Comic-Con@Home: Everything You Could Want From Marvel Comics

Arriving soon is the latest and the greatest from Marvel’s House of Ideas. Created by some of Marvel’s most talented artists and writers, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes defend its citizens within the pages of Empyre, a new X-Men crossover comic event, X (pronounced 10) of Swords, and lastly, The Amazing Spider-Man #850 which sees the return of the Green Goblin, and the return of a classic horror character; Werewolf by Night. Marvel recently shared a teaser trailer for Empyre on its official website.

Building an Empyre

First, let’s take a look at Empyre, an epic story involving a Kree/Skrull alliance which now flies under one flag and one ruler: Hulkling. The Kree/Skrull forces have united to fight the previously peaceful people, the Cotati. The Cotati shared a world with the Kree until the Kree massacred them. And now the Cotati want revenge.

Empyre, as with most large Marvel projects, runs through several different titles. To get the full story of Empyre, you should read Fantastic Four Empyre #0, which is available now. Also, check out Road to Empyre: The Kree/Skrull War #1, and finally, the main title Empyre: Avengers/Fantastic Four. And, for the completionist, there are a bunch of side-stories to devour.

Panelist Dan Slott wrote Fantastic Four Empyre #0, and Empyre: Avengers/Fantastic Four with fellow panelist, Al Ewing. Slott and Ewing also gushed over the artwork done by Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia. Ewing, “Valerio is amazing! Beautiful sweeping settings. And tiny little moments of emotion.” Slott’s enthusiasm for Empyre is palpable, “This is everything you want out of a Marvel event!” Ewing says of Colorist Marte Gracia, “The colors leap off the page. And the space vistas are beautiful.”

Side Stories

The panel also teased one of the epilogues to Empyre is the Immortal She-Hulk, which will bridge what Ewing has been doing in Immortal Hulk and what’s been going on with Jen Walters in Avengers. Ewing says that those that have questions after reading Empyre will find them in Immortal She-Hulk.

Slott confirms that in Fantastic Four, the Profiteer only cares about making a profit. “Everything that happens in Empyre will have a profound effect on her (The Profiteer). By the end of Fantastic Four Fallout, which comes at the end of Empyre, there will be major ramifications for the Fantastic Four, the Marvel cosmos, and the entire Marvel universe. The first two issues of Empyre, FF #0, and Road to Empyre are out now.

X of Swords

The X-Men crossover, X of Swords, continues the tradition that some of the best X-Men stories have come from large-scale crossovers. Two of the writers, Tini Howard (Excalibur) and Gerry Duggan (Marauders, Cable), were on this panel to discuss X of Swords with editor Jordan D. White. White describes X of Swords as a massive crossover that will crossover into every X-Men title currently running.

It’s apparent right off the bat how much X of Swords means to Howard, “X of Swords is really close to my heart.” Howard continued to add that she worked closely with Hickman and Jordan White (editor) to make sure it feels like a natural extension of what has come before.

X of Swords Chapters

White explains that X of Swords is a crossover, but it’s not the usual Marvel crossover Marvel. “This is a story that goes into every title. Every chapter leads into a different title,” White says. Twenty-two chapters will run from September to the end of November. Of course, when writing a crossover, it becomes a collaborative effort. Duggan said, “It’s been so much fun. We have our private secret meetings, cooking up some story threads for these books to interweave.” Howard also talked about how the name X of Swords came to be. Watch the link below to find out.

Along with Hickman, Howard, and Duggan, other writers include Leah Williams. Artists are Marcus To, Leinil Francis Yu, Pepe Larraz, Mark Brooks, and Mahmud Asrar.

Spider-Man #850

Amazing Spider-Man #850 (#49 in the current volume) ushers in the return of Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Writer Nick Spencer is working with artists, Mark Bagley, who makes his return to Spider-Man after over 20 years. Bagley is joined by Humberto Ramos and Ryan Ottley. The team is sure to provide an action-packed story in this over-sized issue of Spider-Man.

Werewolf by Night is Back!

Lastly, Werewolf by Night returns in time for Halloween in October co-written by Ben Jackendoff and Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas.

Watch Marvel’s Comic-Con@Home Panel:

On Friday, July 24 • 11:00 a.m. PT— join Marvel editor-in-chief, C.B. Cebulski, with creators, Tom Brevoort, Al Ewing, Dan Slott, editor Jordan White, Tini Howard, Gerry Duggan, Nick Lowe, Nick Spencer, and Mark Bagley, along with Taboo and Ben Jackendoff who will also be there to discuss the return of Werewolf by Night!