WWPhilly '09: War of Kings: Who Will Rule?
One of 2009’s biggest events wraps up this September in the WAR OF KINGS: WHO WILL RULE? one-shot
Posted Jun 22, 2009 12:00 am
Updated Jun 23, 2009 10:27 am
By Marc Strom
After the last shot goes off, one question will remain: Who will rule?
The creative team behind the current star-spanning War of Kings epic, writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning alongside artist Paul Pelletier, tie up all the loose ends with WAR OF KINGS: WHO WILL RULE?, a special one-shot epilogue hitting stores this September.
"The ending that Dan, Andy and Paul cooked up for War of Kings was so huge, so explosive, there was no choice but to ask the band to come back on stage for an encore to explore the resulting developments and reveal the new lay of the cosmic land to faithful readers," editor Bill Rosemann explains.
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The writers themselves felt that the added epilogue would give them more space to fully explore the consequence of War of King's climax.
"War of Kings is such a huge event, we didn't want to short change the readers by trying to cram all the consequences and repercussions into the last few pages of an already emotionally charged and action packed issue, so we thought it would be better to give it a proper considered treatment in its own issue," Abnett reasons. "This also gave us even more pages for the cosmic action that concludes the series. This isn't so much the end of War of Kings as the beginning of everything that follows."
The one-shot will also serve as a great port of entry for readers who may not have read the WAR OF KINGS series but wish to see where the Marvel cosmos will head next.
"WHO WILL RULE? is a great jumping on point for new and old readers, as it firmly establishes the new cosmic status quo," explains Lanning. "Not only is the landscape of space drastically different, all the cosmic players will be affected. Like the
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ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE and SECRET INVASION: WAR OF KINGS, it's great to have the chance to produce a one-shot that clearly sets the scene for the cosmic books."
According to Rosemann, that new scene may prove more surprising than the events of War of Kings themselves.
"From destruction, there also comes new life," he waxes philosophic. "The devastating events of War of Kings—from the invasion during the royal wedding to Gladiator's defection to the assassination of Lilandra to…well, that would be telling—will not only send familiar faces heading down uncertain new roads, but it will also lead to new threats and possible allies arising from the shadows."
With such a large cast in WAR OF KINGS, fans can expect the epilogue one-shot to touch upon a number of characters, but Rosemann would neither confirm nor deny who will make it through alive.
"Black Bolt, Vulcan, Crystal, Medusa, Darkhawk, Gladiator—which of our ensemble's
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key players will survive to face the aftermath of WAR OF KINGS #6?" the editor asks.
"Without giving anything away, we are convinced the ending is going to come as a shock," adds Abnett. "We don't think anybody will have anticipated the way it plays out."
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:189c12f902="Michae1Ray"]:189c12f902="spyderpunk828"]who is the guy in the last picture, with the sword and blaster?[/quote:189c12f902]Pretty sure it's a one-shot character from Howard Chaykin in the late 70's called Monarch Starstalker. Of course it could be spelled differently and may even be in the 80's - I'm like 50-ish now...things get foggy[/quote:189c12f902]Well, after doing a little ...
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:189c12f902="Michae1Ray"]:189c12f902="spyderpunk828"]who is the guy in the last picture, with the sword and blaster?[/quote:189c12f902]Pretty sure it's a one-shot character from Howard Chaykin in the late 70's called Monarch Starstalker. Of course it could be spelled differently and may even be in the 80's - I'm like 50-ish now...things get foggy[/quote:189c12f902]Well, after doing a little nexus work, I can confirm you are 100% right Michael. Thanks for giving me the name! (check it out here.) And I can NOT believe that they are bringing back (in part, anyways) the ORIGINAL Guardians of The Galaxy!!!I have to say, with the way that Marvel is allowing all these characters to be revived and re imagined into cosmic characters, I am keeping my fingers crossed that DnA soon bring back a character that [i:189c12f902]they[/i:189c12f902] created way back in Force Works #2, Century! He would be an AWESOME addition to the cosmic landscape in my opinion.Again, thanks Michael for giving me a name I could check out, I will definitely try to learn what I will about this Monark Starstalker!**Edit**Here's his origin Page.
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Well, c'est la vie. I usually reserve death confirmation to seeing the body go straight to a funeral pyre and go up in flames (and even then with the phoenix so tied to Shi'ar legend and Lilandra being somewhat a telepath, there's still return-from-dead possibilities) but if they say she is, I guess I don't have to wait to another issue for that piece. It serves to leave Darkhawk in quite a ...
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Well, c'est la vie. I usually reserve death confirmation to seeing the body go straight to a funeral pyre and go up in flames (and even then with the phoenix so tied to Shi'ar legend and Lilandra being somewhat a telepath, there's still return-from-dead possibilities) but if they say she is, I guess I don't have to wait to another issue for that piece. It serves to leave Darkhawk in quite a precarious situation though, and that is some good storytelling regardless of my preference that she not die. My major fear is that the body count may not be done and I will see others with a chance to be players on the cosmic stage after so long not get the opportunity. One thing I can say though, is that at least her death has major story ramifications:a) makes Vulcan's rule seem all the more sealedb) even if Vulcan gets removed after all, there'll still be an uncertain future for the Shi'ar with no same-old reinstalling Lil on the thronec) the immediate conundrum for Darkhawkd) the crisis of conscience for Gladiator... it was one thing to choose a particular leader over just the position of leadership, but it's a whole other thing for him to be calling his own shots. Can he do it?
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:fd84b17fbe="BlackSamurai"]I'm guessing it won't be ended outside of the series. WoK will have the final moment that decides who 'wins' but where it goes from there will be explored by this. I get a little nervous when I hear no one "...will have anticipated..." how this ends. With Lilandra already shot (I guess we still have to await actual confirmation that the shot has indeed ended her ...
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:fd84b17fbe="BlackSamurai"]I'm guessing it won't be ended outside of the series. WoK will have the final moment that decides who 'wins' but where it goes from there will be explored by this. I get a little nervous when I hear no one "...will have anticipated..." how this ends. With Lilandra already shot (I guess we still have to await actual confirmation that the shot has indeed ended her life) [/quote:fd84b17fbe]I saw someone else post about her death on another thread...they said that in an interview with DnA, they said that she was indeed dead. Thing is, I haven't read the interview (or look for it either :lol:).
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:ad9f93511b="Nova#1"]Hmm...so we will see the actual ending outside of the mini-series. Kind of weird in my opinion. Will be interesting to see how the cosmic side of Marvel is going to be once WoK is over.[/quote:ad9f93511b]this is how it is now, in old man logan we have to buy a 4.99 comic to get the end and for wok we have to buy probably a 4.99 comic or at least another 3.99....hooray!
:9b518def09="spyderpunk828"]who is the guy in the last picture, with the sword and blaster?[/quote:9b518def09]Pretty sure it's a one-shot character from Howard Chaykin in the late 70's called Monarch Starstalker. Of course it could be spelled differently and may even be in the 80's - I'm like 50-ish now...things get foggy