Fan Expo: DC Nation Panel

From Comic Book Resources: Dan Didio holding court at Fan Expo in Toronto Canada on Friday. Two noteworthy quotes that stood out to me...

Regarding the death of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in the final pages of the first issues, panelists felt their deaths set a strong precedence for things to come. “We thought that was really interesting, we had a lot of fun with it,” DiDio said “I guess that sounds weird, we’re having fun killing people, but it’s been part of our M.O. for awhile.”

No kidding. Just ask the Titans. And...

On to Wonder Woman, what’s happening? Responding to a fan that was promised a year ago readers would be seeing more of the iconic female. “Well, we cut the top a little lower.” DiDio joked. A lengthy laugh from the crowd ensued.

Way to respect your premiere heroine! Yay, objectification?

Cover: Teen Titans #78

DC SourceBlog: What’s the one thing that’ll bring Deathstroke and Ravager together? Black Lanterns, of course. Here’s the cover to TEEN TITANS #78, by Joe Bennett, Jack Jadson and Rod Reis.

Titans news from Toronto Fan Expo

Newsarama has posted a DC Nation panel report from the Toronto Fan Expo, with some news:

Besides some feedback on the new Batman and Robin, it was noted that with some of the changes in store for the Titans, that Dick Grayson might not fit on that team anymore.

In addition “What we’re going to see in 2010 is how the Titans and Justice League books crossover a little more than they have in the past and probably in a way they never have before” explained DiDio.

Speaking of Titans, with James Robinson bringing Donna Troy onto his upcoming Justice League, will she be getting a codename?

“She’s one of those people a nickname doesn’t stick to, like Jean Grey,” reasoned DiDio. “Troia was tough. She’s not going to be Wonder Girl anymore. Do you want to call her Darkstar? Not really. For us, Donna Troy stands for something, means something, and the name is recognizable so we’re just leaving it as is.”

The discussion then turned to Donna’s ever revolving costume.

“You’ve seen she’s gone through several costume incarnations and we’re trying to find one that sticks out a little bit more,” says DiDio. “There was talk about moving her back to the red costume for a little while, but that was too far back. We want to look at a way to present her in a way that feels contemporary and new for now, but still harkens back to the old costumes.”

I always find it amusing how much Donna and Jean have in common. Both are fan-favorite female characters. Both are lone female founders of teen legacy teams. Both have accumulated convoluted back stories. Both have stories created specifically ABOUT their continuity. Both have died and returned. Both had periods where creators seem to have no idea what to do with them. And both seem to lack code names.

As far as Donna's name, I dont like calling her "Donna Troy" as a super-hero name, just as I find "Jean Grey" lame. It's funny, Jean has had that problem only since she returned from death in 1986. Initially in X-Factor, she was still Marvel Girl. But that's a silly name. In the 90s, they tried calling her Phoenix again, but it doesnt really apply unless she's a fiery bird. What sealed her fate was the FOX toon and the first X-MEN movie, both of which insisted on STILL labelling her "Jean Grey."

It's kinda lame to say "people just know her as Jean Grey." Because you could say the same about Kitty Pryde. EVERYONE (fan and pros) call her "Kitty Pryde"... yet her codename is Shadowcat. She has a codename, so why cant Jean (and Donna?)

To me, calling her "Donna Troy" further cements her as this directionless character, who creators cant figure out. They cant even decide a name for her. "Troia" was fine, if you're lacking a name. It's another way of saying "Troy"... and I dont care what it means in Italian. "Nova" means "no go" in another language, and Rich Rider isn't changing his name.

As far as Didio's comment, “You’ve seen she’s gone through several costume incarnations and we’re trying to find one that sticks out a little bit more,” ...

I'd argue the starfield costume DOES make her stick out. It's a tribute to her WG days by design, but the starfield uniquely speaks to her Titans of Myth heritage. I always feel Didio misses the point of the fab five's "graduation" personas.... the point isnt to keep them as sidekicks or in the shadow of their mentors... it's to give them their OWN unique personas that were influenced by their mentors, but is somehow uniquely theirs. So changing Arsenal to Red Arrow and putting back Donna in a red/yellow costume and demoting Wally..... it sorta invalidates all their "coming of age arcs."

UPDATE: More info:

Turning over to their team books, DiDio revealed Titans would have the most dramatic changes and while the books would be more aligned with Justice League, the two groups would probably be more at odds. As for Teen Titans, issue #75 will begin see the formulation of the key team.

