The panel began with Bob Greenberger introducing himself as the fill-in for Tom Brevoort who unfortunately was too busy to attend. He made introductions for Charles Soule, Frank Cho, Greg Pak and Frank Tieri (who arrived late).
When talking about the books they’ve got coming out of the pipeline post Secret Wars, Soule stressed that it was not a reboot. He pointed out that all the stories before and during Secret Wars still count.
As far as taking over the reins of Daredevil Soule stated that he held off on watching Daredevil on Netflix until he had his own take on the character cemented, because he didn’t want to have outside influences affecting his story. Soule said that he was especially happy to introduce the character of Blindspot, who plays the role of Daredevi’s apprentice. Blindspot is a young Chinese man who is an undocumented immigrant. Soule reiterated that the new status quo would be that Matt Murdock would be working as a prosecutor in Manhattan, a situation he described as a “Law & Order thing, or Night Court, if you like Night Court.”
Soule stated how much he loved Mark Waid’s run on the character. He said that Waid’s first issue was a master class on introducing the character. This time around art on Daredevil will be similar to Sin City in that it will have a muted palette.
Tieri’s been pitching Black Knight stories since he was working on Excalibur. He describes Black Knight as “Breaking Blade” and being kind of like “Game of Thrones meets “Breaking Bad.” Tieri also explained that Weird World is like if Wonderland met Quentin Tarantino.
Next up was Pak talking about Totally Awesome Hulk. Pak explains that he left the Hulk franchise because he’d done what he set out to do. But when Mark Pannica called him and said that Amadeus Cho was going to be the new Hulk, Pak’s response was “sign me up.”
Pak explained the relationship between Amadeus Cho and the Hulk and their history together. He also pointed out that Amadeus is a kid who loves the Hulk and wants to be the best Hulk ever.
Frank Cho signed up for the project because he’d wanted to work with Park for awhile Pak praised Cho’s work and said that the book could be published without words and stories would still be clear, thanks to Cho’s artistic talents.
Cho spoke about the difficulties drawing Asian characters because it’s easy to fall into stereotype and caricature. He avoided this by using his own face as a reference.
Then the panel turned to Soule’s work with the Inhumans. Soule explained how the Inhumans used to be an insular race, but now their population has exploded Soule also got into the dynamic between Black Bolt, Medusa and Johnny Storm and how in at least one way Bolt and Storm are opposites; Black Bolt is the strong silent type while Johnny Storm’s mouth runs a mile-a-minute. Soule also pointed out that Johnny’s ex, Crystal, would be added into the mix to complicate things.
Cho asked Soule about the difference between Inhumans and Mutants. Soule pointed out that Mutants are relatively new, while Inhumans have been around for 20,000 years. Soule also added that Terrigen Mists can affect anyone at any age and that there is a royal family/hierarchy in plan with the Inhumans.
Questions from the audience!
Does Beast link up with the Inhumans because he’s no longer with the X-Men or to help the X-Men? Soule acknowledged that it was a very good question and sidestepped answering it while praising what Bunn and Lemire are planning with X-Men.
What’s Bruce Banner’s new role the Hulk? Pak stated he had plans for Bruce and really wants to build a mystery about what Bruce’s new status quo is.
What about the other Hulks? Soule indicated that he’s contributing a She-Hulk story to an upcoming Marvel special, which essentially serves as She-Hulk #13. Pak said tat maybe other Hulks will show up in the future.
Will Wolverine come back? Soule reiterated that he did indeed kill Wolverine, but that X-23 had inherited the name and that Old Man Logan was part of the Post Secret Wars status quo.
Is Marvel making a push for Diversity? Pak referenced Black Panther, the Captain America “Truth” mniseries and Amadeus Cho as examples of Marvel’s diverse characters. Bob Greenberger stated that comics reflected the audience. He said that back in the 1970’s comic audiences were mainly white male, so the characters reflected that. But now that things are more diverse, comics are now reflecting that diversity.
Senty vs New Hulk? Pak said that any character can beat any other character as long as the story is well-written. To which Cho responded, “Aunt May could beat the Hulk? Pak replied yes and explained a scenario.
A question was asked about how Marvel’s relationship is affecting X-Men and Fantastic Four books and characters. No one on the panel would comments on the question. But Soule did point out that Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm still play prominent roles in the Marvel and that Marvel is committed to making the charaters great.
Is Cho planning on producing any Liberty Meadow at Marvel? No, but Cho does want to revisit Liberty Meadows at some point.
Is Isaiah Bradley going to appearing in the near future? Not in anyone on the panel’s books, but that doesn’t rule out his return.
Any plans for Sub Mariner? Yes, Soule knows what he’s going to be doing, but because it’s not his book he doesn’t want to spoil it.
What do you wish you’d have pitched during Secret Wars? Tieri’d like to revisit Space Punisher.
Will Kang show up again? Soule responded “absolutely!” Given the deal that Black Bolt made with Kangto save his son, once things get settled, Black Bolt with try to find his son.
Will the affect of Terrigen Mists on mutants be touched on again? Yes, by Soule.
End of Panel.
