C2E2: Avengers Assemble Panel

It’s unarguably Marvel Comics’ biggest franchise in comics and soon to be in film, and Satuday at the Chicago Comics And Entertainment Expo (AKA C2E2), the Avengers descended on a crowd of fans as “Avengers” and “New Avengers” writer Brian Michael Bendis was joined by incoming “Secret Avengers” writer Nick Spencer, “Fear Itself” writer Matt Fraction, “Widowmaker” scribe jim McCann, editor Tom Brennan and talent coordinator/host C.B. Cebulski lead a discussion about the future of the core superteam of the Marvel U.

Getting into the upcoming books, Bendis spoke on “Avengers” issue #12.1 of which he said “since Bryan Hitch is a lunatic, it’s almost double-sized at no extra cost to you.” The story is a self-contained prologue to “a very large story the pair will do in the future which the writer described as “the Avengers Vs. The Intelligencia over the fallen body of a Spaceknight.” The story will tie in with the Ultron story Bendis has been building to.

After that, Bendis and Chris Bachelo will work on “Avengers” #13, which is the first part of a “Fear Itself” tie in. “These are pretty important tie-ins to what Matt Fraction is working on,” Bendis said, noting that John Romita, Jr. is hard at work on some forthcoming stories that are also big and potentially double-sized.

Soon in “New Avengers” – a book that Bendis knew may be confusing to some fans at the moment – the story of the original Avengers team Nick Fury put together in the late 1950s featuring people like Sabertooth and Kraven the Hunter which involves “The Infinity Formula and the Super Soldier formula” will clash with a modern story of the new Norman Osborn-less “H.A.M.M.E.R.” and the fate of Mockingbird as that organization makes their move.

“Each one is a character story, and each [character] is going to be a little different by the end of the 22 pages than they were at the beginning,” Spencer said of his “Secret Avengers” three-part “Fear Itself” tie-in arc.

Cebulski revealed covers for the next arc of “Avengers Academy” which he praised for introducing new characters into the Marvel U as well as Ed Brubaker’s incoming “Red Room” arc of “Captain America” which reveals more about how Bucky’s status as the Winter Soldier impacts his life and legacy.

Fraction then spoke on his upcoming one-two punch of “The Mighty Thor” and “The Invincible Iron Man.” The former book sees the return of Olivier Coipel who the writer said is competing with both Pasqual Ferry and his past run on “Thor” for bragging rights over killer Norse action as Galactus tries to eat the Asgardian’s living in Oklahoma. Fraction said that “Iron Man” will deal with Tony Stark’s trouble as a man of logic and science dealing with miraculous happenings in “Fear Itself” and more. “Between this and what happens in ‘Fear Itself,’ somehow it’s going to get even worse for Tony,”

For Spencer, the “Fear Itself” arc of “Iron Man 2.0” will not only further the story of James Rhodes as well as the Iron Fist of whom the writer said he’ll explore “the fallout from what happened to Danny in ‘New Avengers’ and the change in his mind.” McCann promised harrowing adventures for the Avengers resident archer in “Hawkeye Blindspot” before he returns to the team.

The floor opened up to fan questions, and a reader asked how Marvel could get “Thor” comics into the hands of the audience for the upcoming movie. While the creative talent had very little control over marketing for Marvel Studios, Fraction expressed an interest in getting Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in costume as Cap and Thor to shoot a special photo cover for “Fear Itself” though he was uncertain it could get done. Bendis joked that they would be able to get himself and Cebulski in costume for the cover for sure.

“I didn’t mean for it to be such a sausage-fest,” Bendis said of his Avengers team, promising more diversity throughout the “Fear Itself” tie-in arc and moving forward. He also promised that the oral histories he’s writing for the back of the book will play into upcoming stories rather than only provide backup info.

