News: CG MegaCon Panel

[Ralph Kruhm]

Dingledidong!!! Frisch von Newsarama, some exciting news...

MEGACON CROSSGEN PANEL
Saturday at MegaCon’s CrossGen panel, the publisher and several creators looked ahead at the company’s 2004 offerings and plans, unveiling Raven House and dropping more than a few hints in the process. Highlights included:

In regards to El Cazador: The Bloody Ballad of Black Jack Tom, which ships this week and tells the story of the antagonist of the acclaimed series, writer Chuck Dixon said that the story is Black Jack’s history, which will show that once, he was a man full of promise and hope, but saw his life fall apart in the style of a Daniel Dafoe heartbreaker. Dixon promised that readers will be how he lost his hand, eye, face, and his “shiny outlook on life.”

When discussing the cover to an upcoming issue of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, artist and creator Mike Perkins said that a large clue will shortly be dropped that will play to the larger picture. VP of Publishing Bill Rosemann picked up the ball from there, saying that CrossGen has not abandoned the idea of a shared universe at all, and while the books and concepts will no longer be so tightly intertwined, even something as seemingly as divergent as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is connected to the larger picture.

In discussing previews of new projects being inserted into regular books, Rosemann fielded a complaint or two about the placement of banners heralding the preview on the covers. The complaints were echoed in a good-natured way with a ‘harumph’ from Negation artist Paul Pellitier. Rosemann said that, as with nearly everything in comics, it’s all about balance between art and commerce, and that while they want to respect eth artist’s work, they also need to let readers and retailers know that the preview is inside the issue.

Speaking later of the upcoming Negation War, Pellitier joked that he and writer Tony Bedard had once joked that the advertising copy for the miniseries should read: “CrossGen Universe created by Mark Alessi and Gina Villa. CrossGen Universe destroyed by Tony Bedard, Paul Pellitier, and David Meikis.”

In emphasizing Pellitier’s point, Bedard said of Negation War that “if an issue doesn’t surprise us by the time we’re done, we’ve done something wrong.”

Bedard also later said that he, personally wanted to show readers that CrossGen had not abandoned the larger sigilverse, and that revelations/inclusions of books seen to be more tangential to the larger picture, such as Route 666 have recently shown their connections to the larger picture. Bedard said that, as both a writer and fan, he was very concerned about readers who felt that they were left hanging when their favorite CrossGen titles were rather abruptly ended.

Rosemann, picking up on Bedard’s comments, said that readers of the sigilverse books that ended should pick up Negation #27, which not only sets up the coming war, but also explains where virtually all the CrossGen characters stand in the coming confrontation with the Negation forces.

When asked about the health of the company, Rosemann said that currently, CrossGen is focusing on stability – stressing things that are working, and ending things that don’t have a large demand, even if, Rosemann said, the books are tremendous favorites among the CrossGen staff and fans. To these ends, Rosemann said that CrossGen will continue to announce new projects (such as Raven House) throughout the spring and summer, both in new genres not yet explored by the company or industry at large, or in genres already represented in comics, but with new twists.

In regards to CrossGen’s Hollywood expansion plans, Rosemann said that virtually everything is in various stages of development. Dixon added that he and artists of the recently cancelled Way of the Rat had read the third and final rewrite of the Way of the Rat screenplay and were both thrilled.

As the movies happen, Rosemann explained, the comics will be brought back to capitalize on the interest and demand generated by the movies.

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Also, hier die Faktensammlung:
- CrossGen verfolgt weiter die Idee eines gemeinsamen Universums in all seinen Comics, aber längst nicht mehr in so enger Verbundenheit wie bisher.
- Es werden noch in diesem Jahr einige neue Projekte gestartet (wie z.B. Raven House).
- Die Arbeiten am WotR-Movie gehen weiter.
- Wenn ein Film zu einem eingestellten Comic startet, wird auch das Comic neu gestartet.

[Obregon Kaine]

und noch weiter zusammengefasst könnte man doch sagen, daß WotR definitiv neu gestartet wird, wenn der Film rauskommt...und kommen wird er ja nun.

Sauber!