While Sunday at Comic-Con International: San Diego is looked at by some as the “getaway” day and most of the major announcements have already been made, this year that wasn’t the case with quite a bit of news coming from Marvel, DC, and other publishers:
• Marvel will follow its current event mini-series Fear Itself with Fear Itself: Battle Scars, written by Matt Fraction, Chris Yost, and Cullen Bunn, with art by Scott Eaton. A new character will be introduced that will quickly become the center of attention in the Marvel Universe. Other series, including Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man will tie into Battle Scars.
Following Battle Scars is The Fearless, a 12-issue biweekly series again by Fraction, Yost, and Bunn that begins in November. The story focuses on the various mystical hammers that were an integral part of Fear Itself.
Fraction will be the writer of a new Defenders series scheduled to begin in December with Terry Dodson providing the art. In addition to original Defenders Namor, Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange, the group’s line-up includes Red She-Hulk and Iron Fist.
In Hulk news, Incredible Hulk will restart in October with a new #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Marc Silvestri. The first story arc “Hulk Asunder” pits Bruce Banner against his emerald alter-ego.
• DC shared animation news on Sunday, announcing the next three direct-to-DVD features for 2012. The lineup begins with Justice League: Doom, an adaptation of Mark Waid’s “Tower of Babel” story from JLA #43-46 (Jul-Oct 00). Joe Kelly’s Superman story “What’s So Funny abut Truth, Justice, and the American Way?” is the basis for Superman vs. The Elite.
And, DC confirmed long-standing rumors that its next Batman animated feature is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight.
• At the First Comics revival panel, Max Allan Collins announced that that the entire run of Ms. Tree will be collected and returned to print. The detective series, written by Collins and illustrated by Terry Beatty, ran for 50 issues (plus three specials) from 1983 to 1989, starting at Eclipse before moving to Aardvark-Vanaheim and, later, Renegade. A quarterly anthology series ran 10 issues from DC from 1990-1992 and Collins also wrote a prose novel featuring the character.
• Yen Press will adapt Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and has scheduled it to begin in 2012. Innovation adapted the novel in a 12-issue series in the early 1990s.
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