A fan asked after the Spaceknight tease in “Avengers” and Bendis ephatically noted that it would not be the classic character ROM Spaceknight in the series as Marvel doesn’t own the hero. “The day Marvel gets its hands on ROM, in the middle of the story no matter what I’m writing, he’ll show up.”

A fan wondered if Moon Knight will stay a part of the Secret Avengers now that he has his own series by Bendis and Alex Maleev, and Bendis said that the writer who takes over the team book after Spencer’s arc is “in cahoots” with him on this topic. “We’re doing a lot of world-building around Moon Knight…he’s in LA specifically because a lot of villains have left New York because after 35 years, they’ve started to realize that it’s not the best to be where all the superheroes live.” Moon Knight will absorb the personalities of Spider-Man, Wolverine and other heroes as “A one-man lunatic Avengers team that can not be beat.”

“What I’m going to get away from is Moon Knight being tortured in his house popping pills. That stuff worked, but I thought it was time for him to get our there and enjoy his madness,” the writer added.

Asked via Twitter proxy by a fan from Ireland whether the Avengers would ever start to include more heroes who weren’t of American origin, Bendis said “Yes!” before Cebulski said, “Tell your friend Brian Bendis just said ‘Shamrock.'”

Big villains are coming in the future of “Avengers Academy.”

The relationship between the original Captain American and Iron Man will be a key factor in many books coming up. “A lot of the Steve/Tony relationship will be going on” coming up, said Bendis, with Fraction adding that Rogers makes a choice in “Fear Itself” that affects the relationship in a big way as he viewed the connection between the two “a gift” as a writer.

Bendis has been re-reading many original prints of the original Avengers issues and is learning all sorts of things about how comic fans have always been the same with the letters page containing complaints the Jack Kirby was lazy for dropping from three monthly titles to two and anger over the inclusion of Hawkeye on the team. He just made it up to the issues of Avengers he started at as a kid around #149 and #150 with the introduction of Hellcat, which is particularly fun for him.

Many fans asked after the Scarlet Witch or the Young Avengers and whether they’ll impact incoming events with Fraction taking point on saying that all the Marvel writers are patiently allowing Allan Heinberg to do what he wants on “Avengers: Children’s Crusade” before moving those plotlines further. “No one wants to compete by doing [a book like a ‘Young Avengers: Fear Itself’ tie-in] when the actual Young Avengers are coming out,” he said. “It’d be like being a Beatles cover band that opens for the Beatles.”

Since Bendis is such a fan of George Perez’s classic “Avengers” run, a reader wanted to know will the artist ever work on a book. Bendis related a story of how he met the artist as a young man when he was hired to be the artist for a Superman parade in his hometown of Cleveland, and Perez gave him some great advice. For now though, the writer explained that Perez is DC exclusive but when that wraps up, Marvel writers are waiting to pounce on him for a book as well as artists like Walt Simonson.

Perpetual fan favorite Squirrel Girl was asked after, and Bendis said she’ll play a role in the run of Avengers annuals he’s about to write for artist Gabrielle Del’Otto.-by Kiel Phegley,

C2E2: Fear Itself Panel

Marvel’s “Fear Itself” panel focusing on the upcoming event miniseries by Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen, as well as tie-in titles at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo saw the announcement of a new “Ghost Rider” title and “Fear Itself: The Deep.” On hand for the panel were Mike Pasciullo, C.B. Cebulski, Fred Van Lente, Matt Fraction, Brian Michael Bendis, and Nick Spencer.

As the introductions began, a cartoon of Cebulski drinking from a pitcher appeared on the screen. “I was doing a lot of that last night,” Cebulski remarked, with Pasciullo chiming in that “that’s root beer.” A young fan yelled, “Yay, I love root beer!” to everyone’s amusement.

“The story of ‘Fear Itself’ is pretty simple: the Red Skull discovers that Odin may not be the All-Father,” Fraction said, which leads Skull to resurrect an ancient deity, leading to a worldwide war. “It is a capital-E event. The whole story will be told in the main series, you will not be penalized for not reading 72 books a week,” he said. And, “when it is done, you will not believe they let one guy get away with it all.”

