Sorry, Bay Area: WonderCon looks like it’s staying in Anaheim next year – probably.

For months a huge question mark has loomed over the location of 2013’s WonderCon, one of the largest comics conventions in the United States. In an exclusive interview with Comic-Con International’s v-p of marketing and public relations David Glanzer, he revealed that the answer is Anaheim—but that could change, as Comic-Con International, the non-profit organization that runs the show, may still get dates in the fall for a Bay Area show. In which case that show will be WonderCon and the Anaheim show will be rebranded an as-yet unnamed new SoCal show.

Confused? Go read Heidi Macdonald’s piece at Publisher’s Weekly, and things will start to make slightly more sense. Or, actually, maybe not considering how surreal the situation seems to be.

Here’s Axel Alonso, talking about creative churn in Marvel NOW!:

You will not — repeat not — see a creative team of a Marvel NOW! series kicked to the curb off after the fourth, fifth or even seventeenth issue. The writers of the books we’ve announced — Brian Bendis on “All-New X-Men,” Jonathan Hickman on “Avengers,” Matt Fraction on “Fantastic Four,” Rick Remender on “Captain America,” Jason Aaron on “Thor: God of Thunder,” Kieron Gillen on “Iron Man,” Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn on “Deadpool” — have long-term plans for the titles that they will see through. We’re talking 2- to 3-year plans, at the least. And 85-90% of the time, the artist who draws #1 will be the regular artists on the title: John Romita Jr. on “Captain America,” Mark Bagley on “Fantastic Four,” Mike Allred on “FF,” Greg Land on “Iron Man,” Esad Ribic on “Thor: God of Thunder”… With the exception of one yet-unannounced title that will feature rotating creative teams, these books will be the product of long-term vision.

I was just thinking about this earlier today, after seeing that Jamie McKelvie announced as the regular artist for Defenders with #8, was leaving the book with #10 as his last issue. That reminded me about the similarly short runs by “regular” artists like Joe Maduriera on Avenging Spider-Man (Gone by #4, although his comeback has been promised at some undefined point in the future) and Marc Silvestri on The Incredible Hulk (Again, gone by #4). Even Stuart Immonen was pulled from New Avengers after #7 for another project, demonstrating that it’s not always an issue of deadlines as much as if artists suddenly end up on other projects for whatever reason (How many issues of Ultimate Spider-Man did Sara Pichelli manage before leaving that book?).

I’m not in any way disbelieving Alonso’s claim on the longevity of writers on the Marvel NOW! titles; Marvel has rarely had such problems in the past – Look at Avengers or Captain America for the last near-decade! – and it generally knows better than to micromanage its creators off titles in the same way that DC has demonstrated on the New 52 books. But artist continuity? Yeah, that I am far more cynical about, given the past efforts of Marvel to keep creative teams together, and the increasingly meaningless definition of “regular artist” at Marvel over the last couple of years. We can only wait and see if things get better from here on out.

Update: In a conference call with the comic book press, Uncanny Avengers writer Rick Remender revealed that along with previous established series antagonist Red Skull, Marvel villains Kang the Conqueror and Apocalypse also are set to play major roles in the book. Apocalypse has played a major role throughout Remender’s run on Uncanny  X-Force, and the writer stated that elements of that book will cross-pollinate into Uncanny Avengers, in a “grand, huge story that I’m wildly excited about.”

The call also revealed that the final lineup of the series — currently known to include Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Rogue, Scarlet Witch and team leader Havok — will include about nine to 10 members, and that the team will be based out of Avengers Mansion.

Our full report, with plenty more details, is below.

Original story: Hello! Writer Rick Remender and Marvel senior vice president of publishing Tom Brevoort are scheduled to talk Marvel NOW! launch title Uncanny Avengers with the comic book press this afternoon, and we’ll be on the line. Keep reloading this page for updates!

As we’re waiting for things to get started, new images from the series are here.

(more…)

What happened to Brian Wood’s run on X-Men?

Marvel’s new shipping updates includes this change:

X-MEN #38 has a new creative team: writer Seth Peck and artist Paul Azaceta, not Brian Wood and David Lopez as previously solicited.

