Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comicon, dc, Dustin Nguyen, jim lee, san diego, scott snyder, sdcc, superman, superman unchained

Superman Unchained – The SDCC Panel

Chris D'Lando writes for Bleeding Cool:

The entire creative team behind Superman Unchained took the stage at SDCC to talk about the genesis for their new series. Moderator Bob Wayne was joined by Scott Snyder, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, and Dustin Nguyen.

The panelists dove into a behind the scenes look at how a variety of pages and covers from issues one and two came to be. A slideshow showed off each page at the pencils, inks, and colors stage. After that we were treated to a quick time-lapse vignette of Scott Williams inking a large panel from an upcoming issue. Although this portion of the panel felt like one big advertisement for Superman Unchained, seeing the genesis of the art at each stage was enjoyable.

Each artist took their turn discussing their process for creating each page and what it was like working collaboratively with each other. Terms like "line weights" and "color pallets" were thrown around.

When it came to talk about issue one's massive four page fold-out poster, Jim Lee said that although it was his idea he would likely never do it again. He said they enjoyed doing something special for the print readers, but the logistics of creating the poster proved to be a difficult task. The page looks like a regular one page splash when viewing it digitally.

About 2/3rds of the way through the panel, Jim Lee apologetically had to leave. "Seriously guys, I have to go," he interjected. No word about where he had to go in such a rush but in my mind, he went to crash another panel to announce another Django Unchained comic.

Anyways, after he left, that's when things got good. After getting a quick peek at the covers to issues three and four, Scott Snyder, who had been fairly quiet up until this point, asked if we wanted to hear some spoilers.

"Here's what the story is about basically…not only does [Superman] get owned physically, he gets punched across the state of Utah," Snyder.

He was excited to talk about the creation of his new villain Wraith, Snyder wanted to create a something that could challenge Clark physically – but more importantly take him on emotionally.

He explained that in 1938 a group of scientist sent mathematical equations into space searching for help. Wraith soon shows up on earth with a more complicated version of those equations. Wraith was revealed to come from a galaxy close to Krypton and with similar physiology – only with more developed powers caused by longer exposure to solar radiation.

"He's basically Superman – if Superman does what he might want to do but doesn't", he added. In Snyder's eyes, Wraith isn't a villain. He's Superman's nightmare – saving more people than Superman ever could, but through more extreme methods.

General Lane believes Superman to be a coward since he won't remove dictators or warlords or cause real change because he needs the praise of being called a hero before he'll decide to act.

Coming up in issue three we'll get to see all the weapons Lane has cooked up to deal with the threat of Superman. Would Superman stop the U.S. from dropping another nuclear bomb? Snyder seems to think so. And he teased that in issue three we'll get to see all the weapons the Army has prepared to take him on – especially if they come to such a disagreement.

Snyder also clarified that he's a huge fan of Lois Lane – and she'll have a huge role in the story going forward.

"We're not pulling any punches – physically or emotionally," he said. Looks like things are going to get more interesting for Superman Unchained.

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