Complimenting his artists, Fraction said, “I am incredibly fortunate to have my name on something that looks this good.”

Fraction said that Thor and Captain America are in the series and joked, “Marvel went to the trouble of creating two movies to help promote our book.”

The Iron Man tie-in issue, written by Fraction, will see what happens when a man of science is confronted with a miracle—”it’s a horrific, destructive miracle, but it can only be described as a miracle.”

The “Thor” ongoing will not tie into “Fear Itself,” but Kieron Gillen’s “Journey Into Mystery” will.

Bendis then spoke on “Avengers” #13, which ties into the event. “This is the biggest roster change since I came onto the book,” Bendis said. He added that there will be “a surprising wartime romance” and “a huge change to the Avengers itself—coming in to do a couple issues is Chris Bachalo.” This is because “what Johnny [Romita] has to draw is huge.”

“By the end of it, you’ll be ready to kill me,” Bendis concluded.

Spencer’s “Secret Avengers” will focus on how “Fear Itself” impacts Beast, Valkyrie, and Black Widow. “We’re going to look at the human perspective and how it’s affecting these characters individually.” The writer’s “Iron Man 2.0” will also tie in with #5.

Van Lente is co-writing “Alpha Flight” with Greg Pak, which will feature the original team “who are back and not dead” and tie into “Fear Itself.”

Cebulski announced “Fear Itself: The Deep” by Cullen Bunn and Lee Gerbett, which will feature Namor, Doctor Strange, “and a couple heroes we don’t want to reveal yet.”

The creative team “Hell on Wheels” was then announced as Rob Williams and Matt Clark, though the series will actually be called “Ghost Rider” and launch with a 0.1 issue in June.

Cebulski then opened the floor to questions.

Fraction said the series will see “bad guys turning good, bad guys turning worse, and villains realizing they’ve wasted their lives” in response to what looks like the end of the world, answering a lengthy fan query.

A fan spoke about getting her comics via subscriptions and how readers who only get ongoing series would be affected. Bendis said that the stories would still be “a thing onto itself” and fans who only read “Avengers” or “Iron Man” would still be able to enjoy the issues in context. Fraction added that, much like “Secret Invasion,” reading all of the major series would give a bigger picture but reading only certain books would still tell a complete story.

Pasciullo mentioned that Howard the Duck will appear in “Fear Itself: Fearsome Four,” which excited fans.

There are no plans for “Runaways” at present, Cebulski said.

A fan asked “how someone like me can meet Stan Lee.” “We can’t advocate stalking,” Pasciullo said, adding that Lee usually appears at San Diego’s Comic-Con International. He also posts regularly on Twitter about his upcoming appearances, Cebulski added.

Fraction said that “Fear Itself” “resonates like ‘Civil War'” but “it feels bigger to me.” “It is a worldwide catastrophe, whereas ‘Civil War’ seemed to take place in a 4×4 block of Manhattan until the end.”

The Avengers will be the team most affected by the event, while “Cap and Thor” will be the characters most changed, Fraction said. As to which Captain America he means, Fraction said, “Yes.”

Fraction added that part of the story is “about the legacy of Cap, and the meaning of Cap, and Steve and Bucky and what they mean to each other.”

The Hulk will “very much” be a part of “Fear Itself,” Fraction said, while Bendis added that there will be a storyline coming after the event about the quest for the new Sorcerer Supreme. “Doctor Voodoo’s brother is pretty pissed off and he has the ability to enter anybody’s body and mess up the team,” Bendis said.

Fraction said ‘Fear Itself” stemmed from a discussion with editor Tom Brevoort about doing a Captain America/Thor story in time for the movies, which led him to discuss the possibilities with Ed Brubaker.

