Marvel Announces 'Dark Reign' at Diamond Retailer Summit

Brian Bendis was the special, surprise guest during Marvel Comics' presentation at Diamond Comics Distributors' retailer summit in Las Vegas Nevada Monday evening. After thanking retailers for the success of this summer's Secret Invasion, Bendis announced the Marvel event that follows that storyline will be called Dark Reign, which will focus on the "after effects" of Secret Invasion, and will include several Marvel Universe titles that will feature "Dark Reign" trade dress.

More specifically Bendis went on to say the post-Invasion Marvel Universe will feature a complete change in his Avengers family of titles, including Bendis leaving Mighty Avengers with issue #20 and the launch of a new title Dark Avengers, with art by Mike Deodato.

The fan-favorite but sometimes controversial creator told the retailer audience that if they thought Internet readers have been mad at him before that they should watch out for the post-Invasion fallout as he expects "loads of sh*t" to head his way.

His Spider-Woman series with artist Alex Maleev is also still in the works, and the creators duo plan a long run on the title.

Bendis went on to apologize for the lateness of his ICON series Powers, and spoke briefly about the deal for a TV show adaptation that he would help write and that should be officially announced soon.

Among the other Marvel projects announced...

Ultimate Avengers by Mark Millar, scheduled for an early Marvel 2009 debut. Fans that have been around for a few years may recall that very early on in the development of the Ultimate Universe, the title that would become The Ultimates was originally referred to as "Ultimate Avengers".

The Amazing Spider-Man #600 creative team was not announced, but promo art shown to retailers apparently featured an image of the "classic" Mary Jane with Peter Parker and a caption asking what "really" happened at Spider-Man's wedding.

Marvel Noir is an upcoming new line that explains those four b&w teaser images the publisher has released over the last few months. The line will apparently launch with a title featuring the X-Men, with Spider-Man and then other characters/properties to follow.

This was only a brief recap of the projects announced to retailers Monday evening. Expect much more detail here at Newsarama Tuesday.

Newsarama Note: We originally announced that Mighty Avengers would end with issue #20 - that is incorrect. Brian Bendis will beleaving the series with issue #20. Newsarama regrets the error, and apologizes for any confusion.