Comics Uncovered

Posted 22/06/2004
Source Newsarama

by Ryan McLelland

It’s been five years since Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti and Kevin Smith teamed together to bring us the first Marvel Knight book, Daredevil (though, on a technicality, the cover date of issue #1 was November, 1998, and the issue shipped in September of that year…but “Fifth Anniversary” is sexier than “Sixth”…or…something..1999 was the first full year of Marvel Knights, perhaps).

Now with the uh, five-year anniversary of Marvel Knights, fan-favorite writer Robert Kirkman will spearhead five new one-shots celebrating not only the anniversary but the return of Marvel’s 2099 imprint. The 2099 books originally debuted in the fall of 1992 and featured all new imaginings of classic characters in a not-so-distant future. From Spider-Man to the X-Men, many titles were launched to support the imprint only for the books to be cancelled by 1996. Eight years later, Kirkman will launch Marvel Knights 2099 featuring the characters most associated with the Marvel Knights imprint: Daredevil, Black Panther, Inhumans, Punisher, and Mutant. While the title does say 2099 it might not be what fans of the older imprint are expecting.

“Tom Brevoort, Marvel editor extraordinaire, asked me if I had any ideas for a 2099 type future book around the time I started working on my four-issue Captain America run,” said Kirkman. “He liked what I was doing on Invincible and how I had my own little universe set up with all kinds of side characters and yet I kept the focus clearly on the title character. He wanted a book like that, with its own universe to explore and loads of side characters but with an interesting lead character that carried the book. He wanted it in the future, and he wanted me to use the ‘2099’ name, though it didn't have to relate to the old universe. What I came up with was a book called Mutant 2099. At the same time, Marvel realized that the 100th anniversary of Marvel Knights was the year 2099. One heck of a coincidence. So they wanted to do a fifth week event that took the four original Marvel Knights titles, Daredevil, Inhumans, Punisher, and Black Panther to the year 2099.”

Kirkman’s pitch for the Mutant 2099 one-shot was approved and the writer soon found himself with the chance to write all five books. While Kirkman liked the older Spider-Man 2099 and Ghost Rider 2099, he took his chance to begin his own new mythology. “This stuff is completely unrelated, this is something new,” noted Kirkman. “I believe the old 2099 universe was wrapped up in a one shot [2099: Manifest Destiny written by Ghost Rider 2099’s Len Kaminski], so we're going in another direction. This is yet another possible future.”

While readers won’t be seeing Spider-Man 2099’s Miguel O'Hara, readers can expect some other familiar faces. Reed Richard’s brain (yes, his brain) will be spotted over in Mutant 2099 and the biggest masked baddie of them all, Doctor Doom, will be a major pain for Black Panther. And while the Punisher has his own book also, don’t expect Kirkman and penciller Pop Mhan to show us the old Punisher 2099. “This Punisher is the daughter of Frank Castle and well, oh hell, I might as well say it …Elektra,” said Kirkman. “Garth Ennis had one of his issues end with Frank asking Elektra out on a date. It was a brilliantly funny bit and it got me thinking about those two, so I figured I'd play off that bit for this book. Now Cassandra Castle is old, she's not up for this stuff any more, so she's passing the torch to her son, who up to this point had no idea who his mother really was.”

Daredevil 2099, featuring pencils by Steve Epting, brings a familiar last name to The Man Without Fear: Fisk. Kirkman’s story features one Samuel Fisk becoming the vigilante who struggles to continue his life while continuing the work of the Daredevils who have come before him. Said Kirkman, “For whatever reason, Wilson Fisk's grandson is now Daredevil. He's using guns because he has no radar sense and that billy club takes a while to get the hang off.” Kirkman is tight-lipped about what the actual story is about, “For more than that, you're just going to have to read the book. I don't want to show my hand too early.”

Inhumans 2099, penciled by Cliff Rathburn, has the legendary characters arriving at a destination after traveling fifty years through space. Thanks to Earth’s mutant registration act, the group felt they were no longer safe on Earth, but are they safe at their new home? “All the old favorites are there,” Kirkman said. “Exactly how they've lasted this long will be revealed in the actual book. This one's going to be a lot of fun.”

Continuing the line, Kirkman teams with Kyle Hotz for Black Panther 2099. While T’Challa is long gone, his country Wakanda has survived. But for how much longer is the question as Doctor Doom and Latveria have launched an attack on the country, with no Black Panter in sight. “Big battles are in store for this book,” said Kirkman. “Latveria is invading Wakanda. T'Challa and his bloodline have long since died off and our new Black Panther comes out of this conflict with Doom. It's going to be an action packed origin tale featuring one of the coolest villains in comics.”

Which brings us to Kirkman’s completely new book Mutant 2099. Teaming with artist Khary Randolph, Mutant will tell the story of Chad Channing, a mild-mannered high school student with a big secret. “In the year 2099 the mutant registration act has been reinstated,” says Kirkman. “All mutants are given a pill each day to suppress their mutant abilities to prevent them from ever manifesting. Chad is one of these mutants, his serial number is 002099, he is ‘Mutant 2099’ and this story just happens to take place in that year also. Something happened about fifty years ago that pretty much did away with all the superheroes - you'll learn more about that in the book - which is why these are Marvel Knights heroes. There are no Avengers, there are no Fantastic Four, and all of these superheroes are very much behind the scenes. Somewhere along the lines the Baxter Building became the Baxter Center, a huge complex in the heart of Manhattan that houses a mall, business offices, high-end apartments, and a high school. Chad Channing attends this high school. Reed Richard's living brain is in stasis in a sub basement far below the building that nobody seems to know about. Circumstances of sheer chance bring these two together and the result is a rip-roaring super-hero romp that spans the entire Marvel Universe... of the year 2099. For anyone that enjoys Invincible, this is the closest thing I'm doing to that style of comic. It's really a lot of fun.”

Teamed with the aforementioned artists and renowned artist Pat Lee providing the covers for each book, Kirkman is excited to have the 2099 books launch, “I think this is a good project. This isn't something thrown together at the last minute that's just there to suck up comic buyers dollars. I'm behind this and Marvel is behind this. I care about this project and I can’t wait to see it on the racks. I've got a corner of the Marvel Universe all to myself and I couldn’t be happier.” While each of the five books are planned only as one-shots, readers can ultimately determine if these new characters will come back for further adventures. “If all goes according to plan this will spin off into Mutant 2099, which is a book I really want to see happen,” said Kirkman. “All these books stem from my original pitch for that book and they all point back towards that book so I'm hoping this isn't a complete failure so I'll get to actually do the series. Beyond that, I know that Marvel is not opposed to doing more 2099 and we could very well see more spin off from this event than just a Mutant 2099 series.”

Marvel Knights 2099 Punisher, Inhumans, Black Panther, Daredevil, and Mutant all travel to the future this September.