All information is taken directly from Comic Book Resources, Newsarama & Bleeding Cool
Please Note: There will be repeated information, but I find sometimes, one would miss something the other catches, or is not included.
MARVEL: Secret Empire
Lowe added that in the case of Marvel’s flagship “Amazing Spider-Man,” the timing of “Secret Empire” was perfect as the rise of Hydra just happened to map perfectly to the return of Doctor Octopus. But the tie-in arc arriving this summer by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen will reach beyond that grudge match as well. “We see Manhattan stuff, but we also see California stuff – the full impact of Hydra taking over America. And some huge, huge ramifications for Spider-Man take place in this arc,” the editor explained.
When fan questions were opened up, Spencer was given the opportunity to both explain his concept and the particulars of how the story has been received. The origins of the event were tied to what Captain America concepts he could pick up from the writer who came before him. “I took over the book from Rick Remender, and Rick had set up a lot of potential stories,” he said. “One of the stories Rick was planning was one where Hydra had taken over a bunch of teams throughout the Marvel Universe.” Spencer thought that Marvel would never allow him to play with a story that big, and so instead he looked for one Hydra plant and decided it could be no one else but Steve Rogers. Surprisingly, executive editor Tom Brevoort approved the story to get as big as it could. “In continuity, it didn’t play out based on what Rick did. It came out of ‘Avengers: Standoff.” But that’s where the inspiration came from. So it wasn’t necessarily by Rick, but you can blame him if you want,” joked Spencer.
21:02 – Lowe, the editor of Amazing Spider-Man, talked about the future of that title, including the inevitable confrontation between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus/Superior Octopus.
21:03 – Parker Industries will pose a major threat to Steve Rogers.
21:04 – Amazing Spider-Man will show what’s happening all across Hydra’s America – a journey that will have major ramifications on Spider-Man.
21:37 – He also asked if the Superior Foes would appear, to which Spencer said fans “might get a surprise.”
21:29 – A fan asked “what possessed” Spencer to tell the story, praising Secret Empire so far.
21:30 – Spencer talked about taking over Captain America from Rick Remender, saying that his story grew out of threads from Remender’s run which established the idea of Hydra agents all over the Marvel Universe.
21:30 – Spencer dialled it back, making Steve Rogers a Hydra agent rather than many heroes being Hydra agents.
21:31 – “I owe a lot to Rick – or you can blame Rick. He’ll love that!”
Amazing Spider-Man is going to tie in with Secret Empire as the Superior Octopus will be coming to prominence with issue #29. Huge ramifications in this arc for the character as we see more and more of his world fleshed out. Octavius’ allies were discussed as it was noted that Doc Ock will be teaming up with some unusual folks. Axe Cop cosplayer was the next to read the first issue.
Will Boomerang from Superior Foes of Spider-Man being showed?
Spencer: I’ve thrown all of my favorite characters in this.
What possessed you to write this story?
Spencer says he will not take full credit, noting he took the book over from Rick Remender who left some ideas on the floor. Remender was planning a story where Hydra had infiltrated parts of the Marvel Universe, teams all across the world. Spencer said that was too big for him and looked for a place for one good plant. Steve Rogers fit the bill. The story worked and Spencer shifted it to what worked for him. “You can always blame Rick Remender.”
MARVEL: The Next Big Thing
22:11 – Chip Zdarsky’s Spectacular Spider-Man drew a massive reaction from fans, with one luck fan getting to read his FCBD story.
22:11 – “We wanted to figure out what drives Spider-Man – was there some tragedy in his history?” joked Zdarsky.
22:12 – Zdarsky said the series focuses on Peter Parker’s adventures in New York “so I put him on a plane immediately,” joked Zdarsky, who said it’s “insane” that he is writing Spider-Man.
22:12 – “Adam Kubert is going places!” joked Zdarsky.
22:13 – Zdarsky said that, as an artist, it was hard adjusting to writing for another artist.
22:13 – Spider-Man and Human Torch get to hang out together again.
22:14 – “I’m including none of his friends and none of his villains – it’s a bold new take on Spider-Man,” joked Zdarsky. “It’s just Spider-Man fighting buildings.”
22:15 – Sam Wilson, Black Widow, and Ant-Man will all appear in the series.
22:15 – Lowe joked that he had to tell Zdarsky he couldn’t have Batman guest star – or Moses, from the bible.
22:16 – “Where was Moses when Uncle Ben was shot? That’s the question we have to ask.”
22:16 – Zdarsky said writing J. Jonah Jameson is like writing his dad. “He yells at me, he tells me to get pictures of Spider-Man.”
22:17 – He joked that he writes Mary Jane Watson “like my ex-wife…which I’m sure my current wife appreciates!”
22:17 – People reacted loudly to the return of Eddie Brock.
22:17 – D’Lando said Venom is very much about the symbiote, more than who is bonded with it.
22:18 – Costa called the relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock “a twisted love story.”
