (Some will be making it to the Quiz show prize package.)
On a personal note, came across the Joker and Man-Bat figures from the DC Universe Classics line that were exclusive to Wal-Mart for a reasonable price. I also got sketches from Tony Daniel and Dustin Ngyuen. I secured some future interviews for the show and expect to land some more tomorrow.
Speaking of Dustin Ngyuen, he loves to let news slip. Remember when we first interviewed him back last year in April. He mentioned that we should really push the fans for DC to get him a Black and White statue. Well, it turns out that at SDCC this year, his statue will be revealed. He said it is already in production. Also without giving too much details, we have not seen the end of his Little Gotham characters. Hopefully more on that tomorrow after the Batman panel.
Well, a lot happened and even more will happen tomorrow. So I am off to bed to try and get rested for another awesome day in Chicago.
Posted by Dustin
Yesterday, there was a big announcement from DC about the future of the company. The press release stated a new executive team that will be put in place to run things. Back in September, we heard about the creation of DC Entertainment. The idea behind the creation was to bring the DC Universe to the mainstream public by way of movies, TV shows, toys, and video games. We gave you our thoughts about the announcement back then and with the news yesterday, we should again give you our thoughts. First, let's cover the press release from DC.
Jim Lee and Dan DiDio Named Co-Publishers DC Comics
Geoff Johns to Serve as Chief Creative Officer
John Rood Named EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development
Patrick Caldon Named EVP, Finance and Administration
(February 18, 2010 – New York, NY and Burbank, CA) DC Entertainment, founded in September 2009 to unleash the power of the DC Comics library of characters across all media platforms, has named its executive management team, including new co-publishers of DC Comics and a Chief Creative Officer, as well as heads of Sales/Marketing/Business Development and Finance/Administration. Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, made the announcement today.
The new senior executive team includes Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, who have been named Co-Publishers of DC Comics, and Geoff Johns, who will serve as Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. Additionally, John Rood has been named Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, and Patrick Caldon will serve as Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration. Each of these executives will report directly to Nelson.
“DC Entertainment’s new executive team is a creative ‘dream team,’ with accomplishments and talent unrivaled in the business,” said Nelson. “This announcement continues and underscores DC’s legacy as the ultimate destination for creators. We’ll benefit enormously from the deep experience this team represents, while re-energizing the direction and focus of the company. I’m excited and honored to have each of them with me at the helm of DC Entertainment.”
“With this new leadership team, Diane will be able to fully and respectfully integrate DC’s brand and characters, not only as key content drivers in the film division, but across all of the businesses of Warner Bros. and Time Warner,” said Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “I am very proud and excited about the accomplished executives who are charged with expanding this powerful library. They each have a diverse and complementary skill-set and are deeply committed to contributing to the DC Comics legacy.”
Prior to his current post, Lee served as Editorial Director, where he oversaw WildStorm Studios and was also the artist for many of DC Comics’ bestselling comic books and graphic novels, including “All Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder,” “Batman: Hush” and “Superman: For Tomorrow.” He also serves as the Executive Creative Director for the upcoming DC Universe Online massively multiplayer action game from Sony Online Entertainment.
Lee is an award-winning comic book illustrator/creator/publisher who started his professional career at Marvel Comics where his work on the X-Men continues to hold the all-time sales record for single issue sales at eight million copies sold in one month. At Marvel, he also drew the Punisher and co-created many characters, the most popular being Gambit, featured in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” feature film. In 1992, he started his own production company, WildStorm Productions, and co-founded Image Comics, an independent comics company which quickly grew to become the number-three North American comics publisher. His most notable creations, “WildCats” and “Gen 13,” saw life beyond comic books as a CBS Saturday morning cartoon and as a direct-to-video animated movie distributed by Disney, respectively. In 1998, he left Image Comics and sold WildStorm to DC Comics.
DiDio most recently served as Senior Vice President and Executive Editor, DC Universe, overseeing the editorial department for the DC Universe imprint, including the ongoing adventures of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and scores of heroes and villains. He also worked to develop new titles with the industry’s premier writers and artists. At DC Comics, DiDio has spearheaded such bestselling projects as “All Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder,” “Identity Crisis,” Green Lantern, Teen Titans and The Outsiders.
Before joining DC in 2002, DiDio was with Mainframe Entertainment, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, overseeing the development, distribution, marketing and promotion of all Mainframe’s television properties. Prior to that, he served as Executive Director of Children’s Programming for ABC, where he was also a publicity manager, having started his television career at CBS, working in a variety of positions.
Johns builds on his current role at DC from being one of today’s most prolific, popular and award-winning contemporary comic book writers with this new executive role. He is a New York Times bestselling author who has written highly acclaimed stories revitalizing Green Lantern, Superman, the Flash, Teen Titans, and the Justice Society of America for DC Comics.