Raven & Beast Boy by Rodney Buchemi

I have one more to add today....

This is from Rodney Buchemi, who was supposed to draw TITANS #5, and started to, until it got scrapped and redone. It featured a date between Raven and Beast Boy, so.... I asked him for Raven, and Beast Boy if he could...

and I got THIS!!!!!!! I'm overwhelmed. Gorgeous!

And thanks to Marcus, who pulled some strings.... and Rodney, for being EXTREMELY gracious! ANOTHER generous gift to titanstower.com.

wow.

Team Titans by Gammill

Annnnnnnnnnd, I completed my Kerry Gammill set of Team Titans! Gammill helped create the team and drew NEW TITANS #80. He was supposed to be the regular artist on TEAM TITANS< until they gave it to Kevin Maguire instead.

And thanks to Marcus for helping me get the Killowat piece!

Love these! [sniff, miss the Teamers...]

Lilith by Perez

To add to my Perez perfect set, I just recieved this Lilith commission. It was a gift from fellow Perez enthusiast Eric Sellers, for "all my hard work on titanstower.com." Wow. I can't thank Eric enough! What a great complement to the Perez set!!

Preview: Blackest Night: Titans #1

Theres a preview up at IGN.com now.

There are many skeletons in the Titans' closet.
by Richard George

August 24, 2009 -
Blackest Night: Titans #1
Written by: JT Krul
Art by: Ed Benes
Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 26, 2009

Black Lantern Titans are descending together onto Titans Island! Will the Titans be prepared to fight off their deceased allies? And how can Beast Boy not lose his heart to Black Lantern Terra?

Explore the effect BLACKEST NIGHT has on the greater DC Universe in this 3-issue miniseries from writer J.T. Krul (JSA CLASSIFIED, Fathom) and superstar artist Ed Benes (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA)!

And you know what? This actually looks good and reads well. JT Krul seems to have a good handle on these characters, and Ed Benes sure draws pretty people!

Now, please, bring Lilith back!

Didio's 20 Answers: Titans

Didio's 20 Answers has a few Titans tidbits:

4. durkadurka asked:
I think the JLA has had a very inconsistent roster for a while now, but that pales in comparison to the Teen Titans. Now with yet another death and the return of Superboy and Kid Flash, at what point can we see some consistency with the roster for more than a couple issues?

DiDio: In both those cases, both teams are in transition right now, and you'll probably see more consistency in terms of who the teams are by the beginning of the year. There are some changes that will be taking place.

Right now with Titans, we're showcasing a number of the individual characters because we wanted to spotlight them in ways that really brought them to a level of prominence, and more importantly, because we have future stories that we're preparing to tell with them. I think Tempest in Titans and then leading into Blackest Night #2 was a good one-two.

We also have plans in Teen Titans. We're probably coming closer to a set team. We'll be seeing the start of that with Issue #75 and #76. But then with Issues #77 and #78, I think we have Blackest Night, so that mixes the pot up a little bit. And then when we come back, we'll see a little bit firmer make-up of the team.

But one of the things I don't want to do is have a whole bunch of people leave and then a whole bunch of people join with no real story explanation or real cohesiveness on why this is taking place. So what might be deemed a change in roster is actually a more slow and gradual evolving of the cast, as you see people come and go. But I think there's a lot of story potential in reasons why people join the team and reasons why people leave the team. But I hate to see it happen all in one issue and lose what might be deemed potential stories.

5. kryptofan1 asked:
Do you have plans for the Milestone characters (other than Static in the Teen Titans) after the Brave and Bold stories?

DiDio: At this particular time, we have Static in the Teen Titans, and we're looking at a storyline that might be built around Static later in the run. But right now, no other plans.

All I hear is "blah blah blah."

Seriously, this guy should have gone into politics. :)

The George Perez Collection

I was lucky enough to snag these commissions of the fab five from George Perez a few years ago. And in 2007, I caught George in New York Comic-Con and commissioned a Changeling piece. And I finally completed my "George Perez Titans set", with brand new commissions that landed in my mailbox yesterday! I couldn't be happier with these new pieces, featuring Raven, Cyborg, Starfire and Jericho!

Take a look!

Titans Sales Watch: July

DeTroyes has posted another excellent sales watch analysis:

Actually, I just looked at ICv2's main page, and they do have the July estimates after all. They just didn't post it to the index page yet. So, here we go with the monthly sales analysis.