22:20 – He compared the reunion of Eddie Brock and Venom to Mary Jane and Peter Parker – but they’re not getting back together, are they? No one on the panel addressed the comparison. That was the second mention of Peter and MJ in the panel.
22:21 – The question of how Flash Thompson lost the symbiote will be answered in Venom #150.
22:38 – Talk turned to Marvel’s Generations, with the teaser being shown.
22:39 – Generations is a 10 issue maxi-series in which each issue features a legacy hero teaming up with their mentors.
22:43 – “You’re gonna see the return of something that has been missing from Marvel for quite some time,” said D’Lando. “People are going to lose thir minds.”
22:44 – The crowd audibly gasped with the announcement of the return of original numbering on Legacy series.
22:47 – Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Black Panther, and Guardians of the Galaxy are all part of Legacy.
22:47 – “I promise you come the end of 2017, you’ll be saying Make Mine Marvel,” said D’Lando.
22:48 – Legacy is “not a reboot.”
22:50 – No comment on whether Peter Parker and Mary Jane are getting back together.
22:58 – “Spider-Man is weird…” said Zdarsky, joking that they would address the fact that his red and blue color scheme “isn’t like a spider at all!”
22:59 – Zdarsky said that no matter how high Spider-Man rises “in the panthen of Marvel heroes,” he’s still Peter Parker.
22:59 – Stohl said she coudn’t think of anyone better than Zdarksy to write Spider-Man, saying he’s “whacked.”
23:00 – Zdarksy said he wants to bring in the Punisher, “but not for a while.”
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Talking about Legacy, here’s something you might want to know that came from the Diamond Summit
According to Bleeding Cool, We will see the fall of Peter Parker and Parker Industries as part of the Spider-Man books.
The audience cheers for Peter Parker book launching on Free Comic Book Day, a fan gets to preview.
“The whole idea behind it is to bring him back to his roots,” says Zdarsky. Calls it a “fun book” to complement ASM.
Zdarsky jokes about Marvel making a mistake and expecting to be kicked off any time.
Zdarsky talks about working with Adam Kubert, who he struggles to live up to.
Zdarsky plans to throw in plenty of Marvel characters like Ant-Man, Black Widow, and San Wilson Captain America.
New issue two cover revealed. Not all characters featured have been written in just yet, Zdarsky says.
“They’re kind of letting me do whatever,” Zdarsky explains. Notes surprise at getting approval on everything.
Zdarsky will write MJ and Peter for the first time in the book. He models the relationship after he and his ex-wife
Now we go to Mike Costa to talk Venom. Next week we get the return of Eddie Brock.
Tradd Moore art being revealed for first time.
Venom will be a “dysfunctional love story” about two beings deeply connected but bad for each other.
Issue six will not be the last we see of Flash Thompson.
150 will give us the story of how Thompson loses the suit.
Lowe mentions falling out of his chair every time these Moore pages roll in.
Generations reveal being teased. Asked if we’ve seen that familiar promo image. Promises details.
Coming August and September as a 10-issue series of one shots.
Cover art revealed.
MARVEL: True Believers
One of the odd things about modern life is that everybody seems to have their own branded credit card. You can get them for everything from airlines to Disney. Hell, for a while there, the Kardashians were going to have their own custom credit cards, as well. Joining this parade was Marvel, with their own MasterCard. They had designs for the Avengers, individual characters like Captain America and Spider-Man, and so on.
First thing, they gave me some swag, a Spider-Man pin and a little pouch you could stick on a flat surface that had the Guardians Of The Galaxy insignia on it.
It was then back to the Marvel Universe itself, starting with Spider-Gwen. And the upcoming story set Gwen may or may not (his words, not mine) on the path to becoming her own version of Venom. She’s pursued by a lot of dark forces, including the Earth 65 Wolverine. This was followed by a preview of the new Spider-Man cartoon. Fun fact: Uncle Ben is voiced by Patton Oswalt in the series.
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows — Mary Jane becomes Venom. Seeing the word WHAM on the preview art page prompted everyone on the panel and audience to sing a few bars of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”
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@Al, @Peter
I had the same concern over his comment and sent of a message to Zdarsky on his tumblr about it.
and this was his reply
Zdarky Answers: Oh geez! Well, my only answer to that is, my ex-wife is my best friend in the entire world! I only meant that I write Peter and MJ as people who are incredibly close because of their history and will always be there for each other. Sorry for any confusion caused by me! Panels are the worst for context and off-the-cuff remarks.
Thanks to Zdarsky’s “focus” on Spider-Man and his comment on Mary Jane and writing her as his “ex-wife” I will NOT be picking up Spectacular Spider-Man.
I’ll stick (pun intended) to Renew Your Vows. A spider book that actually makes me happy and worthy of my hard earned money.
WolfCypher – no it’s a comics & entertainment expo. All sorts of stuff at C2E2, but Crawlspace is mainly focused on Spider-Man and what might possibly effect Spider-Man. 🙂
Possibly a dumb question but is C2E2 exclusively a Marvel thing?
I am given no confidence and more trpidation over Zdarsky given the ‘ex-wife comment