Johns began his comics career creating and writing “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” for DC Comics while at the same time working with film director Richard Donner. After acclaimed runs on Flash, Teen Titans and the bestselling “Infinite Crisis” mini-series, Johns co-wrote a run on Action Comics with his mentor, Donner. Johns has also written and produced for various other media, including the acclaimed “Legion” and “Absolute Justice” episodes of Warner Bros. Television’s “Smallville” and Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken” and “Titan Maximum.” He also wrote the story of the DC Universe Online massively multiplayer action game from Sony Online Entertainment.
Rood returns to Warner Bros. after 10 years with the Disney ABC Television Group, where he most recently was Senior Vice President of Marketing, ABC Family. While at ABC, he also consulted for ABC News during the recent transitions at “Good Morning America” and “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.”
Prior to Disney, Rood worked for six years at Warner Bros. Consumer Products, negotiating promotional deals with national advertisers using Warner Bros.’ properties, including the DC Comics characters. He has also worked in promotions for Equity Marketing on the Burger King account and in advertising for Leo Burnett on the McDonald’s and Miller Brewing accounts.
Caldon most recently served as Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations of DC Comics and MAD Magazine. Before that, he served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations, and his other posts at DC include Vice President, Finance and Operations, and Controller, the position in which he joined the company in 1985. Prior to joining DC Comics, Caldon spent a decade at Warner Communications in corporate accounting and as Senior Vice President and CFO of the Cosmos soccer team (owned by Warner Communications at the time).
DC Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, is charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment utilizes the expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises to prioritize the DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business is the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month as well as continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.
Alright, so there you have it. Jim Lee gets a huge promotion. Didio moves up the corporate ladder. Johns gets a position that will keep him at DC for a good amount of time, while he gives input on everything that has to do with the DC Universe. So a couple of the normal posters here at TheBatmanUniverse.net gave their two sense about this big news.
The first thought come from SteveJRogers:
Well, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns have nice shiny promotions. I don’t think the full scope of what is happening here though won’t be felt until a successor to DiDio’s EIC role is filled. And I’d like to see how this affects the Green Lantern books as well as the Flash title. It was going to be interesting to see the EIC take over Outsiders as it really is more of a Batman satellite than a cornerstone of the entire universe. I doubt Johns will have much time to do anything other than a brief fill-in or mini or one-shot.
The important question for Bat-Fans of course is how does this impact the Bat-Books? I’m not entirely sure if it does just yet, of course Johns is in the midst of the new OOC graphic novel series, or I am calling it, the latest attempt of DC creating an Ultimate Universe (see All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder and All-Star Superman), but as I said, I can see an executive having that kind of project on his/her plate, but not any of the major on-goings (Batman, Batman & Robin, Detective are the big three at the moment).
What I hope doesn’t happen, and it has been seen far too many times (Marvel in the 1990s for example) is when you have giant seismic paradigm shifts that the first thing that happens is immediate change. So maybe it’s a good thing that the big three were promoted within, and whatever change happens is a gradual process.
Interesting times indeed.
So next we have some thoughts about Geoff Johns and his new position from Dark Knight Dave:
James Cameron may “King of the World” but Geoff Johns is King of the Universe. The DC Universe that is. I always when I reached work today I fired up the trusty Dell and started poking around the ‘net for any cool and unusual news. One of my more frequent stops is “The Source” brought to us by DC. Alex Segura usually has something to tease us with and I enjoy clicking on preview panels and checking out some new art and or storylines.
Who the heck is David Hyde? And why is he writing so many “War and Peace” type entries into the “Source” blog. I scroll down, I scroll down some more, this guy is pretty excited about something but it seems pretty dry. I think I’ll click on one of my favorite sci-fi sites, io9, and see what they have to offer. Oh, something has rocked the DC world. I read it. Geoff Johns is what? He’s in charge of what now? I zoom back to the “Source” blog and things are still pretty dry there but I am glad David Hyde is happy as I click back to io9.
Geoff Johns is being named “Chief Creative Officer for DC Entertainment.” Holy promotion Batman I thought the guy was busy now. Not only is he the brains behind the cash cow that is “Blackest Night” for DC comics (although he stumbled a little with the last issue of “BN” after a great Batman centric Blackest Night #5) he wrote the highly rated and well received “Absolute Justice” two parter for the WB’s Smallville series and he has single handedly thrust Green Lantern as one of the if not the foremost hero in the DC pantheon of heroes. Let’s add to his resume the much anticipated “Earth One: Batman” and a little thing called “Brightest Day” as a follow up to “Blackest Night”. Phew! You’d need the “Flash” just to write this guys Wikipedia page just to get it done before years end. Oh, right, he writes “The Flash” also.
Good luck Geoff the eyes of the DC Universe are upon you and its loyal readership eagerly awaits your next offering. I have no doubt it will be a hit.
P.S. Geoff I have a movie treatment for you! Geoff? Geoff?!!
