Opening the panel, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio told fans "We have nothing to talk about, so we're turning it over to you." Inviting questions from the audience, a line-up consisting of editors DiDio, Mike Carlin, Jann Jones, VP of Sales Bob Wayne and creators Sergio Aragones and James Robinson (announced as "writer of Superman and a book to be named later," with a later tease when DiDio asked him "Do you like writing Green Arrow?") were in full-on tease form when avoiding giving straight answers to straight questions. Some highlights:

* Following Steve Gerber's death, four writers will be writing the final issue of Gerber's Countdown To Mystery series, with each writer providing a four-page sketch of how they think that Gerber would have ended the story. The writers involved will be Mark Waid, Wonder Woman's Gail Simone, Countdown's Adam Beechen and Gerber's close friend, Mark Evanier (DNAgents).

* Fan-favorite book Manhunter will return, but not until there are enough finished scripts to make sure the book will ship on a monthly schedule.

* Birds of Prey, the book that stars former Batgirl Barbara Gordon, will be moving to a new fictional city in the future, just in time for Gordon to meet the villain that crippled her, the Joker, in a move in no way related to that whole Dark Knight movie coming out this summer. Not at all.

* Superstar artist George Perez may be going into the future for his next project. The artist, best known for his work on 1980s universe-ending saga Crisis On Infinite Earths provided the cover for May's DC Universe: Zero, which DiDio said "may lead into what he's doing next". The stars of that particular cover? Futuristic teen super-heroes, the Legion of Super-Heroes.

* Swamp Thing won't be returning to any DC superhero books anytime soon... officially. When asked if the character would be appearing in the DC Universe, DiDio replied that, while the executive editor of the mature-readers Vertigo imprint wasn't giving permission for them to use the character any time soon, "we would never put him in a comedic book without their knowledge. Nooooo." (My guess for that comedic book? The revival of 1980s self-referential comedy Ambush Bug, due in July).

* James Robinson will be returning to characters from his popular Starman series, writing a spin-off series starring the Shade anti-hero. But don't expect it anytime soon - He doesn't plan to finish writing it for at least a year.

* DC's much-hyped, rarely-seen new Batwoman character will be getting her own series... but we won't officially find out about that until tomorrow.

When asked about DC characters getting their own movies, the panel played coy. "We like movies," Jann Jones commented. A fan pointed out that Marvel Comics have two movies coming out this summer (Iron Man and Incredible Hulk) to DC's one (The Dark Knight), leading Bob Wayne to respond "Well, in that case, it's quantity versus quality," to an almost-Oprah audience-worthy "Ooooooooh".

Tomorrow's panels - including a 90-minute DC-centric presentation that will undoubtedly feature their big 2008 plans - will, hopefully, manage to put out something crunchier than cheap shots at the opposition, but who can tell...?

They even had a notary public on hand to certify that yes, KISS did indeed mix their blood into the ink at the printing press Marvel used.

Talk about putting yourself into your work. It also reminds us when Mark Gruenwald died suddenly in 1997, and they mixed his cremated ashes in with the first collected graphic novels of Squadron Supreme. No idea if Steve would have wanted his body contributed to anything, but it would be nice if Marvel could put out a commemorative edition of Howard the Duck for people who don't know anything but the movie.

Gerber's other comics work included the miniseries Omega The Unknown (Currently being revived by novelist Jonathan Lethem) and runs on Man-Thing and The Defenders. Outside comics, Gerber worked on the Transformers, GI Joe and Dungeons and Dragons cartoons of the 1980s as writer and story editor. He also co-wrote a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Gerber passed in hospital from complications due to his fight with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60 years old. [Steve Gerber.com]

Famous names: Gerber also created Howard the Duck, and subsequently sued Marvel Comics for ownership of the character. He lost, and maybe residual bitterness may be why he was so vocal in protest about the announcement that novelist and critic Jonathan Lethem is writing a revival of Omega.

Crunchy goodness: 3

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: With the series cancelled before Gerber and Skrenes had had a chance to finish the story, it fell to another writer, Steven Grant, to try and bring the threads to a conclusion in another series, The Defenders. Pretend it doesn't exist.

Elevator pitch: Imagine Superman, but devoid of any personality or dialogue, and pair him with Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years, as portrayed by a junior Leonard Nimoy. It's gold, I tell you.

Life lesson: If your parents seem to be leaking oil at any point during the day, you may want to get that looked into.

Jonathan Lethem Enters The Unknown With "Omega" article at Comic Book Resources