San Diego Comic-Con Panel Round Up

[Local Hero]

Marvel: Cup O' Joe

Friday’s Cup ‘O Joe panel finally confirmed many rumors that had been buzzing around the floor fort he duration of the con, including new exclusives, new projects, and more.

The Editor in Chief did his customary quick run through the slides for the presentation, adding a few comments as needed, such as:

If Strange is successful, more Dr. Strange is coming.

X-23 will get her own miniseries in January, after making an appearance in Uncanny X-Men. The character was originally created by Craig Kyle for the animated X-Men series, and appeared in two issues of NYX. Kyle will write the miniseries, which will tell the origin of the character and explain her ties with Wolverine, while Billy Tan will provide the art. By issue #6, according to editor CB Cebulski, it will be clear why X-23 doesn’t have a name.

Marvel Knights 4 writer Roberto Sacassa has signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, and will be seen soon on more mainstream Marvel work, including the upcoming Nightcrawler series with Darick Robertson on art.

Marvel has signed an agreement with Dreamwave, the first fruits of which will be a Fantastic Four/X-Men limited series by Pat Lee which will begin in December.

As reported in the Avengers panel, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting take over Captain America in November, while Warren Ellis and Adi Granov claim Iron Man that same month.

Quesada also confirmed that Ellis is exclusive to Marvel for two years for work for hire material.

November will also see the debut of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes by Joe Casey and Scott Kolins.

Speaking about the forthcoming Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg and Jimmy Cheung, Quesada said that it was the best new pitch for a series that he’s ever read. The new series will debut in January.

In regards to the series, Quesada said that it’s not going to be Marvel’s version of the Teen Titans, especially given that Heinberg is a huge fan of Geoff Johns, and wouldn’t want to just do a rip off of the team. “It’s completely and wholly unique,” Quesada said. “The only similarity between it and the Titans is that the characters are young.”

Peter David’s Hulk miniseries will begin following the conclusion of Bruce Jones and Jae Lee’s six issue Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks miniseries.

Runaways will return in January for “Season Two,” starting with a new issue #1.

In regards to Thor, Quesada said that plans have changed, and asked the audience to be patient.

There are currently no pitches in for a New Warriors project, but that may change, Quesada said.

More Masterworks volumes for the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man are coming.

Quesada said that he’s thrilled that fences were mended with Warren Ellis, allowing him to be comfortable enough to sign an exclusive contract with Marvel. Still, Quesada said, he doesn’t like to see so many creators signed to exclusive contracts, but feels that, since DC began the practice wholesale, Marvel had to answer in kind with exclusives of their own.

“I compare it to the Cold War,” Quesada said. “A year and a half ago, the opposition decided that the only way to stop the Marvel steamroller was to start locking up talent, so we had to as well. They built a nuclear bomb, so we built a nuclear bomb.”

The exclusive contract with Marvel will not affect Ellis’ work on Planetary, according to Marvel publisher Dan Buckley, who was also in attendance at the panel.

In his “Bad Signal” e-mailer, Ellis wrote of the announcement:

“This is a work-for-hire-only exclusive: it means that if I do company-owned work, I do it only for Marvel. It requires me to produce something like two scripts a month from Marvel, which is actually a little less than I'm doing right now.

”As Joe Quesada himself reportedly hinted, it also introduces Icon, Marvel's boutique creator-owned line, into the frame as an opportunity.

”PLANETARY is exempt from the deal, as are two other small WFH jobs I'd begun at DC. And, to reiterate, it affects my creator-owned work not at all -- I'm free to continue generating new work in that field and placing it anywhere I like.

”All power to Dan Buckley for being really very flexible in putting this deal together with me. People like Dan Buckley and DC's Dan Didio (who I ran this by when this first came up, and was totally understanding and very cool) are making comics a much easier place to work in.”

It was also announced that Robert Kirkman has signed an exclusive contract with Marvel. No further details were offered.

She-Hulk is safe through issue #12.

Asked if anything was in the works for Longshot, Quesada said, “I’ve heard his name.”

Silver Surfer will end with issue #14, and be reevaluated for a possible return next year, according to Buckley.

Despite lower sales, the publisher is pleased with the performance of titles such as Sentinel and Runaways, and plans to continue creating books of that general style and approach.

Quesada said that he’s yet to read a pitch for Cloak and Dagger that’s made him say, “Ah!” Thinking aloud, the EIC tossed the idea out that perhaps C&D were maybe a product of their time, given that they were homeless runaways, a white girl and a black guy, characteristics which, perhaps, aren’t as edgy or unique now. “Maybe someone out there has [a good pitch for the characters],” Quesada said. “But I haven’t seen it.”

Origin 2 is in the works, and may see release in 2005.

In the waning moments of the panel, Quesada asked where it would be and who would win if Marvel and their Distinguished Competition were in a knife fight. “It would have to be in the streets of New York,” Quesada said. “And as for who would win, I’ve always said that DC books are so dull you can’t even get a paper cut off of them.”

Buckley quickly added, “The views expressed by Joe Quesada are not necessarily the same views held by Marvel Enterprises,” ending the panel on laughs from the audience.