Emerald City Comic Con: Marvel Writers Panel

Posted: Monday, April 2, 2007
Posted By: Jason Sacks

Jen Grunwald moderated, and writers Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, Ed Brubaker and Jeff Parker participated in the “Marvel Writers Panel” at the Emerald City Comicon on Sunday. It was a fun and positive panel, one where fan and professional enthusiasm for the events of Civil War dominated the discussion. The panel consisted of a fan Q&A for the panel of writers. Following are some of the highlights of the chat:

Maybe the biggest bit of news from the panel is that following Frank Cho’s arc on Mighty Avengers, Brian Bendis will be rejoined with his Ultimate Spider-Man partner, none other than Mark Bagley, for the second arc on the title, running from Mighty Avengers #7-12. Cho will return with Mighty Avengers #13.

Another bit of news that Bendis slipped out is that the wait for the reveal of Ronin won’t take too long – readers will learn the character’s identity in New Avengers #29 and #30. New Avengers #29 will be on sale on April 11th.

Bendis, Oeming and Brubaker talked a lot about how Civil War had opened up a whole bunch of storylines. The core concept is so complex and compelling that there’s something like a hundred plot points that can be picked up on. Bendis specifically feels that “there’s so much to talk about now, so much that we can do with the characters.”

Bendis went on, in response to a fan question, to talk about Tony Stark. The fan said he thought Tony seemed like a villain in the book, but Bendis disagreed. To him, Tony was making complicated decisions. Tony is most definitely a hero and is motivated to perform heroic actions. But he has to make complicated decisions. Tony is a hero. The Civil War saved lives. But Tony has to live with the consequences of his actions. But Tony knows he’s right and that he did the right thing. The writers are talking a lot about how to show Tony’s reaction to Cap’s death in particular.

Ed Brubaker was asked by a fan why Captain America was paraded through the streets in Captain America #25. Brubaker responded that Cap walked the “perp walk,” the same as a common criminal. Therefore a statement was made to the people of the Marvel Universe that not even Cap was above the law. A second reason is that the current incarnation of the Red Skull coerced a politician to make Cap walk in that location. It seems that, gasp, there are crooked politicians in the Marvel Universe in the same way that there are in our country. Brubaker added, in a bit of “inside comics”, that the scenes in Captain America #25 were originally intended to follow one hour after the end of Civil War #7. However, when he got a preview of Civil War #7, Brubaker had to go back and modify the script on pages that were already drawn.

In discussing Omega Flight, Mike Oeming revealed that Canada has had a superhero registration act for many years. He joked that it just shows how different Canada is from the U.S. In Canada there was no big controversy about the act, but in the U.S., it triggered a war. The reason there’s an Omega Flight is that American villains emigrated to Canada in order to get away from the U.S. registration act.

Oeming went on to explain why there are so few original Alpha Flight members in Omega Flight. He feels the continuity of the characters is all mixed up – first Vindicator is dead, then he becomes a robot, then he’s a time traveler. Oeming will treat the first year of John Byrne’s original Alpha Flight as the only canonical Alpha Flight stories. He didn’t rule out guest-appearances in the future, though, if the mini-series becomes an ongoing. A Canadian fan asked if the comic will show real Canadian landmarks, to which Oeming replied that there’s a magic box that has something called Google on it…

A fan asked how U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan felt about Marvel Comics, concerned that the series were too dark for many of them. Bendis replied that the reaction of the troops was just the opposite of what the fan described. Bendis stated he felt overwhelmed by the troops’ response to the comics, which was almost completely positive. Even though the comics are dark, the troops’ world is darker, and they love the escapism of the Marvel Universe. He compared Marvel’s comics to the USO, and said that it was for those troops that Marvel released a special comic last year. Brubaker elaborated on the point, saying he got 10 to 15 emails from members of the armed forces who are enjoying Captain America. They’re as excited about the storylines in current Marvels as any other fans, which is very gratifying.

Jeff Parker, writer of Agents of Atlas, several Marvel Adventures titles and X-Men: First Class, among others, was quiet during most of the panel, so a fan made a point of asking him about his career at Marvel. Parker replied that he was just happy to be working for Marvel, and that he enjoys his own little corner of the company. It’s a sweet gig; he doesn’t have to go to meetings. “I get to put Modok heads on all the Avengers. Don’t mess it up for me!” Upcoming in Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Ego the Living Planet will fall in love with the Earth!

A few other bits of news:

• The New Thunderbolts won’t be facing the Avengers just yet. Marvel wants to go the same route as they did with the new Moon Knight comic and give the Thunderbolts their legs before getting them tightly involved in the Marvel Universe.


• Nick Fury will be playing a prominent role in both the Ultimate and main Marvel Universes this year. There will be some massive reveals because of this.


• The Illuminati will rear their ugly heads again.


• Ms. Marvel #15, #16 and #17 will take place in Seattle. (Big cheers from the fans to that one!)


• The New Avengers may go up against Daredevil, but plans aren’t firm just yet.


• Expect more turmoil in Spider-Man’s life this year. No details were revealed.

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