SDCC 2012: Marvel Comics - Amazing Spider-Man Panel
Marvel ends things at the con with their flagship character. Here's the panel description followed by the highlights:
12:30-1:30 Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man - There's no turning back for Spider-Man! The Lizard is back, and only Spider-Man has a chance of curing him! Find out all the details on what's going on with your favorite wall-crawler on the eve of his 50th Anniversary in August. That's right, Marvel's editor-in-chief Axel Alonso and others will be taking any and all questions from you, the fans! With earth-shattering announcements that will change the life of Peter Parker for another 50 years, this is one panel that no Spidey fan can miss! Room 6DE
On the panel are Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel), Cullen Bunn (Venom), Frank Tieri (Space Punisher), and Humberto Ramos (Amazing Spider-Man). Joining them via cell phone is Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man), and reportedly on his way was CB Cebulski.
Dan Slott, via cell phone, started things off by summarizing the current story arc running in Amazing Spider-Man, NO TURNING BACK. The story just happens to feature the Lizard, who is the star of the motion picture in theaters now. He referred to NTB as a follow-up story to SHED, the last Lizard story, which showed that Curt Connors' persona is buried deep within the villanous monster. Morbius the Living Vampire, however, has a plan to save Connor he obtained during the Spider-Island event. Lizard of course has other plans.
After that wraps comes the 50th Anniversary issue with Amazing Spider-Man #692, which is the issue that will introduce the recently revealed supposed sidekick, Alpha. Alpha is a kid who comes to Horizon and gains super powers as a result of Peter Parker's experiment. Slott, playing on the familiar Spider-Man mantra, said "Alpha has the power, but it's still Peter Parker's responsibility." According to Slott, Alpha is "everything Peter Parker wished he could have been in high school. He gets to go out and show off his powers."
Ramos then began talking about Alpha's design, saying he drew some inspiration from Andrew Garfield, star of the Amazing Spider-Man film. He wanted an everyday looking kid who is something special. He noted he tried to put the Horizon logo on him, but made it look cool.
In October's Avenging Spider-Man #13 by Kevin Shinick and Aaron Kuder, Hypno Hustler and Deadpool appear. DeConnick then brought up Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) guest-starring in current issues of the title, saying of Spidey and Carol that "They're a little flirty. We like banter in the Marvel Universe, right? Banter is good?" She played up their history in the Brian Reed penned series, Ms. Marvel where we saw them go on a date and form a friendship in that book and in New Avengers. Apparently it was DeConnick's birthday as they started singing Happy Birthday to her. In response she said "Best birthday ever. Thank you, Dan Slott!"
There was brief discussion of Scarlet Spider with Arune Singh praising the work of Chris Yost, Ryan Stegman and Khoi Pham. Then things quickly moved along to Venom.
Bunn stated that "Flash Thompson is answering for all the mistakes he has made. He's the superhero I'd probably be because he screws everything up."
At this point everyone's attention shifted to three costumed Spider-Men on stage: One in a classic costume, one in the 2002 movie costume, and a kid in a Spidey costume.
Back to the business at hand, They re-announced the Minimum Carnage event that starts in October crossing over between the Venom and Scarlet Spider titles. It begins, though, in Minimum Carnage: Alpha #1, a one-shot written by Bunn and Yost with art by Lan Medina. Declan Shalvey will then take over as the artist on Venom, with Khoi Pham taking over art chores on Scarlet Spider. Cebulski, who showed up at some point, noted that "Even with the side titles, editor Steven Wacker takes great care in selecting the right artist for the right job."
In the mini-event, Carnage escapes prison into the Microverse and Venom and Scarlet Spider have to team up to take him down. Bunn said that "Carnage is the worst case scenario for both Venom and Scarlet Spider in different ways." He continued saying that Carnage has the change to make all his dreams come true in the beginning. "All he has to do is kill a universe."
