In one of the most well-attended panels at WonderCon, Marvel Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis made a rare spotlight appearance. But before he got around to talking comics, Bendis showed off footage from his Playstation Network original series, Powers, which is based on the comic book by Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.
Bendis proudly ran the latest trailer for Powers season 2, which set up the adaptation of the “Who Killed Retro Girl?” storyline while introducing the new characters played by Michael Madsen and Tricia Helfer. Bendis also surprised con-goers with a clip from the first episode of the new season, which explored the aftermath of Retro Girl’s death and its affect on the lead characters. Afterwards, Bendis teased an explicit scene that he wrote in one of the Powers episodes, as he promised that the series will go places no other comic book adaptation can.
Moving on to Marvel’s Civil War II crossover, Bendis claimed that he originally wanted to remain with artist David Marquez on the recently relaunched Iron Man book before he recruited Marquez to join him on Civil War II. Bendis appeared to tease that the Totally Awesome Hulk (Amadeus Cho) will “smash” Tony Stark/Iron Man in Civil War II # 3, and he displayed pages from artist Oliver Coipel’s Civil War II # 0 which featured Iron Man and his All-New Avengers teams fighting a new cosmic entity. Bendis also joked that his new Iron Man artist, Mike Deodato was so fast that Bendis can barely keep up with him.
Bendis briefly touched upon his Guardians of the Galaxy comic, and promised a new love interest for the Thing and a spotlight storyline for Kitty Pryde. As for Spider-Man (the book focusing on Miles Morales), Bendis showed off a lot of artwork and teased the Black Cat’s new agenda for Miles, as well as upcoming guest appearances by Ms. Marvel and Bombshell.
After revealing pages from the final issue of book 2 from his Scarlet creator owned comic by Alex Maleev, Bendis told the crowd that he was working on an Indiana Jones comic with superstar artist Adam Hughes. The room went bananas over the news…until Bendis revealed it was his idea of a joke. That was poorly conceived on his part, as the response seemed to indicate that it was something fans wanted to see.
Later in the panel, Bendis indicated that there may be movement on Brilliant, his creator owned comic with Mark Bagley. However, Bendis stopped shy of making an official announcement about the continuation of that series. Bendis also indicated that he’s considering a return to the true crime genre he explored in Torso, but he hasn’t yet found the right story to do so.
Which of Bendis’ projects are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comment section below!
