Superman The Man of Tomorrow Panel at Comic Con

OSCK did not make to Comic Con for the opening day on Thursday so we missed the Superman panel but I have found 4 really good write ups of the panel which outline where the DC creative team intends to take Superman to make him the number one superhero again. Geoff Johns who will be writing the upcoming Smallville episode Legion was one of the key members of the DC Superman team and had a lot of cool things to share with the Comic Con crowd.

From IGN.com
SDCC 08: DC Brings Superman Into New Era

All-star panel gathers to discuss the future of the Man of Tomorrow.

July 24, 2008 – DC’s first panel of Comic-Con focused on one of its most legendary heroes, Superman. With epic storylines kicking off and new creative teams stepping on board some of the key titles in the franchise, right now is a good time to be a fan of the Man of Steel. Sterling Gates (writer, Supergirl), Jamal Igle (artist, Supergirl), James Robinson (writer, Superman), Geoff Johns (writer, Action Comics) and Renato Guedes (artist, Superman) assembled to field questions from show attendees.

Sadly no major announcements were made during the panel, but the Q&A did reveal a few interesting concepts and bits of news. We’ve recapped the most important ones below.
# Johns is very excited about the future of Superman as he, Robinson and Sterling are gearing up to align the three titles as has been done with the two Green Lantern books. Johns noted that once they are set up properly, he wants to tell “crazy and big stories.”
# Johns mentioned the “New Krypton” storyline which will kick off with a one-shot special. Johns mentioned that the upcoming arc would deal with Kandor being placed on Earth. The Kryptonians of Kandor believe that Earth is now their New Krypton. Superman disagrees, and a conflict kicks off from that point. READ MORE ON IGN

From Comicmix.com
SDCC: Superman: Man of Tomorrow panel
New Krypton and new directions for the Big Red ‘S’

DC Comics ran their first panel of the show on Thursday morning with DC: Superman: Man of Tomorrow. The panel was moderated by editor Matt Idelson and featured writers Geoff Johns, James Robinson, and Sterling Gates along with artists Jamal Igle and Renato Guedes (who was provided with a translator, yet never spoke).

Johns kicked off the panel by asking how many in the crowd were reading Action Comics to a strong, but noticeably short of unanimous, ovation. He then continued to explain that what they’re trying to do right now in the books is to create a cohesive universe for Superman so they can “start telling big excellent stories”.

As an example of a big excellent story Johns went on to explain the upcoming “New Krypton” story arc. Coming out of the current Brainiac story Kandor will be restored to full size on Earth. “100,000 Kryptonians come to Earth and say, cool this is New Krypton, and Superman’s like, ‘no it ain’t.’” said Johns.

The panel then turned towards the role of Supergirl in the upcoming stories. Gates expressed a desire to turn the book from a “B”-list title to a more marquee title. Igle said of Gates’ first issue, “I was surprised at how good his script was. I had to go back and read it twice.”

Johns went on to discuss the return of Cat Grant to the Superman titles and the relationship between her and Supergirl. He said that one of the first thing she would do is publish an article called “Why the World Doesn’t Need a Supergirl.” It was later revealed that this article would make up the first page of Gates’ run on Supergirl. READ THE REST ON COMICMIX

MajorSpoilers.com
SDCC’08: Superman Panel

The Superman Man of Tomorrow panel was the first presentation from DC, and featured Senior Editor Matt Idelson, Superman writer James Robinson and artist Renato Guedes, Action Comics’ Geoff Johns and artist Joe Prado, artist Jamal Igle and writer Sterling Gates from Supergirl.

The good news is everyone involved in the Superman titles are working together to make sure the stories work and flow easily from one title to the next.  That seems to be quite a bit better than what is being done with a certain dark protector, who has seen at least one talented writer step away because of “something”.

It was pointed out that the Superman/Batman series will not be playing in the same sandbox as the rest of the Superman titles.

The New Krypton story line sees the citizens of Rokyn – the restored city of Kandor from Superman #338, make a mass migration to Earth, believing it to be their rightful home.

With the return of the multiverse, seeing the return of many Silver Age stories and themes appears to be to be a likely theme for the next couple of years.  Robinson pointed out that the group is trying as best they can to bring back as many Superman characters into the stories as they can.

Kat Grant and Supergirl are not going to be fast friends as the gossip columnist writes a scathing article called “Why The World Doesn’t Need a Supergirl”.  Shocking… pulling a title from Superman Returns.

Stories are already planned well into 2010 for all the titles, and the New Krypton story is just the tip of the beginning.

Those reading Final Crisis can breathe a sigh of relief as Lois Lane isn’t really dead – or at least that’s the message I got when Johns said they have many things planned for her.

Jimmy isn’t dead either, and look for Robinson to rework the character so he is on the path to be the greatest reporter in Metropolis.

Krypto will have a big role in the DCU.

Alex Ross is working on a Kingdom Come/New Earth Superman team up.  I don’t know how original of a story that would be as we’ve already seen the two together in the pages of JSA.

Things are still in flux as far as the Siegel Estate lawsuit goes.

Doomsday?  Yes… As much as I liked the concept and story of The Death and Return of Superman, Doomsday has served his purpose, and is a character I wish writers would stop bringing back.

From Newsarama

Superman is generally considered the first superhero, so it makes some sense that DC Comics started their programming schedule at Comic-Con International in San Diego early Thursday afternoon with their “DC: Superman: Man of Tomorrow” panel.

In recent years, heavily comic book centric panels like this at Comic-Con – especially early on Thursday – haven’t attracted massive crowds like the celebrity-filled TV and movie panels. But Superman, evidently still a draw after all these years, attracted a line that stretched outside, with the panel itself filling the convention center’s large 6B conference room. Given that the convention sold out all four days last week, such lines will likely be the status quo for the rest of the weekend.

Panel moderator Matt Idelson, editor of the Superman books, was joined by new Supergirl creative team Sterling Gates (writer) and Jamal Igle (artist), Action Comics writer Geoff Johns, Superman writer James Robinson and artist Renato Guedes. Action Comics artist Gary Frank was in absentia.

The writers started the panel by giving some quick hints about upcoming storylines. Johns discussed the nine-part “New Krypton” crossover, starting in October (running through Action Comics, Superman and Supergirl, with Kryptonians declaring Earth to be “New Krypton). READ MORE on NEWSARAMA