[the Flash image is the actual cover of The Flash #13, the final issue of the current series, and comes to us from Heroes Con].

DC Comics VP of Sales Bob Wayne emceed the event, and introduced panelists editor Mike Carlin, assistant editor Adam Schlagman, artist Dustin Nguyen, editor Eddie Berganza, associate editor Jeanine Schaefer, writer Jimmy Palmiotti, and artist Shane Davis.

First up is the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special by Judd Winick and Amanda Conner, where - you guessed it - Green Arrow and Black Canary get married. “You will not believe the end of this issue,” teased Carlin. Wayne then plugged more matrimony action in the upcoming Justice League Wedding Special and Black Canary Wedding Planner.

Berganza than announced to the Philadelphia crowd the news that already broke in Charlotte - that Dwayne McDuffie, noted for his work on “Justice League Unlimited,” is taking over the writing of Justice League of America as of issue #13 after the departure of Brad Meltzer.

Countdown was up next, with Wayne saying that the newly-darkened Mary Marvel will soon be “tangling” with Eclipso. The conversation digressed to Schaefer and Palmiotti joking about revealing images involving Mary Marvel’s skirt.

In regards to Amazon Attacks, Wayne says that Catwoman will soon get involved.

The previously announced Wonder Girl mini-series - see the related Newsarama article - was briefly discussed.

Infinity Inc. and Suicide Squad, two projects talked about yesterday, were men-tioned again.

Palmiotti talked about the new Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters series, saying it will “dig into Phantom Lady in ways you guys won’t expect,” and subsequently acknowledging how dirty that sounded.

Wayne then talked about Superman #666, which appropriately enough will send Superman to Hell, and is drawn by Walt Simonson.

The new Metal Men series written and drawn by Duncan Rouleau and out in August, was mentioned.

Superman/Batman was up, with Nguyen saying that a lot of the Fourth World characters that haven’t been around in a while, like Highfather, will turn up. This led to discussion of an upcoming arc in December, about the search for kryptonite, written by Heroes writer Michael Green and drawn by Shane Davis. Berganza than noted that Davis is now under exclusive DC contract.

Another comic reaching #666 - Batman - was briefly introduced, as was an upcoming arc of Nightwing where the title character is being “set up.” A slide of the two-part Justice League/Hitman series by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, starting in September, got a nice ovation from the audience.

Palmiotti talked about Jonah Hex, and Wayne reminded the audience about the recently-wrapped Justice. Of the “Sinestro Corps War” in Green Lantern, Wayne said it would reference all the major DC storylines in recent years - “in a good way.” Berganza spoke a little about Sean McKeever’s upcoming run on Teen Titans, with Wayne vaguely hinting about some kind of possible “Titans Tomorrow” arc coming up.

The presentation was wrapped up with talk of yesterday’s Flash news (the renumbering, Mark Waid, etc.).

The first question during the audience Q&A portion was whether or not Superman/Batman would have a permanent ongoing writer, and Berganza answered to give the rotating ones a chance, and Wayne simply said “No.”

A fan asked if the Milestone characters and/or Archie super-heroes inhabit any of the 52 worlds, and Wayne said no, and reminded that they no longer have a license to the Archie characters they once used in their !mpact line.

The next query was from someone who asked, passionately, “Why did you kill The Question?” to which Schaefer replied “She’s alive and well” (referring to the new, post-52, Renee Montoya ver-sion of the character). Wayne said the new Question will be in a mini-series soon, and that in October they’ll be a trade paperback of classic Denny O’Neill and Denys Cowan Question stories, as well as an upcoming showcase of Metal Men comics.

A fan asked when All-Star Batgirl by Geoff Johns will come out, with Carlin sarcastically asking “Why should All-Star Batgirl come out? None of the other ones do.” Wayne then said they learned their lesson from All-Star Batman & Robin and All-Star Superman to have a few is-sues in the can before anything is released, so they can “disappoint you in the middle of the story instead of the beginning,” he joked.

Palmiotti was asked if any other classic DC western heroes would pop up in Jonah Hex, and Palmiotti answered that El Diablo and others will show up in this year’s Halloween issue.

Anything new from Mike Norton? Carlin answered that he’s the new artist on The All-New Atom.

Upcoming comics project from Brad Meltzer? Carlin said that he’s back working on his novels, but they’re always willing to work with him in the future.

“When did Jimmy Olsen become privy to so many of the secrets of the DC Universe?” Carlin said that there was indeed a reason for this, and to keep reading Countdown. This led to talk about the “Jimmy Olsen must die” teases for Countdown, which digressed into joking about characters coming back to life - ending with Wayne sarcastically stating “but Captain America, he’s never coming back.”

A fan asked if Azrael will ever be seen again, with Wayne succinctly stating “Oh, that’s funny.”

