NYCC Recap – Day Two
Fandom was at a fever-pitch today at New York ComicCon for it’s second day open to the public. Crowds were out in full force for most of the day, with spirits pretty high all around. Although some panels proved to be more popular than last year, which lead to some disappointment (for example, two thirds of the fans waiting for the Archie Comics panel were turned away – their room was filled to capacity), most fans seemed to be having a good time. However, getting from one area from the Javits to another today proved to be a huge ordeal.
Biggest panel we attended today was the DC All Access Justice League panel, featuring most of the key architects of the New 52 line. The hour opened with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee chatting about what they have in store for the Justice League of America. We got to see pages from an awesome fight between the Flash and Superman that occurs in issue two. Next up was a pencil sketch of Aquaman from issue three – a character Johns described as “the world’s worst superhero”, which is, in Johns’ opinion what makes him so awesome to write. We were then treated to a Lee pencil sketch that can only be described as the DC heavy Darkseid standing on a screaming mountain of faces. Johns and Lee are offering a new take on Darkseid that strays from his Kirby Fourth-World roots and re-positions him as the ultimate villain of the DC Universe.
Other highlights from the JLA panel included some beautiful Will Eisner inspired Flash artwork from Francis Manapaul and some very cryptic talk from Wonder Woman writer Brian Azarello about how he is changing Wonder Woman’s origin for this current run. A fan asked who Wonder Woman’s father is. Azarello’s response: “read the book! Don’t you want to read the book?” (My guess is the father is a Greek god who’s name rhymes with “juice”)
Another younger fan asked the simple question “Why the new 52?” Johns response: “What is the first comic you ever read?” Kid: “Superman”, Johns: “Are you reading the new 52?”, kid: “yeah.” Johns: “do you like it?” Kid: “ehhhhh…”
Lee then took the bullet and talked about how DC comics wanted to revitalize their line for new readers, keep old readers and make their universe seem less intimidating for people who are picking up comics for the first time.
Anecdotal evidence points to their plan working, but the results of DC’s survey they did with the Nielsen people is still being processed.
The rest of the day was spent on the floor getting interviews with Rod Roddenberry (Gene’s son), who is doing amazing work with the Roddenberry Foundation and is prepping a documentary about his father called Trek Nation, Archie comics creator Dan Parent, Generation Hope writer James Asmus, and more. Expect these interviews up on Sci-Fi4Me in the next few days.
