Wizard World Philadelphia Day 1 Wrap Up

I woke up early today so that I could get an early start on the drive to Philadelphia. Then I remembered I left the power cord to my laptop at the office. And I had to stop and fill the car with gas. And I REALLY needed coffee. So, after a bit of a shaky start I finally got on the road only to get stuck in lots of road construction traffic. ::sigh:: Hours later I finally make it to the hotel, park and head to the convention center.

The first thing I noticed is that there were not as many people wandering the floor as I thought there would be. I then remembered that it is only 1:00 so most people are probably still at work. I am actually happy with fewer people on the first day so that I can slowly work into "con mode" and not go into shock from so many people packed into one room.

I wandered the floor for a while and took pictures of people in costumes. I am normally a rather shy guy, but something about wandering around with a camera in hand gets me over this. I have no problem wandering up to someone and asking "Can I take your picture?" when at a convention. It would be lots more fun to do this if I didn't have to get a release form from everyone that I photograph. Don't believe me on the forms? Ask Captain America.

After an hour or three of wandering I started to get tired and thought this would be a great time to go to my first panel. The first that I selected was 'Counting Down: So Begins the End' focusing on Countdown and the DC Universe in general. I was able to come away with several interesting little tidbits.

• The biggest news may be that DC is canceling The Flash as of issue 13.

• Don't worry, a new #1 will follow a few months later but we have no word as to who will be the Flash.

• • Countdown to Adventure starts in August and will focus on the new adventures of Adam Strange, Animal Man, Starfire and a new character called Forerunner. We were given few tidbits on some of the characters. Both Adam Strange and Starfire are having issues with their powers. There is also a new Hero on Rann taking over for Adam Strange since he was away so long.
• • Countdown to Mystery will be be a sequel to The Helmet of Fate series. The main series is written by Steve Gerber. Backup stories written by Matt Sturgis will focus on Eclipso.
• • Countdown Presents the Search for Ray Palmer will follow Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner and a Monitor as they, well, search for Ray Palmer. This mini-series will have individual writers for each issue with each focusing on one of the new 52 worlds in the DC reality. In case you were curious, the first stop will be the Wildstorm universe. Another stop will be the Crime Syndicate Earth.

• A new Infinity Inc. series is on the way written by Peter Milligan.

• The Suicide Squad makes it's return in an 8 issue series by John Ostrander.

• Being very vague on any details, we were also told that 2008 would be a bigger year for DC than any of us can imagine.

This short break helped me get my energy back, but I didn't have much free time as there was a panel on Spider-Man: One More Day. It strayed off topic a bit, but generally stayed on Spider-Man.

• Spider-Man: One More Day asks the question "What would you do if you only had one more day?" The answers will be provided by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada.

• This is the last storyline for JMS on Amazing Spider-Man.

• Spidey will be back in his red and blue costume by the time this storyline starts.

• Terry Moore will be taking over as the writer of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

• Oddly, one of the most frequent reprint requests that Marvel receives is for the Clone Saga. Unfortunately it is too big of a story to reprint easily.

• Once One More Day ends, we get a new start for Spidey with Brand New Day.

• The big news of this panel is that as part of Brand New Day all non-Amazing Spidey titles will be canceled. That's right, no more Friendly, Spectacular, etc. They are all gone.

• Fear not, in an odd twist of fate, Amazing Spider-Man will be published 3 times a month to fill the void. Yup, 3 weeks a month we will have a new issue of Amazing Spider-Man. It's funny how these things work.

• In one last shocking teaser, as we got ready to leave the room, we were treated to a new pic of Spidey ... holding a gun!

To end my day I stayed in the same room for a talk about Batman/Superman: Worlds Finest. This panel didn't stay on topic long, but I did get several little tidbits on upcoming DC events.

• Upcoming issues of Batman/Superman will deal with (among others) Darkseid and the Scarecrow.

• The next storyline for JLA Classified (by Justin Gray) is all about Martian Manhunter.

• A new JLA/Hitman series is on the way and promises to be as irreverant as the original Hitman series.

• Action #856 will have art and cover by Eric Powell.

• The Teen Titans will have a new lineup as of issue #50.

• This fall we get a Blue Devil Halloween Special by ... Dan DiDio.

• Lastly, when asked if we would see Superboy anytime soon we were given the cryptic answer of "You are all in for a shock soon."

All in all, I think this was a successful first day. Next stop? Dinner. After running around all day I realized that the only thing I have had today is an coffee and an apple danish for breakfast and a soda for lunch.

Click the images below to see the full sized versions.

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