As always, all figures are courtesy of ICv2:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15633.html

FORMAT:

TITLE
Issue # / Release Month / Year / # Units Sold / +/- Previous Month

TITANS
#15 July 2009 46,189 +13,868

TEEN TITANS
#73 July 2009 30,990 -1,522

TINY TITANS
#18 July 2009 8,576 -64


BOOSTER GOLD
#22 July 2009 22,414 N/A (NTT Crossover)

VIGILANTE
#8 July 2009 9,942 -1,541

Analysis:
Titans: Wow, is that a shot in the arm. Too bad it probably won't last. Titans #15 was, of course, the Blackest Night crossover, which certainly accounts for most of the big spike. It also had the first appearance in ages of a beloved older Titan, which probably contributed to the bump. But since the next several issues are all more of the "Day in the Life" filler issues, and since by all accounts the current team's days on the title are numbered, I really doubt that the sales level will hold. Maybe the next couple of issues will see numbers a little higher than Titans #14 saw, but probably not much higher. But still, its nice to see the spike, even if its only temporary.

Teen Titans: Continues its downward trend. After briefly outselling Titans in June, it couldn't compete with the Blackest Night craze and recorded a number not much above the 30k mark. Part of it is probably due to the fact that the current arc is being done by a fill-in writer, but I think most of the drop-off is simply due to death fatigue. Titans fans are sick and tired of stories where a Titan gets killed and simply have no desire to read another one, no matter how well it is written. Next month's figures will probably take the title to below 30k. The future of the title? Anyone's guess. The debut of new writer Felicia Henderson might give it a boost; the addition of Titans Beast Boy and Raven might also help; but in the end, this title needs to find a voice. And with the new writer being such a newcomer, there is no way to tell with any certainty what the next "exciting new direction" will bring.

Tiny Titans: Same old, same old. Lost a small amount of readers in July, but nothing to worry about.

Booster Gold: Included for the New Teen Titans crossover. Just for comparison purposes, that figure is about 800 units less than the previous month.

Vigilante: Included because, well, its Marv Wolfman and some Titans fans wanted to know. Sales figures were as dreadful as feared. The Death-Knell was sounded with November solicits; the title is canceled at issue #12.

******

Overall, its nice to see the spike on Titans, but mega-event crossovers can't make up for the fact that both Titans titles are facing some very real problems in the near future, with both titles being taken over by untried and untested writers and in general with huge question marks about their long-term viability. The only bright light on the horizon is that the advance buzz on Blackest Night: Titans appears to be quite favorable. But beyond that... ?

Preview: Blackest Night: Titans #1

The DCSource Blog has posted a preview of Blackest Night: Titans #1, with pretty Ed Benes pictures.

The BLACKEST NIGHT is upon us, and the dead are rising across the DCU. No one is unaffected, and some teams — like the TITANS — have seen more than their share of fatalities over the years. Later this month, writer J.T. Krul and artist Ed Benes will bring you the first issue of Blackest Night: Titans #1, which spotlights how the heroes deal with the sudden return of some of their most tragic members. But, to tide you over until then, we’ve got a look at some interiors from Benes. And, because we asked him nicely, Blackest Night: Titans editor Brian Cunningham was kind of enough to give us the skinny on the mini-series. Take it away, Brian:

“Working on these characters is something Ed Benes has wanted for a very long time, so we are more than happy to oblige him! And he has a wonderful script to draw from. J.T. Krul worked closely with Geoff Johns to stay true to the spirit of the ‘Blackest Night’ event, and what they came up with is a horror movie on paper. I really feel both ‘Blackest Night’ fans and Titans fans will be VERY happy with this mini-series.”

There's too many statues in that memorial wall, huh?

Titans Artists Sketch Gallery

I just created a new gallery at titanstower.com, featuring all the Titans art I've gotten from the Titans artists through the years - from Nick Cardy to George Perez to Phil Jimenez to Mike McKone to Eddy Barrows.

Check it out!

Titans In November

CBR has the full November releases! Readers of BLACKEST NIGHT #2 will know who the blacked-out figure is on the TEEN TITANS cover.

