SDCC ’08 – Con Roundup

San Diego Comic-Con was this weekend, for those of you living in a hole in the ground, and the comics news came fast and furious. There’s a lot of chaff to sort through, so hit the jump for a rundown of the major headlines, including a million things Watchmen-related. Oh, and some other comic stuff too.

DC COMICS:
Starting off with, of course, all things Watchmen:
– “We had 300 (copies) that came in, and they sold out in two hours and ten minutes.”
– There are movie posters that mimic the ads for the original comic (spoiler alert, if you read the text), and they do so quite nicely, I might add.
– There was the obligatory panel.
– Video games?
– And oh my God is that a real Archie the Owlship I want to ride it and ride it RIGHT NOW.

DC COMICS (NON-WATCHMEN RELATED):
– Flash: Rebirth – When Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver say they plan to do for the Flash what they did for Green Lantern, then it’s time to sit up and take notice. Because the Green Lantern arm of the DCU is one of the strongest appendages it’s got, all thanks to them. And honestly, the Flash line has been floundering so badly, it needs something this big to turn it around at this point.

– Neil Gaiman to write Batman – Er, two issues, that is. They’ll be ‘slightly oversized’. Regardless, Gaiman’s got some serious name power. But does he have as much as…
– Kevin Smith to write Batman… also? – I eagerly look forward to the release of the final issue in 2014. (This just in, Kevin Smith writes late books.)

From there on out, the news gets moslty into the world of who will be working on which books. Quick ‘n dirty:

– JMS’s work on Brave & The Bold will be to bring the old Archie superheroes into the fold of the DCU.
– Related, but lesser known to some, are the Milestone characters (including Static Shock) which are similarly being brought into the DCU proper.
– The Legion of Super Heroes will be showing up in the Smallville show. Who knows how that’ll turn out, but with Geoff Johns at the helm of the story, it might be good.

MARVEL COMICS:
As for Marvel, they have some cool news, even if it’s more low-key:
– I thought Ennis was leaving Punisher? And yet here he is, writing more Punisher, with Dillon even doing art for him again.
– War of Kings is apparently Marvel’s next cosmic event, working the characters of Annihilation through their paces yet again. The Kings: Black Bolt & Vulcan (of the Shi’ar Empire).
– Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk actually gets finished? Then what will comic geeks have for shorthand for late comics? Oh, right, Kevin Smith’s doing comics again. Ha-HA! *rimshot*
– Cloak & Dagger! Nuff Said! (Shut your hole. I like them.)
– There was a Wolverine: Origins trailer that keeps getting taken offline. No link, because (like I said) IT KEEPS GETTING TAKEN OFFLINE.

And lastly, but not leastly…
THE SMALLER PUBLISHERS:
– The Image founders (minus Jim Lee) will be doing a crossover, with each artist doing their own characters. I predict that Kevin Smith finishes his Batman book first. Even if he were drawing it.
– By the way, did you hear that Robert Kirkman was made a partner at Image? I don’t think this has happened since the publisher was formed. Good for him!
– IDW is publishing a Ghostbusters book!
– Larry Hama is writing the new GI Joe book!

…Ok, that’s it, I’m done. If that’s not enough news for you, then just go scour Newsarama or ComicBookResources yourself.