CANADIAN FAN EXPO: MARVEL'S CIVIL WAR PANEL

TORONTO -- Using the old "member of the audience" schtick, Brian Michael Bendis and C.B. Cebulski announced an ongoing Omega Flight series during Marvel Comics' Civil War panel at the Canadian Fan Expo on Saturday.

The book will be written by Michael Avon Oeming and drawn by Scott Kolins, who paired on Thor: Blood Oath.

Bendis, sitting in the audience, interrupted the panel at the beginning, pretending to be an angry fan who demanded the return of Alpha Flight, "convincing" Cebulski to put Oeming and Kolins on Omega Flight.

"There was no way me and (Steve) McNiven were going to show up in this country without announcing a new Alpha Flight," said Bendis, referring to the events in New Avengers, after joining the panel.

Omega Flight will launch in 2007. Specific characters could not be revealed, Bendis said, because they would spoil events in Civil War. He only would say that Omega Flight will be "regular team-sized."

Cebulski and Bendis were joined on the panel by Wolverine artist Humberto Ramos, New Avengers #23 artist Olivier Coipel, Civil War inker Mark Morales and Civil War: X-Men artist Yanick Paquette.

In other highlights from the panel:

* Bendis defended Marvel's decision to delay Civil War to enable McNiven to draw all the issues. "It's not science, it's art," Bendis said. "I'd rather see Steve finish it."

Bendis noted that a side effect of the delays on Civil Wars is that the books after the event are already being worked on and will get an extra month's cushion. "Everything's going to be rock solid next year as far as scheduling goes," he said.

* Paquette said that drawing the three new Sentinels designed by Mark Brooks has been a time-consuming task in Civil War: X-Men. "They're insanely complex," he said.

* Bendis described Paqual Ferry's art on New Avengers #24, which spotlights The Sentry, as "fantastic."

* The Sentry will be a member of The Mighty Avengers. "A mandate has come down that Sentry will not be whining as much and will be knocking the crap out of things," Bendis said.

* Asked if any of themes of Civil War would be played out in the Ultimate Universe, Bendis said that universal will have plenty of drama with the "shocking ending" of The Ultimates run by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, the Ultimate Power mini-series and the "Clone Saga" in Ultimate Spider-Man.

* Bendis said the public unmasking of Spider-Man did not come without "a yelling, screaming fight" at the writers' meeting. "It's not about the shocking moment, it's about the stories that come after that for the next three years," he said.

* Cebulski said the international landscape of Civil War will be explored in Civil War: Front Line.

* A fan expressed frustration that the Marvel heroes should be fighting villains and not the themselves and that they were being childish.

"They're fighting for something they believe in," Bendis said. "That's not childish."

* Bendis said characters will switch sides during Civil War and some characters will go all the way to the end before that realize they weren't on the right side.

* Bendis said that, just like mobs tend to take advantage of wars, there might be some villainous plans to take advantage over the registration dispute.

* Bendis said readers will see more of the civilian reaction to the registration furor in the second half of the story. "It might be surprising," he said.

* Asked if the Hulk would return to Earth to be a factor in Civil War, Bendis said, "That would be like dropping a bomb on these guys in the middle of the fight. That would be like the Marvel equivalent of Hiroshima. It would change the whole thing. That would be crazy."