On Fan Expo Sunday, Spider-Man fans got a chance to talk to the man, Dan Slott, about everything going on with our “not so friendly Superior Spider-Man”.
The panel included artist Mark Brooks, artist Ryan Stegman, assistant Editor Ellie Pyle and writer (and the man who killed Peter Parker “muwhahahaha”) Dan Slott.
I had originally hoped this would have been a panel like last year’s Amazing Spider-Man panel. Last year there was a lot on the horizon for Spidey, and we were starting to hear rumours that things could change for Peter Parker. Fast forward one year later and (… spoiler) the Peter Parker we know and love is dead and Otto Octavius’ brain is stuck in there, essentially changing the character forever.
Were we in store for more announcements? More news? More drama?
Nope… the panel was a Q & A session.
Groan!
Now the Spidey fans had the chance to ask Dan Slott anything… anything!
And over the course of the hour it was question after question of “When is Peter Parker coming back?”
Dan Slott is a “superior guy”. I haven’t had the pleasure to meet him, but I have interacted with him via Twitter on several occasions. I am pleased to see that the crowd in the room was very well behaved, and were very respectful with their questions to him. But it was the same question over and over again. When is Peter coming back? If it wasn’t Doc Ock, who would it have been? Who are you going to kill next?
You could tell Dan was having fun with it though, because he would give a humourous reply to each redundant question.
There were a few things mentioned that Spider-Man fans will like to know. There is a Spider-Man 2099 story arc coming up. There is also going to be a comic event that pits Spidey against Venom (which Venom’s title is coming to a close soon). Dan also said that there will be a new development with the Goblin King in the future. And… for the Peter Parker fans out there, there will be a limited series coming out that features stories of Peter before the “Dan Slott Brain Swap”.
Two things really stood out for me from this panel. The first being Ryan Stegman’s art style. He said that one of his influences was Todd MacFarlane, and I had noticed that when I first cracked open the pages of Superior Spidey. Then he made me feel really old when he said he was in Grade 3 when he read it for the first time.
The other was Ellie Pyle. Her passion and knowledge for comic books is amazing. It is no wonder that some of my favourite books coming out of Marvel these days are ones that she works on: Daredevil, Hawkeye, Superior Spider-Man. I felt the same way last year when Steve Wacker was at Fan Expo. He exudes that same energy, and you can feel that energy when you read those comic books.
We will see what is in store for “webhead” over the next year, and hopefully Dan Slott and the team will have some big news for us at Fan Expo 2014.
