NEWSARAMA.COM: WWLA ’08: MARVEl’s MONDO MARVEL PANEL

 

WWLA ’08: MONDO MARVEL PANEL

Report by Albert Ching

Marvel’s last panel of WizardWorld: Los Angeles, "Mondo Marvel," kicked off a little after 12:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. Present at the panel was Marvel editor Aubrey Sitterson, writers Matt Fraction, Chris Gage and Charles Knauf, along with panel host, Marvel Marketing Manager Jim McCann.

Technical issues delayed the planned slideshow presentation, so McCann turned to Knauf to talk about Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., asking "Since someone else is going to ask this, ‘What’s it like writing such a big douchebag,’" further joking "I’m going to be playing the role of Newsarama today." Knauf laughed off the question by saying that after the current Mandarin arc, a familiar "femme fatale" will appear in the book, and the comic will be "a little more fun."

Staying on Iron Man, Fraction talked about his upcoming Invincible Iron Man series. "He might the right decision, but the ends didn’t justify the means," said Fraction of Stark’s actions during Civil War. "He is his own arch-rival," said Fraction, describing his comic as a "redemption arc."

When asked about the level of cooperation between the two comics, Fraction said that they communicate, but both books have such different goals that it hasn’t been much of an issue.

Gage (whose wife’s birthday is today) talked about Avengers: The Initiative, saying that "old school New Warriors fans" should pick up #11, which will also feature an appearance by the Mighty Avengers. In #12, readers will find out "who lived, who died, who got maimed," and who graduates and what super-hero teams they’ll join. Gage said he wrote #13 by himself, but stressed that Dan Slott is still on the title.

Gage then talked about his four issues of Thunderbolts, repeating that in his first issue a major Marvel character will be revealed as a Skrull and go after the Thunderbolts.

With the technical issues worked out, McCann turned attention to an image from the current Dark Tower mini-series, and sung the praises of the Stephen King novel spin-off.

McCann talked about Marvel’s new working relationship with French publisher Soleil, and titles like Sky Doll and Scourge of the Gods, that Marvel will be bringing to the states.

Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offerings were disucssed, both the Marvel Adventures Iron Man & Hulk & Spider-Man, and the X-Men comic by Mike Carey and Greg Land featuring Pixie.

Fraction added that the X-Men Free Comic Book Day book sets up Uncanny X-Men #500.

Salvador Larocca interiors from Invincible Iron Man were shown the crowd, with Fraction noting that Pepper Potts (late of Fraction’s The Order) will play a role in the title. "In a way, The Order kind of ends up as a weird prequel to what we’re doing with Iron Man," he said. "Pepper lives from The Order, that’s at least one character that makes it out (meaning Pepper Potts is at least one character no dead at the end of the series).

More Iron Man – specifically, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas by Iron Man movie director Jon Favreau and Adi Granov – was up. "It’s definitely Robert Downey, Jr. Tony Stark," said Sitterson. "The Iron Man you want to hang out with."

Greg Pak and Ron Garney’s Skaar: Son of Hulk, coming in June, was plugged. "12 issues that well set up a whole hell of a lot of stuff, pay off a lot of things," said McCann.

The new Guardians of the Galaxy got some good cheers from the audience. McCann said they’ll be "cleaning up as much as they can" from the two Annihilations, and strongly hinted that these cosmic characters will be involved with the Secret Invasion.

Nova was discussed, with McCann pointing to the return of New Mutants character Warlock as something interesting going on in the book. With the Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s Fantastic Four up, McCann promised that there would be no Ultimates or Ultimates 2 type delays with FF.

Marvel Illustrated’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was shown on the big screen, with McCann calling artist Skottie Young a huge fan of the Oz mythology.

The Alex Ross and Jim Kruger Avengers/Invaders project was discussed, with McCann reminding the audience that it takes place in the present day, with the New and Mighty Avengers features. "It’s not an imaginary story," added Fraction.

Knauf talked about the upcoming Eternals ongoing he’s co-writing with his father. "We’re explaining a lot of questions people might have," the writer said. "Where the Celestials come form, what’s their plan, things like that."

A Captain America cover showing someone in Steve Rogers’ classic Captain America costume facing the current Bucky Barnes Captain America was shown, with McCann saying that it’s a scene that definitely happens inside the book.

Sitterson discussed Ghost Rider, turning to Fraction, a fan of the title. "Ghost Rider‘s going to be what Iron Fist was last year, everyone who reads it is going to love it," Fraction said. Sitterson informed the audience about how the character has been revealed to be an angelic entity, and said that the next arc will be drawn by former Doom Patrol artist Tan Eng Huat.

Fraction talked about Punisher War Journal and the upcoming six-part Jigsaw storyline, calling it the "ultimate Jigsaw story," and "the best Punisher movie that will never be made." "It’s Jigsaw’s ultimate revenge plot against Frank," Fraction said, adding that it’s been building since his first issue of Punisher War Journal.