TEEN TITANS #77
Written by J.T. Krul Co-feature written by Sean McKeever Art by Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson Co-feature art by Yildiray Cinar & Júlio Ferreira Cover by Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson
It's a return of the teenage dead in this BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in issue! There's certainly no shortage of dead Teen Titans, so when the Black Lanterns come a-calling, old teammates return with a vengeance! It's a Titan's worst nightmare come true! On sale November 25 - 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

TITANS #19
Written by J.T. Krul
Art by Angel Unzueta & Wayne Faucher
Cover by Angel Unzueta
It's not easy being a dad in the DCU just ask Roy Harper, who never wants to leave his daughter Lian an orphan. Unfortunately, that choice may not be his to make& Hot off his BLACKEST NIGHT: TITANS miniseries, J.T. Krul returns for another issue!
On Sale November 11 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

TINY TITANS #22
Written by Art Baltazar & Franco
Art and cover by Art Baltazar
How many stretchy Super Heroes can you fit in the Tiny Titans treehouse? As many as you like until they get tangled into knots! Join the search when The Atom's family lose their tiny bouncy ball. Also, there's a new janitor at the school, and it's not who you think! Plus, the Bird Scouts welcome a shiny gold new member!
On Sale November 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.50 US

THE OUTSIDERS #24
Written by Peter J. Tomasi Art by Fernando Pasarin & Jay Leisten Cover by Tom Mandrake
Prepare for another mind-blowing BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in. Spinning out of BLACKEST NIGHT: TITANS, the dead rise to dine on the flesh of the living! It's brother vs. undead sister when Black Lantern Terra comes to claim the still-beating hearts of Geo-Force and the rest of the Outsiders! On sale November 18 - 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

DOOM PATROL #4
Written by Keith Giffen Co-feature written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis Art by Justiniano & Livesay Co-feature art by Kevin Maguire Cover by Justiniano & Andrew Mangum
When BLACKEST NIGHT falls, skeletons start coming out of the closets - and no one has more skeletons in his closet than Niles Caulder, founder of the Doom Patrol. Caulder has been playing god for years, and the time for a reckoning has come. The Doom Patrol thought they knew darkness. Find out how wrong they were in this BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in issue! Meanwhile, in the Metal Men co-feature, trendy meets grotesque when the robots battle a group of living mannequins. On sale November 4 - 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

ADVENTURE COMICS #4
Written by Geoff Johns Co-feature written by Geoff Johns & Michael Shoemaker Art by Jerry Ordway Co-feature art by Clayton Henry Cover by Jerry Ordway and Francis Manapul Variant cover by Francis Manapul
The return of Superboy! Superboy-Prime, that is! The grasp of BLACKEST NIGHT knows no bounds, and it is now at the doorstep of Superboy-Prime. Believe it or not, Prime has met his match. The Black Lanterns know his deepest, darkest secrets and force Prime to feel emotions he's long discarded. Plus, in the Legion of Super-Heroes co-feature, Dawnstar is on the trail of the person – or people – who have been causing so much trouble for the Legion. But does she get too close to the truth? Her Legion teammate Wildfire comes to her rescue, but are the duo able to discover just who is behind this villainous plot to destroy the known universe? On sale November 18 - 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

BLACKEST NIGHT #5
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari
Sketch variant cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert
The moment you ve hungered for finally arrives! Who controls death in the DC Universe? NEKRON - Lord of the Undead! The dark being behind the undead Black Lanterns makes his presence and purpose known, and our heroes discover they re not only fighting for their lives, but their after-lives as well. Don t miss this game-changing issue from superstar writer Geoff Johns and stellar artist Ivan Reis!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Rodolfo Migliari). For every 100 copies of the Standard Edition, retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Variant Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On Sale November 25 • 5 of 8 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

TEEN TITANS: DEATHTRAP TP
Written by Sean McKeever and Marv Wolfman
Art by Fernando Dagnino, Joe Bennett, Rick Leonardi and others
Cover by Andrew Robinson
The Teen Titans join forces with The Titans and The Vigilante in this new title collecting the Deathtrap storyline from TEEN TITANS ANNUAL 2009, TITANS #12 and 13, TEEN TITANS #70 and VIGILANTE #5 and 6.
Advance-solicited; on sale December 2 • 192 pg, FC, $14.99 US

TERRA TP
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
Cover by Amanda Conner
The miniseries from the hit creative team behind the new POWER GIRL monthly is collected. Don t miss the fast-paced adventure from Terra's 4-issue miniseries also including SUPERGIRL #12!
Advance-solicited; on sale December 9 • 128 pg, FC, $14.99 US

Wednesday Comics: Karl Kerschl's Flash

Newsarama talks with Karl (TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE) Kerschl on his Flash feature in Wednesday Comics. If you haven't taken a peek at it... it's actually quite awesome.

