The programming at the 2008 WizardWorld: Philadelphia kicked off Friday afternoon with the Mondo Marvel panel.
Present at the
panel: Duane Swierczynski, CB Cebulksi, Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada,
Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Dan Slott, Brian Reed, Fred Van Lente
and Greg Pak.
After joking briefly
with a fan in the front row about the Mets, Quesada kicked off the
presentation with a loud "How's everyone doing today?" to which the
crowd shouted back. The E-i-C then welcomed the audience to the first
panel of the con and introduced the panelists named above.
Quesada moved right
into the presentation, noting that July sees the start of "Manifest
Destiny," the next major storyline for the X-Men, and is set in San
Francisco, the mutants' new home.
Quesada then began to move through the slides, and showed the cover to Deadpool #1, Wolverine: Origins and the King-Size Cable Spectacular
written by Swierczynski. The writer noted that the special is a 43-44
page story told from Bishop's point of view, and readers will see how
he tracks his quarry - the infant that Cable has sworn to protect.
Quesada then showed art from Magneto: Testament,
and asked writer Greg Pak to discuss the upcoming five-issue
miniseries. Pak said that for years he's wanted to tell the story of
Magneto's early days as a young Jewish boy, along with his family, who
is trying to survive the onslaught of the Nazi ascendancy and the Final
Solution.
Pak said that it
will be pretty incredible with Carmine Di Giandomenico as its artist,
adding that "nobody draws sad eyes like Carmine."
Click here for our conversation with Pak about the mini-series.
Quesada then spoke about The Age of Sentry, a retro-style mini-series focusing on the early days of the Sentry, written by Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin.
A fan then asked a
question if the upcoming "Manifest Destiny" storyline was
self-contained, or if it will have crossovers. Cebulski said that it'll
be more to itself but crossover to Wolverine with Professor Xavier, but it will take place mostly in Uncanny X-Men starting with issue #500.
The second part of
the question - "Are we going to find out whether the Secret War was
also orchestrated by the Skrulls or will that come up later?"
Brevoort replied with a "What?" noting that he was distracted, since he was reading Secret Invasion #3 at the table. Brevoort teased that he would be giving his copy away on Sunday at Marvel's "Prize or No Prize?" panel.
The Editor then
answered his phone, telling Quesada that it was Editor Steve Wacker
calling, who said that he just got the new designs for Speedball in.
But as for the original question, Brevoort said that the answer will
most likely be found in Mighty Avengers #18.
The next question - "Will the Son of Hulk series be set on Sakaar, or will he be coming to Aarth?"
Pak said, "We start
off with him on the planet and take it from there...if you liked Planet
Hulk it's going to be more savage then when the Hulk was there [on the
planet], so come in and watch what happens."
Quesada noted that the thing about the first issue of Son of Hulk
is that the pages keep coming in, and the issue has become a buzz book
in the offices. "Greg did an amazing job on it so if you're a fan of
the old Marvel sword and sorcery stuff this is going to be fantastic
for you. When you're finished reading it, you may not want him to come back to Earth.
The next question
came form a Fantastic Four fan who said that they don't like the new
direction Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch are taking the book in, and in
fact, they're enjoying the "Marvel Adventures" version more. Is there
any possibility of getting it back to the way it was?
Quesada answered
that he could understand if the fan didn't care about his opinion, but
he enjoyed where the book is going. Brevoort agreed, noting that the
masthead of the book is not going to be going anywhere. The Editor said
that he's just as big an FF fan as anyone, and doesn't mind seeing
things mixed up from time to time on the book, and said he was sorry
that the book wasn't clicking for them.
Quesada joined in,
adding that Millar and Hitch are going for the old-school vibe that the
series used to have, and bringing back more of a high adventure style -
but again, added that he could understand if the series' current
direction wasn't working for them. The fan said they'd been around for
500 issues, so they'd most likely be staying through the Millar/Hitch
run.
Another fan asked that, if in the near future Iron Man will not
show up in every Marvel book. Quesada made a joke about how people used
to say that about Wolverine, noting that it's ironic how these things
come around. Last year - it used to be Wolverine that "was in every
book," in fans' eyes. It goes to show, Quesada said, how popular
characters are in the comics. He joked that in a few years time, we'll
all be joking about how a different character is in every book.
Reed joked that that character will be Dazzler.
The next question
focused on how the panelists felt about digital comics, with Quesada
answering that anything that gets comics out to the masses is great for
our industry as a whole, but it's really still uncharted territory.
Uncharted legal territory, Cebulski noted.
The next question: When are you changing Spider-Man back?
"Back to what?" Quesada replied.
"Back to when it was good."
Quesada asked the
fan what they liked about it, to which the individual said they used to
like the darker edge the book had, with Aunt May being "like 90 years
old."
