Con News Roundup

With Heroes Con and Wizard World Philadelphia both happening this weekend, there’s a crap load of comic book news coming out right now. Of course, we won’t get into the really juicy stuff until the Comic-Con in San Diego next month and Wizard World Chicago in August, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot of stuff worth noting:

– Flash: The Fastest Man Alive is being cancelled with next week’s issue 13. In it’s place will come a brand-new Mark Waid-penned Flash series starting up in August, continuing the numbering from the last series. Hmm…DC rebooted The Flash with a new #1 after Infinite Crisis when Wally West kicked the bucket. Could a return to the numbering of the series when it starred Wally West also mean the return of the man himself? Dear god, I hope so. I’d love to read a new Mark Waid series, but not if it starred Bart Allen.

-Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Sensational Spider-Man will be cancelled after August’s One More Day crossover to make way for thrice-monthly issues of Amazing Spider-Man. There will be a team of writers and artists trading off storylines, though, so it’ll probably still be like getting 6 issues of Amazing for two months and then 6 issues of FNSM for the next two, but they’ll all share subplots and what-not now. Speculation is that Dan Slott will be part of the writing team. Hopefully it’s the Dan Slott that wrote the Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series and not the Dan Slott that wrote the Free Comic Book Day issue.

-Dan Sott’s off of She-Hulk, most likely to take over Spider-Man, leaving She-Hulk to be taken over by the guy getting kicked off of Spider-Man, Peter David! Among other stuff, David’s known for two things: smart, witty dialogue and his extended run on Incredible Hulk in the 90s. She-Hulk seems like a perfect fit. I was greatly disappointed when I heard Slott was leaving what has become one of my favorite Marvel titles, but I only see it getting better with Peter David running the ship.

-Justice League of America also has a new writer waiting in the wings: Dwayne McDuffie. Brad Metzler’s last issue is #12, and a lot of us in the Legion cannot wait to see him go. Dwayne McDuffie may not be the “superstar” writer that Metzler is, but he knows these characters like the back of his hand. Not only did McDuffie write the plot for the more-fun-than-it-should-have-been Justice League Heroes video game, but he was one of the writing staff on Justice League Unlimited. So that’s a good sign. McDuffie showed in Beyond! that he can write a great story featuring a cast of C-listers, so imagine what he can do with the Justice League.

-The late-2007 X-Men event officially has a title: Messiah Complex. It also officially has a format, which I couldn’t be happier about. After the Endangered Species one-shot next week and the 16-part back-up stories in Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men, X-Men and X-Factor, Messiah Complex will launch with a one-shot and twelve additional full-issue chapters in the same four titles. No mini-series, no ancillary crossovers; just those thirteen issues. I already read three of those on a monthly basis, so I’m only going to have to fork over an additional nine dollars for this crossover. Sure beats the hell out of $28 for the Civil War mini alone.

-Marvel will return to House of M with a mini-series starring Luke Cage’s team of rebel fighters. Is anyone out there really clamoring for a return to House of M? Isn’t that kind of where Marvel started going downhill?

There’s plenty more news from Heroes Con and WWP, but a lot of it is retread or something you’d just as likely see announced in Previews as at a con. Head on over to newsarama.com, who has plenty of coverage on that stuff.