By Ryan Penagos
We're posting live from the
Spider-Man: One More Day Panel at
Wizard World Philadelphia 2007! Keep refreshing this page to get the updated report, complete with news, announcements, jokes and photos. Visit
Marvel.com's Wizard World Philadelphia 2007 News Hub for a full rundown of news, features, videos, photos and other assorted goings-on straight from the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, for the panel report!
By far the biggest Marvel event of the day was the Spider-Man: One More Day panel where Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and "Mr. Marketing" Jim McCann all sat down to field some questions about the Web-Slinger and the upcoming storline, which begins in September. Some exciting announcements were made and some hard-line questions from the audience were endured by the panelists.
The first announcement was that Terry Moore, best known for his work on Strangers In Paradise, is coming on to write SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE. A thoroughly excited crowd responded to the announcement with some questions about specifics, to which the panel could only answer, "We'll tell you in San Diego." While we can't reveal much more,
watch our video interview with Terry Moore to get more info.
Then two covers, one for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #544, the other for FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #24, both drawn by Joe Quesada, were put on display to some serious applause. Both retro in style, the covers played into a later announcement that both the SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN and FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN titles will be phased out at the end of ONE MORE DAY, with every Spidey story being told three times a month under through AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Titled BRAND NEW DAY, new direction and new feel for the title promises to reinvigorate Spidey's supporting cast, among other things.
Yes, that's right. One continual Spider-Man storyline three times a month, an announcement that prompted thunderous and unanimous applause from all in attendance, especially when at the end of the panel, some cover artwork was shown, with Spider-Man and a handgun featured prominently. What's the deal? We're not spilling all the beans, but read our
Spider-Man: Brand New Day interview with editor Steve Wacker for a healthy dose of BND info.
Various pieces of art from One More Day were also put up for the crowd's viewing pleasure. One shot showed
Iron Man tangled in Spidey's webs. Another had Spider-Man flying high above Dr. Strange's now boarded-up Sanctum Sanctorum, which is currently hiding the New
Avengers. Dr. Strange also had a mysterious eyeball floating in front of him in one panel. What can this mean? Who is Spider-Man siding with? Whose eyeball was that? There's only one way to get your hands on that info and that's to stay tuned, folks. Marvel.com has everything you need.
During the Q&A portion of the panel, fans were asking some serious questions and certain topics kept rearing their heads. Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane, his black costume and the relevance of Marvel's movie tie-ins were all topics that had guests asking multiple questions. Joe Quesada said he felt that Peter and Mary Jane's wedding "did damage to the character in a lot of ways," but that he still plans to explore the strains their relationship puts on the web-slinger, not kill off Mary Jane or have them get a divorce, as he sees those kind of easy-way-out decisions as taking away from the Spider-Man titles.
Joe also expressed some concern that the marriage is detrimental to the soap-opera element of the stories, which was often present in the earlier days of the Spider-Man comics, an aspect he plans to play up and revive with ONE MORE DAY. 'When you look at the golden era of Marvel comics, what made it great was that it was all about the soap opera,' said Quesada.
Joe further titillated fans with his response to a question about the Aunt May subplot and whether or not it would be resolved. "Tragically, yes," Quesada said, drawing the crowd's collective shock. What could he mean? This kind of tense, heavy environment is the same kind that Quesada and co. want to have in the comics, again capturing the magic of Marvel's golden age where Joe said there was an element of "I just don't know what's going to happen next."
And don't think the good folks on stage don't know exactly what they're doing. "We're well into 2008," said Tom Brevoort of how far ahead the Marvel editorial team has the Marvel U. planned out. "On average, we're about one to one and a half years ahead."
The panel also dished on just how Captain America's shield ended up on the set of Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report. Turns out the shield used to belong to Mark Gruenwald, but when he passed it away it went to Tom Brevoort, who then let Joe Quesada borrow it. Joe gave it to Stephen Colbert with both the blessing of Brevoort and Gruenwald's wife.
Today there was a ton of new light shed on the world of the Wall-Crawler and it's only day one of Wizard World! What can all of this mean? Why is Iron Man webbed? Who is Spider-Man siding with? What's going to happen to Aunt May? And AMAZING SPIDER-MAN three times a month? Wow. There's bound to be some more exciting news headed your way Marvel fans, and there's also only one way to get your hands on that info and that's to stay tuned, folks. Marvel.com has everything you need.
