When it comes to companies with a reputation like Legendary, one can only expect a spectacle when waiting to hear about new and upcoming projects. Their blockbuster film line has made comic fan-boy and fan-girl’s dreams into reality with films like Watchmen, 300, and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series. In a no-holds barred fashion, their featured panel at New York Comic Con 2012 was nothing short of holding true to their reputation. With an all-star panel including the infamous Bob Shreck, Matt Wagner, Grant Morrison, and of course Guillermo Del Toro, Legendary tapped many subjects and upcoming ideas for their recently developed comic line.
The panel, moderated by Chris Hardwick, was one of the most difficult to attend, with a line wrapped around the building to enter. Everyone waiting to hear the latest on what this new line had to offer. Bob Shreck took the stage first with announcements on their newly released line, The Tower Chronicles.
This series recaps the life and history of John Tower. Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter, is plagued by a hidden and ill spoken past. Matt Wagner spoke for himself as the writer and on behalf of the artist Simon Bisley. They have worked in tangent with one another to create a dark and troubled hero who is brought to life in the pages of this trilogy. A third book is set to be released in the next six months. The cover art for book 3 was skillfully illustrated by Tim Bradstreet. Along with Bradstreet, Jim Lee and Alex Ross were commissioned to do the cover art for the first two novels.
Grant Morrison, quickly muttered a few thickly accented and brief words about his newest addition to the line, Annihilator.
Nothing more than a concept and logo was released for this project. The concept being one of simple yet astronomic proportion… a supermassive black hole threatens mankind’s existence. Knowing Grant Morrison, the likelihood of disappointment in this project is slim.
Wrapping up the panel Guillermo Del Toro takes the stand with a highly anticipated hope from the audience that he would share with New York the trailer that he shared with San Diego in their most recent comic con….Pacific Rim. Stating originally that he was advised not to because of editing issues, Del Toro decided “To not give a fuck” and show us anyway, and we were thrilled that he did.
With chills running through out the room, as well as piracy police checking anyone who might be illegally documenting the glory of all that was this trailer, the audience sat in awe as awesome was released into our eyesight. At the end of this minute and a half trailer the panel was rewarded with a standing ovation and a parade of applause.
Del Toro spoke about wanting a new “monster movie in america” in a new light. He wanted to capture “the romance of dramatic lighting and deep texture” on a subject where romance should not be involved. His goal is to capture “A truly human struggle” dealing with a beautifully crafted mix of reality and mythology. In short, this movie is going to be fucking epic and you need to go see it. Imagine monsters taking over the world and robots constructed to save mankind which are controlled by exoskeleton suits slapped on humans. Count me in.
Also in shocking news, the movies is being filmed in 3D. Say hello to a new era of monster movies. If you couldn’t get behind the realistic tendencies of them before, lets see if you can ignore it when its right in your face.
Needless to say, this panel brought a lot of light to the new line from Legendary and everyone who left that panel was extremely excited about the future of the line…and might have possibly pissed themselves from the awesome that they had just witnessed.