Alex and I are both in the Dark Nights: Metal/Dark Matter panel, and we’re live-blogging to catch any of the big announcements related to DC’s big Summer event.
- The panel opens with Dan DiDio introducing Scott Snyder (dressed as Greg Capullo), with Capullo slow to follow out and doing his own Snyder impression.
- Snyder begins by introducing the concept of Metal – explaining the Dark Multiverse, and how Nth Metal is the only thing that can stop it.
- Snyder said the intent of this event is to be an engine of the new, with new concepts and new characters but it will have references to all other DC Crises.
- Snyder stresses that while this has deep ties to his Batman run, it will be new reader friendly, and he also wants to create an event that is the perfect escape from the stressful time we live in.
- DiDio then unveiled some art from the book itself
- DiDio then segued into the first image seen of the Dark Knights that will battle Batman from the Dark Multiverse
- Snyder says each of the worlds from the Dark Multiverse will represent Batman’s worst nightmares come to life. He says he’s very excited about unveiling their individual origins, like “what would happen if Batman experimented with the Doomsday virus to keep Superman from dying again?” Or “what if Batman used a White Lantern ring to bring his parents back to life?”
- There is one that is leading them that won’t be revealed just yet, called The Batman Who Laughs
- He also announced a new tie-in book called Justice League: Bats Out Of Hell
- Snyder states that Batman begins to believe that everything he’s done since Court of the Owls has led to the release of this evil force into the DC universe.
- Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis and Darkseid War all have their DNA entwined in the story.
- DiDio then introduces some of the creatives involved with Dark Matter, such as Robert Venditti, Jim Lee, and James Tynion IV.
- DiDio also reveals a new book called Brimstone drawn by Phillip Tan, who also joins.
- And in a big surprise, Jeff Lemire has joined the talent on stage with a new Dark Matter book called The Terrifics.
- DiDio then turned the panel over to the creators involved with these Dark Matter books.
- Tynion began to describe his conceptual base for The Immortal Men, which built out of a conversation with Lee regarding pyramids being built over a lifetime.
- Tynion was greatly attracted to the idea of building new characters within the DC universe, which he felt hadn’t happened in some time. He described the idea of playing within the deep, rich tapestry of the DCU with Jim Lee was “a very cool feeling”.
- Lemire then took the mic, and announced he will be writing Hawkman Found with Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan (!!!!!!)
- Also it was revealed that Ivan Reis will be the artist on The Terrifics.
- Phillip Tan explained that Brimstone was his opportunity to draw the horror elements he loved. He jokingly pitched it as “I want to draw people getting their heads cut off” (DiDio told him he couldn’t do that during that conversation) and said that his writer on the project, Justin Jordan, is sicker than he is.
- Snyder then described New Challengers, his title with Andy Kubert as “Kirby meets Lost”, and lets Kubert draw tons of really cool monsters.
- Venditti rounded things out stating that he’d wanted to contribute Damage to the DCU for some time. He described him as a “giant wrecking ball” and unlike anything in the DCU right now. He also said that Tony Daniel, his collaborator, is perfect for the type of walking disaster the character represents.
- DiDio then reveals that one of the big changes of Dark Matter is that the writers are working in “plot style” rather than in full scripts, allowing the artists to really cut loose. Lemire found this especially appealing, as it made his already fast writing process even faster.
- Snyder highlighted that this line was a collective, and will represent a seismic effort at DC.
- Capullo, following up, described his own creative process on the 7 evil Batmen, “let me recall my childhood…oh that was pretty awful…I can’t tell you the formula, I search for the essence (of each character) and that’s it”.
- Snyder praised the level of detail Capullo brought to each character. “It’s been pretty awesome” says Capullo.
- DiDio then turned things back over to Tynion, who has been pulling a number of levers behind the scenes with both Dark Days: The Forge and Dark Days: The Casting
- He describes how he planted seeds for a number of these books within those two prelude titles, such as the Silencer reference in The Forge, and the two Immortal Men references in both books.
- Tynion also teased the scary design of The Batman Who Laughs, one of the Dark Multiverse Batman books he’s writing.
- Venditti shared that there will be some Metal tying in with Hal Jordan and the GLC # 32.
- He also added that they had a planning dinner last night, with many of the panelists and others including Joshua Williamson
- DiDio says they’ll be introducing two books a month, starting in December, with no variant covers and each book will be priced at $2.99.
- Lee then announced that these Dark Matter books will have vertical gate fold covers, an idea he introduced. He says those covers will foreshadow events in their respective series.
- Q: “any favorite moments in Metal and Dark Matter you can tease?”
- Capullo: “I drew Swamp Thing and it was one of the best moments of my life”
- Snyder: “we want Metal to be like you’re at this incredible concert”
- In response to a question about Plastic Man’s suit looking like Offspring’s from the old Kingdom series, Lemire said that will play into the upcoming Terrifics book.
- Q: Any plans for Duke Thomas after Metal?
- Snyder announces a new book starring the character called Batman: The Signal which will be co-written by Tony Patrick, one of his writing students that has a real passion for the character. Duke will be Gotham’s “hero by day”.
And we’re out! Lots of excitement coming our way later this year!