Looking at Brian Wood’s own list of his upcoming releases, his last X-Men mention is, in fact, October’s #37 (He continues on Ultimate X-Men past then, so it’s not as if the list hasn’t been updated for Marvel releases), and Marvel’s Tom Brevoort ducked the question of whether or not Wood would be continuing on the title a couple of days ago on his Formspring page. Weirdly enough, Wood tweeted yesterday that #38 was “the last issue I was contracted to write,” suggesting that he’s totally done with the series – and yet, his last issue now apparently won’t be used (if it was, in fact, ever written; for all we know, Marvel changed plans before he’d had a chance to start).

Update: Seth Peck has revealed a few more details on Twitter: He’s on board for issues #38 and #39 “for sure,” a two-parter guest-starring Daredevil.

Update #2: Brian Wood has responded on his Tumblr, clarifying the situation:

I just read this Newsarama blog post that had some errors in it and suggested a couple things that aren’t true. I also get a lot of questions about my run on X-Men, so to clear up:

I was, way back, asked to write 8 issues of X-Men, and I have, concluding with #37. My name appeared in the solicitation for #38, but that was a typo. I have not written #38, as that blog post suggests. Seth Peth and (the amazing) Paul Azaceta are taking over the title.

So it’s all according to plan, I wasn’t taken off the book or anything weird like that. I’m sure it won’t be the last 616 X-Men I write. It also won’t be the last time I work with David Lopez.

Bleeding Cool’s Brendon Connelly has an interesting theory about the Labor Day Weekend re-release of Marvel’s The Avengers:

Marvel’s Facebook page tell us:

Don’t forget to stay through the credits…

Because there’s something new? Or just because there’s two little fun scenes already in there?

I would like to think it’s the former. Nobody in their right mind would court the kind of fan anger that would come from empty teases, would they? Are Marvel’s Facebook PR people really so naive?

He suggests that, just maybe, there’s a sneak preview of next summer’s Iron Man 3 for people to see. I have to admit, I’m doubtful, if only because I wouldn’t have thought any footage from the movie would be ready by now – It’s still shooting, isn’t it? – but it’s definitely not impossible, and that Marvel Facebook post is pretty weird if there’s not anything new in the credits… Still, as a tease, it’s worked; I didn’t have any plans to see the movie in theaters again this weekend, but now I am kind of tempted…

Greg Rucka talks sense* on the Superman/Wonder Woman pairing:

How I feel about the decisions Geoff and Jim have made on the book are entirely irrelevant and immaterial. What they have done is to decisively break with the past, and to run headlong into the “new.” Speaking as a writer, they’ve not only opened a can of worms, but they’ve also opened a vast arena of new stories to tell. Some of those stories may well be worth telling. Some of those stories may well be worth repeating, and even cherishing. And, yes, some of those stories may end up best forgotten. And some may argue they’re stories that never needed telling in the first place.

But to condemn DC, and Geoff Johns, and Jim Lee, for doing – at least with regards to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lois – exactly what the branding of NEW demands seems to me counterproductive. DC is, at least in this instance, walking their talk.

The entire blog post is well worth reading, especially Rucka’s suggestion for what to do if you don’t like the current direction of DC’s titles. It’s good advice, and should be remembered for everything that you’re buying and not enjoying.

(* I tend to agree with Rucka so much that I’m tempted to just start a regular thing called “Greg Rucka Talks Sense” which I just randomly quote him about various topics. That wouldn’t be weird, right…?)

CBR has some more from the Marvel NOW! conference call that Albert reported on earlier this week for the main site, including this explanation from Marvel’s VP of Sales, David Gabriel, as to why some books get relaunched from #1 and other don’t:

We had a lot of internal debate about this and e-mails back and forth and we had a lot of talk. I think one of the main things that we did not want to do is restart every single one of our books at a number one. I think that would’ve sent a disingenuous message to our customers and to [retailers]. I think it would have forced a lot of [retailers] to order incorrectly based on putting a #1 on there. There are some books that are just going to get creator changes and some books that are just going to get character shifts. ['Journey Into Mystery'] was a perfect book to switch characters on as was the ‘She-Hulk’ book and ‘Avengers Assemble.’

