Comic-Con@Home: What We Learned From the “Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing” Panel

Comic-Con@Home continued today, and Marvel shared a panel looking at all the exciting new things coming to the Marvel Comics universe. Here’s a look at what we learned from that panel.

  • The panel was hosted by Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski.
  • The panel opened up with editor Tom Brevoort and writers Al Ewing and Dan Slott discussing “Empyre,” which debuted two weeks ago and has since released two issues.
  • Interestingly, the writers gave away the big twist featured in the first issue, so if you have not yet read “Empyre,” do so before watching the beginning of this panel.
  • The two writers also discussed a couple of upcoming “Empyre” tie-in – “The Immortal She-Hulk” and “Fantastic Four: Fallout” – hyping them up as two very important issues.

  • Next up, editor Jordan White and writers Tini Howard and Gerry Duggan discussed the upcoming X-Men crossover event, “X of Swords.”
  • Duggan, who has been writing the ongoing “Marauders” series, explained that he is very excited for Storm’s role in the crossover. He even shared a “Marauders” cover including the character.

  • Howard named Douglas Ramsey as her favorite character in the series, while White mentioned “something with Captain Britain” being the thing he’s most excited about.
  • Next, editor Nick Lowe, writer Nick Spencer and artist Mark Bagley talked about the upcoming “Amazing Spider-Man #850,” which will include the return of the Green Goblin.
  • Before getting into the return of the classic villain, Lowe teased the new villain known as Kindred, who is tied to the recently released “Sins Rising” issue.
  • Surprisingly, Bagley talked about this issue being his first time drawing the Earth-616 version of Norman Osborn.
  • Lowe explained that anyone who is a fan of the classic villain will absolutely need to read this issue.

  • Finally, Lowe rejoined the panel to discuss the return of Werewolf by Night with creators Taboo and Ben Jackendoff.
  • Jackendoff talked about their creative process behind creating a new villain who is “the epitome of technology.”
  • He also mentioned one of the themes of the series being “organic vs digital creation.”
  • Taboo talked about how his inspiration for this series came from his love of 70s and 80s horror movies but also wanting to make a story about connecting with your native roots.

  • You can watch the full Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing panel here: