As New York Comic Con started to wrap up, Marvel still had one more spider up its sleeve, an expression that nobody had any further questions about. Specifically, Marvel held its Spider-Man and his Venomous Friends panel, teasing what’s next for Spider-Man, Venom, and the rest of the Spider-Verse.
On hand on the panel were VP & Executive Editor Nick Lowe, Senior Editor Jordan D. White, writer Joe Kelly (who is taking over The Amazing Spider-Man for a limited run), and more surprise guests. The topics? Kelly’s “8 Deaths of Spider-Man,” and All-New Venom, which puts a mystery character in the symbiote suit. Read on for our full breakdown of the panel.
Joining Lowe, White, and Kelly on the panel was Al Ewing (writer of All-New Venom), and started off with a trailer for “8 Deaths of Spider-Man,” which has art by Ed McGuinness, and begins in Amazing Spider-Man #61 on November 13. The storyline finds Spider-Man battling the god Cyttorak at the command of Doctor Doom, who is now Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe. And yeah, it looks like Peter Parker will actually die a bunch of times.
Kelly started off by saying that Lowe pitched him on writing ASM #61 and McGuinness on art, and that was pretty much it. Doctor Doom is “outsourcing magic to save the world,” and sending Spider-Man to sacrifice himself to save the world. “He gives Spider-Man this mantle, he’s going to uphold the Covenant of Cyttorak.”
Nico Henrichon is doing some interior art on the series, specifically to show a flashback sequence of Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom previously fighting the Scions of Cyttorak. “They’re all demigods with a big chip on their shoulder,” teased Kelly. “Death is inevitable.”
Speaking of which, it seems like Phil Coulson, the new avatar of Death in the Marvel Universe will be popping up several times in the series. Eight, probably, but that’s just me speculating.
Justina Ireland and Gleb Melnikov will be joining to help out Kelly on ASM for #63 and #64, for mysterious reasons. Lowe teases Kelly will be working on something else, but won’t say what yet.
Showing off Mark Bagley’s cover of ASM #65, Lowe teased, “Now this 65 is one of the most intense comics I’ve ever read.” The interior art on this issue is by CAFU, and we see one of the Scions handing Spider-Man a globe that shows him other people’s pain. And all he has to do is stand there and hold the globe.
Amazing Spider-Man #65.DEATHS by Derek Landy and Kev Walker, with a cover by Mark Bagley, will hit in January 2025, and follows up the events of ASM #65.
Then in ASM #66 by Justina Ireland and Andrew Broccardo, the cover shows Spider-Man and Black Cat making out, by Mark Bagley. This will also hit in January 2024.
Moving on, White plugged Astonishing Spider-Man #1 by Scott Aukerman and Salva Espin. He noted that the book is very funny, but also in-continuity and ongoing, versus previous Marvel Infinity Comics. Morbius (queue cries of “It’s Morbin’ Time” from the audience) shows up in Astonishing Spider-Man #3. “Someone knows Peter’s secret,” teased White of an event in the first two issues. “Someone knows Peter is Spider-Man. And it’s not good for Peter.”
Then it was time to talk Spider-Boy, which Dan Slott wasn’t here to plug because he has COVID. “This comic is great for kids,” said Lowe. “But it’s also great for adults.” Lowe teased that an all-new Spider-Girl is coming to the title in Spider-Boy #13, and she’ll get a backstory in a future issue drawn by Humberto Ramos.
After that brief bit of Spider-Boy, it was time for Venom talk, with Ewing discussing the end of Venom War in issues #4 and #5. White noted that when Ewing pitched the idea for a crossover set at a wrestling match, he thought it was metaphorical. It is not, it is actually set in a wrestling ring. “It’s made for some of the best fight scenes ever,” said Ewing. “It’s been a story of exponential chaos that’s exploding like a bomb. Venom War is that bomb.”
Following Venom War comes All-New Venom #1 by Al Ewing and Carlos Gómez which hits stores on December 4. In it, Dylan Brock has four suspects for who is in the Venom suit: Robbie Robertson, Madame Masque, Rick Jones, and Luke Cage. While they wouldn’t hint at who is in the suit, in issue #2 Venom fights A.I.M., and then in #3 Dylan Brock faces down against Venom after hunting the mystery hero in the first two issues.
Then it was announcement time. Eddie Brock: Carnage is coming after Venom War. It’s written by Charles Soule, and art by Jesús Saiz, with covers by Iban Coello. It hits in February of 2025. “I have not written superheroes in five years, I’ve been in Star Wars land,” Soule said.
“Carnage is someone that has to kill, so Eddie has to feed him deaths,” Soule said. “In order for Eddie to be okay with that, the people he feeds Carnage are serial killers. But Carnage is also an addict, and addicts need bigger and bigger highs…”
Teased Soule, “You start thinking about people like Punisher, possibly. Norman Osborn, theoretically… And then it could go wild with Silver Surfer or Galactus.”
And on the art, he added, “I’m having a blast with this. Jesus Saiz wanted to do a horror book. This is his wheelhouse. He loves creepy organic things to draw, and I’m giving him everything he can handle.”
The next (and final) announcement was Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse which is coming in May of 2025. While they wouldn’t reveal the writer or artist, they did tease that it’s going to be a “beautiful” book.
Then it was time for the Q&A portion, with things getting a little contentious when asked about “misogynistic writing” in the Spider-Man titles — specifically calling out the treatment of Mary Jane, Black Cat, and the death of Kamala Khan. “I would disagree with the premise of the question,” said Lowe, adding that “art is subjective,” and thanking the fan for the question. When pressed further, Lowe said that while he appreciated the strong feelings, the Spider-office are big fans of Mary Jane and Black Cat, and Kamala Khan was a supporting character in the title for a while. “I’ve kind of found those arguments pretty thin,” added Lowe, ultimately shutting the fan down when they kept pushing the argument.
Other less contentious questions involved an adorable kid asking about favorite Spider-Man costumes — Ewing chose the Venom symbiote, of course — and one about mistakes that happened in comics. White told a story about how Jonathan Hickman created the Krakoan language for X-Men, asked them to translate “Mars” for an issue — and then changed the language without telling them, so when the issue was printed the word read “Galm*.” They ended up changing it for the collected edition.
(*I think it was “galm,” White didn’t spell it on stage.)
Asked about a DC versus Marvel crossover in the future, Ewing quipped, “If you find a genie lamp, put it in my hands.”
And joking about whether Miles Morales will ever be cured of his vampirism, Lowe said, “Never! Vampire forever.”
That was it for the panel and New York Comic Con (for me, at least). See you next time!
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