Now I’m even more confused. “Just going to get creator changes” would, surely, include the relaunched-from-#1 titles like Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, etc., wouldn’t it? I mean, yes, there’s going to be tonal shifts and new focuses coming from those creator changes, but that’s generally what happens when you have a new creative team, right…? Whereas something like Journey Into Mystery – which has a brand new creative team and change in lead character – doesn’t get a new #1 because…? Yeah, that’s still seeming inexplicably weird to me beyond “Sif isn’t the lead character in any of our movies, so she doesn’t get a new book.” Same with Red She-Hulk…

“It’s 5:30 in the morning, and I was wrapping up some other work – and kind of putting this off.” Jim Lee sleepily talks about that cover to Justice League #12, in this video from DC Comics: (more…)

The full schedule for next month’s MorrisonCon is online, revealing just what those attending the “intimate gathering featuring a hand-picked selection of some of the industry’s most exciting comic creators” can expect. It’s a mix of familiar con panels – There’s even a spotlight on Robert Kirkman, although it goes by the more impressive name “We Love The Dead” – and more ambitious and unusual ideas:

MorrisonCon kicks off in style with a new collaborative project – a one-off, never-to-be-repeated performance created especially for this event. Grant Morrison teams up with Gerard Way and James Dewees of My Chemical Romance for The Con – a thirty minute spoken-word piece with music. Part short story, part history, part occult ritual, as Howard Hughes faces Liberace in a duel to the death for the soul of Las Vegas!

You don’t see that kind of thing at SDCC, admit it.

You may remember, amongst Rob Liefeld’s Twitter assault last week, this part about the ever-changing minds at DC:

Grifter was to cross-over into a larger story with Helspont and the Daemonites. The other titles were Superman, Supergirl, Red Lantern[s]… I was told that Voodoo was ending and to implement her into the story. I had to connect to the events in the Superman annual. Grifter was featured in the Superman annual, as was Hawkman. I wrote Grifter #13 and it placed him in the center of the Daemonite plot. I arrived at Comic-con to be informed that the Superman office changed their mind, whatever that means and there was now no fall cross-over.  So issue #13 had to be re-written from page one. The Superman annual was also changed and Grifter was removed as was Hawkman. Voodoo still needed to be featured though as Grifter was her new home. All fine and good. You take a corporate assignment you take direction.

Here’s an unexpected twist: Grifter and Hawkman are very, very present in the Superman Annual as released today.

In fact, they’re there at the center of a Daemonite plot which, because I haven’t been following Superman, Grifter or Hawkman, makes very little sense to me whatsoever (I’m not being snarky; the Annual is quite clearly the culmination of threads that have been spread through those various books – including something that apparently picks up directly from Grifter #12 – so I was almost entirely lost). Now, this doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a fall crossover on the cards that was then dropped – Certainly, the solicits for issues between now and November would definitely suggest that it has – but it does just add another layer of confusion into the whole thing. Did Liefeld’s editor misunderstand what was going on with the Superman Annual? Did Liefeld?

Also: This means that the fall crossover plot was apparently created and then dropped at – appropriately for Superman, I guess – superfast speed. After all, the story that’s in today’s Superman Annual wasn’t the one originally announced for the issue, and the changeover was only made public less than four weeks ago. I’m beginning to suspect – especially having read the Annual – that the fall crossover wasn’t dropped at all, but instead just postponed for awhile. Certainly, the issue ends with an unresolved plot that feels like we’re going to see raised again, and pretty soon…

Found via the Forbidden Planet blog’s celebration of Mister Miracle for Jack Kirby’s 95th anniversary yesterday – Ramon Perez’ pilot version for a Mister Miracle strip developed for Zuda, DC’s now-defunct webcomics imprint:

i and a handful of others webcomics creators were approached to develop some ideas for new webcomic content for zuda based on existing dc comics properties. we were given free reign as to who to choose from… so i naturally chose my favourite dynamic duo of mr. miracle and big barda! if we had been given the green light i would have been weaving tales on a weekly basis starring perhaps my all time favourite kirby creations! the stories would have been short arcs outside of continuity.an awesome idea, nay, dare i say BRILLIANT!

but, unfortunately, like most brilliantly awesome ideas it never saw the light of day.

