NYCC ’17: Forces Of Destiny For Star Wars: Adventures, Gabriel Rodriguez Takes Up The Sword, And Unicron Arrives At IDW

IDW Editor-In-Chief David Hedgecock opened by introducing the panelists: Sarah Gaydos, Jen Vaughn, Joe Hughes, Joe Caramagna, Gabriel Rodriguez, Denton Tipton, Elsa Charretier, and Pierrick Colinet.

Ducktales is a Joe family, written by Joe Caramagna and edited by Joe Hughes. Hughes said that Ducktales is about very timeless values and that he felt very privileged. Caramagna added that he really likes that Ducktales shows that family is a liquid, it takes any shape you make for it. Hughes specified that issues #0-2 are prequels to the new cartoon on Disney XD.

IDW then announced an adaptation of Big Hero 6: The Series coming in 2018. Joe Hughes will be the editor, but no creative team was announced.

Denton Tipton is the editor on the new Back to the Future series, seemingly subtitled “Tales from the Time Train”, which will follow Doc Brown after the events of Part III. John Barber and series co-creator Bob Gale will be writing the series, which will be illustrated by Megan Levens. The story will take place at the 1939 World’s Fair and Tipton promises mystery, mistaken identity, and dog nappings.

The next project was Star Trek: Mirror Broken, the series based in the Mirror Universe of the Next Generation Era. Sarah Gaydos assured the audience that no one has sleeves in this universe. She also hyped a loot crate exclusive special that explores how Mirrorverse Data met Picard and got all his Borg attachments. She also told us to keep an eye out for more news about Mirror Broken.

Talking about the series’ genesis, Gaydos told the audience that she was ecstatic to hear that Charretier and Colinet were interested in doing The Infinite Loop: Nothing But The Truth. After the first series’ emphasis on LGBTQ rights, this stand-alone sequel  will explore the concept of truth and when and whether it is right to lie.

Sword of Ages marks Gabriel Rodriguez’s anxious first foray into comic writing, but Hedgecock tried to put his nerves to rest, speaking very fondly of Rodriguez’s writing. Inspired by The Incal, Camelot 3000, and Prince Valiant, Sword of Ages wonders what if Arthur was not the first to wield Excalibur. Instead, we follow Avalon, a hero from before the sword even had a name. The primary question for Rodriguez is what is worth fighting for and what each characters’ answers are. The heroes are not so heroic as normal and the villains are not as vile, instead this series explores how differences of opinion and small mistakes lead to huge conflicts.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero will get a facelift staring in issue #246 when Netho Diaz takes over as artist from S.L. Gallant and the mantle of Snake Eyes is passed following his death.

G.I. Joe remained in the spotlight as Hedgecock announced G.I. Joe/The Six Million Dollar Man by Ryan Ferrier and massive fan of both franchises S.L. Gallant. The story has a retro 70s vibe and sees the Joes come into conflict with Steve Austin after COBRA manipulates him into their service and places a nuclear bomb in his arm!

Maggs Visaggio and Fico Ossio, who Gaydos praised as one of the greatest artists working today, are collaborating on Transformers vs. Visionaries. Following “First Strike”, the technology free world of Visionaries is going to get a shock as they encounter the incredibly technological Cybertronians. “Things get deadly,” Gaydos announced ominously.

Rom/Micronauts is also spinning out of “First Strike”, but Hedgecock assured fans that they don’t need to have read the crossover to understand this series. Regular series writer Christos Gage returns with Paolo Villanelli as his creative partner.

Next summer the IDW Transformers universe will break with tradition dating back its inception when Transformers: Unicron is released. The art displayed at the panel was created by Sara Pitre-Durocher, though it’s not explicit that she will be involved. Look for announcements in mid-November.

Gears of War will look at the origin of RAAM and comes to us courtesy of Kurtis Wiebe and Max Dunbar. Wiebe, Tipton says, didn’t want to just do Gears of War, but to make a great comic that also lived within the Gears of War universe.

Jen Vaughn is writing the next arc of Goosebumps, “Download and Die”, along with artist Michelle Wong. The arc updates the classic Goosebumps story “Say Cheese and Die”. Look for that in February. This series also marks the first time that someone other than R.L. Stein will write Goosebumps.

The All-Ages Star Wars Adventures series will be joined by Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny in January. The series is a five week event looking at five different characters with five different creative teams, and the first week will look at Princess Leia by Elsa Charretier and Pierrick Colinet with art by Charretier. The second will look at Rey, written by Jody Hauser and drawn by Arianna Florean. Next up is Hera Syndulla by Devin Grayson and Ava Vitterman. After that it’s an old fashioned team up between Padme Amidala and Asohka Tano from Beth Revis and Valentina Pinto. The final week explores the backstory of Rose and Paige, two characters from The Last Jedi, from Delilah S. Dawson and Nicoletta Baldari.

Speaking about Transformers vs. Visionaries, IDW editor Sarah Gaydos stated that something happens in the last pages of the series that directs how Unicron will act during next summer’s event. Gaydos also notably corrected herself after referring to Unicron as “he”, replacing that with “it”.

A woman, “coincidentally” sitting next to a Lucasfilm employee, asked if the Star Wars Adventures comics will fit into canon. Tipton happily affirmed that all main universe licensed comics are 100% Star Wars canon.

Hedgecock said that you’re crazy not to jump onto TMNT now, with the road to issue #100 being an “emotional roller coaster”.