The best thing about the Image panel was the knowledge that there were people in the audience pre-seated for a celebration of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES—people who have likely never read a single issue of a comic in their lives, but were about to be subjected to the likes of Ed Brubaker, Joe Casey, Rick Remender, J. Michael Straczynski, Nick Dragotta, Brandon Montclare, and Amy Reeder. Comic book rockstars.
Brubaker talked up the next “rock and roll sex cult mystery” arc for FATALE, as well as his new espionage series VELVET with Steve Epting. “If you liked the Captain America stuff I did with him…” began Brubaker, before Casey interjected, “If you like popular, timeless sh–, it could be good, then.” The crowd laughed, but I suspected that printed media would never capture these people the way television had, which was depressing to think about.
Panelists played the usual word games for Joe Casey’s SEX (“Go to your local shop and buy SEX!”), but what I find interesting is that Casey and so many editors prefer to talk up the “sex” aspect when the book is actually a fascinating neon neo-noir study of washed up characters in a once-explosive city. Of course, tabloid-worthy terms are what sells to the general public, but do regular comic readers really need such condescending interpretations of their interests? At least the gimmick elicited a few giggles—probably from people who haven’t even read the book.
Nick Dragotta talked EAST OF WEST, his runaway hit with Jonathan Hickman that tries to “make Death likeable” and stylishly bring about the apocalypse. “When you support Image, you create a better industry,” said Dragotta—very true, since the more demand there is for non-Big 2 titles, the more diverse and creative the market becomes. To emphasize the point, Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder pimped their upcoming ROCKET GIRL to be a pensive look at an alternate future where jetpacks and flying cars are actually a thing. The Rocket Girl is sent back in time to figure out what went wrong with our universe. I’d like to know, too. And she can look into teleportation devices while she’s at it.
Rick Remender mentioned his love for Frazetta themes and out-there science fiction before introducing BLACK SCIENCE—that he’s not so much challenging himself with the book as falling back into what he’s always loved to do. Funny, I would say that his current Marvel titles, CAPTAIN AMERICA and UNCANNY AVENGERS, are out-there science fiction as well. Do I sense a theme? Remender is also doing DEADLY CLASS, “an examination of growing up in the mid-80s along with children being trained to become assassins.” J. Michael Straczynski introduced SIDEKICK, a gritty superhero story in which he promises to put a kid through “absolute sh–.”
The most interesting parts of the panel came when the audience lined up to ask questions. “I like people to understand the difference between sexy and sexist,” said Brubaker, whose FATALE heroine is famously sexy but certainly capable of running her own life. He also claims that an advantage of doing books for Image is the ability to use “lots of f-words.” Hear, hear!
“[Comics are] such a wide medium—you can do anything you want, and there’s no budget!” exclaimed Remender. Such a good point. These are big cheese creators taking pet projects to a publisher that has stepped up to change the comics industry. Image has become a veritable smorgasbord of capable storytelling, and audiences would do well to remind themselves of that next time they claim there’s “nothing good on TV.”
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