The controversial Spider-Man was the focus of Marvel Comics‘ Saturday C2E2 2012 panel, controversial because Marvel took the bold step of making the world’s favorite geek, Peter Parker morph into Miles Morales, a non-White superhero. The panel consisted of Marvel Director Of Communications, Publishing & Digital Media Arune Singh, the “Amazing Spider-Man” panel featured Editor in Chief Axel Alonso, “Amazing Spider-Man” writer Dan Slott, Assistant Editor Tom Brennan and “Scarlet Spider” artist Ryan Stegman with details on Slott’s “Ends of the Earth” event and more.
First off, Scott talks about “Ends of the Earth,” with Doctor Octopus’ opening gambit and potential solution for global warming. “One of the people who doesn’t believe in Doc’s plan is Spider-Man.”
“Spider-Man is facing off with Black Widow and Silver Sable against Sandman in the desert,” Slott told eager fans of the upcoming event. He also mentioned a new arc called “No Turning Back” starring the Lizard. “I loved Zeb Wells’ story ‘Shed,’ which left the Lizard in a very dark place,” he said, mentioning events in “Spider Island” with Dr. Michael Morbius would bring about a huge change to the status quo.
On “Scarlett Spider,” Brennan said “Coming up in issue six, Anna Kraven is going to be stopping by.” He said Stegman will be leaving “Scarlet Spider” after issue #6, replaced by Khoi Pham and then announced Stegman will be moving to “Fantastic Four.” When asked what he would be doing with Jonathan Hickman in “Fantastic Four, Stegman said, “I don’t really know yet.”
Rick Remender talked “Venom” and the “The Savage Six” storyarc. “There’s a lot of energy in the room to what we’re building here,” said Remender. “The Crime Master knows Flash is Venom … all the villains Flash has encountered during the series all culminate here in this big story. … He needs to be the darker mirror image of Peter. … We’ve known this endgame for a while and we’ve been building to this for a while. If you like seeing Flash Thompson’s life suck, you’re going to like this story.
Remender also discussed developments in the life of the former Venom, Eddie Brock. “It’s not just Norman finding out Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, it’s a gang lord knowing that you’re Venom,” said Remender, comparing “The Savage Six” to Norman Osborn discovering Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
The panel moved on to “Avenging Spider-Man,” where Singh mentioned issue #9 would feature the new Captain Marvel and will be written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Terry Dodson. “If you like Spider-Man and you want to see him interact with the larger Marvel Universe, it’s a great series to check out,” said Singh.
Alonso next spoke about “Spider-Men,” the five issue limited series that brings Peter Parker and Miles Morales together. Alonso noted the popularity of Miles Morales following the death of Ultimate Peter Parker and said “now’s the time” to allow Miles to meet Peter Parker. “You can imagine how mind-bending it would be to encounter a Peter Parker from another universe,” said Alonso.
“Ultimate Gwen Stacy does play a role in this story, which adds some nuance to the series,” said Singh.
Singh then moved on to “The Omega Effect,” the crossover between “Avenging Spider-Man,” “Punisher” and “Daredevil” by Mark Waid and Greg Rucka. “A lot of the Marvel New York books are having a lot of bleed-over,” said Slott. “It’s fun to see this street-level Spider-Man. This story’s great.”
“It’s not a matter of ‘Marvel Team-Up,’ they each have something the other needs,” said Brennan. “They all have, on some level, the same goal.”
Slott also noted Spider-Man’s new oath that his “no one dies” philosophy would come into play during “The Omega Effect.” “When Punisher’s around, everyone dies,” said Slott. “Spider-Man’s trying to make Punisher adhere to that rule.”