Hey, DC. Now that we have a New 52 with which to redevelop characters and concepts, this might be a great time to revisit this…

Over at iFanboy, Jim Mroczkowski wonders why he reads comics:

One recent example of my mental pretzel, as the time for making preorders draws near:
Rick Remender is great. I love Rick Remender on Venom.
Cullen Bunn is also great. The Sixth Gun is a delight.
Rick Remender leaves Venom. I say, “Do I need to keep reading Venom now? Meh? I’m suddenly acting like Remender gave birth to this character from my childhood. Cullen Bunn… I dunno….”
Rick Remender gets Avengers. I say, “I dunno… Rick Remender…?”

(See also: Hickman, Jonathan, uncontested talent and brilliance of.)

They hop from book I like to book I like, and suddenly I’m treating them like some chancy unknown quantity. Clearly, there’s more going on here than “I like writers.”

Poor Remender got it again from me on another book. “This just in: Brubaker is off of Captain America and Winter Soldier.” “This just in: so much for Captain America and Winter Soldier. Local man to reclaim $7.00 a month.” As if Rick Remender, John Romita, and/or Jason Latour have ever done a book I didn’t love. (Well, I suppose Latour might have. To be fair, I haven’t the first opinion about the man yet, other than “you’re not the Winter Soldier’s daddy, and you can’t tell him what to do [door slam]!”)

Isn’t the issue that, when a writer – and these days, it’s generally a writer, because writer/artist teams are things of the past in terms of long runs, with the occasional exception like Fraction/Larocca on Invincible Iron Man – leaves a character, there’s a feeling on the part of the reader of having reached some sense of closure with that character, at least for awhile? It’s not like it was in years gone by where creators would disappear mid-story; these days, there are entire character arcs that really do bring things to some sense of completion, and so not wanting to continue with a series past a certain writer’s leaving doesn’t necessarily mean you’re disinterested in the incoming writer, just that you’ve reached a good point to take a break from that character’s life for awhile. Or am I entirely imagining that mindset?

Strange structures are appearing in the United Kingdom:

Apparently, they’re part of the set for the new Thor: The Dark World movie, directed by Game of Thrones‘ Alan Taylor; Superhero Hype has more images here. Anyone want to try and guess whether this is meant to be a more pastoral Asgard, or somewhere else altogether?

Here’s a random thought: Why weren’t Captain Marvel and Hawkeye launched as Marvel NOW! titles?

I ask after seeing Paul O’Brien go over the July order numbers for Marvel and note that Captain Marvel‘s “launch at 42K puts the book in similar territory to 2011’s launches of PUNISHER (45K), and GHOST RIDER (41K),” which… isn’t great news, considering that the latter didn’t last a full year, and the cancellation of the former was similarly announced within a year of its launch (albeit by the creator in an interview to promote its final arc as a separate wrap-up mini-series). Considering that Cap takes place post-AvX, and is an all-new title, it’s hard to work out why its launch wasn’t held back for Marvel NOW!, which – presumably – would’ve allowed it to benefit from some of the promotional heat for the reboot-that-isn’t-a-reboot. Maybe there was some concern that it would be lost amongst the higher-profile launches…?

It’ll be interesting to see where Hawkeye charts next month; it seemed somewhat low-profile considering the Avengers vs. X-Men sturm-und-drang and Marvel NOW! announcement, but was so critically-acclaimed that I’m curious to see what the order numbers are like.

(O’Brien also notes that neither Red She-Hulk or the Sif-relaunch of Journey Into Mystery get #1s, even though both arguably deserve them more than, say, the third Captain America or Thor relaunch in the past decade; I suspect there’s an unspoken rule that Marvel NOW! #1s have to be “iconic” titles with big name creators, but even so – both Hulk and JiM are perilously close to the cancellation point in terms of orders; not giving the characters/creative teams the boost of a relaunch seems somewhat foolhardy in today’s market, considering.)

Today would’ve been the 95th birthday of Jacob Kurtzberg, AKA Jack Kirby, the King of Comics, had he still been with us. The man behind such characters as Captain America, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, Darkseid, OMAC, the Demon, Captain Victory (Whose series the image above comes from, if you’re wondering), Silver Star and countless others, Kirby’s inventiveness and drive to constantly push himself and the comic medium forward is appropriately legendary; there has never been another creator in the medium with his talent or his optimism, and I doubt there ever will be again.

Happy 95th, Mr. Kirby. Thank you for everything you gave us.

So says a DC press release inspired by the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship storyline.

