Unlike San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest news stories from this weekend’s past New York Comic Con were mostly related to, well, comics. If you're a fan of the Avengers, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Firefly, Buffy, Miracleman, Batman or Kate Beaton, something probably went down this weekend that would make you happy. (Superboy fans, uh, not so much.) In case you were avoiding the Internet for the last few days, here’s what you missed. Note: Some spoilers follow.
NYCC Uses Attendee Twitter Accounts to Post Tweets Praising NYCC
Perhaps the most unexpected story to come out of New York Comic Con involved the new RFID badges, which attendees could optionally link to their social media accounts. What people failed to realize, however, was linking their Twitter account would allow the event to tweet laudatory comments about how GREAT a time they were having, which is why you saw Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News declaring that NYCC was "the best four days of my year" while Polygon editor Brian Crecente seemed overwhelmed by excitement, tweeting, "So much pop culture to digest! Can’t. handle. the. awesome."
After backlash about the ghostwritten tweets, NYCC encouraged attendees not to "fret" and later apologized for any "perceived overstep." Although the event had earlier claimed that linking Twitter accounts to the badges would make the convention "100x cooler! For realz," few in New York felt this experience delivered on either the coolness or realness that had been promised. -Laura Hudson
Serenity and Aliens Get Comic Book Relaunches
Dark Horse Comics announced two big sci-fi relaunches at NYCC, with a new Serenity (aka Firefly) series by Zack Whedon and Georges Jeanty as well as the long-awaited relaunch of the Aliens universe, which will encompass four separate comics — Aliens, Predator, Aliens vs. Predator and a new series spinning out from 2012′s Prometheus. (All series will launch in 2014.) Also announced from the publisher this weekend: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10, a 30-issue series that will, like Season 9, be accompanied by a 30-issue Angel and Faith series. -Graeme McMillan
More Marvel Relaunches
More new Marvel titles announced to launch between January and March next year include Avengers World, a book launching in January 2014 that steps back and takes a more global look at the impact of the Avengers. Other new titles include Avengers Undercover, an ongoing series about teen heroes who pretend to be villains in order to take down the bad guys from the inside, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Iron Patriot and relaunches for New Warriors, Punisher, Elektra, Captain Marvel, Black Widow and the Silver Surfer. -Graeme McMillan
Archie Loses Both Girlfriends
Not an official announcement, but at Saturday’s Archie Comics panel, the publisher teased a new storyline called “Farewell, Betty and Veronica” that will see Archie Andrews’ long-time love interests replaced by two new characters in Riverdale, although the details remain under wraps for now. Without those two hogging all the space on the page, maybe Midge and Moose will finally get their time to shine. -Graeme McMillan
Webcartoonist Kate Beaton Is Making a New Book Involving a Fat Pony
Fans of Kate Beaton or her hugely popular webcomic Hark a Vagrant, rejoice! The cartoonist announced her next project: a children's book for Scholastic. It'll also feature a familiar face for most fans: the fat Shetland pony who has become a fan favorite, and even made a guest appearance on the animated show Adventure Time! The fat pony will be an unexpected gift to a young warrior princess, who doesn't think it's right for someone as "rough and tough" as her. Beaton spoke to WIRED about the new project here. -Laura Hudson
Batman: Eternal
Batman will get even busier than usual next year, as DC revealed that it’s giving the character a brand-new weekly series for his 75th birthday. Batman: Eternal will launch in spring 2014 and run for a year, written and drawn by a number of creators and featuring different storylines with one focus: Bringing Gotham City back to life to prepare for the next three-quarter century of the Dark Knight’s career. If you’ve been wondering what you should get the man who has Bat-editions of everything for his 75th, the answer might just have become “some coffee, or maybe some 5-Hour Energy.” -Graeme McMillan
Superboy Will Die
It’s unusual to get an important plot point entirely spoiled by a convention panel, but that’s what happened at DC’s Superman panel on Friday, with writer Scott Lobdell revealing that Superboy will die in the upcoming “Krypton Returns” storyline, and his monthly comic series will be inherited by the son of Superman from an alternate timeline, because, well, comics. At the same panel, it was also teased that Lois Lane might receive her own comic book next year, presumably making up for her relative absence during the Superman comics recently. -Graeme McMillan
Finally, Miracleman Returns
Marvel’s biggest news of the convention was that it has finally scheduled the long-awaited reprints of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman’s 1980s/’90s revisionist superhero series, out of print for more than a decade. Marvel actually originally teased this project at San Diego Comic-Con way back in 2009, but complicated rights issues delayed the final announcement until this weekend. Launching in January 2014, the series will see the strips both re-colored and re-lettered to modern standards, and will also include a brand new conclusion to the storyline by Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham. -Graeme McMillan
Transformers and G.I. Joe to Cross Over Again
Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the Transformers next year, IDW announced a new ongoing series teaming the robots in disguise with Hasbro’s other popular boy’s toy property, G.I. Joe. Transformers/G.I. Joe crossovers have been done before, but this new series from American Barbarian creator Tom Scioli promises to be an existential take on the future of humanity and technology’s place in it — while also featuring action, giant robots and explosions. IDW isn’t just focusing on the boys when it comes to Hasbro licenses, though; it also announced a second monthly My Little Pony series will be forthcoming, as well. -Graeme McMillan
Dynamite Is The (Gold) Key Master
The superheroes originally published by 1960s independent company Gold Key — Magnus: Robot Fighter, Solar: Man of the Atom, Turok: Son of Stone and Doctor Spektor — have had a long afterlife following the closure of their parent company, having become fan-favorites in their 1990s Valiant Comics incarnations and then seeing a more recent resurrection via Dark Horse Comics. In an announcement closing out a week of big news, Dynamite Entertainment announced that it would be giving the characters their fourth chance at success next year, with a creative line-up including Mark Waid, Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente. -Graeme McMillan
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