DC vice president Bob Wayne hosted DC's Vertigo panel at Wizard World Philly Saturday afternoon, accompanied by editor Will Dennis and associate editor Pornsak Pichetshote. Most of the projects discussed had been announced previously, but attendees were treated to some preview art, including a before and after comparison of a recolored "Sandman" panel.

Although they had planned to open the presentation with a trailer from the recent "V for Vendetta" to promote the upcoming DVD, technical difficulties prevented this. Fortunately, the slide show was not affected.

Coming in October will be a special "Fables" project from Bill Willingham, a hardcover graphic novel titled "Fables: 1,001 Nights of Snowfall." Set in the early days of Fabletown, it depicts Snow White's journey to the Arabian Fable realm. The story parallels the tale of Scheherezade, with Snow telling stories illustrated by various artists, including Mark Buckingham, James Jean, Charles Vess, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, and others.

Also from Willingham is a new "Jack of Fables" series beginning in July. Jack is no longer welcome in Fabletown, but his adventures in the Mundy world continue. Readers can look for a preview in the upcoming issue of Fables. For more on both projects, click here.

Brian Vaughan also has a hardcover coming from Vertigo. "Pride of Baghdad" tells the story of a family of lions released from the Baghdad zoo by an American bomb in the early days of the gulf war. A lion's eye view of war and its repercussions, "Pride of Baghdad" will be drawn by Niko Henrichon and released in October.

"Can't Get No" is an original graphic novel from Rick Veitch coming out in June. It concerns a businessman who wakes one morning to discover himself marked from head to toe with permanent ink.

In "Sloth," an original hardcover graphic novel from Gilbert Hernandez, a teenager escapes life by willing himself into a coma for a year. When he awakes, he discovers that he can only move at a snail's pace.

A coming of age story set in the kingdom of Faerie, "God Save the Queen" is a new project from Mike Carey with art by John Bolton. A rebellious fairy princess falls in with a group of "slacker fairies." No one on the panel was sure what was meant by the term "slacker fairy," and readers will have to wait until the book's January release to find out. There are additional projects in the works for Carey (as Will Dennis noted, "We're not completely stupid!) both at Vertigo and at Wildstorm. Similarly, Grant Morrison will be doing additional work for Vertigo once his schedule clears. Plans include a new "Seaguy" project.

Jason Aaron is writing a five-part series set during the Vietnam war. "The Other Side" describes the journey of an American and a Vietnamese GI on their way to an inevitable encounter. The first issue will be in stores in October. For more on this series, read our interview with Aaron.

The cover to "Loveless" number 10, drawn by Marcello Frusin, provided another opportunity to milk what has become the running joke of the convention, the proposed death of Dick Grayson. The cover depicts the results of a recent decapitation, and the panelists claimed that the head belonged to Dick Grayson. Later, they speculated that the new Vertigo version of Deadman was actually Dick. The new Deadman, who is not Boston Brand, is a re-imagination of the character, written by Bruce Jones and drawn by John Watkiss. The series begins in August, but there will be a preview in "Y: The Last Man" #48, next month. For more on "Deadman," click here.

A 21st-century man dons Wesley Dodd's Sandman equipment in "Sandman Mystery Theater: Sleep of Reason." This series, beginning in December, pairs writer John Ney Rieber and artist Eric Nguyen

On the heels of Harvey Pekar's successful Vertigo project "The Quitter" comes a new "American Splendor" miniseries. Artists on the project, which begins in September, include Dean Haspiel, Richard Corben, Leonardo Manco, Chris Weston, Eddie Campbell, Hilary Barta, Ty Templeton Gary Dumm and Glenn Fabry.

"Absolute Sandman" collects the first 20 issues of Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking series, with 18 of the 20 stories completely re-colored. As can be seen by the example shown, the new colors look spectacular. The hardcover volume will be released in November. Wayne joked that new "Sandman" projects will depend on how well the $99 volume sells.

Scanning the horizon, Dennis noted that several Vertigo creators have definite ends in mind for their projects. Brian Azzarello intends to end "100 Bullets" with issue 100, and Brian Vaughan will end "Y: The Last Man" with issue 60. Neither of these plans are set in stone, but they are the stated intentions of the creators. While Brian Azzarello has a definite end in mind for "Loveless," he does not have an issue number in mind.

"Doom Patrol" continuity was the subject of several questions during the panel. While the relationship between Grant Morrison's Vertigo "Doom Patrol" stories and the mainstream DC Universe "Doom Patrol" is still unclear, it will be clarified somewhat by upcoming events in both "52" and "Teen Titans."