Dynamite Announcements From Emerald City Comicon
By News Editor
March 4, 2013 - 19:58
Dynamite
Entertainment Founder Nick Barrucci brought a who’s who of comic book talent to
the Emerald City Comicon this weekend. Among those in attendance were Matt
Wagner, Mark Waid, Brandon Jerwa, Robert Napton, Chris Roberson, Ron Marz, Mark
Rahner, Eric Trautman, cover artist Francesco Francavilla and newly announced Red
Sonja writer Gail Simone.
The first issue of the new ongoing series will feature the work of an
all-female group of artists, inlcuding Nicola Scott, Colleen Doran, Jenny
Frisson, Stephanie Buscema and Fiona Staples.
“You’re definitely going to find humor,” Simone said. “I wouldn’t say Red
Sonja’s funny herself, but she does have a couple of tomboy twins that feel
it’s their duty to protect her at all times – as if she needed it.”
Writer Mark Waid spoke of his upcoming Green
Hornet book, which will feature the 1940-era Green Hornet. His story will
follow the continuity established by the radio show, while at the same time
launching out of the Green Hornet history set up in Matt Wagner’s Green
Hornet: Year One series.
Writer Ron Marz promoted several projects including Prophecy for
Dynamite, as well as an original graphic novel Ravine from Image. He is
also writing The Protectors with Chicago Bears’ defensive lineman Israel
Idonije. It will be published by Idonije's Athleta Comics.
Francisco Francavilla was introduced by Barrucci as the artist who “is in steep
competition with Alex Ross for the most monthly Dynamite covers.” Francavilla
is also working on his own creation, the Black Beetle, for Dark Horse
and is slated to work on Hawkeye for Marvel Comics.
Chris Roberson commented on his current series, Masks, which features pulp
heroes such as The Shadow, the Spider and the Green Hornet. “As a fan of those
heroes since childhood, it just made sense that those guys would bump into each
other,” he said.
Barrucci explained that each character is owned by a different company and it
took more than two years to get the rights. He said that The Shadow was a key
element, so once they got his rights, it was all downhill from there.
Barrucci hopes to do more in the Masks universe, and has also been
talking to Roberson about another character they hope to get in another year or
so, and are excited by the prospects.
Fan reaction to the series has been fervent, even when The Shadow
beat up Kato in the story. Wagner said, “Well, in that group, he’s like
Superman.”
Meanwhile, Wagner’s Shadow: Year One miniseries has been expanded from
eight to 10 issues.
Of Kirby: Genesis Barrucci said “‘Kirby:
Genesis’ had a great story, but my excitement for it had us put out two
spinoffs right away, and that hurt sales with retailers. When we bring it back,
I want to bring it back as solid as possible with as many sales as
possible," Barrucci said. He echoed the same commitment to SuperPowers,
saying “We just want to make sure we bring it back right. Because, it is a
universe of characters – it’s a universe we love. This is going to be our third
outing with it, and if we don’t get it right this time, or if we don’t make it
as big as possible, we can’t do it anymore.”
Jerwa offered some words of praise to Barrucci and Dynamite: “I want to give
you guys credit. This is not something that I think people are aware of, but
I’m sure everyone on the panel would say this, Nick and Joe, our editor – they
actually let us write the damn books. They get people that want to work on
their books, and then let them do just that.”
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