Yet there’s at least one long-running DC character who clearly disagrees:

There’s something more than a little apples-to-oranges about Tom Spurgeon’s list of comics you could buy for the cost of Before Watchmen in single issues – “This was me basically going, ‘I wonder how many Popeye collections I could buy on Amazon.com for that amount?’ repeated 13 times,” he explains – but it’s a fascinating thought experiment and a sign of how much truly amazing stuff is available out there these days. For my part, I want to emphasize many of his alternate suggestions (The entirety of the first Love & Rockets series? A bunch of Darwyn Cooke’s other work? Lots of Monkeybrain and Double Barrel? I mean, come on), although that could be down to my disinterest in Before Watchmen on a character/universe level than anything else…

First thought while looking at the newly-released All-New X-Men cover (above on the left, with the covers for All-New X-Men #1 and 2): “Oh, man. Cyclops lives through Avengers vs. X-Men? Well, maybe it’s a fake out and all of the characters on that cover are dead or something.”

Second thought: “Where’s Colossus?”

Poor Piotr Rasputin has had a hard time of it in the last few years; he got himself Juggernautized, he got himself Phoenix Five’d, and he’s struggled with both developments, finding out firsthand that absolute power really does tend to corrupt absolutely if you don’t fight against it constantly. And so, he’s been fighting – himself, the Avengers, his own sister… And I think about all of this, and I wonder: Is Colossus the characters who is going to die in AvX?

It would provide some sense of tragedy, of course, and a loss that wouldn’t necessarily feel “deserved” (If Cyclops dies, it could be said that he’d brought it on himself at this point, let’s be honest); it’d also provide an endpoint for a character who seems to have been at a loose end in recent years, and who has arguably outlived his usefulness just a few short years after being brought back from his first death. Plus, it leaves both Cyclops and Emma Frost around for future stories and, hopefully(?), redemption of sorts.

That he’s missing off a set of covers seems like a ridiculous reason to start thinking all of the above, I know, but still: He really should be on one of those three covers if he were still around, shouldn’t he…?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is how a whole new generation of fans are learning to love the universe that has taken over the minds of pop culture for over 30 years. It’s no surprise, then, that they’re at Star Wars Celebration VI in a big way, with multiple panels and events.

The press got an intimate occasion with the stars and head of the Clone Wars crew Saturday afternoon, as Dave Filoni, Joel Aron Sam Witwer, Dee Bradley Baker, Ashley Eckstein, and Matt Lanter answered questions about the past, present, and of course, future of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

We’ll do this simple Q&A style.

Q: With George Lucas’s semi-retirement, will your role step up beyond just Clone Wars, Dave?

Filoni: No, I don’t think so. His retirement even just means he has more time to come and see the show while we’re working. He told me when we started that one of the reasons I’m here is so that when he’s not around I can make sure things are going well. It’s amazing for our confidence and our crew that he feels like he can retire.

I look forward to all the things we’re doing in the LucasFilm Animation division, but Clone Wars remains my focus.

Q: How many seasons do you think you’ll do?

Filoni: We’ll keep making them as long as you’re watching them. Season five is completely done, but Season 6 is being written and worked on now in advance. We go season to season, Cartoon Network has been a great partner to us, and right now we’re focused on Season 5.

Q: Why the change in the schedule from Friday night to Saturday morning?

Filoni: They actually changed their entire action block to Saturday mornings.

Q: Any chance of a second Clone Wars movie? You mentioned it is better on the big screen…

Filoni: You know, it’s always about what the fans want. We focus on making the show as cinematic as possible, we shoot in 2:35 and it’s ready to be projected at all times.

Q: We recently had a fan poll at Star Wars Insider, and Revenge won, why do you think that resonated?

Witwer: In terms of Darth Maul, the guy has the Boba Fett factor going on. He looks cool, and there was an attitude that was affected in that movie. We can’t do the same thing, we can’t bring the character back exactly as he was.

We talked about how he couldn’t just be good at sword fighting, you have to pick a guy who is really smart and could eventually take over the mantle. The big thing for Revenge and Brothers was not to just show you the cost, but the unadulterated Dark Side of the force. He’ll get funnier as he goes on.

Q: What’s it like closing out Season 4 and starting Season 5 focused on you, Sam?

