…And so it’s Friday where San Diego Comic-Con 2011 started to spiral out of control. Whereas Thursday was relatively low key by comparison, and getting in to Room 6DE, home of Marvel and DC was relatively easy other than the Grant Morrison panel, I was actually stuck not ten feet from the Spider-Man panel as the SD brass let people in another Con room.
Point being, I missed the first ten minutes, but I’m totally sure nothing important happened. Nope, not at all*. Anyway, picking up where we came in:
- Mary Jane AND J. Jonah Jameson will both be getting spider-powers during the Spider-Island event.
- Spencer on Cloak & Dagger: “The book is about relationships, to me.”
- In the Spider-Girl tie-in, she’ll continue to have powers, and her past will come back to, “Viciously attack her,” according to Editor Steve Wacker.
- In “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu,” there’s a gothic horror angle, where Shang-Chi gets caught in a mystery.
- “Deadly Foes” in August has two stories, one about The Hobgoblin, the other about The Jackal, the mastermind behind Spider-Island.
- On the “Spider-Island: Avengers” tie-in, Wacker said, “I just wanted a story where Frog Man showed up and said he was in The Avengers.”
- “Spider-Woman” ties in to an obscure issue of Marvel Two-in-One that Dan Slott is a big fan of.
- In “I Love New York City,” a cat, a mother, and a kid get spider-powers. And there’s a peek at The Punisher, and how he reacts to Spider-Island. It’s Greg Rucka writing a funny story, and “if you know Rucka, you know he’s all comedy,” said Wacker.
- On the Venom tie-in, Rick Remender said that he wanted to make sure it was something personal, so it deals with Flash Thompson’s relationship with his father, who is in the hospital. The tie-in will run three issues, and will be drawn by Tom Fowler. As of issue #9, Lan Medina takes over art chores on the book.
- Moving on to talk about the new ongoing “Avenging Spider-Man,” starting in November. “We just want to tell big fun stories with some of the best artists in the business,” said series writer Zeb Wells.
- On to “Daredevil,” Marvel’s Arune Singh called it, “The best book being published from any company, in any genre.” Marvel showed up a number of spectacular pages from Martin, including a cover, which finds Dardevil, in the dark, covered in laser sights. Trust me, it was pretty cool.
- Then it was on to “The Punisher,” Singh joked about how scared he was of Rucka’s knowledge of killing people. Rucka then gave detailed instructions on how to stab someone to death. “You kids got that out there?” asked Wacker, to laughter from the audience.
After Singh praised Wacker for his hard work, and excellent comics, the panel was opened to questions. Some highlights:
- Lee Weeks is working on a Daredevil project.
- John Romita Jr. was just asking Wacker if he could draw more Spider-Man earlier in the day. “But everybody hates Johnny on Spider-Man, right?” joked Wacker.
- On Spider-Island, Wacker said, “This is Peter Parker’s story, it’s his hero moment.”
- Wacker confirmed that Amazing Spider-Man will still come out two times a month, and Avenging Spider-Man came about because he wanted to work more with Zeb Wells. Wells said that at first, Spidey will team up mainly with Avengers, but then it’ll open up after that.
- Ben Reilly will not be coming back any time soon. “It’s a fun character, but I think that story has been told. Or I’m lying, and he’s in Spider-Island,” said Wacker. And after a pause, “But he’s not.”
- Wacker said that Aunt May is very much a part of Spider-Man, though she is getting ready to move out of Manhattan. He wouldn’t confirm whether she would get spider-powers in Spider-Island.
- Moving on to Carnage, Wacker mentioned that he didn’t love the character until Wells took him on, and didn’t love Venom until Remender took a crack. “Rumor has it… Zeb and Rick are having lunch tomorrow… I wonder what will come out of THAT?” joked Wacker. “Romance,” quipped Wells.
- A fan expressed being hesitant about bringing back The Jackal, the villain behind the Clone Saga, and now Spider-Island. Wacker said it came down to the writers, and their take on a character. Remender agreed, adding that once he saw Dan Slott’s take on the villain, he was sold. “He’s been cloning members of Spider-Man’s supporting cast. That’s grotesque,” said Remender.
- The next “fan” brought up the “One More Day” chestnut, and asked if there were any plans to undo the effects of the storyline. “Absolutely not,” said Wacker. When the reader continued to profess dismay, EIC Axel Alonso asked, “Are you reading Spider-Man now?” “Yes,” said the fan. “Are you enjoying Spider-Man now?” said Alonso. After a pause, the fan again said, “Yes.” “Mission accomplished,” said Alonso, and pretty much literally dropped the mic.
- Black Widow may show up in Daredevil, writer Mark Waid said after a fan question. The fan, who was wearing a St. Louis Cardinal’s shirt, got a free copy of Daredevil #1 signed in Braille for the question, because Wacker is a Cardinals fan (and liked the question).
- Asked whether Tara Chase from Queen and Country could team up with The Punisher, Johnson joked, “I think Tara would probably kill him.”
- Neither Waid nor Rucka would confirm that Punisher and Daredevil would crossover around #9 or #10, nor that it would be a significant crossover that would affect both characters, or that there would be further announcements at New York Comic-Con. So yeah, consider that confirmed.
- Last, Singh plugged an image of Ben Reilly’s Scarlet Spider uniform, on fire:
And that was it! All the panel attendees then got Daredevil pin, and a nice time was had by all.
*Basically, we did some checkin’ and found out that Dan Slott did a video message pitching Spider-Island to the crowd, which we’re sure was awesome, funny, and not as boiling hot as being stuck in a crowded hallway. Just sayin’.
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