Broken Frontier

On Tuesday, Marvel gathered a handful of media guests to discuss The Initiative and how it will play into the upcoming event Secret Invasion. The conference call MC was Senior Art Director Jeff Suter. Joining Suter was Brian Reed, the co-writer of New Avengers: Illuminati and writer of Ms. Marvel and the new Captain Marvel miniseries.

Suter kicked things off by going over the current state of the titles Brian Reed has been assigned. Ms. Marvel currently has a strike force team that takes out threats before they become big enough to be an issue for the Avengers, but she’s having trouble dealing with the decisions she made during Civil War.

Reed said we will start to see the "cracks in her armor," and soon all the issues she’s been dealing with inside will find their way to the surface.

Reed and Suter also discussed the new Captain Marvel series, which starts today. Fans will see that after Civil War Mar-Vell decided to leave the conflict all together. The Captain feels like his world has been turned upside-down, as Captain America is dead and many of his old friends are fighting against each other. Suter said he loved the last page of the first issue and confessed to sneaking peeks at the future scripts because he loves the book so much.

Our hosts then moved on to New Avengers: Illuminati. Reed told listeners that what readers saw at the end of New Avengers: Illuminati #5, "isn’t even the tip of the iceberg." Reed explained that he and Brian Michael Bendis have been laying the ground work for this story in their respective titles well before the first issue of New Avengers: Illuminati was even published.

When Suter asked Brian Reed if Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are Skrulls, Reed just laughed. But Brian did want to make it clear, "all of the writers have Skrulls running around in their books and they don’t even know it yet."

They then opened up the questioning to the media. The first question was in regards to the new Quasar, the daughter of Captain Marvel, and whether she would be making an appearance. Reed explained she is tied up in the Annihilation storyline and wouldn’t be available for some time.

One listener asked which character Brian Reed enjoys writing most. He was vague in answering, but did say that he finds Ms. Marvel the most intriguing because she’s doing what any of us would want to do.

When asked if there would be a definitive hand-off from Initiative to Secret Invasion, Reed said he wasn’t allowed to say, though he assured us there was something big coming.

Someone questioned Reed on the powers of the new Skrulls in comparison to Super-Skrull and the Skrulls we’ve seen in the past. Brian explained that these are the granddaddy of all Skrulls and will put the Super-Skrull to shame.

Both hosts seemed confident when questioned whether Marvel’s been too heavy with event comics lately. Suter explained that he felt they were just giving readers the big events they love. Reed explained that he makes the stories simple enough that you can buy just that issue and understand what the overall status is in the universe. He even made an effort to not tie in World War Hulk, which was the last big Marvel event.

Suter went on to compare the recent events to the popular show Lost, saying that you wouldn’t really watch an episode in the middle having never seen the show before, and if you’re buying the story you pretty much are buying it knowing what you’re getting into. Reed emphasized the need to be able to sum the story up into a couple of sentences proves the reader-friendly aspect of the story.

That wrapped up the first Initiative podcast. The second part will be with Brian Michael Bendis and the third will be with Dan Slott. Stick around for more news on Secret Invasion as soon as it comes available!