Sam “The Hammer” Humphries, one of the hosts of the DC Daily show and the writer of comics such as Dial H for Hero, moderated this past weekend’s DC Universe panel at C2E2, where new content available only on the DC Universe app was revealed.
Firstly, he introduced Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn) to the stage, where Palmiotti was asked about his involvement in the new DCU Advice Column. Fans can submit questions to the column and he and Amanda Conner, as well as Harley Quinn, will answer their questions. They’ve done a couple recently and they mostly involved complicated relationship stuff, like one where someone complained about their boyfriend. Not all questions were that serious, however; they were also asked about what Bane can’t break.
With that, Humphries introduced the next reveal, DC You Unscripted. He called Jim Lee onto the stage, where they discussed the process of how they chose these three new shows for the digital platform. DC gathered a group of unique individuals together to pitch a pilot for DC Universe to film, and the winners were: Comic Book Road Trip (re-named Cross Country Comic Shop), Cosplay Clash, and Arkham Escape (re-named Escape from Arkham).
Cross Country Comic Shop focuses on how shops are the centres of certain communities, and shape the coming-of-age stories that many young readers experience, where store owners help readers navigate the things they love. Lee said it’s a story that resonates with all audiences, and confirmed that Portland’s Books and Pictures will feature in the show.
Cosplay Clash features a competition among cosplayers, and portrays how communities form around the hobby. Lee mentioned that episodes will be themed, like one showcasing the upcoming film Wonder Woman 1984.
Escape from Arkham is a sadistic escape room competition, one DC wanted to root into their mythology. To do this, they brought on board a creative consultant to help them in that regard: Scott Snyder.
Humphries called Snyder onto the stage, who immediately sang the praises of C2E2. They were the first con to invite him after the first issue of American Vampire came out. He signed a free copy for someone who promptly threw it in the trash; he had to go fish it out and clean it up to give to someone else. The reason he wanted to join the team of Escape from Arkham was because he loved that DC gave these opportunities to fans, kind of like what he did with the DC Talent Workshop. The game show features challenges where you have to decide how bad you want to be in order to win; will you trust your fellow cellmate or betray them? Rogues offer power-ups, and Batman himself is even a part of it somehow. Snyder’s job is making sure it’s evil enough, he said, as well as making it accessible for fans unfamiliar with DC’s mythology, while also making it familiar enough for established fans. Not an easy job, eh?
Lastly, Humphries talked about the DC Universe All-Star Games, produced by and starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Sam Witwer (Star Wars Rebels). In the show, Prinze, Witwer, and a few others play the 80s role-playing board game DC Heroes.
Before the panel ended, Humphries dropped a surprise on those attending: the audience was about to watch the first episode of the new season of Harley Quinn, a DC Universe exclusive. He kindly asked us not to talk about the show online so I won’t give anything away other than it’s insane and pretty hilarious. I live in Canada where we don’t have DC Universe, so this was my first exposure to the show and I really enjoyed it.
If there’s one thing I got from this panel, it’s that DC Universe is sending a message to everyone, saying that they’re still going to be around despite some of the recent rumours as to the future of the service.