After an odd bell noise peeled through the room—which has happened at a number of panels so far—Fraction recoiled, joking, “Did I just have a stroke? I’m tasting pennies, is that weird?”

Fraction said that not every book would be about a literal fear—”Wolverine’s afraid of badgers!” but fear will be a theme. “What does it mean for Captain America if no one believes in America?”

Asked about event fatigue, Cebulski said that their events are story-driven first, and that after giving the characters some time to build individually, “and what that built toward was ‘Fear Itself.'” Fraction added that it’s “lousy events that people are tired of.”

“I’d be hard pressed to find anyone at this convention who doesn’t want cool shit to happen in their comics,” Bendis added. “And this is really cool.”

A fan suggested that wiping Tony Stark’s memory was a “quick fix” to the character’s conflicts, but Fraction explained that he felt doing so made Tony’s situation worse. “Cap doesn’t say, ‘oh, you don’t remember, so it’s okay—you scalawag!” Fraction said, and “he doesn’t remember who he’s slept with, so Pepper’s pissed off at him, Maria Hill has left the book—if it read as an easy fix, I blew it.”

Speaking about Iron Man’s previous experiences with gods like Thor, Fraction said that while working on the “Iron Man 2” film, he discussed with producer Kevin Feige that “we’ve got to come up with a Thor story so, when Iron Man and Thor are sitting on the couch together, it’s not like pickles and peanut butter.” In “Fear Itself,” though, “he has to sit down and think about this.”

After a lengthy question about possible Marvel/DC crossovers, Pasciullo said “there are many past DC/Marvel crossovers that can be read over and over again.” Bendis recounted “the time I embarrassed myself trying to get DC to do a Batman/Daredevil crossover” at a Chicago Wizard convention.

Part of the Odin concept takes into account the inconsistencies in Norse mythology. “Maybe it’s because we don’t know the whole story.”

Bendis said, “Thor fans: I’ve seen the movie, and it is awesome.”

He also confirmed that “both Avengers and New Avengers will have severe roster changes.”

A fan asked, “is Thor really a momma’s boy or a daddy’s boy,” referring to his duality on Earth and Asgard. “Odin literally asks him that question in the first issue,” Fraction said, “Are you a god or are you a man?’

A fan complained that the 25th anniversary of Spider-Ham only got “a cameo and a lousy graphic novel.” Bendis said, “It’s almost like he’s a one-note joke,” with Fraction adding, “I’m sorry, if I had a tumbleweed I would have just rolled it across the stage.” The fan persisted, which led Bendis to joke, “Look, most of us are Jewish—we don’t like him!”

There was a question about Disney “inserting themselves” into Marvel’s operations since the buyout. Cebulski and the panel confirmed that there was “none of this.” “If you look at it from the perspective of Disney, they were acquiring a successful company—the last thing you want to do is change it.” He added that, “as passionate as comic book fans are, Disney fans are worse—we had people coming up to us saying, ‘you better not put Spider-Man in that parade!'”

Fraction said “I want this book to have a seven-month sales cycle rather than a seven-day sales cycle; when you hear about issue 3—and you will hear about issue 3—I want those guys in Red Lantern t-shirts who maybe didn’t read issues 1 and 2 to go back and pick those up.”

Spencer clarified that he is only writing “Secret Avengers” for #12.1 and the “Fear Itself” issues. “When you hear who’s coming next, you will forget I was ever on this book.”

A fan asked when Iron Fist would go back to the green suit, because “the white suit is soft.” Bendis said some of the other editors and writers didn’t like the white costume, but said that Immonen had designed it and he’s come to love it. “But the white costume gets dirty really quickly.”-by Shaun Manning,

ECCC: Image Comics’ New Favorites

Image Comics’ new PR and Marketing Cooridinator Sarah deLaine opened the first panel of the Emerald City Comicon, by thanking the fans for coming and introducing the packed lineup of creators in attendance on the stage. John Layman, Nick Spencer, Jim Zubkavich, Kurtis Wiebe, Scott Kowalchuk, Riley Rossmo, Sina Grace, Jay Faerber and Ron Marz were all in attendance to discuss recent and ongoing success stories as well as news and announcements about their respective titles.

