On the third day of New York Comic Con, my true love gave to me: a Jim Lee & Friends panel, revealing surprise announcements about DC Comics, direct from the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer himself.
While the lineup of the panel was a closely guarded secret in advance, it’s a secret no longer. Here’s everything we learned at the Jim Lee & Friends panel at NYCC 2024.
Starting things off, Lee, running in with a big backpack said, “We’re living in very divisive times… It’s pulling us all apart… I’m so happy that we have comics as a commonality that brings us together. I’m glad we can be here under one roof. And that said? Let’s go Dodgers.”
After the laughter died down, Lee brought on Tim Seeley and Mitch Gerads, who are doing Vigilante with James Gunn as “Story Consultant.” There’s a 10-page Vigilante story; then there’s a 10-page Eagly story written by Rex Ogle, and drawn by Matteo Lolli.
In the book, Peacemaker leaves town, and Vigilante thinks he’s been kidnapped by a villain named Controller, who he “made up in his head.” Both stories bridge the gap between Peacemaker Season 1 and Peacemaker Season 2, which will premiere sometime next year. Gerads also notes that this is a comic book, not just the TV show in comic book form, and Seeley did a deep dive into the Vigilante comics to bring in some of those characters, with a James Gunn twist. “Fart jokes come naturally to me,” quipped Seeley. Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante / Eagly Double-Feature debuts in January of 2025.
Next up was Legendary Comics’s Robert Napton to talk about Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, which was a huge hit. He then brought up writer Brian Buccellato to — big surprise — announce Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2, once again by Buccellato, with art by Christian Duce. And this time, the Justice League is heading to the Monster-verse, versus the DCU setting of the first one. “The two big things is we’re going to have some larger Titans,” said Buccellato, showing off art of an enormous Killer Croc fighting Kong, and the Suicide Squad facing down Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra. Oh, and Lee Shaw, the Wyatt Russell/Kurt Russell character from Monarch will be teaming up with Lex Luthor.
Then the biggest announcement (I’d argue) for comic book fans: Vertigo, the iconic imprint, is back from DC Comics. Jim Lee discussed the impact of the label, and how important it was for comic book history before announcing the return. He called out Nice House on the Lake in particular, reading the book and getting jarred by seeing ads for other DC Comics in the book. He also noted that Warner Bros. executives thought it was a DC Comics mainline universe title.
So, DC Vertigo is back as an imprint, and Nice House on the Lake and the sequel Nice House by the Sea by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno is the flagship title, getting rebranded Vertigo going forward. Tynion IV came on stage to talk about how personal the story is, and how weird it is for his friends to read since some of the characters are partially based on them. More to the point of Vertigo, Tynion said, “Vertigo has been just a huge part of my life. It’s the biggest reason I wanted to create comics… Reading The Sandman in high school, I realized comics can be anything… It unlocked my mind, and set my on the path that led me here.”
Tynion IV also revealed that his first job was as an intern in the Vertigo offices, and it was right around the time Fables #100 came out. “I had to do a lot of copies of Fables,” Tynion IV said. He added, “It was my lifelong dream to have one of those multi-volume Vertigo series on my shelf.”
The other Vertigo titles won’t hit until next year, but Lee added that there are unreleased Vertigo projects that never made it out that they’ll be releasing in the upcoming months.
Next up was Jeph Loeb, who professed confusion that a cover to Justice League Unlimited #1 was being shown. But it turns out there’s a four-page prelude to the Return of Hush from Loeb and Jim Lee in that issue, leading into a brand new Hush story that will begin in Batman #158.
“It’s a brand new epic saga,” teased Loeb, adding that Jim Lee’s art is next level. “There’s nothing better than when Jim is in a competition. And he’s in a competition with himself.”
The story will also bring back Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair, and run six issues starting in March 2025. Then it will come back later with another six issues that will “resolve the Hush saga once and for all,” per Lee — or at least as much forever as possible, given comics. Also of note, the story takes place in the main DC continuity, so there will be ramifications and Loeb teases that “not everyone may make it out alive.”
And the panel ended with a sweet tribute to Williams for 40 years in the industry, as well as the news that the H2SH shirts will be on sale for only 52 hours in the DC Shop.
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