Two questions asked by the same guy - “Will there be a new Andy Diggle project announced soon” and “will we see collections of Superman Confidential and Batman Confidential,” and the answers to both were very simply, yes.

The panel closed with what has become tradition at DC panel - the distribution of promotional pins.

[End of update. Original panel report follows]...

DC Comics is holding two DC Universe-centered panels today, one at Heroes Con (now) and one at Philadelphia (2:00pm EST). Since the Heroes Con version started first we shifted our Live! coverage down the Eastern seaboard and checked in with Dan Didio and crew from Charlotte, NC.

Look for a report from Philly later this afternoon…

Dan DiDio kicked off the DC Universe panel at Heroes Con on Saturday with an introduction of the other panelists: Eric (The Goon, Action Comics) Powell, Steve (30 Days of Night) Niles, Coordinating Editor Jann Jones, and Editor Michael Siglain.

DiDio joked that since he gets himself in trouble, he brought Marketing VP John Cunnigham with him to run through the slides of upcoming projects quickly - in 20 seconds. DiDio promised to slow them down and go into detail throughout the panel.

He then reiterated and clarified the Flash announcement from Friday and the schedule, with the series ending with next week's #13, All-Flash #1 coming out in July, and Flash #231 coming out in August. "There are no hidden messages, don't read anything into it," DiDio joked about the specifics of the issues.

Newsarama readers can get all the details in our interview with Mark Waid here.

Moving into the upcoming projects, DiDio started with Countdown, showing a slide of Jason Todd fighting Dove. The name was met with a few boos, prompting DiDio to ask why they didn't like him. "I paid to kill him the first time."

The panel was then joined by Ethan VanSciver, Wonder Girl artist Sanford Greene, and Scott Hamilton, who is working with Steve Niles on a previously announced project called Simon Dark.

Back to Countdown, Didio said that the big questions now are: 1.) What's happening to Mary Marvel? 2.) What's happening with Jimmy Olsen? 3.) Why is Karate Kid stuck in the present-day DCU? "All of these things are building to something. We’re counting down to something, but I'm not allowed to say."

DiDio then turned the floor over to Van Sciver who talked about the Sinestro Corps, saying that it is Sinestro's army, 7200 strong, who are able to induce fear in others, and are completely loyal to Sinestro. The storyline will start with the one shot special this month, and then through the next six issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, as well as a number of related specials.

According to Van Sciver, much of what happens in the Sinestro Corps Special will be relevant to the rest of the DCU and have ramifications that reverberate with many characters.

Switching to Action Comics, DiDio turned the floor over to Powell who spoke about his upcoming "Bizarro World" arc with Geoff Johns and Richard Donner. Powell said that he's seen some of the first pages as colored by Dave Stewart, and was extremely pleased with them.

On the Simon Dark front, Hampton described that the set up of the new series is the Frankenstein story as a jumping off point, but Simon Dark is not a "take" on Frankenstein. As writer Steve Niles explained it, it's about a boy who doesn't know who he is that lives in Gotham City and barely survives in the alleys. When he's gunned down and doesn't die, it's discovered that he's made up of at least 30 different people.

"It's a lot of about this kid and how this neighborhood has embraced and protected him, and when the story is introduced, it's about when he's just starting to become known outside of his neighborhood," Niles said.

The panel then shifted to Jones, who spoke about the Black Canary Wedding Planner, written by J. Torres (look for more details on this here at Newsarama later today)

Black Canary Wedding Planner will hit first in September, then by the bachelorette party in Countdown, followed by the wedding of the two heroes in the Black Canary/Green Arrow Wedding Special.

The specials will lead into an all new Green Arrow/Black Canary series, written by Judd Winick, with art by Cliff Chiang.

After showing the cover, which revealed Conner instead of Oliver Queen, Chiang, who joined the panel after it started, joked that he and Winick are working on the “Green Arrow/Black Canary Annulment Special”.

Following Amazons Attack, DiDio said that the new Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters miniseries will start off, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with art by Renato Arlem.

Sanford Greene also joined the panel after it started, and, when prompted by DiDio, announced that he would be illustrating the upcoming Wonder Girl miniseries, written by J. Torres (details can be found in our feature story on our front page)

Double-checking the slides, DiDio turned the floor over to Siglain to talk about the follow-ups to 52 - Booster Gold, Crime Bible, Infinity Inc, Four Horsemen, and Black Adam.

After officially announcing to the con attendees Dwayne McDuffie on Justice League (check our frontpage for more on that), DiDio opened the floor to questions...

Is there any chance that, with Waid and Kitson leaving Supergirl and the Legion, will we see the "original" Legion members in their own series?

The Legion members in "The Lightning Saga" will appear in an upcoming issue of Action Comics, while the regular Legion series will continue, DiDio said, and it will all be made clear coming up.

Who will be drawing Wonder Woman once Gail Simone takes over? DiDio: “I believe it will continue to be Drew Johnson and Terry/Rachel Dodson.”

