It’s the kick-off of WonderCon 2025, and what better way to get this party started than with an earnest discussion about prestige sci-fi comics? And that’s exactly what happened at the DSTLRY: The Future of Sci-Fi Panel held this afternoon in Anaheim.
Here’s the official panel description, via WonderCon’s schedule, and read on for our recap!
Cosmos sculpted by mech warfare. Cellular metal petri monsters. Vendettas that span light years. Welcome to a future of glorious atrocities designed to raise pulses and ask questions, all rooted in modern anxieties. Join the most provocative, merciless voices in speculative fiction as they vivisect the timelines we’re all desperately avoiding. Chuck Austen (Defiant) and Scott Hoffman (Warm Fusion) gaze into the stars and the chaos to come. Moderated by Sami DeMonster.
Starting off a sci-fi panel perfectly, host Sami DeMonster was waiting for a dongle to plug into her iPad into the projection system. It all worked out, but a fun little tech quirk right at the beginning of WonderCon — and a panel all about future tech, having some present tech issues.
Once that was out of the way, Hoffman set up his book, a cyberpunk, sex worker murder mystery, with art by Alberto Ponticelli which is on sale now. Hoffman noted that the book comes from how in the real world things are “physically getting more toxic, but psychologically getting more toxic” as well — and he wanted to represent that in how characters interacted with the sex workers in his book.
Austen’s book is with artist Pat Olliffe, comes out June 11, and is all about four people who get possession of the fastest spaceship possible and head off to solve a murder mystery. He added that he’s really pleased with the world-building in the book, which he’s been told by other people that they want to play in that world. “We got to take advantage of the two-page spreads,” Austen added, “in a way we weren’t allowed to do” with their Comixology books.
But the bigger news? Austen is done with comics after this. He’s got Defiant, and final issues of Edgeworld for Comixology, but after that, he’s finishing up his 30+ year comic book career. Why is he leaving comics? “I’m tired,” Austen said, laughing.
Back to Hoffman, he discussed how his book is also inspired by body horror, which seemed like a natural fit when talking — and writing about — sex workers. “It felt right,” Hoffman said.
Paired with the book, Hoffman has a vinyl record, clearly tied to his music career (he was in Scissor Sisters, among other musical acts). “They love at DSTLRY the idea of collectibility,” Hoffman said. “I love hearing what’s in the creator’s mind when they’re creating this world.” He continued that you should listen to it while reading since it’s a short vinyl and that you might have to read quickly. The vinyl has original art from Ponticelli, and Hoffman hopes they get to do more of them.
Back to Austen for Defiant, a lot of what inspired him was that he and Olliffe went dark on Edgeworld, and were looking for something light that made them “feel like kids again.”
The conversation then turned to DSTLRY in general. “I think they are going to be home to a lot of future subversive, interesting boundary-pushing stuff,” Hoffman said on what drew him to the publisher. “I like the idea that there are no limits with them.”
Added Austen, the draw for him was Co-founder / Chief Creative Officer Chip Mosher, who Austen had previously worked with at Comixology. “It’s so not Hollywood,” Austen said. “Chip likes what he likes. And he gets in touch with people who he likes… He’s the only person I’ll get out of retirement for.”
Broadening out even further, the conversation turned to what they are fans of, with Hoffman noting he returns to the same things over and over. “If you’re a voracious fan of things, you run through them,” Hoffman said, adding that just the other day he was thinking that if he can’t find something new to read, he’s going to have to write it for himself. As for Austen, it “all goes back to Twilight Zone.” But at the same time, there was a point he couldn’t stop watching Hallmark comedies, which I guess is its own kind of science fiction.
Turning to Austen, Hoffman asked if there was a difference between when he wrote for Marvel and DC, versus his own original stuff.
“No, actually the process was exactly the same,” Austen said on approaching writing for the Big Two versus for DSTLRY or others. And in fact, because of his background in animation, he wrote scripts the same every time. “I love writing, I write all the time… There was no pressure from Marvel. There was pressure from the fans.”
Back to sci-fi, Hoffman talked about how he builds worlds. For him, it’s about daydreaming, and “staring out the window” but also reading the news, which he wants to avoid but is “so rich” in terms of real things to talk about. “Imagining things can be as important as physical acts,” Hoffman said noting that it can feel helpless to create art, but it can also be a way of filtering big thoughts and feelings.
As for Austen, he explained you “draw for all kinds of places,” but the place to go to is your “heart.” He recalled a publisher telling him, “I’ll never write as well as you because I had a good childhood.” On that note, he mentioned a horror series he did that was about a kid with a “horrible childhood” and not only did he channel his own experiences, but he heard the story resonated with other people as well.
Next up? Collaboration. Hoffman, as a writer, tries to take a step back and let the artist do their thing. In fact, his editor Will Dennis encouraged him to not finish writing a series before he sees what the artist does with issue one because once those pages come in it may change how he tackles later issues of a book.
Austen, on the other hand, always gives detailed panel descriptions in screenplay format. The first time he worked with Pat Olliffe, the artist called him and ominously said: “What’s this?” Later, Olliffe realized he could adjust things from the script — that Austen shouldn’t be taken literally, just as suggestions.
Then it was time for Q&A, with a fan asking about whether comics with more adult themes should be kept away from kids. Austen noted he’s firmly against book banning, and scoffed at the idea that the Trump administration is banning the use of “women” and “sex.”
“Whatever side of the political spectrum you’re on, people are used to these things,” Austen said. “They will right themselves… There will be backlash.”
Added Hoffman, he mused that “sci-fi is the best position to talk about the politics of now, without talking about the politics of now.”
The conversation then turned to AI, and IP, with Hoffman noting that if people have their work being used to train AI, they should be compensated for it. “Maybe the loss of humanity is more worrying to me than the [loss of] IP.”
As for Austen, he said he was going to take a controversial bent. “AI is kind of the future,” he said, but added not for the reason you might think. “It’s going to get rid of the gatekeepers, it’s going to get rid of the studios. There is ethically trained AI… I have less of a problem with it, because how many people remember the Jack Kirby clones?”
With that, the panel ended, and it was into… The… Futuuuuuuure! That’s a science fiction reference. See you at the next panel!
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Sami was great!! Thanks for covering it
She was, and happy to!