Major announcements at C2E2 from Marvel at the Next Big Thing panel including more Guardians of the Galaxy books and creative team changes on fan-favorite books:
The publisher is bringing back the Young Guns initiative focusing on artists to watch. The All-New Young Guns are Sara Pichelli, Valerio Schiti, Nick Bradshaw, Mahmud Asrar and Ryan Stegman.
“We’ve got some heavy stuff coming up and there’s this new character that’s going to have some big ramifications with the story,” said Wolverine and the X-Men artist Mahmud Asrar.
Guardians of the Galaxy #14 arrives this week with new cast members Venom and Captain Marvel and new artist Nick Bradshaw.
“Bendis is doing what he does best. This is a huge cast of characters and a space opera. The Guardians are going to be separated and they have to find their way back to each other,” said Executive Editor Mike Marts.
Journey Into Mystery artist Valerio Schiti is joining Jonathan Hickman on New Avengers.
“Jonathan Hickman is a guy that thinks big. All I can say is that they are building to a crescendo that’s leading to a huge Marvel story off in the horizon,” said Editor Nick Lowe.
Wolverine artist Ryan Stegman will join Inhumans with issue four.
“Inhumans is sowing the seeds for a battle with all these different sides that will change the Marvel universe in all these different ways,” said series writer Charles Soule.
“Ryan was our first choice as an artist to bring the scope and impact that we wanted for the Inhuman story,” said Lowe.
“Reader is a new Inhuman. Things he reads come to life. If he reads about fire, things go on fire. He was blinded to stop his powers. He carries around tin plates with braille words written on them. He uses those to fight. He has a seeing eye dog named Foury, who’s strapped to his chest,” explained Soule.
Guardians of the Galaxy heroes will spin into solo books: Rocket Raccoon by Skottie Young and a Star-Lord book by Sam Humphries (Uncanny X-Force, Avengers A.I.) and Paco Medina (Nova).
“Rocket finds out that he is wanted for murder and Rocket has murdered many people but he’s not okay with people thinking he murdered people he didn’t actually murder,” says Young, “It’s a big intergalactic space romp and a bromance between Rocket and Groot.
Legendary Star-Lord launches in July
“Sam Humphries is coming on to do the writing chores and he’s got big plans. It’s epic and you’ll see guests appearances between the other Guardians characters,” said Marts.
Marvel revealed the continuing zombie epic by legendary filmmaker George Romero.
“We happily announce Empire of the Dead: Act 2,” said Lowe, “We’ve got some huge plans with the Empire of the Dead series and we’re very proud of the work we’re doing with George Romero at Marvel.”
Marvel announced The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three with Peter David based on Stephen King’s epic.
Here’s a link to the entire liveblog.
Stay tuned for more announcements and details tomorrow.
By Editor