Witwer: You know, it’s the Star Wars show, it’s not the me show. It’s all about how the scenes are shot, how the character is written, how it’s lit, and that makes my job so easy.

I have to say, too, I had no idea that Lanter did the voice of one of the pirate captains in that episode last night! That was great!

Lanter: Yeah, what was his name?

Filoni: Jiro

Lanter: Sweet, I’ll add that to my list!

Q: Is there anything intensity wise that doesn’t make it into the show?

Filoni: A lot of kids haven’t seen Revenge of the Sith and they shouldn’t! It illustrates my problem, that I have Clones on one side and Revenge on the other, and one is way more intense than the other.

One thing I noticed last night at the premiere though, was when Obi-Wan rose up and [omitted for spoilers] the crowd went nuts, and that means we’re doing things well, we’re making the villains bad enough, and making the heroes have their big moments.

Q: Dave, are you surprised that Hasbro isn’t making more of the Clone Wars toys?

Filoni: Not particularly; there’s such a legacy of the live action and cinematic looking figures. I think it’s exciting that they’ve taken some of our characters like Ahsoka and done those in the live action fashion. Whatever decisions they make, I’m sure they do for reasons.

Q: For Ashley, it was brought up at the panel that 34% of the audience is female, your character headlines that, what do you think of that?

Eckstein: Oh, it’s not just Ahsoka! Padme of course, Ventress is an awesome character.

It’s something that of course I hoped would happen. We talked about that a lot, I said, “Hey is this a hope, do we want to create a female audience?”

Filoni: And we actually just chose to go with a girl because we didn’t want it to just be Anakin or Luke all over again.

It worked out great, you’ve been an ambassador beyond belief for the fans. You’re a tiny powerhouse!

Eckstein: I will say I’ve seen a difference, after doing 4 years of Disney Star Wars Weekends; the first couple years it was mostly boys and fathers, and the past two years it’s been probably 80% moms and daughters, so that’s great.

Q: Any directors you’d like to bring in from outside of LucasFilm Animation?

Filoni: You know, we do that at George’s request sometimes, but I have five killer episodic directors, and I like to showcase them, they all do such great work. You’re going to see some amazing stuff from them this year.

Q: Any chance of Mark Hammil doing a voice on Clone Wars?

Filoni: You know, Mark, as you say is a huge talent; if we were going to bring him on it has to be something really awesome and really special. I want to be able to cast Mark in a way that’s meaningful for him to come in and perform. It’s on my mind, it’s on my list of things to do. It won’t happen in Season 5 but hopefully before it’s all said and done I’ll get Mark back into the Star Wars franchise. It’ll be unexpected.

Q: Matt, do you have a desire to go more into Anakin’s dark side?

Lanter: I really like being able to play both sides, and it’s a great challenge to take him smoothly from the swashbuckler to the point he’s at in Revenge of the Sith. I think that’s really fun as fans to see that as well. I don’t like playing one side more than the other at all though.

Q: How will the 22 episodes of Season 5 pan out in terms of storytelling?

Filoni: It’s pretty much like previous seasons, except this season they’re mainly four part arcs. We tied the premiere directly into last season which we haven’t done before. The next few episodes past that are about the Clone War and Onderan. Each of these four episode arcs are designed to play out as an 88 minute movie if need be. Ahsoka is always the thread, you can watch her and tell where we’re at.

There are also some considerations for timing where we’ve say blown up a base, and it remains destroyed.

Q: For Ashley and Matt, is there any limitation to voice-acting in connecting to your characters and developing them?

Lanter: Aside from the obvious of not having props and scenes, there’s not a whole lot of difference. This stuff is beautifully written, some of the character interactions and development as a team is top notch, so no, it rolls really smoothly!

Eckstein: Yeah, one of the misconceptions of Voice Acting is that Voice Actors aren’t actors. There are so many talented actors that are part of this cast.

In one episode that we did this season, my heart was beating out of my chest! You get emotional.

Witwer: Yeah, I’d like to say wiht the limited characters I’ve done on this show. I don’t know if you appreciate the pressure that these two actors are under for their roles from the fans. These guys, every episode are faced with something that Dave gets letters about, so they have my respect totally for being able to handle that, it’s a cool thing.

Q: Some actors say they can’t go back and watch their performances, is it easier for you because it’s animated?