Newsarama: One of the most-asked questions we’ve received is about your formatting of the Flash strip. Every other creative team has been doing big splash pages, and you and [co-writer] Brenden Fletcher chose to break yours into two distinct comics, one for the Flash and one for Iris West. Was that done in homage to old “soap opera” strips like Mary Worth, or for other reasons?

Karl Kerschl: That’s been the biggest question I’ve been asked too, and I haven’t had a chance to answer it yet because all the interviews we did came out before the books started to ship!

When I learned about the project, the most important aspect of it seemed to be the format. Wednesday Comics is very clearly an homage to the large format Sunday strips and it wears that proudly on its sleeve. So, first and foremost, I wanted to use that format as a touchstone - to craft a story that's both modern and retro. My original pitch to Mark was pretty straightforward: Barry Allen’s wife leaves him and he has to go back in time to prevent it from happening. I wanted to do an adventure story and a romance story at the same time and design it in a way that evoked the feeling of those old newspapers.

Is GAMES Back On?

Bleeding Cool reports:

It's long been hoped that the previously-unpublished-and-once-thought-abandoned Teen Titans: Games graphic novel by Marv Wolfman and George Perez would be completed and published for next year. Because 2010 would be the 30th anniversary of the New Teen Titans comic by Wolfman and Perez.

Initially plotted by Marv Wolfman, with a number of pages drawn by George Perez and Al Vey in the late eighties, there have been a number of attempts to revive and complete the project. But George Perez appears to have been talking the possibility up at WizardWorld Chicago Comic Con. So how would this be achieved?

Perez has drawn at least seventy of the hundred-and-twenty planned pages (a number of which reprinted below), many of which were inked by Al Vey. I understand that Mike Perkins has been recruited to ink the uninked pages and to ink new pages that Perez is working on.

The graphic novel has not been scripted yet, and Marv would probably need a good couple of months on completion. Perez also talks at Chicago about created a new framing sequence to put the book in context.

A few things, folks....

1-- A framing sequence will be difficult, and may not help, since a certain character's reappearance in the CYBORG mini and TITANS renders a major plot point of GAMES unusable. So they'd need to rewrite and leave out a gravesite scene, or publish it as an Elseworlds.

2-- I'm a major, major Titans fan. Heck, I run titanstower.com. And GAMES has been made out to be this huge, all-important story. And truly, it's the equivalent of an Annual. Really, the curiosity factor is high on this... but I'd rather see Marv & George do a whole NEW Titans-related project for 2010.

3-- I don't care how many times they SAY this is back on schedule, I'll believe it when I see it. To see the long and winding history of GAMES..... click here.

Cliff Chiang: A Breakfast Club Titans Homage

Cliff Chiang has posted this terrific Teen Titans homage to John Hughes on his blog. It's awesome in every way. Check out his other commissions and sketches on his blog, too. There's an awesome Batgirl "Purple Rain" homage, an Elektra "Flashdance" homage, and a Duran Duran inspired .Vampirella.

“Dear Batman: We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in Bat-detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is an archer, and a speedster, and a swimmer, a princess, and an acrobat. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Teen Titans.”

Thank you, John Hughes. Rest in peace.

Peter Parker is a fan of Great Frog

Who says we can't do Marvel/Dc crossovers anymore?

In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #601, Peter Parker rushes to keep an appointment to meet-up with Mary Jane and remembers, "Grand Central, under the center clock! Eight sharp, same as the night we went to see Great Frog in concert."

Titans fans will remember, Great Frog was the rock group in which Roy (Speedy) Harper played drums while Mal (Herald) Duncan played horns.

In the 70s, the Titans set up a new headquarters at Gabriel's Horn, a discotheque in Farmingdale, Long Island. The disco was actually a cover for their secret underground headquarters. Great Frog would play there, and even had few gigs after the team disbanded.

Great Frog was also referenced in the 1990s TITANS series, where a drum set with the Great Frog logo could be seen in Roy's room.

Sneaky, sneaky reference from the walking comic book encyclopedia, Mark Waid, who scripted this issue.

Hope you and MJ enjoyed the show, Pete!