Bunn joked that "Venom and Scarlet Spider do NOT have a flirty chemistry." To which DeConnick replied, "Not yet." This apparently prompted DeConnick to think about Carol Danvers as she went on more about Captain Marvel.
"Carol Danvers has control issues...," said DeConnick, "...she's got a temper and she shoots a dude in the back. She's my kind of girl. Pilots need to be in control all the time, and that's where Carol is comfortable. She can't be like that in the world, so she's uncomfortable all the time. Being Captain Marvel is how she works that out."
Singh allowed DeConnick to plug her Image Comics title Pretty Deadly, which she is doing with artist Emma Rios. It's a Western, which Rios pitched and DeConnick happily agreed to.
Marvel ran a series of teasers last week, and here they revealed them to be for Punisher War Zone, a five-issue limited series starting in October by Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto. This limited series wraps up their run on The Punisher. The series sees the Avengers finally decided to take care of the Frank Castle problem as it were. DeConnick mentioned that she had talked to Rucka and his descriptions of the story made her feel like her heart was beating out of her chest, she said. In response to this, Tieri joked that she should probably see a doctor about that.
Singh congratulated the Daredevil team on the several Eisner Awards wins they received. He then told everyone in attendance that "If you have never read Space: Punisher, it's exactly what it sounds like: it's The Punisher in space." Tieri added to, "Think Buck Rogers if Buck Rogers really screwed up." Upcoming, we will see Deadpool, Sabretooth and others in the title. Tieri said he'd do more if the fans demand it, and the ones in attendance loudly applauded the comment.
With that, the panel opened for questions. Here are the highlights:
- "We're going to show Gwen if there's a new story you need to see in the past, but I really don't want to bring her back. She's too important to the mythos as a terrible tragedy Peter failed to avert." said Slott on whether we'd see more Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man.
- Ramos commented he wanted to draw Gwen, so Slott replied "Done! Anything for Humberto Ramos!"
- "It certainly looked that way!" said Slott in response to the question of whether or not the Anti-Venom suit was really destroyed during Spider-Island.
- Bunn noted that Eddie Brock is still Toxin as part of the Savage Six and still plays a large role in the Venom title. "Eddie will start hating the man in the suit as much as Eddie and Toxin hate the Venom symbiote."
- In response to whether Peter Parker will stay the same age and working at Horizon, Slott said "You'll have to keep reading!" He then joked that soon they'd be turning Spider-Man into a 60-year old man.
- On how long it takes to create an issue of Amazing Spider-Man (or any title), Ramos said he's supposed to do it in four, but sometimes takes five. Cebulski said Ramos was being modest as it took him three. DeConnick noted it takes her a week to write a script, but others do 5-6 scripts a month. Slott joked that he was writing a script as they spoke.
- With Amazing Spider-Man #700 coming up soon, a fan asked if Slott would be leaving the title. Singh said they could neither "confirm nor deny what Dan is doing, but when you get to the last page of Amazing Spider-Man #700, Dan will need to go into hiding."
- Spider-Man will definitely be affected by Marvel NOW! Singh noted that "It's a big, gutsy move. It's the kind of move that we know will divide fans."
- Spider-Man will not play a role in Minimum Carnage. For various reasons, it's a Venom and Scarlet Spider thing.
- In response to which Spider-Man movie series they liked better, Slott said "I love them both, but really like the new one; I've seen it four times."
- Favorite Spider-Man Villains... Slott: "Doc Ock!", DeConnick: "Norman Osborn.", Bunn: "I'm a Morbius fan.", Tieri: "I like Norman, he's kinda wacky.", Ramos: "Aunt May.", and Cebulski: "I'm a Kraven guy."
- On which Spider-Man character they would bring back, Slott said The Prowler. DeConnick didn't want to say as she may actually bring them back. Bunn said he gets a chance to bring back one in Minimum Carnage.
There were many other questions along those lines. They did note that Alpha isn't the only thing they would be doing for Spider-Man's anniversary and much more was yet to come.
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