WonderCon 2023: IDW Gets In Depth With Its Titles

IDW has some ambitious projects for this year and the comic publisher dove into several of their current and future titles in a panel at WonderCon 2023. In attendance were Ben Crane, Mimi Alves, David M. Booher, Nick Marino, Amy Mebberson, Tom Waltz, and Jackson Lanzing.

Crane and Alves are the writer and artist of Cosmic Cadets. It’s a new graphic novel from Top Shelf that follows the children of the senior officers onboard a star ship. When the adults botch a first contact with an alien race, it’s up to the kids to save the day. The creators stressed that the series celebrates empathy and understanding. This is further enforced by the aliens’ powers that affect people’s emotions. One plotline between parent and child involves the son of the captain not wanting to follow in his mother’s footsteps and finding the courage to be honest to her.

Booher is the writer for the new Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures, which comes out this week. He approached the series as if it were lost episodes of the original cartoon, and he wanted to explore what it really means to be stuck in a fantasy world as teens. Some members of the group want to make the best of the situation and make a new home. There is also some conflict on who should be the leader of their party.

In Godzilla Rivals: Biollante Vs. Destoroyah, Marino wanted to look at the science of Biollante and why it was so different from other Kaiju. It has a mysterious link to Destoroyah and that’s what causes them to battle in Marino’s hometown of Pittsburgh.

We then received a look at Mebberson’s art for various My Little Pony comics including covers and interiors for the main line as well as her cover for the 40th Anniversary special.

While Waltz talked about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we learned that the entire saga of The Armageddon Game will be available this year. We received Ben Bishop’s designs for the new turtles in The Last Ronin stories and we’ll learn the significance of their names in issue #5. In addition, we saw covers for TMNT: The Last Ronin—Lost Years #3 and Elizabeth Beals’ cover for TMNT: The Last Ronin—Lost Day Special.

Finally, Lanzing spoke about what’s happening in the Star Trek comics. The main series and Star Trek: Defiant are building to the upcoming ‘Day of Blood’ event. As a sign of how everything Star Trek is becoming interconnected including television and the comics, he shared that Shaxs from Star Trek: Lower Decks, will soon appear in Star Trek #7. Before that issue though, check out artwork from #6.