WIZARD WORLD LOS ANGELES: SPIDER-MAN PANEL

LOS ANGELES -- Marvel Comics kicked off its Wizard World Los Angeles proramming on Friday with a panel devoted to Spider-Man.

Live, running highlights follow:

* Marvel released the above images as the panel started. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

* Panelists include writers Bob Gale and Marc Guggenheim, editor Steve Wacker and marketing's Jim McCann.

* Dan Slott was contacted via telephone and confirmed he finished the dialogue on Amazing Spider-Man #560.

* Gale said it feels "like Back to the Future" that his issue are finally arriving in stores. "It seems so long ago that I wrote those issues," he said.

* The Zeb Wells/Chris Bachalo issues arrive in April. Wacker said the issues will surprise everybody with how well Bachalo fit on the book. "He's an artist's artist," Wacker said.

The issues will deal with how Spider-Man fits in with the Avengers.

* Amazing Spider-Man #561's cover by Marcos Martin was shown, featuring Mary Jane. Wacker said Martin's art has a Steve Ditko feel.

* Slott said that his upcoming issues will have "something everyone has asked for."

* Joe Kelly is writing a two-issue story this fall.

* Wacker said there will be A Brand New Day special that will flesh out supporting characters and include a prelude to Kelly's story.

* Spider-Man Family is going to have a "Spider-Man and Mrs. Spider-Man" back-up written by Tom DeFalco that pre-dates Spider-Girl.

* Guggenheim likened Brand New Day to what Geoff Johns did with The Flash. "This is part and parcel to comic books," he said.

* Wacker addressed continuity that happened at/after the wedding. "They are not questions that we'll answer right away," he said. "The only way you can answer any of this stuff is with good comic books."

* McCann said the second year of Brand New Day is "well underway."

* Guggenheim said regardless of the reaction to One More Day, Brand New Day's unmarried Spider-Man "is just better."

* Gale on the question of "did this happen or not happen," "None of it happened. It's fiction." He brought up Iron Man's origin and and how it is tweaked to make it contemporary.

"If this stuff makes you crazy, it's like William Shatner said to that guy, 'Get a life.'"

Slott added, "there are answers, it's pretty cool, keep reading."

* Gale has an issue with Barry Kitson in May. "It's some of the best visual story-telling I've seen," Gale said.

* In June, Gale teams with Mike McKone for a two-parter. "We have a major sequence in #563 at Coney Island," Gale said, pointing out the Enforcers and Spidey on a bumper car on the cover.

* McKone will join Guggenheim on an annual.

* Wacker said that Aunt May is at the core of the Spider-Man mythology. He note that in other media incarnations, Spider-Man is not married and Aunt May is around.

* Asked about trades, Wacker said they will depended on the stories. The first one will collect the Free Comic Book Day story and the first two three-issue arcs. He said the collections will be five to seven issues.

* Gale said the stories aren't being tailored for trades. "We wanted to give the people who buy the comic month by month as much story and entertainment as possible," he said.

* A six-issue story drawn by John Romita Jr. and written by Slott starts in August. "There's somthing beatufifly about life when you're watching somebody do what they're supposed to do," Wacker said.

Slott said the story is called "New Ways to Die." He said it's going to have "big returns and major Spider-Man villains."

In the first issue, Slott said Norman Osborn gets permission from the government to have the Thunderbolts hunt down Spider-Man.

* Wacker said there will be a three-part Secret Invasion story that will feature Jackpot. It will be written by Brian Reed and is scheduled for this summer.

* McCann said Spider-Man fits in with the Avengers "just the same. He just wear his mask."

* No details were revealed about the Jeph Loeb-J. Scott Campbell book.

* Wacker said the writers were excited about making the book more about Peter Parker than Spider-Man. "Giving it more of a soap-opera quality to it," Guggenhiem added.

* Wacker said that Amazing is the "offical" book of Spider-Man and needs to resonate with the most people.

* Gale said he had been "bored" with Spider-Man the past few years and jumped at the chance to rejuvenate the character. "I like this Spider-Man a whole lot better than the married Spider-Man," he said.

* Plans for the Lizard? "You haven't see the last of Curt Connors," Gale said. Wacker said it will be revealed a bit at a time.