Moving on to another one of his books, Fraction talked about The Immortal Iron Fist, and an upcoming story involving Danny Rand’s 33rd birthday

Another Fraction project – three Thor one-shots – was announced. Fraction joked that it would be good for fans of the "Led Zeppelin III" album. The first one-shot will be drawn by Patrick Zircher, and interior art was shown (which elicited oohs and ahs from the crowd). "See, just imagine ‘Immigrant Song’ in the background," said Fraction, referring to the opening song of the aforementioned Led Zeppelin album.

The first question from the audience spun directly from the last slide – "Why doesn’t Patrick Zircher get more work at Marvel?" The panel pointed to the just announced project, with Fraction adding that he thinks the artist is a "stone cold genius."

"Do you think Secret Invasion will be bigger than Civil War?" McCann said from a sales point, yes, and in terms of scope, it’s much bigger.

He continued by saying there will be a "little less" tie-in issues.

Q: Any more details about why Captain America’s shield is on the Guardians of the Galaxy #2 cover? The panelists of course responded they can’t say anything at this point.

Q: Will any young mutant characters join the Initiative? "I would say a firm wait-and-see on that," answered Gage. "It’s not that there’s not going to be mutants in The Initiative, but it’s not going to become the new Xavier’s school for the gifted. There will be a mix – weapon-based characters, power-based characters."

Marvel talent manager Chris Allo was then brought to the panel, in case anyone in the crowd had "talent related questions."

A fan apparently displeased with the new Fantastic Four logo expressed displeasure to the panel (though not really in the form of a question). McCann said it was designed by Bryan Hitch and will stay as long as Hitch is on the book.

A fan asked a rather common convention question – how can aspiring writers break into the biz? "The best way to get to write comics is to write comics," said Sitterson. "Writers don’t just come out of the blue and work for Marvel Comics."

Fraction spoke from his experience, and said that all of his Marvel work came from his independent gigs.

Q: Will we see Dr. Strange again in the near future? Sitterson: "There are definite plans for Dr. Strange." McCann said "there are approved Dr. Strange projects," but nothing that can be announced yet.

Q: Anything new with Nextwave? A: No. "Everybody wants to do more, but it’s not just Warren (Ellis), it’s also Stuart (Immonen), and Stuart is busy, busy, busy with Ultimate Spider-Man," said Sitterson.

Q: After Secret Invasion, are you going to kind of leave everybody alone for a while?" Sitterson: "If we left everybody alone, why would you keep reading?"

McCann said that they have plans up until 2010 at this point. "One leads to another," said Gage. "You break the toys to put them back together again," added Sitterson.

Q: Will we see the Imperial Guard on Earth? McCann said that they’ll be involved, somehow, in a Secret Invasion tie-in.

Q: Plans for Luke Cage outside New Avengers? "He’s in Iron Fist," said Fraction. Sitterson plugged the upcoming out-of-continuity, Genndy Tartakovsky-helmed Cage mini-series.

Q: Will the new Guardians of the Galaxy series have a tie-in to the old series? "That would be telling," said McCann, before adding, "Yes, there will be."

Q: Will S.W.O.R.D. play a more prominent role? "There will be huge plans for S.W.O.R.D.," said McCann. Fraction added "Make sure you don’t miss Secret Invasion #1."

Q: More work from Charlie Huston? Allo said that there should be down the road.

Q: More work from Ron Lim? "He’s hard at work on Anita Blake," said Allo.

Q: Plans for Deadpool? Sitterson reminded the fan that Daniel Way is writing a new Deadpool title starting in August.

"It’s not a Deadpool series off to the side," said Sitterson. "It’s in the center of the Marvel Universe,

Q: Plans for Cloak and Dagger? McCann said that something might be coming in the future, but they don’t have definite plans.

Q: Plans for The Loners? McCann said that there will be something again down the line.

Q: "Will Gravity join the Initiative?" Gage said there’s no plans for that, but asked the crowd for some ideas on who should. Fans yelled out names like Darkhawk, Howard the Duck, and, in an inside joke from a panel earlier in the convention, "Golden

Q: Any more Marvel work from Joss Whedon? McCann and Fraction both reminded the fan that he’ll be busy with his new Fox series Dollhouse.

Any plans for a weekly Marvel book? McCann echoed the play on words of Tom Brevoort at panels past, saying "We don’t do comics weekly, we do them strongly."

Any chance of collecting Bob Gale’s issues of Daredevil? "There’s always a chance," said McCann, adding that no one at the panel worked for the collected editions department.

End of live updates.

NEWSARAMA.COM: WWLA ’08: MARVEl’s MONDO MARVEL PANEL