"Old people must die..." Slott said in a deep, booming voice.
But the fan
persisted, noting the changes brought by "One More Day" - the return of
Harry Osborn, the split of the marriage, and Aunt May. Quesada said
that if you keep reading, you'll get closure on some of the larger
outstanding issues, adding that Spider-Man is an ongoing thing, with
characters coming and going. He then defended his stance that divorce
was not the way to go for Peter and Mary Jane, as he sees that as the
ultimate quitting, raising a white flag, and he didn't see that in
either Peter or Mary Jane's character.
"But keep reading we will still have closure."
Question: "Is Mary Jane a Skrull?"
Brevoort: (bluntly) "Mary Jane is not a Skrull."
Answering a question about the upcoming The Age of the Sentry, Quesada said that it won't tie in to the character's most recent stories in Mighty Avengers,
but rather is a fun look at the Sentry, with certain aspects of the
character highlighted, which will be carried into other projects.
Speaking of the upcoming Ultimate Origins, Quesada said that the events in that mini ill clearly delineate the Marvel Universe from the Ultimate Universe.
Asked about the new Deadpool
series, Cebulski said that it will be very faithful to the previous
series the character has had, and "everyone will be very happy."
Will the New Avengers be "underground" forever?
Quesada said that
something will eventually happen on that front, but "I won't tell you
right now." It might not be what you think, Quesada said, adding that
there are big changes coming for Iron Man.
Asked about what's coming in Avengers: The Initiative,
Slott said that the series will show what's going on at the front lines
of the Skrull Invasion, and more Taskmaster. Also, in regards to
Butterball, who appeared in issue #13, Slott said while he can't give
anything away but, "If you really liked that issue, we'll see you again
in a one-shot where the team is in Nevada."
Answering a question about the second volume of Young Avengers, Brevoort said that they are working on something right now that "isn't quite" Young Avengers, but he didn't want to promise anything.
Quesada said that
there is something with Cloak and Dagger in the pipeline, but didn't
elaborate on what, or where in the pipeline it was.
Speaking of Incredible Hercules,
Pak said that the series came from a challenge he was given - to make
Hercules cook as a character again. "From the beginning I knew there
was going to be a group of characters interacting with the Hulk, so I
refreshed myself with him, and we paired him with these renegades and
something just worked there."
Pak added that Hercules is one of the most popular characters ever, and the book has been nothing but a pleasure to work on.
Swierczynski said that he loves the stories in Iron Fist with the older Iron Fist, but declined to say if he's going to be using previous Iron Fists when he takes over the series.
A question about a possible new Loners
series earned applause from Slott, with Cebulski saying that there are
currently plans for some of the characters in different places, noting
that it's a tough market for a book like Loners.
The same fan then
asked about hearing more about the Sentry. Quesada answered that, in
his view, what makes him so cool is that he's crazy, and you can't take
that away from him, as it clearly differentiates him from Superman, who
can easily resolve every issue thrown at him. "There is some very
interesting stuff coming up with the Sentry," Quesada added.
Asked if there was more X-Men by Joss Whedon forthcoming, Quesada said no, that Whedon is very busy with Dollhouse and his other Hollywood commitments.
Explaining the upcoming Ultimatum, Quesada said that once the secret of the Ultimate Universe is revealed in Ultimate Origins, Ultimatum is what happens as a result of that revelation.
Asked about "under the radar" books that are currently being published by Marvel, both Quesada and Cebulski recommended The Twelve, with Slott giving props to Criminal.
"As I started as
Editor-in-Chief eight-plus years ago, we have such a huge variety of
stuff now, from kids stuff to adult stuff, we really are expanding our
imprint," Quesada said. "It's a great career and we're just thrilled -
thanks to you guys - flexing our sales in the market. Comics are
healthy."
Asked about Alpha
Flight, Quesada said that they're looking for something that would make
that book different than a Canadian version of the Avengers.
Speaking of the
Marvel movies, Quesada said that one of the nice things about Marvel
Studios is that it has something called the "creative committee," which
sits and talks over screenplays and editing them, so its no longer a
situation of movies being handed down from the studios but rather
Marvel taking an active role in the stories that are being told, up to
and including comic writers taking a role in the stories that reach the
screen. As an example, Cebulski noted that Brian K. Vaughan will be
writing the upcoming Runaways movie.
There will not be a Secret Invasion tie-in with Iron Fist, Brevoort said.
Quesada said there is discussion going on about an Ultimate Thor series.
Speaking more about The Initiative,
Slott said that teams from Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona will be seen, as
well as the New Mexico team, which will showcase a classic character
that hasn't been seen in a while.
Finally, in regards
to Marvel's creator-owned ICON line, Quesada said the expansion of the
line is purposely slow, with at most four books a month in order to
keep the quality as high as possible.
