New York Comic Con Roundup

Article by Kieran Burt.

New York Comic Con (NYCC) has wrapped up, and fans will have a lot of reading to look forward to, both in book and comic form. All of the major franchises of today made an appearance at the Con, with some news about where they are headed in the future. 

Doctor Who made a brief appearance at NYCC, having one panel dedicated to a new book, A World of Demons: The Villains of Doctor Who. This is a collection of essays on Doctor Who’s most well known foes, including some obscure ones. 

Contributing authors Hannah Friedman and Jan Fennick joined the book’s editors, David Bushman and Barnaby Edwards to talk about the book, including a hilarious reveal that the editors forgot to commission an essay based on The Master, so had to write one at the last minute. The editors also decided to make a controversial inclusion in the book – The Doctor themself. Fans can pick up this book when it releases on November 8, 2022. 

Star Trek perhaps had the biggest reveals at NYCC. It had two panels, one dedicated to comics and the other to other news, and it delivered. Fans were treated to new trailers for upcoming series. Star Trek: Picard gave audiences a look at Brent Spiner’s role and the villains Picard will be facing. 

Star Trek: Discovery saw the crew take on the search for treasure in the show’s upcoming fifth season. 

In a mid season trailer, Star Trek Prodigy follows our young heroes as they continue their search for Starfleet. 

IDW comics had some big news for Star Trek too. In their panel, they reaffirmed their commitment to expanding the Star Trek comics continuity. At NYCC, audiences got to see the first step in this major initiative, with Star Trek: Defiant. Helmed by Chris Cantwell and Ángel Unzueta, this comic will focus on Worf leading his own crew on the U.S.S Defiant, a crew that includes Spock, B’Elanna and Lore. The first issue of this will be released in March 2023. 

DC’s panels showcased many new upcoming projects, but the main takeaway is the release of the season 4 part one trailer for Doom Patrol, emphasising the doom in their name.  Turning to comics news, DC showed that there will be a new crossover event on the Lazarus Planet, with Batman getting powers similar to Doctor Fate. Other heroes will also receive transformations. The Lazarus Planet will be overseen by Mark Waid, and feature a rotating writer list. This event will unfold over January and February 2023. 

Superman’s comics will take the character in a new direction, with a new monthly series from Joshua Williamson. Superman returns to Earth, and resumes family ties and his old life, but there will be plenty of challenges to that. 

Authors Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks will reunite for a new story called Lois and Clark 2: Doom Rising. This story will follow Lois’s and Clark’s son Jon, when he and his parents lived anonymously. FInally, Power Girl will be introduced in a three-part story spinning out of the Lazarus Planet event, written by Leah Williams and Marguerite Sauvage. 

Amazon held a panel focusing on The Rings of Power, releasing a short teaser for the final episode. Some of the cast members were present for a discussion about their favourite moments from the series, as well as speculating who Sauron is. The panel moderator, Felicia Day, told audiences that she will be hosting an official behind the scenes podcast for the show, including interviews with cast and crew.  

Marvel didn’t release any trailers, however it did release the full schedule of their upcoming releases. In a poster similar to its film and TV roadmap, Marvel charts the future of their comics for the upcoming year. Starting off with Avengers Assemble in November, Jason Aaron will bring his five year run on Avengers to an end, in a multiversal war that sees Earth’s mightiest heroes go up against an army of villains. In December, Marvel will release Dark Web, a Spider-man and X-Men crossover, with Goblin Queen and Chasm seeking their revenge. 

Kicking off the start of 2023, Sins of Sinister will tell the story of the devious Mister Sinister, transforming the Immortal X-Men, X-Men RED, and Legion oF X will be transformed into Immoral X-Men, Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants, and Nightcrawlers. In the Spring, the two Captain America comics, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty and Captain America: Symbol of Truth will collide in Captain America: Cold War. This storyline will include the culmination of several plotlines, Nomad’s return, the conflict between Wakanda and the White Wolf, and a new mission for Bucky. 

In the Summer, Venom, Carnage, and Red Goblin will take part in the Summer of Symbiotes event. New characters will be introduced, and old ones will return. One thing is clear, Venom won’t be having a summer holiday.Fans only got a small tease of Fall of X, with Marvel saying that the X-Men will find out if Krakoa will last forever. Audiences will have to wait until the fall next year to see what that means.

Fans of The High Republic in Star Wars will have plenty to look forward to. In a panel on Saturday, Lucasfilm showed off some of the stories that will be set in phase two of the project, including a first look at Lydia Kang’s book Cataclysm and the news that Charles Soule will be writing a story with his daughter, Rosemary. 

On Sunday, more news was announced at another panel, this time focusing on the rest of the Star Wars universe. The biggest news released at this panel is that Deliah S. Dawson will be writing a novel about a new Inquisitor, and that Kristin Baver, Jason Fry, Cole Horton, Amy Richau, and Clayton Sandell will be fitting all the canon Star Wars timeline into one book. A full breakdown of both panels can be found here. 

Fans will have a lot to look forward to over the coming years on TV, books and comics, with major franchises promising to release new content over the coming year. 2023 will be another huge year for comics, no matter what fandom is releasing them.