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Blizzard SDCC Panel Revelations

by - 9 years ago

As has been standard for Blizzard over the last few years, the studio sends reps (often in the form of resident thunder god Chris Metzen but also including other company deities like Sr. Toys/Collectibles Manager Jason Bischoff) to run a panel at San Diego Comic Con 2015, where new merchandise and upcoming plans are discussed. It’s not usually a lot of game-related stuff, but with the movie in the pipeline and with how much non-game stuff is associated with all of Blizzard’s franchises, it’s usually an interesting experience, and from the reports we’ve gotten so far, this year did not disappoint.

Check out the highlights below. More information on specific projects should be available soon, and once we know, you’ll know.

Warcraft

  • The previously-announced Warcraft Chronicles hardcover series is now being billed as a three-book series. A video preview for the first book, which is due out in November, was shown at the panel.
  • In addition, there is now a tie-in graphic novel, called Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood, that will act as prequel to the Warcraft film. Metzen created the story concept, and handed writing duties to Paul Cornell with art by Matt Broome. If the art is any indication, we’ll be seeing young versions of Anduin Lothar, King Llane, and Medivh when they were all rambunctious youths.

Setting the stage for the Warcraft movie, Legendary Comics revealed the official graphic novel prequel Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood.

This thrilling adventure of bravery, bloodshed and brotherhood is an original story conceived by Chris Metzen, written by the award-winning Paul Cornell (Doctor Who) and featuring art from Mat Broome (Batman: No Man’s Land, WildC.A.T.S, Witchblade).

Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood will be released in May 2016 in the weeks before the movie hits theaters on June 10th.

  • Aside from the graphic novel, there’s also a tie-in novel prequel by Christie Golden that will be out around the time of the film. No title was given for the book, but engaging Golden means that it will likely be consistent with her voice in the Warcraft novel franchise, even if the film will be, as Metzen himself stated at the panel, “the beginning of the Warcraft cinematic universe.” Similar to how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is distinct from the comic book continuities, everything seems aligned for the film to be the basis for an entirely separate iteration of the Warcraft franchise.

Starcraft

  • The “Field Manual” is still in line to be released later this year, serving to highlight all of the tech in the Starcraft universe.
  • There were also statements about a novel that takes the form of a book by a marine, which will reflect on the past lore of the franchise.

Overwatch

  • There is a Reaper statue in development that’s along a similar scale to the Tracer statue revealed at last year’s BlizzCon.
  • A graphic novel is planned that will cover the formation of Overwatch. Airs of this are already evident from the recent Soldier: 76 revelations. A piece of revealed art shows 76, Reinhardt, Torbjorn, and two unknown characters; overall, it’s similar to a shot that showed up in the Soldier: 76 origin story trailer that covered the same time period.

Check out Blizzard’s round-up of their SDCC exclusives and other currently-available and upcoming products on their official blog.

 


JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


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