Alright and lastly, Zach gives his thoughts about everything:
Yesterday, February 18th, DC Entertainment announced their plans for the future. DC Entertainment has decided to play quite a large game of musical chairs for the year of 2010. Some major players will be stepping up and taking control of the DC Imprint. Here is the latest news on the future of DC, that no one saw coming.
First off, the Jim Lee and Dan DiDio have been named new co-publishers of DC Comics. What does this mean? Jim Lee is experienced with being the editorial director of Wildstorm Studios, while also having a large hand in the upcoming video game, DC Universe Online. This is a huge promotion for Jim Lee, and this really is DC thanking him for all the hard work that he has put in over the years at DC Comics. Congratulations Jim, very well deserved. Now, Dan DiDio has also taken a much larger seat at the table. I know that many fans feel iffy about DiDio, but I think he will be able to handle this position. I think that while he hasn’t always made the best call, he has been consistent as the Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at DC. This also confirms that DiDio is going nowhere after rumors have swirled over the last couple years that he was on the hot seat. None the less, I am excited and I think DiDio will really flourish under his new position.
As if the news couldn’t get any bigger! DC Entertainment also announced that Geoff Johns will serve as the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. While some may know, I am not Johns’ number one fan, but I do know that he knows comics. And it is this reason that I know that the DC Imprint is in good hands. He truly loves the DC Universe and all of its characters. Now, don’t worry! Johns will continue to write, but now he will give his creative input on all the comics. In addition to this, he will use his control to get the DC Universe into other imprints such as film, merchandise, animation, and video games. I think Johns has proven himself to be worthy of the job, especially after the large work loads that he has taken over the years at DC.
In addition to these announcements, John Rood will become Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development. Rood has previously worked at Warner Bros. and to be a key asset in the growth of DC’s consumer products. Patrick Caldon was also named the Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration. Caldon has been with the company since 1985, about 25 years. I would definitely say he has earned his stripes.
Now, nothing was announced directly towards Batman, but I will say that this news does impact the Batman Universe, therefore affecting you, the fan. First off, Jim Lee knows Batman; he has done some terrific work over the years with the character, and will continue that work. He knows the passionate following the character has and I am sure will do everything to enlarge that following. In regarding Dan DiDio, I think during DiDio’s time as the Executive Editor, the character has been through some major changes. Some have been good and some have been bad, but I think for the most part he gets it, and therefore I am not very concerned. And I think once Morrison finishes his tale of the dark knight; Geoff Johns will definitely oversee many of the future tales. I think that from a creative stand point, Johns loves the character and looks forward to getting his hands on the Batman Universe.
Well it was a wild day over at Warner Bros. Many are already calling this the most talented executive team in the comics industry. I know I am excited to see what this team does. Are you? We will have to wait and see what kind of magic the new crew is able to pull off.
So there you have it. For the most part this will be in fact another new chapter for DC and DC Entertainment. Hopefully, now that they have the staff announced we can get to some news about future projects. As soon as we hear something, you will be the first to know.
Posted by Dustin
After a too long overdue absence, we have another audio review. This time we have Graphic Audio's Infinite Crisis Part 2. In this episode, each important and episodic character had been given a great deal of characterization in part from the voice actors. For this I give this one 5 out of 5 Batarangs.
Buy the Graphic Audio for this episode here
Reviewed by Dmitriy
This is an interesting video that I saw over at the Bat-Blog. I have this book and think it is an awesome book to own for any Bat-fan. This video is a promotional clip made for the book.
Posted by Dustin
From all of us at The Batman Universe, we wish you a Merry Christmas! We hope that you spend time with loved ones and receive the gifts you really wanted. As you head to family and friends houses today to celebrate the holidays, please stay safe.
Batman sings?
Posted by Dustin
We have mentioned this plenty of times on the podcast. For those who don't listen to the podcast and just check the website out, here is your call. We have been nominated for Best Fansite. What does that mean? That means that out of all of the sites out there, some that have been around for a long time, there are people who believe that we have the best fansite. The awards are given out by Project Fanboy. We made it to the nominations and now are in the running for the award. It would be a great honor to win this, especially since the website is still fairly new. The awards are handed out at Megacon and we will make it a point to go there.
Do you love the podcasts? Do you love chatting with other Bat-Fans on the forums? Do you love reading daily news? Do you love seeing the editorials we post? Then vote us for Best Fansite!!!!
Click here to submit your vote!!
Posted by Dustin
Alright the final winners are:
Eli Ganias
Steven Esparza
The concludes this contest. Thanks for everyone who sent in an entry. We hope to have another contest very soon. So keep watching the site and listening to the podcasts.
And the winners are…..
Charles Lemon Jr.
Zach Betonte
Congratulations. Today is the last day for you to win. So be sure to get your entry in by 11:59PM CST.
Posted by Dustin