First up was John Layman, who, due to the success of his Eisner Award-winning book “Chew,” Sarah dubbed “the Julia Child of comics.” Layman began by explaining, “[‘Chew’ artist] Rob [Guillory] had a baby, so we knew we were going to be a little late.” The writer went on to let readers know “Chew” #18 was well into production and would be on time, closely followed by a special event, exclusively for monthly readers of the series. “After #18, we’re jumping ahead and doing issue #27, only for the floppy readers, possibly not even digital. We’re going to show you where everything is going to be. It’s going to be really funny, then it’s going to get dark, suck for a while and then get awesome,” he explained as the audience laughed and applauded appreciatively.

Nick Spencer, who made a big splash in comics last year with his Image title, “Morning Glories,” gave hints of the path the series would take while sharing news on his new title, “Infinite Vacation.”

“Issues #7 [of ‘Morning Glories’] just came out, so it makes sense that #8 would come out next,” Spencer deadpanned. “This second arc is a chance to get to know these kids a little bit better. Issues #7 through 12 will focus on individual spotlights. First up is Hunter,” Spencer told the crowd. “The first trade is out. $9.99 for 102 pages. Me and [cover artist] Rodin [Esquejo] are planning something special for the end of the year, so keep your eyes tuned…did I just say that?” the writer joked before offering the alternative of keeping eyes peeled and ears tuned for news while the panel chuckled at his discomfort.

Spencer continued, offering a bit of news on his latest Image title, “Infinite Vacation.” “The second issue is coming out at the end of March, [which will be] the continuing adventures of Mark trying to find out what is happening in all of these infinite realities.”

Next, deLaine introduced Jim Zubkavich to the assembled fans as “the mad man behind ‘Skullkickers'” while making sure audience members knew about the ECCC exclusive hardcover of the first “Skullkickers” collection.

Nick Spencer answers a questionZubkavich opened by describing fan response to his book. “We came out in September and surprised a lot of people with the quality of the book. I describe it as a buddy cop movie slams into ‘Conan.’ We’re having a ball with it, playing against type [and producing] a fantasy book in a superhero dominated industry. Our second story arc kicks off in May. ‘Five Funerals and a Bucket of Blood’ — it’s a riff on urban fantasy.” The writer warned readers that he and series artist Edwin Huang were going to take a small break between story arcs and elaborated on his ideal publishing schedule “What I’d like to do is a five-issue story arc and then a jam issue, then a break month to bring out the trade. If I have my druthers, that’s how we’ll do it.”

Kurtis Wiebe and Scott Kowalchuk, the creators of “The Intrepids,” took the mic next with Wiebe commenting the good buzz and solid sales on issue #1, describing the series as “kind of like ‘The Goonies’ meets ‘James Bond’ — with big, cybernetic bears.” As the audience laughed, Kowalchuk added the caveat, “There is only one bear — don’t get your hopes up.” Wiebe laughed, telling the crowd, “There’s a more serious tone to it, I just use that to keep the story flowing. Scott draws it so well.”

Kowalchuk had his own take on “The Intrepids,” describing it as “[a] cross between ‘X-Men’ and ‘Scooby Doo,’ so get ready for that. I’m well into issue #4. We’ve got some baboons! There’s monkeys, so stick with it, it’s the cats pajamas!”

The next tile discussed was Wiebe’s “Green Wake,” a marked change of pace from the mad scientist atmosphere of “Intrepids” — though Kowalchuk was quick to interject, “there are a lot of cybernetic bears in it, though.” Wiebe made sure the audience realized “‘Green Wake’ is a horror book inspired by [the David Lynch TV series] ‘Twin Peaks,'” noting his stay in Seattle was roving to be somewhat unsettling. “I started recognizing where ‘Twin Peaks’ was shot last night, it was intense.”

