I attended the New 52 Panel today. But I don’t know how much longer DC can keep calling it the “New” 52, yeah it’s catchy and everything, but come on... it’s been a little more than a year. Anyways the Panel was showcasing what was to come in the next year or so for most of their books.
The Panel consisted of Gregg Capullo, Jeff Lemire, Adam Glass, Justin Jordan, and Aaron Kuder.
A new Justice League title will be hitting shelves in February 2013, the book… Justice League of America. This will not replace Justice League, but it will be a new book in the upcoming fourth wave.
The team is a mash up of misfits in my opinion, which is why I am looking forward to it. It consists of Green Arrow, Katana, Martian Manhunter, the new Green Lantern, Stargirl, Vibe, Hawkman and Catwoman. This team as DC put it, “Contains the most dangerous heroes”. The title will be written by Geoff Johns and drawn by David Finch.
Next up was the multi-title bat story arc Death of the Family in which surprise guest Scott Snyder took the podium to talk a bit about what we can expect from the “clown prince of crime” AKA the Joker in the upcoming events. As Snyder put it Joker is sick and twisted and in his sick and twisted mind believes that he has been helping Batman become stronger by testing him. But the Joker believes Batman has become weak with all the help he created, Nightwing, Red Robin, Batgirl, Damian Wayne etc. So it is up to the Joker to “help” Batman out yet again. In case you don’t know what that means…. He’s going to try to kill all of Batman’s allies.
The talk then shifted from Batman to the Dark titles. In the upcoming issues of one of my favorite titles, Justice League Dark, Frankenstein from Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE will join the team. Also when the current story arc ends a new story arc titled The Death of Magic will come into effect. Lemire said, “The story arc will have permanent ramifications to the team.” Next up was Swamp Thing. As Swamp Thing is trapped in the twisted Rotworld he will come upon the warped Batcave. In which he will do battle with Man-Bat but the corrupted person is not Batman or Dr. Kirk Langstrom, but as Lemire said, “One of the females.” Batwoman or Batgirl perhaps?
Next up were the Edge titles. All Star Western became the talk of the town when it was stated that everybody’s favorite scarred bounty hunter Jonah Hex will travel to the year 2050 and team up with Adam Strange. Then Jordan talked about Suicide Squad, which I love, he stated that the upcoming story arc will be very, “Deadshot centric” along with various backgrounds for each member being fleshed out. He also talked about the interpersonal conflicts becoming even more heated. Then it was time for the newest Edge title Team 7 to take center stage. It was revealed that the upcoming villain Eclipso will make his first New 52 appearance in the Pages of Team 7. The last of the Edge titles to be discussed was Deathstroke. Now I haven’t been reading Deathstroke, Grifter, or Savage Hawkman since Rob Liefeld came on, but I did before hand, and now that he’s gone and can start reading some good stories again. Jordan wants to make Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke more than just “a killer with a gun” but he wants to show the strategic side of him. The upcoming story arc will have a very heavy focus on tactics.
Lastly they talked about my favorite Green Lantern book on the stands right now, Green Lantern: New Guardians. The upcoming arc will focus on Kyle Rayner trying to gain the powers of the 7 lanterns to become the next white lantern. He will have help from Carol Ferris AKA Star Sapphire along the way.
That was about it from the New 52 panel.
What is your favorite New 52 book out right now?
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