Moving over to discussing the Multiverse, DiDio clarified an announcement from Friday, saying that there will be a series of specials entitled Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer, which will explore the various worlds of the DC Multiverse.

The specials will allow for the showcasing of various worlds that were seen both in the final issue of 52, as well as new, as of yet unexplored Earths with different versions of the DC characters, as well as others, such as the Charlton heroes, and more.

The future of Superbly Prime? Van Sciver: “See Sinestro Corps Special #1”.

What will Liam Sharpe be working on (in reference to his Myspace announcement of a few weeks ago), and is it Major Bummer? DiDio: "It's not. That's one of those characters that we really enjoy, but it's not what Liam will be drawing."

Was Marshall Rogers able to complete any of Dark Detective 3 before he died? DiDio: “Two issues were completed, but we didn't feel right about publishing it, as Dark Detective was Steve Englehart and Marshall's story.

DiDio said that DC has plans to expand and reconfigure the Johnny DC line of titles aimed at younger readers, hinting that in the future, it may pull away from strictly being based on the animated series versions of the characters.

Jones noted that making more comics that are suitable for younger readers is somehting that DC is actively working on.

Fielding a familiar con question from the last few years, asked if Teen Titans: Games is still coming, DiDio said that the Marv Wolfman/Gerorge Perez graphic novel is currently on hold, with no plans for publishing soon.

Asked which characters they would like to work on, both Powell and Niles said The Demon, to which DiDio replied that occasionally, books and projects have been put together by a panel survey like this.

Asked about why DC doesn't have letters columns anymore (another con question chestnut), DiDio said that with the internet, the "immediacy" of the letters column is long gone, as the last time DC ran letters pages, they pulled the comments from the message boards, resulting in letters and comments bring printed in comics that were two months old by the time the issues came out.

Any chance of seeing a Sugar & Spike collected edition: Cunnighman: Yes. Either in Archives or in Showcase.

Where does Birthright stand as Superman's origin? DiDio: “I have no comment on that right now.”

Where is the Showcase Who's Who that was announced 10 months ago? Cunnighman: "It's not been as easy to compile it as was originally planned, but it is being worked on."

Any chance of seeing more Ambush Bug? Jones: "God, I really wish..." DiDio: "We've got Keith Giffen in the offices nearly every week, so we'll see."

Any more coming from Alex Ross on interiors? DiDio: "Ales Ross is taking a little bit of a break after Justice as it was a huge body of work, and will be taking over the covers on a couple of our titles coming up."

Could DC ever collect the original 1940’s Monster Society of Evil series from Shazam? DiDio: "It's not on any schedule right now, but anything's possible."

What's next in the DCU to get the "Absolute" treatment? Cunningham said the 2008 schedule is being set shortly.

Van Sciver asked what about an Absolute Killing Joke?

ningham responded it's too small on its own, but there will be a hardcover collection of The Killing Joke with additional material coming next year.

When will we see more Manhunter? DiDio explained they are getting material stockpiled a little, and that writer/creator Marc Andreyko has a lot of non-comics project going on which is keeping him away from Manhunter for a little bit.

When will we see more from Ralph and Sue Dibny? DiDio: "There's nothing planned at this moment, but you probably will be seeing more of them before the year is done."

With the Monitors coming back, did the Anti-Monitor or Anti-Monitors come back as well? Van Sciver reiterated: "See Sinestro Corps Special #1."

Any chance of a Secret Six ongoing? DiDio: "Not at this time, because of the events going on with the individual characters."

A fan polled the panel: “Villain to watch”?

Siglain: Joker
Powell: Joker
Van Sciver: Penguin
Greene: Solomon Grundy
Chiang: Black Manta
Jones: Dan DiDio

Any plans for Firestorm? DiDio: "Yes. He'll be joining one of our teams very soon."

Is Huntress: Year One still coming? Jones: “Ivory Madison is the writer, but we don't have an artist because we have a backlog of Year One miniseries.”

Will we see Captain Atom/Monarch? Siglain: December

Any chance of seeing Scott Free/Mr. Miracle soon? DiDio: Countdown.

Is “Final Crisis” a Monitor Civil War? DiDio: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

How much longer will Mark Waid and George Perez be on Brave and Bold? DiDio: They've got 12 issues together.

John Cunningham then raised his hand, and said he has a copy of Flash #13, and wondered if Dan could take a look at it and give him his opinion. The cover of the issue was different from what had been solicited and clearly showed the Black Flash carrying an unconscious (or worse?) Bart Allen in his arms.

Asked how Mark Waid knew (in his Newsarama interview) a year ago that he would be coming back to The Flash, DiDio said that the plan with the Flash had been in the works for a long, long time, and Marc Guggenheim knew from the start of his run on the series that he was only on for a limited time.

"We also employed some misdirection to keep people guessing."

End of live updates...

[continued]...

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