Weibe went on to describe the series in more detail, explaining, “‘Green Wake’ is the town where [the story] is set. People find themselves there, but they don’t know how or why they got there.” Wiebe wanted people to know that he felt it was some of Riley Rossmo’s best work. Rossmo added, “I’m going to try really hard to offend,” to which Weibe added, “He actually did offend our editor! My reaction was [a pantomimed dropping of the jaw]. In the script, I’d very loosely described something. My actual reaction was, ‘Oh, God! I don’t think we can publish this!”‘ The audience laughed as Riley assured the writer, “It’s all good.” Wiebe immediately shot back, “No, it isn’t,” before telling the audience, “It’s some of Riley’s best work, so check it out.”

Riley Rossmo shows off a sketchSina Bruce, the artist for “Li’l Depressed Boy,” or as deLaine described it, “a hip love story,” was next. He told the audience, “I draw this book and my friend S. Steven Struble writes it. It’s about this ragdoll boy who falls for this manic pixie girl. I have a couple of copies of issue #1 and #2 for sale here at the Image booth, and #3 and #4 are all ready to go on sale on schedule. We can look forward to [the ragdoll boy] going on these really nice dates with the girl. Unfortunately, he realizes that he doesn’t know her name, so he and his friend try to figure out her name. And, I swear to God ,there are zombies! In issue #3, they go to a concert. Pick it up!”

Jay Faerber, the creator and writer of “Noble Causes” and “Dynamo 5,” took the spotlight next in order to discuss his new title, “Near Death,” set to come out in the Fall. Faerber said, “It’s totally unlike anything I’ve ever written. A straight crime book, nothing fantastic about it. Pure crime. It’s about a hit man who has a near death experience, and in that time he sees the hell that awaits him, so when he’s revived, he decides he will try to balance the scales. He goes around saving people, but not because he likes them. He’s still an asshole, he just wants to save himself. It’s drawn by Simone Guglielmini, who draws it in a dark, noir, Sean Philips style. We’re not launching the book until later in the year so we can make sure the book comes out on schedule.”

Ron Marz, the writer of “Witchblade” “Artifacts” and numerous other titles, was on the panel to announce “Deadlands,” a series of four one-shots based on the popular RPG. “When I was offered the chance to edit these four one-shots, I leapt at the chance to work on a western. Now, there aren’t many Westerns in comics anymore, and even though I don’t play these role playing games, I wanted to take this chance and hire the teams I thought would do the best job. Creators include David Gallaher and Steve Ellis in June, Lee Moder, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray in July, Bart Sears and me in August, Steve Niles and Franceso Francavilla in September. Chuck Sellner and Oscar Capritsto are doing a back up story that spans all four one-shots. The chief thing to take away from this is, you don’t have to know anything about the RPG world. If you’re not a gamer, it doesn’t matter — these are just cool stories.”

With that, deLaine opened the floor up to questions from the audience.

Sina Grace two-fists the microphonesThe first question went back to the first topic of the panel, the teaser from the far future issue that John Layman hinted at. The fan asked, “Can you tell us anything about what we’ll see in ‘Chew’ #27?”

Layman laughed and said, “It’s the psychedelic frogs issue. People are licking frogs and tripping out.”

The next audience member had a statement rather than a question, but it was an unintentionally contentious one. “I really appreciate that [your] focus is on the art and the writing, and not making a bundle of money.”

The entire panel laughed, but they were quick to comment with Marz immediately responding, “To be honest, no one is making a bundle on these books. No one gets paid to make a book. When you put down your three dollars — not four dollars! — you’re paying these guys directly. There is a direct correlation between what you buy and what these guys get paid. The big publishers aren’t going to make these books, so it’s great that you support this. If you want new and exciting stuff, it isn’t going to come from Warner Brothers or Disney, it’s going to come from us. When you buy an Image book, that’s a vote for more of that kind of stuff.”