Witwer; Um, absolutely! I love this show!

Baker: You know, I love going back and watching these, it’s a very different idea and experience.

Witwer: Who would’ve guessed 20 years ago that we would have troopers that have real lives and you know the guy behind the mask?

Q: One of the things the show has done best is reveal things we’ve heard of in one-liners but not gotten to see, is there another big reveal like that?

Filoni: Yeah, there’s a lot of that. This season we deal with a lot of big questions, and in future seasons. This season is really focusing on the characters we created in the Clone Wars, the Satines and Ahsokas, and Hondos of the world. There are unexpected consequences for these characters.

There’s the new planet Onderan, a new planet called Skippio, the home of the banking clan. We’ll answer a lot of questions on the formation of the Empire itself. You’ll be, at the end of this season, just like the Jedi, looking around and thinking “wow, we didn’t see this coming, this is more than we thought was going to happen.”

Baker: It’s knock-out, too. I’ve only seen a fraction of it, but it’s really a knock-out season, I’m really excited to see it.

Filoni: Yeah, it’s funny they never get to see it. Most of them last night was the first time they saw the premiere, with you! We go away and do a whole bunch of other episodes and forget about that.

I think sometimes its actually more interesting for them to watch because they had almost no context for what they were saying, and now they get to see how it all plays out.

Witwer: What’s cool is how as the show gets more complicated, it looks and sounds better and better (he pointed to Aron while saying). They could’ve jumped right into Mortis or something, but it wouldn’t have been the right move, and that patience in storytelling is something really amazing and special.

Aron: Yeah, we don’t light it like animation. Because of that, I’ve tried to push it even moreso cinematically with influences of movies like Drive; we’re talking about Season 5, I can’t just have characters talking to each other. We want the audience to throw out the idea that they’re watching animation.

Baker: It’s so exciting for us, there’s a three dimensionality to a vocal performance too. When we get to see it on a theater screen in digital clarity, we’re thrilled by it just as much as everyone else.

I got so excited seeing Gregor (the lost Republic Commando) today. I remember recording him and doing his story, but to SEE him, you don’t have to know anything about the guy, and you see him putting on the helmet and it’s just so exciting!

Eckstein: I want to underline going back to our vocal performance, it is all about Dave’s direction. He’s the best director I’ve ever worked with, and he’s brilliant. He knows us indivdually and knows how to get the best performance out of everyone. He makes it simple and easy.

Witwer: And relaxed, too! I remember I had to do some extra shoots alone with this side studio, and the studio guy came to me and said he’d shot features and TV shows and this Filoni guy was the best he’d ever worked with!

Filoni: What are you trying to do, make sure I don’t kill you off?

Witwer: I think Maul becomes their friend! (all the panelists laugh)

Baker: (to Lanter) Sure, you’re laughing, you’re the only one who’s safe!

Q: Sam, we talked about Matt and Ashley’s pressure, but how do you deal with that with Darth Maul?

Witwer: Just take a Xanax and go! (laughs) No, you know, it’s so much easier with the writers, you know they’re not going to make you look foolish, and just talked a lot with Dave Filoni.

Filoni: You know, I thought there were so many great moments, but in that first episode where you were going completely crazy, then there was just the one line where you look at Savage and say “Revenge” and that completely brought it back to the Phantom Menace moment.

Eckstein: We love with guest actors or new people like Sam come in, because it makes us raise the bar and just try to get better and better.

Lanter: You were talking earlier about watching episodes and insecurities as an actor, I had that the other day in the booth, where I wanted to redo a scene and Dave said we got it right. These characters are so great and so complex, we want to get them right!

Star Wars The Clone Wars Season 5 premieres Saturdays at 930am this fall!

After yesterday’s big reveal of the new show, the Star Wars Detours crew came back to the Celebration Stage at Star Wars Celebration VI for a second panel, showing off their new show to a completely packed house. The trailer was greeted by lots of laughs and cheers as Matt Senreich, Seth Green, and Todd Grimes showed off their new comedic Star Wars property.

They reviewed yesterday’s news of the three environments, the general idea and tone of the show, but then changed things up by showing some new clips.

The first was of the goofy stormtrooper pair played by Donald Faison and Breckin Meyer

The trio wanted to make sure its known that “these aren’t vignettes. These are actually stories with beginning, middle, and ends,” divulged Senreich.

