The line to get into the World of Warcraft session at Comic-Con wrapped all the way around the hall and doubled back a couple of times. After that, there was no more room; the line was %26quot;closed,%26quot; half an hour before the session even started. Hundreds of people, or more, were turned away. Wrapping around the floor of the convention center was a line of people waiting in line just to be told that they couldn't wait in line to see WoW.
The popularity of the WoW panel at Comic-Con underscores just how big and far-reaching this license is. Not surprise, then, that multiple companies are snapping up opportunities to bring Warcraft outside of the PC and into other art forms. The occasional novel or comic has always been a part of the Warcraft lore, and recent years saw the debut of the trading card game, but an explosion of related products is on the horizon.
The panel contained representatives from Upper Deck (producers of the collectible card game as well as the upcoming miniatures game), Tokyo Pop and Wild Storm (which publish the WoW Gold comics), and DC Comics Unlimited (which is releasing a series of figures). Also sitting on the panel were representatives from Blizzard, including creative mastermind Chris Metzen. The crew from Blizzard was there to underscore the company's commitment to these other product lines. Rather than tossing the license to other companies, Blizzard closely monitors every product to make sure it fits with the lore, the art style, and the upcoming gameplay elements within the ever-expanding MMO.
Details on What's to Come
Tokyo Pop and Wild Storm comics were the first to speak, outlining all of the comics that are in production. Tokyo Pop alone has 14 Warcraft and eight StarCraft books in the pipeline, marrying together a whole arsenal of experienced writers and artists. Richard A. Knaak is also returning to the writing desk to pen four new volumes. Meanwhile, Wild Storm is working with writers at Blizzard to craft comics detailing the origin of the fabled blade Ashbringer, which is expected to play a major part in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King game expansion.
In fact, the panelists interrupted one another at this point to all underscore just how much the comics and the content in the expansion will overlap. Readers of the comics were told to expect some %26quot;twists and surprises,%26quot; just prior to the expansion's release.
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