“We really don’t have a slideshow or any announcements,” Marvel talent scout and executive editor C.B. Cebulski admitted at the beginning of Saturday’s “Marvel: Next Big Thing” panel at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. But with the creators joining Cebulski on the panel, it was hopeful that quality conversation would ensue despite a lack of news: the “Power Man and Iron Fist” team of David Walker & Sanford Greene, “Star Wars: Darth Vader” writer Kieron Gillen and “Civil War II” writer Brian Michael Bendis. And even with all that talent, the ECCC appearance didn’t rate any major announcements….nada.
Walker briefly talked about his soon-to-debut “Nighthawk” series. “It’s not for the younger readers,” Walker said. “The best note we’ve gotten from editorial is, ‘You can’t have bones sticking out.'”
Cebulski asked about Walker and Greene’s collaboration on “Power Man and Iron Fist.” Walker said he was grocery shopping when he got the call from Marvel editor Jake Thomas about working on the book. “I literally just walked away from my cart and left it there,” Walker said. “‘When you say Power Man, do you mean Luke Cage Power Man, or the poseur Power Man?’ ‘No, Luke Cage. How do you feel about Sanford Greene?’ ‘Am I being pranked? This has got to be a joke.'”
Gillen talked the latest “Darth Vader” happenings. “We’re just about to finish an arc,” Gillen said. “My urge was to put Darth Vader in a big battle.” The next arc will pull together several long-simmering plotlines. “It’s all set around the ‘Executor,'” the writer said. “I couldn’t imagine a better ‘Darth Vader’ book,” Bendis said, also complimenting the Jason Aaron-written “Star Wars” series.
When the focus turned to fan questions, there was a wide range of queries ranging from those for Gillen about the impact of new prequels on his Star Wars series to Walker commenting on Power Man and Iron Fist.
“There’s never been a more creatively fertile time for comic books,” Cebulski summed up, saying that the internet has helped make the comics world “smaller,” which helps for talent discovery. Cebulski also called the upcoming “Civil War II: Choosing Sides” anthology as something of a “new talent showcase” for Marvel.
