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When Mary Jane And Spider-Gwen Become Venom – The Restricted Marvel True Believers Panel From C2E2

Peter G wrote for Bleeding Cool from C2E2,

One of the odd things about modern life is that everybody seems to have their own branded credit card. You can get them for everything from airlines to Disney. Hell, for a while there, the Kardashians were going to have their own custom credit cards, as well. Joining this parade was Marvel, with their own MasterCard. They had designs for the Avengers, individual characters like Captain America and Spider-Man, and so on.

A couple of months ago, a new design was added to the mix — one that looked like the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 cassette from Guardians Of The Galaxy. This was too much for me to resist. I applied, was approved, and soon had my own Awesome Mix credit card.

One of the things it promised was perks for Marvel merch, such as online comics and "special events." And this weekend, I found out what one such special event was.

As I patrolled the floor at C2E2, I drifted by the Marvel booth. Off to the side was a place showing off the Marvel MasterCards and saying there was a special exclusive engagement for MM holders. That caught my interest, so I approached, introduced myself, and asked what was up.

First thing, they gave me some swag, a Spider-Man pin and a little pouch you could stick on a flat surface that had the Guardians Of The Galaxy insignia on it.

And then came the big thing — a ticket for a special invitation-only panel from Marvel Comics, to be held on Sunday at 1215PM.

I pointed out I was press and asked if I could write up the panel. They consulted and agreed, and I placed my ticket for safekeeping until the next day.

Sunday comes, and I'm off to the panel. As I get to the door, I'm given a roughly 6.5X10 inch mini poster.

I'm also told that electronics were not allowed to be out during the presentation. The MC for the panel did mention that they "may have a reporter or two in here." Pen and paper were just fine, but no cameras, no live tweeting, no laptops, zilch. And they were serious — the other side of the room from the doors featured a guy who patrolled the floor looking for people. He was courteous — I saw a couple of people who just pulled out their phones from force of habit and he was there in a flash, politely telling them that that wasn't allowed. At least he was nice about it. Luckily, I had my art supplies with me, and was able to jot down notes. I missed some details here and there, but this is the best I could gather.

The panel featured Marvel talent like Kieron Gillen, Charles Soule, and Ryan Stegman. First up was a look at upcoming Star Wars stuff. Several series got highlighted, the first being The Screaming Citadel, which basically drops Luke and friends into a horror movie-type situation. Luke runs into a group who were his enemies in Vader Down, and now they sort of have to cooperate to get out of this. The second was the Doctor Aphra series. The third was simply titled Darth Vader. It starts off just a few seconds after Episode III ends and explores Vader's psychological breakdown, walling himself off emotionally in the wake of all the death and destruction he caused for the Emperor. It follows as he goes on a journey to create his red lightsaber, because Sith have a very specific way of getting it.

At this point, there was a quick discussion about how the creative team was able to visit Industrial Light And Magic due to its proximity to LucasFilm. And one of the things they saw on their tour was an original model for E.T. tucked away in a box in a corner. However, this E.T. was made of latex, which doesn't age very well, and the result was a very…interesting looking E.T. seeming to decompose.

Next up was Poe Dameron, with a quiet issue dealing with the death of a member of Black Squadron. Charles Soule had been writing it when word got out that Carrie Fisher had died. So he tried to turn the funeral into, not only a memorial for the fallen Black Squadron pilot, but Fisher as well.

It was then back to the Marvel Universe itself, starting with Spider-Gwen. And the upcoming story set Gwen may or may not (his words, not mine) on the path to becoming her own version of Venom. She's pursued by a lot of dark forces, including the Earth 65 Wolverine. This was followed by a preview of the new Spider-Man cartoon. Fun fact: Uncle Ben is voiced by Patton Oswalt in the series.

Next was Iron Fist. The new story arc coming up has Iron Fit facing down a gauntlet of seven animal-based fighters, including one called The Rat who manages to infect Iron Fist with the plague. He has to defeat them all and take their chi, although it might not be for the reasons he has been told.

Astonishing X-Men then came up. The X-Men have to face the Shadow King, fighting by warping reality so they aren't sure if what they are seeing and experiencing is actually real. The preview art showed Psylocke using her psychic butterfly and psychic blade birds, as well as Old Man Logan.

Then was Daredevil. Concluding the "Purple" arc, the story basically details Daredevil getting his secret identity back, essentially undoing Mark Waid's run. There is also an upcoming court case that pits Murdock against She-Hulk again, only this time, it's told from his perspective.

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows — Mary Jane becomes Venom. Seeing the word WHAM on the preview art page prompted everyone on the panel and audience to sing a few bars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Moving on to a quick preview of Agents Of SHIELD on TV.

There was then a quick Q&A session. The most interesting question was if Marvel would ever release the MAX line on Unlimited. It doesn't look promising due to the age restrictions the titles would need, so Comixology remains the best option for checking out the line.

Aaaaaand scene.

Do you like cartoons? Who doesn't? Peter G is still doing strange things in the name of art, and his new animations, like his cult series One True Pairing, can be viewed on YouTube at Sine Timore Animation Studios.

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