The next audience member simply asked, “What is the intent of an issue #0?”

deLaine explained they could happen in the instance of an origin story or a prelude, but Marz joked, “The real reason is that you can’t publish #1 twice.”

Jim Zubkavich commented, explaining, “It was a way for us to propagate some stuff that wasn’t in print, to raise the profile of the book and put out intro from the ‘Popgun’ [anthology short story.]”

Next up was a question from a local fan who felt that the choice of inspiration for “Green Wake” was close to home, so he inquired, “Kurtis and Riley; Do both of you live in Washington state?”

Wiebe replied in the negative, and Rossmo added, “The more we worked on it and the more we talked about it, we both independently came to ‘Twin Peaks’ as a reference and took what we thought was important out of it.” Wiebe continued “I like the theme of ‘Twin Peaks,’ that on the surface of it everything seems so normal, but the further in we go, the creepier it gets. We’re both really open to it and seeing how the story develops and comes through.”

The next question was another very simple and direct one: “Whatever happened to ‘Cyberforce?'”

Jim Zubkavich talks “Skullkickers”After a brief pause, Marz replied, “And everyone looks at me! ‘Cyberforce’ is appearing in ‘Artifacts.’ Not everyone will make it out of that. Top Cow is talking about doing another series, but I’m not writing because they have to let some other people write something. I love those characters, I know who will be drawing it and he’s the right man. The ‘Cyberforce’ team is there, they’re vital to the Top Cow Universe, but taking the plunge and doing a monthly series isn’t something you can just jump into. We don’t want late issues, so the best thing is to have it in the can for months.”

The next question returned the focus to “Green Wake,” saying the series “sounds pretty creepy. I was curious about something dark and scary like ‘Green Wake.’ What is the message and what is the point?

Rossmo responded, “We’re building a world, but the main themes are guilt and the baggage that people carry with them –and then really gross shit. Think ‘Saw’ meets ‘Let the Right One In.'”

The next question was a follow-up to Rossmo’s answer, asking, “Why do we love that?”

Rossmo speculated that, perhaps “we like to feel bad, it gives you a sense of emotional fulfillment. I like to hurt?” he half asked himself and the audience. Wiebe joked that Rossmo “also likes to hurt me too,” before continuing in a more serious vein. “For me, it’s really like, guilt holds it all together. On the website, there’s a five page preview where [the main character] Morely is narrating, his whole monologue is talking about loss, how we carry that with us, how we deal with it and how we move on.” Rossmo wanted the audience to understand, despite these larger plot points, “There is a beginning, a middle and an end [to the story].” Wiebe elaborated that despite the finite storyline for the current “Green Wake” series, there would still be opportunities for more “We plan to maybe follow it up, but there is a definite end.”

With that, Sarah deLaine thanked the creators and the audience for attending the first panel of the convention and invited people to visit the comic book creators at the Image booth as the panel wrapped.

ECCC: Marvel’s Next Big Thing

On Sunday at Emerald City Comicon, Marvel Comics held their traditional “Next Big Thing” panel, bringing together Senior VP of Creator & Content Development, C.B. Cebulski, writer Brian Michael Bendis, writer Paul Tobin (“Spider-Girl”), editor Lauren Sankovitch (“Avengers”), writer Jeff Parker (“Hulk”) and writer Nick Spencer (“Iron Man 2.0”). Cebulski kicked things off by announcing that Spencer, who has previously written for DC and Image, is Marvel’s newest exclusive writer. Spencer described writing for Marvel as “a long-time dream” but made a point of assuring fans of “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents” and Morning Glories” that he is still involved in his creator owned work as well as the DC Comics series he launched last year. Other writer news included Cebulski’s confirmation with a simple “yes” to a question about whether Garth Ennis would be returning to Marvel in the future. He did not, however, elaborate on this further.

