Posted in: Comics | Tagged: boom, Comics, wondercon

Alien Bursting Out Of Mickey Mouse's Gut – That Boom Wondercon Panel In Full

Peter S. Svensson writes for Bleeding Cool. Some other bloke without a middle initial writes for the Associated Press. Don't mix us up.

The Boom Panel was an intimate affair, being held late in the afternoon.  The running joke was that most of the attendees had already left to grab dinner. CEO Ross Richie and EIC Matt Gagnon held court, along with managing editor Bryce Carlson and Supurbia artist Russell Dauterman. Supurbia having been written by our very own Grace Randolph.

Richie started by recapping last year's successful launches for Boom: Planet of the Apes, Elric, and Hellraiser. All of which are series that Richie was fond of growing up, and which he felt honored to get the chance to work on. Daryl Gregory continues to write the Planet of the Apes ongoing, which is a vastly underrated book in Ye Writers opinion. A new miniseries Exile On The Planet of the Apes has just started, a followup to the successful Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes by the creative team of Gabriel Hardman and his wife Corrina Sara Bechko with interiors by Marc Laming.

Hellraiser continues into it's second year of publication under the guidance of writer Clive Barker. The comic is canonical, and is only the second time that Barker has personally returned to the franchise. A new Pinhead has been introduced, while the old one remains in the book in a different capacity. Richie made a point of stating that Barker has no editorial filters on his vision at Boom, unlike movie studios or book publishers he has worked with in the past.

The Elric stories by Michael Moorcock were a major influence on Richie growing up, and he is continually delighted to be able to publish new ones as an adult. Along with Chris Roberson, who is a giant fan as well, they came up with the idea to do a comic that pulled out all the stops. A Crisis of Infinite Eternal Champions, uniting Elric with the other aspects of Moorcock's multiversal hero. The 10th issue of the series will be hitting stores shortly.

Having covered the successes of 2011, the panel moved on to the successes of 2012: Peanuts and Adventure Time. Peanuts was an amazing success, as Boom was able to get the approval of the Charles Schultz estate, working hand in hand with them to create new stories that were inspired by the original comic strip. Many of the creators of the comic work at Charles Schulz Creative Associates. Shane Houghton has been hired to work on Peanuts, a wonderful creator who along with his brother publish the charming Image series Reed Gunther, which Ross plugged. (He has absolutely no qualms to promote work by other publishers. A class act.)

Adventure Time is the biggest success in Boom's history, having already gone for a third printing after a month of publication. The first printing of issue 1 sold out 10 days before release. The second printing sold out in a single day. The third printing was expected to last months and is nearly depleted making a fourth printing inevitable. No Boom title in the past has ever needed a third printing. The second issue sold out in a day, and a second printing of issue two is on the way.

Based on the fantastic animated series on Cartoon Network, Adventure Time is written by the fantastic Ryan North, who also does the witty webcomic Dinosaur Comics. The art team of Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb illustrate the main story, while self-contained backups are done by some of the best independent creators. Chris Houghton (the other Reed Gunther creator) will be doing a cover for issue 5. As will Eleanor Davis. As will James Kolchaka. As will Gabe from Penny Arcade. That issue will also feature a Paul Pope backup.

Garfield is their next launch for their Kaboom kids imprint. Jim Davis personally approved Boom getting the license to Garfield based on having personally enjoyed the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers comic they put out last year. Mark Evanier, who is not just the writer of Groo, but wrote the 90s Garfield cartoon and produces the current one, will be writing the comic along with artist Gary Barker, who currently illustrates the comic strip.

Peanuts introduced the idea of the "First Appearance" variant covers, showing characters as they first appeared. Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus were the first three, and Snoopy will be the variant for the final issue of the first Peanuts miniseries. Garfield will also be getting that treatment, with the titular cat being the variant coverfor the first issue.

The Boomtown Imprint launched last year with the Eisner-winning "I Thought You'd Be Funnier." This year it will be releasing a graphic novel "Pete and Miriam" by creator Pete Tommaso. It deals with his growing up in Jersey in the 70s and 80s, and his relationship with Miriam as they go from friends, to film school classmates, into more complicated territory. Boomtown will also be releasing a graphic novel by indie music star and cartoonist Daniel Johnston, famous for his "Hi, how are you?" illustration. Space Ducks: An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness was originally launched on Kickstarter. It premiered at SXSW with an App that marries Johnston's music to his art in a way that no digital comic has been able to do before.

Howard Cruse, known primarily for his gay comics work such as the seminal Stuck Rubber Baby, will be having a volume of his other underground comics published by Boomtown. He did much more than just gay comics, with some biting and twisted comedic takes on established characters as well. Cruse was a contemporary of R. Crumb, and his work is likewise not for the faint of heart. Richie reminded the audience that this book will be collecting work that Cruse did in the 70s, and yet some of the Boom staffers would look at it in the bullpen and be shocked and awed by the content. Snippets shown included an adult Richie Rich-as-Donald Trump, and a grown-up tawdry affair between Little Lulu and Tubby. Also, Mickey Mouse breaking out of someone's gut ala Alien.

Superbia has just been released, with the first issue selling out. It's the first comic ever done by new artist Russell Dauterman, who told the story of how a successful portfolio review at last years San Diego Comic Con lead to him getting a chance on the book. Dauterman was perfect for the title, as he revealed he's the biggest fan of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and was overjoyed to work on a book which is Desperate Housewives with Superheroes. His big artistic inspirations are Chris Bachalo (from the Generation X era specifically), Frank Quitely, Bruce Timm, and classic vintage advertisements and illustrations.

Fanboys vs. Zombies will be released in April, written by rising star Sam "I write about people sleeping with dogs" Humphries. Preview art from the first issue was shown, about a zombie invasion at the San Diego Comic Con. Notably, it features the first appearance of CBR editor Jonah Weiland as the cast try to find shelter in the CBR skybox. (For a no-prize, name Rich Johnston's first appearance!) The 1 in 100 variant covers will be painted by Arthur Suydam based on classic DC covers, and will only be available in 9.8 CGC slabs. There will be no raw copies of those variants, meaning that if you actually want to read the comic, you will have to break it open. Or just buy a non-variant copy.

"YOU ARE ILLEGAL ON THIS EARTH" was the latest Boom viral marketing campaign, promoting Humphries next title Higher Earth. Rex and Heidi travel from Earth to Earth, going to an unending series of parallel Earths in search of the ruling world, the titular Higher Earth. Illustrated by Frazier Irving, this title will also get the 1-in-100 CGC treatment with Michael Golden covers.

The latest Boom marketing has been for Extermination, a post-superhero book written by Simon Spurrier. "What if Batman and Dr. Doom teamed up to fight an alien invasion?" was the basic concept. It will be premiering with a $1 first issue. Likewise, the 1-in-100 CGC treatment continues with John Cassaday sketch covers, with the main cover is by Cassaday. The main cover is by Michael Gaydos.

Free Comic Book Day will see the launch of Hypernaturals, a new title by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. This is apparently to be a really big book, but apparently it's still too early to promote properly. It will be big.

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