New York Comic Con picked up steam in its second day with announcements from Vertigo, Dark Horse, Marvel, IDW Publishing and Image, and the possibility of Sesame Street comics. Here are some of the highlights:
• Following in the footsteps of DC Comics: The New 52, most of Vertigo's titles will be available digitally the same day as print.
• Geoff Johns announced that work is about to get under way on a Robot Chicken DC Comics special that will skewer the company's superheroes in the same way that the show tackled Star Wars. The episode, written by Johns and MAD's Kevin Shinick, is set to air next summer.
• Confirming last-minute speculation, Ed Brubaker announced that he and frequent collaborator Sean Phillips (Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito) will release their next project through Image Comics. Called Fatale, the series blends noir elements with the supernatural world. "I've been wanting for a while to do something with a more supernatural element to it," Brubaker told Comic Book Resources. "So Fatale mixes what we do and all the ways we've poked fun at the noir genre. If Incognito was us doing 'What if Doc Savage, Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler had all existed in the same universe?' then this is a weird combo of James M. Cain and Lovecraft. It's got a real horror element to it -- the first time I've really tried to do anything with horror -- but it's also got this really epic story to it."
• Dark Horse confirmed that Demo creators Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan will reunite in February for an adaptation of the Robert E. Howard Conan short story "Queen of the Black Coast." Wood, whose upcoming Dark Horse project The Massive has been extended to an ongoing series, told Comic Book Resources that he's signed on for 25 issues of Conan the Barbarian, "to start."
• Vertigo announced Saucer Country, a new ongoing series from Paul Cornell (Stormwatch, Demon Knights) and Ryan Kelly (Local, New York Five) that the writer describes as "The West Wing does The X-Files."
• Beginning in April, Return of the Dapper Men writer Jim McCann will team with Morning Glories cover artist Rodin Esquejo and colorist Sonia Oback for Mind The Gap, an ongoing series from Image Comics that combines elements of science fiction, thrillers and police procedurals. "This book is my X-Files meets Twin Peaks whodunit," McCann told Comic Book Resources, "where everyone is suspect, and no one is innocent!"
• During its Amazing Spider-Man panel, Marvel announced a Scarlet Spider ongoing series will debut in January from writer Christopher Yost and artist Ryan Stegman.
• Ape Entertainment revealed it's in talks with Sesame Workshop to publish comics featuring the beloved characters from Sesame Street.
• IDW Publishing will release a graphic-novel adaptation of Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 film Alexander Nevsky, by Ben McCool and Mario Guevara.
• Expanding their partnership, Stan Lee and 1821 Comics announced they'll launch a line of children's comics called Stan Lee's Kids Universe.
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