From there, the panel transformed into a Q&A session, serving as an opportunity for fans to ask “anything and everything [they] ever wanted to know about Marvel or anyone on the panel.” But, like Saturday’s DC Universe panel, many of the questions had to do with the futures of readers’ favorite characters, which the panelists generally declined to answer, or were about Marvel films, though, as Cebulski explained several times, the panelists “really don’t know too much about what goes on with the studios.” He could only assure one fan, eager for more “Hulk” films, “success breeds sequels.”

Many of the questions dealt with Marvel’s popular “Ultimate” line of comics. One reader wanted to know if Marvel planned to keep “Ultimate Avengers” running; Bendis fielded this question, responding, “this is probably going to be the biggest year the Ultimate universe has seen since its inception…and ‘Ultimate Avengers’ is going to be a big part of that.” He went on to promise fans, “you’re going to be happy.” Another fan wanted to know when readers might see new “Ultimate X” issues. Cebulski explained that artist Arthur Adams, has “a very detailed, meticulous style” as well as a new baby which has “slowed him down.” But, Cebulski assured the crowd, “you’re going to see more ‘Ultimate X’ coming out very soon.”

(Top) Jeff Parker and C.B. Cebulski interact with the audience
(Bottom) Paul Tobin answers a question while Nick Spencer looks onBendis also excitedly related to fans his experience working on the first season of the “Ultimate Spider-Man” cartoon. With a pilot by Paul Dini, and several episodes written by himself, Bendis described the first season, due to air on Disney XD later this year, as “funny” and “breaking all the rules.” “It’s much more akin to ’30 Rock’ or ‘Arrested Development’ than any other superhero show.” In response to a fan request to see Rocket Raccoon in the future, Bendis replied, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rocket Raccoon turned up in the ‘Ultimate Spiderman’ cartoon — that’s the level of nerdiness that we’re at.”

As for the fate of other fan favorite characters, Cebulski confirmed plans to bring back popular X-Men villain Omega Red while assuring another fan that there are “big plans for the X-Men in 2012 and ‘X-Factor’ is going to play a big role.” He later added, “The end of this year and next year are going to be big” in terms of the X-Men.

When asked what character fans should keep an eye on in 2011, Bendis replied without hesitation, “Moon Knight.” Others listed were Hope from “X-Men,” Ultimate Spider-Man and Dani Moonstar, with Tobin adding, “M.O.D.O.K. — always M.O.D.O.K..” Cebulski assured a fan that Marvel has “interesting things” planned for Venom, saying, “there’s a new person the symbiote is attached to and there’s some cool things planned.” Additionally, Cebulski said fans can look forward to “all things Thor and Captain America” because of Marvel’s “Fear Itself” event. He assured one Thor fan that “Fear Itself” revolves heavily around all things Asgardian,” adding, “Wait and see. There’s some cool things in store, but I don’t want to give too much away.” Bendis quickly added, “And you’re gonna love the movie!”

To a question about how artists looking to work for Marvel should go about it, Cebulski said that he looks for talent at art schools, conventions, Facebook and has even “hired someone from Twitter.” “The best thing you can do,” he said, “is brand yourself. The more exposure you get for yourself, the better your chance that we’ll find you.”

In terms of the future of distribution, the panelists were excited about the possibilities to be explored with digital comics and to discuss ways in which, as Bendis said, “the language of comics” might change as a result. Spencer was passionate about the possibilities, explaining “the page has changed now. We can break out of the panel grid, but still make it sequential storytelling.” He seemed intrigued by the prospects of “breaking the rules” with digital comics. Bendis mentioned a signing he did recently in which he was “literally signing digital comics.” But for readers who prefer comics in book form, he said of digital, “It’s not going to replace the books, we love the books. And as long as there’s enough people buying the books, we’ll make the books.” Cebulski added that Marvel is committed to keeping both retailers and readers of physical books, and those who like digital comics, equally happy.