Q: What’s the scoop on the Titans led by Deathstroke, and what about The Joker realizing there’s a new Batman? A: Tomasi answered quickly, “Joker’s shining up a crowbar for Damian,” with Sattler chiming in that it wasn’t an 800 number to call, but instead a texting poll like voting on American Idol. In seriousness, Sattler said that the Joker issue is “not what you expect”, and that the Deathstroke story is part of something bigger, that will include other DC books besides Titans.
A fan brings Sattler some ketchup flavored potato chips, referencing a DC Nation article that was in the back of the DC books a while back, which prompts Sattler to tell a funny story about DC executive editor Dan Didio texting Sattler from Toronto asking why fans kept bringing him a bunch of oddly flavored potato chips.
and, This was mentioned in the Live Q & A coverage that was on Newsarama's coverage of the Baltimore Comic con
A: Static will be around in Teen Titans for sure, no matter who the creative team (still in flux) will be.
Still in flux? thought that Felicia Henderson was the regular writer on the title and that the creative was pretty stable for now. Is there going to be another creative team shake up on the title?
I had the pleasure of meeting J. T. Krul at the Baltimore Con. Since Sean McKeever's departure from TEEN TITANS, his Titans-related work has been the bright spot in the Titans-verse. And I told him so.
J. T. thanked me for titanstower.com, citing it as a go-to place when he has to research characters, and dig into back issues for reference. It was nice to hear that J. T. takes such care in researching the characters' histories - and it shows! He really wanted the Tempest-issue of TITANS to put a spotlight on the character. And he did!
J. T. did mention that his two-part Blackest Night TEEN TITANS issues were very focused on Rose and Slade, and the rest of the team doesn't even appear. So despite that dead Titans homage cover to NEW TEEN TITANS #1, don't expect to see those dead characters in that story.
There's also more creepiness in store for BLACKEST NIGHT: TITANS #3, since J. T. views the whole mini-series as a horror story. And more things with Donna's baby that are "just wrong."
Here's hoping to see more from J. T. in the Titans' future!
CBR reports: A packed panel room welcomed the DC Nation panel Saturday afternoon at Baltimore Comic-Con. Hosted by DC Comics Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler, the panel consisted of Vice President of Sales Bob Wayne, J.T. Krul ("Blackest Night: Titans"), Jamal Igle ("Supergirl"), Peter Tomasi ("Blackest Night: Batman"), and "JSA versus Kobra" editor Rachel Gluckstern.
The panel then shifted over to J.T. Krul, who was clearly excited about the upcoming "Blackest Night: Titans" variant cover by Titans legend and BCC guest of honor George Perez. "You couldn't ask for anything better," he said. "The variant covers are great because we wanted to do a horror tone with Ed Benes's main covers." Krul said the Perez variant is "the screensaver now on my desktop. It's reached that special place and it'll probably be there for a while."
"We have stuff coming out from J.T. after Blackest Night that I can't tell you about," said Sattler. "It's really messed up. He's such a nice guy and we're having him write the most messed up book ever."
CBR reports: Among the first events to pull people out from lines in Artist Alley was the Spotlight on George Perez panel, highlighting the legendary artist and Guest of Honor's 35 years in the comics industry.
Perez began with some news for Titans aficionados. Though he said he is turning down more work than he can possibly accept right now, Perez's parter-in-crime Marv Wolfman apparently found the plot to a Titans graphic novel entitled "Games" that was lost long ago. The book will be out by October of 2010 and will run 120 pages.
"It cannot come out later than 2010 if we want the anniversary to mean a damn thing," Perez said, after explaining that the release of "Games" would mark the 30th year since his and Wolfman's "New Teen Titans" began.
The first five pages had already been drawn and inked by Perez, while the next 25 were inked years ago by Al Vey. Perez also related that DC would be resurrecting the comic book dimensions from when the book was initially drawn and plotted to print "Games." As Perez begins to draw the final 90 pages over the next year, Mike Perkins ("Captain America") will ink his pages. Perkins is now Marvel-exclusive but had a waiver in his contract that would allow him to help Perez finish this Titans graphic novel.
"Anyone who saw Mike ink me at CrossGen knows what a good match we make," Perez said.
and
When asked if he'd be interested in writing again, Perez stated simply, "I don't think I ever want to write again." He expounded on that by saying that writing in comics nowadays takes a special kind of intestinal fortitude with the universes being so integrated and crossovers being such popular fare. Perez also explained that he was offered a position as the writer of "Teen Titans," but would have had certain story mandates he needed to follow and that didn't interest him. He explained it was the company's right to ask for these things with their characters, but if that is the case. he'd rather just draw.
"I'd rather leave it to guys with a lot stronger guts and a lot less fragile ego than I have," he said.