Another clip showed Greedo meeting up with Lando Calrissian – while dressed as him. Lando of course will be voiced by Billy Dee Williams once more.

“Omigod I love Billy Dee so much,” said Green. Grimes said there’s a scene where Lando is teaching some other guys how to flirt with women, and Grimes is trying to direct him. “Look, man, I’ve been hitting on women a lot longer than you have,” Williams retorted.

Of Obi-Wan’s character in the show, they say he’s gone a little crazy living alone in the desert “waiting for Luke to be old enough to talk to without being creepy!” said Green. A clip showed Obi-Wan being a makeshift recruiter trying to restart the Jedi order. Hilarious stuff, and they gave promise of Obi-Wan and Luke interacting as well.

“We are desperately in love with Star Wars guys, so we’ll never let it go completely off the rails,” promised Green.

Head writer Brendan Hay came out on stage once more, just as he did yesterday, and did a cartwheel that was… interesting. “For a writer, that was incredibly athletic,” proclaimed Hay.

Hay ran through the writers once more, like Jane Espenson from Buffy and Dave Mccullough from Venture Bros, who has invented Biff Tarkin, Gran Moff Tarkin’s son. David Goodman from Family Guy who did their Star Wars specials has joined the crew too. Hay promises each character has their own unique favorites.

“Radda the Hutt, who is Jabba’s son, in our universe, is a really surly teenager who hates his dad, and everyone who works for his dad,” said Green for an example.

Producer Jennifer Hill came out on stage to tell a story of arm-wrestling George Lucas before talking about the big, talented voice cast for the show. There will be guest voices like Weird Al Yankovic and Felicia Day, as revealed in yesterday’s sizzle reel, as well.

Now one actor from the show, the aforementioned Donald Faison, came on stage and asked everyone to ignite their lightsabers while singing the imperial march. The Behind-the-Scenes clip was shown once more. Dee Bradley Baker, Grey DeLisle, Hugh Davidson, Cat Taber, Dan Milano, Cree Summer, Zeb Wells, Nat Faxon, Jennifer Hale, Abraham Benrubi, Ahmed Best, and of course Seth Green does some of the voices on his own! Billy Dee Williams got a huge pop when he appeared on screen.

The Jane Espenson-written parody of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream was shown, with Donald Faison’s stormtrooper singing about his dream of being a mattress salesman.

Grimes then told a story about screening an animatic for George Lucas, and how there weren’t really any notes – then he said, “No wait, let’s go back to the beginning where Darth Vader is doing this recruitment video, we should pull it back a little bit and see someone directing him. Show a guy with white hair and a white beard and a flannel shirt…” And Grimes asked if he was asking to be put in the show, because the artists had all already drawn him.

They showed a clip of him on the show, and then George Lucas took the stage himself! The entire crowd was on their feet cheering for the creator of their beloved Star Wars.

Lucas: “I want to make it clear, the writers were only around for two weeks, but all the shorter people, the director, Seth, and Jen were at the Ranch for the whole thing.” Thanking them for no longer making him the shortest guy in the room.

Senreich asked, “What’s it like working with us?”

Lucas said, “The question I get at noon when I’m writing with these guys is ‘why do you leave at noon?’ Um, don’t you think it’s obvious?” he joked.

Seth Green asked him if all their nerdy questions are annoying, and he said, “yeah.”

The other panelists thanked him greatly for his support, with Grimes saying he specifically felt pushed by Lucas in a great way.

“George called me into his office one time. He was like, ‘all these drawings you did? Let’s not do any of those, let’s start over. If I liked your stuff I’d just call you on the phone, I wouldn’t have called you in here.’ Luckily, I haven’t been called in since.”

Senreich asked Lucas “Why do this? Why do Star Wars comedy?”

Lucas said, “I’ve always wanted to do this. I think it’s fun, and we’ve created something that’s truly for all ages.

“We’ve always been a little outside the box, but this is so far outside the box, it’s in a space shopping mall!”

Green said that because the “universe is inherently intellectual” the show will be smart. Lucas said “You’ve successfully made it either so dumb that it’s smart or so smart that it’s dumb.”

That’s all she wrote! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more from Celebration VI.