Comic Vine News

24 Comments

FanExpo 2011 Announcements and Photo Superpost!

Toronto played host to Canada's biggest comic-and-nerd convention this past weekend: come inside to check out all the coverage, including new talent announcements from Marvel and some intriguing news about the New 52!

Every year, thousands of nerds from Canada and the US flock to FanExpo, a four-day convention held every August in Toronto. This is easily the biggest convention in the Great White North, so why not combine everything awesome that happened into...

This photo-bomb was too good to pass up.
This photo-bomb was too good to pass up.

Both Marvel and DC were major presences at this convention, with the joint DC/Warner Bros. booth taking up a good chunk of the floor space. Convention attendees were able to play a demo of Batman: Arkham City and pre-order the game from inside the booth. I had a chance to sit down and talk with one of the developers about the story of Arkham City, and the different playstyles of the characters; that post will be up on ComicVine ASAP!

But let's get into the news, shall we?

Hmm. I wonder what THIS could mean...
Hmm. I wonder what THIS could mean...

Marvel announced that veteran indie and Vertigo scribe Brian Wood would be coming into the fold to work on a Wolverine book, based on a teaser image. As Brian's one of my favourite writers, I'm happy to see him get more work.

They also announced that Alpha Flight, which had previously been an eight-issue miniseries, would be extended to an ongoing. Readers would find the team as part of a "Commonwealth of Heroes," which would do great to give the team some flavour. Excalibur fans, take note: Captain Britain and MI-13 will be playing a part in the series.

At DC's "New 52" panel, it was revealed that James Robinson (Starman, Justice League) would be writing a Justice Society ongoing, which would take place on Earth Two. This was the first time that anything parallel Earth-related had been announced for the reboot, so it's definitely big news!

Robinson also discussed his Shade mini-series, which would feature artists like Darwyn Cooke, Gene Ha and Jill Thompson. Each of the story arcs will take place in different time periods, depicting different areas of The Shade's life. Definitely a star-studded lineup!

Dan Didio also informed the audience that Stephanie Brown would be re-assuming the mantle of Spoiler in the new 52; this came after a question about the different Batgirls, and what would happen to them in the new continuity. Sadly, there was nothing specific mentioned about Cassandra Cain.

As always, I had a chance to take some pictures of cosplay, and other awesome things! Check the gallery below for all the goings-on at this year's FanExpo!

---

Like what I have to say and want to read more? Want to yell at me about comics, the Internet and whatever else? Follow me on my Twitter or my personal Tumblr!