So this is the last piece I have to share from Baltimore. And, it's also my favorite from the show. As Titans fans may remember,Barry Kitson was the artist on TITANS from #38 to the series final issue, #50. It's too bad, because Kitson had a lot of ideas for the book, including bringing back some great former Titans like Lilith and Bumblebee.
I almost wanted Barry to draw Lilith, since I really appreciated the fact that he got rid of the Omen robes, and made Lilith her cool hippie-chick self. But then I thought Donna would be more visual.
Barry was doing some phenomenal pieces at the show.. penciled, inked and watercolored. If you were patient and waited your turn, Barry would oblige with a full piece (I wish I had links to them all... some amazing stuff). And here's the kicker: He was doing them free of charge.
So I present Troia by Barry Kitson. Really amazing, huh?
So me and 3 of my friends (Eric, Jeff and Tom) were all waiting to see if we'd win the Hero Initiative raffle to see who would get the chance at a Perez commission. There was only 10 to be had. As luck would have it, we all won. Fab Four, indeed. :)
I already have so much from George. The fab five. All his Titans. Ravager. Nightwing. What to get? It was a toss-up between Danny Chase (who he drew during his second run on the book) and Donna Troy (since he inked Jose Garcia Lopez in RETURN OF DONNA TROY, plus did the Secret Files page of Donna's current look, as designed by Phil Jimenez). Sorry, Danny. :)
So, funny story, this. I already have a Superboy Karl Kesel that I love to death. Check it out here. I already have a Hawk & Dove by Kesel as well. So I thought, what to do? Then I remembered when Karl returned to SUPERBOY with #50, the kid of steel later got a new costume with SUPERBOY #75 or so, when he lost his powers or somesuch. It was a black t-shirt with the "S" symbol. And I thought "perfect! that's what I'll get from Karl!"
So I told him, I wanted black t-shirt Superboy, but from your SUPERBOY run. Well, I think he misunderstood. And Karl drew me the "current era" Superboy. It came out great and I love it.... so maybe next time I'll bring reference from his SUPERBOY run! :)
I came across a table in artist alley that read: "Atom-Bomb Bikini: The Lurid Art of Robert Ullman." I was stopped in my tracks by Robert's fun and sexy little drawings. It's sort of Bruce Timm meets Dan DeCarlo. And how can that be bad? Robert was a super nice guy, and I wanted him to draw something fun that fit his style. I thought... how about "go-go era" Lilith and Wonder Girl? I love this piece. :) Check out more of Robert's art at http://rkullman.blogspot.com/
I've gotten tons of pieces from Andy MacDonald (NYC MECH). Tons of awesome pieces. And once again, Andy does not disappoint... cuz here's another! Love the whole design of this, as well as Andy's strong attention to detail.
Rebecca Issacs (DV8) was doing these amazing sketches for $5 each. I requested a Raven, and she drew this great piece. I love the expression (or lack thereof) on Raven's face. Surprisingly, Rebecca was unfamiliar with the character. You wouldn't know it by looking at this!
Non-Titans related, but I had to share. I FINALLY got my Buffy piece from Georges Jeanty (BUFFY SEASON 8). I wanted the three original Scoobies. And wow, did he deliver! Love this one.
Paul Azaceta (GROUNDED, DAREDEVIL) drew an amazing Nightwing for me at the New York Comic-Con this past year. His style is moody and dark, so I asked for Pantha and Baby Wildebeest, and I think Paul did a super job capturing these darker Titans characters.
Franco from TINY TITANS was doing sketches for a buck per character. You can't beat that! I really wanted a little gag piece from him, so I asked for Beast Boy and Terra - and Franco delivered this awesome sketch. Poor Beast Boy, huh?
The first sketch of the con was from Dean Trippe. I really liked his style, and he's a big Superboy and Robin fan, so I had him draw a Teen Titans style "World's Finest" pic. Nice stuff! You can see more at his website, http://www.deantrippe.com too.
Just got back from the Baltimore Comic-Con. It was a last minute trip, since a friend of mine had a few friends cancel out on him. I'd always heard good things about this show, and the rumors are true! It's a great show that's very comic book focused - which seems to be a rarity these days.
Got some great sketches. Caught up with George Perez, Mike McKone and Jay Faerber. Met J.T. Krul and Barry Kitson for the first time. And had fun hanging out and drinking with my con buds in downtime Baltimore.
So... I talked to George Perez about the upcoming GAMES Titans Graphic novel. He said it's his next project, but there's no plans to give it a "framing sequence" or anything like that. I also mentioned to George that Sarah Simms had appeared again recently, which renders a plot point in GAMES moot now anyway. George described it as a "time capsule" project - so don't expect to fit it into continuity.
I also got a sketch from George -- which I will post shortly! :)
