Over the weekend in Chicago, pop culture rained on the Windy City when this year’s C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) rolled through town. A whole lot of news came pouring out of the expo as well, so I thought I’d share some things that went on over in Chi Town. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend in person this year, but through the wonders of the internet, I can sure make it sound like it.

John Barrowman talks new “Torchwood’ novel and more

Many ScienceFiction.com readers and staff love ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Torchwood’, so I’ll start with a few bits about John Barrowman’s panel. As if you’d expect anything else from Captain Jack Harkness, the panel was filled with sexual innuendos . For example, when a fan asked Barrowman if he owned a Captain Jack action figure and “if so, how often do you play with yourself?”, he replied by saying, “I have both the six-inch and the 12-inch, depending on how often I play with them during the day. Sometimes frequently.” Barrowman also mixed up the ninth and tenth Doctor when recounting his first appearance in the TARDIS. After correcting himself, he responded with, “Don’t even go there. I know lots of things that you don’t. Anyway, I’ve had so many Doctors I get confused.” Never a dull moment with the Captain.

The discussion moved on to his other work. He spoke about his young adult novel that he wrote with his sister, Carole Barrowman called ‘Hollow Earth’. Barrowman describes the story in this quote:

“It’s a book that we wrote because it’s a book that we would like to have read,” he said. “It’s about twins who have powers, and they are super powers … they are able to draw whatever they see or copy drawings that they see and bring the drawings to life or put themselves or other people into the drawings. They communicate through telepathy.”

Even though it hasn’t been released here in the States yet, across the pond the book is selling well, so he and his sister are in the process of selling the television and film rights.

After speaking about the ABC pilot that he shot called ‘Guilded Lilies’, conversation went back to ‘Torchwood’ and the upcoming novel written by the Barrowman siblings. Picking up after the events of ‘Miracle Day’, the novel titled ‘Exodus Code’ is set to hit shelves in the fall. This will have to hold over ‘Torchwood’ fans until the next series, if that ever gets off the ground. As for the next time we see Captain Jack, that’s still up in the air even though the 50th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ is approaching next year. As much as we’d all love to see Barrowman reprise his role for the celebration, he isn’t sure whether we will or not and that it’s up to Steven Moffat.

IDW Publishing runs down heavy slate including ‘Doctor Who/Star Trek’, ‘Mars Attacks’, ‘TMNT’, and more

Speaking of ‘Doctor Who’, IDW Publishing’s panel at C2E2 spoke a bit about the ‘Doctor Who/Star Trek’ crossover coming out in May. The brief conversation of he first BBC-sanctioned crossover between ‘Doctor Who’ and another science fiction franchise ended with some shots from the series, including one with the Borg and the Cybermen side by side. Talk then moved on to the rest of IDW’s slate , including ‘Mars Attacks’, which will feature 55 variant covers, ‘The Crow’, ‘Judge Dredd’, ‘Ghostbusters’, and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. I haven’t checked out any IDW titles ever, but seeing this line up of well-loved characters on their slate, I might have to start giving them a look.

Check back later for part 2 of the C2E2 round up, which includes DC and Marvel news.

Source: CBR