Posted in: Comics, san diego comic con | Tagged: 2016, comic con, comiccon, comicon, Comics, entertainment, july, san diego, san diego comic con, sdcc, sdcc '16, sdcc16

Jim Lee And Dan DiDio Meet Their Future Boss, Tease Wildstorm, And Let A Kid Pitch Writing Multiversity 3

By Jeremy Konrad

Saturday morning saw DC Comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee took the stage telling jokes about not being able to get into the Wonder Woman cast signing at the booth or getting into Hall h for the big WB presentation.They begin by talking about how last year at this time, they were moving and things were stressful, moving the whole operation and losing people and hiring people, and how difficult that all was for them.But now they are going through a Rebirth (cymbal crash). Gotta love DiDio jokes. But in all seriousness, from TV, to film, and especially the books, everything they are going has reinvigorated and gotten them excited all over again.

They mention that they love doing this panel and it is very important to them.We take what is said in this room and put it into discussion in the office.It means a lot to them that they can see the care in their eyes about what is happening to their favorite characters.

Jim Lee notes that they don't like to pat themselves on the back, but he doesn't think they have ever seen DC fire on all cylinders like this before. Mentions how innovative YoungAnimal is and all of the innovation we will see there, praises Paul Dini's Dark Knight graphic novel and mentions the incredible response to DC Superhero girls. They are looking to push different tones, and do so much more with the characters than done in the past.

They briefly discuss the new Hanna-Barbera books and DiDio met a gentlemen from Warner Archives on another panel, Famous Monsters of Filmland, which was the first magazine he ever collected. He was has a pic inside from when he was 10 years old and named Monster of the Month. The WB archivist said these books have reinvigorated interest in the Hanna-Barbera stuff of old.

DiDio does an experiment having everyone holding their hands up to see how long the room has been reading comics. Multiple people have been reading for over 40 years, some even over 50. Longest was 62 years! Speaks to the impact comics have on people.

From there they opened it up to questions from the crowd. The first question was from an awesome little kid who started name checking things like ABC Comics, Wildstorm, and Astro City. He can't be older than 10. Jim Lee breaks a bit of news saying that there will be an announcement at New York Comic Con that will "blow our minds". With that, Adrian joined them up onstage for the remainder of the panel. This kid is amazing.

The question is posed how they will handle things like age differences and things of that nature in the different timelines. DiDio says they have a two year timeline that will answer some of those types of questions, and to come to the Rebirth panel later on for more elaboration. It was very important to them that they add depth and the generational legacy to the line again.

Any plans for Ambush Bug? Since forth wall breaking is all the rage right now, after the success being enjoyed by Deadpool. DiDio says there are plans for some characters, and they are still searching for ways to fit characters into Rebirth, and they are hoping that more fan favorites will be there, like an Ambush Bug, who is a great example.

When asked why they were hurting someone's wallet by making so many good things, DiDio responded by saying:If strapped for cash, I can tell you what not to buy from the other companies.

A fan thanks them for returning original numbering for Detective and Action Comics. DiDio jokes about Jim drawing 1000 covers for that number. Will there be any other type stuff like that coming? Jim and Dan both talk about how it felt wrong to a second new number one on those books, playing again off the idea of legacy. New numbers were important for what they did with the New 52, but this is all about legacy.

Will you bring back a letter column to read editorial information and seeing what they are thinking like the old days?They say the problem is they just don't get letters anymore, and now due to the publishing speed it would be hard to keep up. They try to drive people to collections they can look at, may be looking at bringing back Editor's Notes? Not clear from the answer.

Favorite fan reaction to Rebirth?
Jim: the Wally West moment, him coming back because of the emotional response, which was even bigger than they expected., and drove a lot of the thinking of what they are going to do with the other books.

Dan: we were at a point you start to change things so much that the characters are unrecognizable. They knew they got their connections to the fans back by fans asking about legacy characters like Connor Hawke and they just weren't getting them anymore. Want to keep us here, keep us excited.

Jim Lee reveals he has cosplayed Velma from Scooby Doo before at an office party. He made a giant paper mache Velma head and wore it around.

They have been talking about bringing Anarky back, maybe in Detective Comics soon.

They had a cake to celebrate Jims 30th straight SDCC.

And to end the panel, Adrian is asked the final question. What will be the first book he writes for DC? He talks about how one of his favorites is Grant Morrison, which gets a huge laugh from DiDio. He is a rock star. He mentions loving his Multiversity arc and is looking forward to the sequel. So he wants to write part three.

Look out Grant, this kid is coming for you.

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