CANADIAN NATIONAL COMIC BOOK EXPO: CUP O' JOE PANEL

TORONTO -- Marvel Comics staged a Cup O' Joe panel without the Joe Saturday at the Canadian National Comic Book Expo on Saturday.

Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was a no-show for the panel, but consultant/talent liasion/former editor C.B. Cebulski took center stage, answering questions in a lively session.

Following are some highlights:

* Asked about on separate occasions who the creators of the third volume of The Ultimates will be and what Joe Madureira's project with Marvel will be, Cebulski said "You'll see in four days" to both, referring to Marvel's upcoming announcement. He wouldn't connect the two, however.

* Cebulski said he's seen some of the Ultimate Avengers animated movie Marvel and Lions Gate will release in February.

"Some of it is panel-to-panel taken from the Ultimates comic book," Cebulski said. "It's (Bryan) Hitch's stuff come to life, but in that Bruce Timm sort of animated style. And it works.

"They went with top-notch animation. They've added to the story a little bit and expanded it. It makes it a little more violent, a little more hardcore. They're not pulling any punches with it."

* Cebulski said Robert Kirkman came to Marvel about the possibility of the Invincible/Spider-Man team-up, now scheduled for Marvel Team-Up #14.

"It opens up some possibilities (for MTU) and hopefully it will translate to more sales for Invincible," Cebulski said. "I think that book's phenomenal."

* Cebulski said he's seen a cover and pages from Alan Davis' Fantastic Four: The End. He anticipates the six-issue series will launch in the spring.

* Leinil Francis Yu has already completed two covers for Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine, but has yet to start on interiors. Cebulski said the writer for the six-issue series will be announced in the next two weeks. "We received a cold e-mail out of the blue," he said about how the writer came to Marvel.

* Cebulski said the upcoming Spider-Man event is "a pretty tight story" that "will make the titles feel they have the same character."

* An unexpected result from the success of Marvel's movies has been an increase in sales of the Essentials line from adults who have renewed their interest in comics

* The artist of the second Ultimate Iron Man mini-series will be named at Wizard World Boston.

* Hardcovers are "doing phenomenally well" for Marvel, Cebulski said. "Whatever we've put out in hardcover has sold well, so I think you'll see a lot more of that."

* Cebulski said he enjoys Marvel's variant covers. "As long as we see positive feedback from retailer, you'll see, that at least from Marvel, that the variant program will continue," he said.