Arune Singh introduced the panel, which included Axel Alonso, Tom Brevoort, Jason Aaron, Mark Paniccia, Mark Waid, Rick Remender, and Kieron Gillen.
The discussion kicked off with Gillen and Greg Land’s Iron Man. “The first twelve issues are high velocity, one story per issue with an all-new villain,” said Gillen. He stressed that each issue could be read alone but will build toward something bigger that will result in a big status quo change for Tony Stark. Paniccia described a new “modular armory,” where Tony has a mobile armory that he can use to construct any type of armor he might need on the go as different threats arise.
Thor: God of Thunder was the next topic of discussion as Aaron said, “We focus in on three different versions of Thor – young Thor, current Thor, and old King Thor.” He said that each version of the character would offer different perspectives on the same character, but with one villain – Gor the God Butcher – tying the three eras together. Speaking of working with artist Esad Ribic and colorist Dean White, Aaron said, “Having a guy on board that can draw everything I can possibly think of… it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a pity I have to cover it up with my words.”
Old King Thor!
Remender began to speak about his upcoming work on Captain America, saying, “As I was getting ready for the book, one thing that occurred to me is that we’ve never really seen – as much as we’ve seen adventures in World War II – is how that 98 pound weakling decided to join up and fight the Nazis. We’re going to see who his parents were and what his life was like and how he earned his position.
As for the villain of the piece, Remender said, “I’m building a Captain America story where the focus is Arnim Zola. He’s never been an A-level threat, so the challenge I set myself to was to make him an A-level threat.” He said that part of the run would be focused on Steve’s early days while the rest would be crazy sci-fi stuff. “The first two or three issues hold a lot of surprises.”
The convo moved to Indestructible Hulk. “As luck would have it, I came up with what I thought was a little different take on Banner,” said Waid of his pitch. He said that Marvel was looking to align Hulk with his tone and appearance in The Avengers, and so Waid’s idea hit the right notes. “More than ever, Banner wakes up when he’s not the Hulk and people talk about him in the same breath as Reed Richards or Tony Stark, but Banner played no part [in AvX],” he explained, saying that it was time for Banner to man up and contribute to the Marvel Universe. “He doesn’t want his gravestone to read ‘Hulk smash.’ As Hulk destroys, Banner builds.”
Waid revealed that Banner would now be funded by S.H.I.E.L.D., where he tells the organization to “think of Hulk not as a bomb, but as a cannon” where he could be deployed wherever is best if he happens to Hulk out. “He’s got a piece of leverage of S.H.I.E.L.D. that makes his relationship with them easier.” Waid also said that the mystery of what that leverage is would play out over the first year. “He hits with his words about as hard as he hits with his fists,” added Waid about Hulk’s speaking style in his run.
Fantastic Four was up next, of which Brevoort said, “Matt [Fraction] is bringing the book back to the core family.” The series is essentially a road trip/home school adventure, as Reed realizes he’s lost some focus on his family in the light of forming the Future Foundation and the expanded family. “They’re going to be gone for a year their time, but in terms of the Marvel Universe it’s only going to be about four minutes.”
The conversation moved to F4’s sister book, FF. “Odds are good that FF is your new favorite book,” declared Breevort. The series revolves around Reed’s recruitment of people to watch the world while the F4 is gone for the four minutes. Of course, the job isn’t quite as simple as Reed described it. “They’re the target of every villain and malcontent in the Marvel Universe.” And for those worried about the FF that came before, Brevoort put those worries to rest. “All the kids that Jonathan [Hickman] brought in are still part of the Future Foundation.”
Thunderbolts was next up. “You’ve got five really cool characters united by one thing: they will kill you,” said Alonso. He compared the book to Uncanny X-Force in terms of tone and team dynamic. “If you’ve never read a Thunderbolts comic before and like one of the characters on the team, you’ve got to check out this book,” added Singh.
A question from a fan brought up the long-missing Age of Ultron, to which Brevoort answered, “We haven’t talked about the Age of Ultron in a while, but it’s still coming. It’ll be out by the end of 2013. It’ll all fit and you’ll hear about it very, very soon.”
A female fan asked about the potential for more female-led books, and Alonso teased that there were two, maybe three, announcements coming that would make this fan happy – one of which is an all-female team book.
Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.
Source : ign[dot]com
