The Tom King panel kicked off with plenty of swearing and high energy from King himself, who was joined on stage with Mitch Gerads. It was a punch to the face of sorts as King reflected on how his Batman series was comprised of many issues that brought Batman to new lows (Batman getting flaked out on by Catwoman on their wedding day,Bane taking over Gotham, among other things). He even pointed out Brian Michael Bendis was unsure about such a long length of time to bring the character down. King admitted it was a lot and the audience agreed until an audience member shouted you have to bring a character down to bring them back up.
Heroes in Crisis came up next where King reflected on how he got in trouble at the press event last year when he flicked Clay Mann’s ear, who at that moment was dressed as a waiter. Media members were tweeting what they saw which King said got him in a bit of trouble. “He’s like my brother,” King yelled. Of course, the real trouble was the negative reaction to Heroes in Crisis which King reflected on. “It was a tough hill,” King said. Gerads defended the book and said, “If someone hates something then someone else out there loves it.” King reflected he’s still proud of the story and many of the complaints were unfounded since many of the criticisms came before the series finished.
Mister Miracle came up next and King and Gerads made it clear they are very nervous about the Eisner Awards tomorrow night. When asked about how he feels about the series King said, “I’m more proud of that than anything I’ve ever done and I have three children,” King said. King said it was his favorite series he’s done which Gerads agreed with, “Every time we do something new I’m like insanely proud of it and that’s my new thing.” King related the series to a Paul McCartney story where he said, “This will be my Beatles.”
Heading out to SDCC followed by some time in LA to work on New Gods. Longest I’ve ever been away from the family. pic.twitter.com/73vuqSw5lE
— Tom King (@TomKingTK) July 17, 2019
King was asked about writing short one-shot stories vs. miniseries or ongoing series. King said he learned early on every issue is incredibly important, “this is a sacred space.” Gerads agreed, “there’s no better way to make comics than when you get to know when it ends.” The talk revolved around King’s first Eisner win for the short story “Good Boy”.
Fun facts from the Q and A:
- Mitch Gerads designed the Cinnamon Toast Crunch characters before he got into comics.
- King would likely still be in the CIA if he didn’t get into comics.
- Mitch Gerads had breakfast across from Conan O’Brien this morning. They locked eyes many times, Gerads said, and awkwardly looked away from each other for an hour.
- The recent “The Fall and the Fallen” story arc was supposed to be an adventure with Ra’s al Ghul. “It would be an adventure with Batman and Thomas [Batman’s father] in the desert,” King said. Editors told him the story was too far from Gotham and wanted to reposition the story to the city.
- Gerads number one favorite artist is Norman Rockwell. His favorite comic artist is John Paul Leon.
- “She’s a joy,” King said about working with director Ava DuVernay on the upcoming New Gods. He said they begin writing the movie next week.
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