The creative team behind Valiant Comics including Eric Heisserer who wrote the 2016 sci-fi film, Arrival, took to the FANDOM FEST stage to talk about the future of their comics in a digital age and about turning comics into movies.

Right now, Valiant is in the middle of an icon reboot. The team believes that comics need to evolve with reboots to stay relevant. So, Fred Van Lente suggested that “All the Marvel Universe characters should be dinosaurs.” Maybe he’s onto something there.

CEO Dinesh Shamdasani then introduced an upcoming new book from Valiant called The Bad Eggs about two dinosaurs who live in a world where dinosaurs act like humans. From the sounds of things, this book could be really promising and funny.

Creators Gotta Create

The writers talked about their characters and how they’re “refreshing” from the usual characters seen in comics. Jody Houser discussed how her character, Faith, is refreshing because she’s an optimist. They try to write relatable but powerful women, and they’re trying to break out of the trend of comics getting darker.

Valiant stressed that they “let creators create,” and that as comic creators, they can get a lot quicker feedback without getting “hijacked.” They also said that the current comic-to-movie adaptations that are getting it right with Wonder Woman and Logan.

While movie adaptations are gaining popularity, Valiant is “not running towards” animation or going on TV. The team knows that everyone is going digital for their comics, which is a “net positive” for fans who can’t get physical copies.

The team wrapped up proceedings with some fantasy casting for Bloodshot, one of their upcoming movies. They have an actor for Bloodshot, but they won’t reveal who it is. Instead, they humorously asked FANDOM’s hosts to ask Michael Rooker in the next panel if he knew who the actor was. (Spoiler: Michael did not know.)