Marvel's Gang War event: Follow along with the Spider-Man event panel live from Los Angeles Comic Con

We here at Popverse are always paying attention to what's going on with Spider-Man. Right now, that's a whole lot of things, as Spidey finds himself in a big Marvel crossover event titled Gang War (you can read more about the event here). But sometimes to get to the heart of things you've got to go to the source, and there's no better source than the creators themselves.

That's why we're covering Marvel's 'Gang War' panel live from LA Comic Con's Main Stage on December 2 10:30AM Pacific Time / 1:30PM Eastern Time with chief writer Zeb Wells, Spider-Man writer Dan Slott, longtime Spidey artist Ryan Stegman, Miles Morales: Spider-Man writer Cody Ziglar, Spider-Gwen: SMASH's Melissa Flores, and more - all organized, coralled and extolled by Marvel talent scout Rickey Purdin.

If you want to know exactly what's happening as it's happening in the room, keep an eye on our liveblog below (or you can come back after the panel is over to get a play-by-play).

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• Good morning Spidey-fans. We're reporting live from the Main Stage at LA Comic Con. We can't wait for this panel to start.
• Hopefully we'll get some Spider-news (or a least some Spidey-teases today)
• As a reminder, our guests today will be Rickey Purdin, Zeb Wells, Cody Ziglar, Melissa Flores, Dan Slott, and Ryan Stegman.
• A big slide with the Gang War logo just went up on the screen. Looks like we're getting started!
• And the panel is starting, with Rickey Purdin taking the stage and introducing the rest of the panelists., "I believe this is the first official Marvel Comics panel at Los Angeles Comic Con," Purding shares with the audience
• Zeb Wells, Cody Ziglar, Melissa Flores, Dan Slott, and Ryan Stegman have taken the stage, and the panel is off to a start!
• We're being show a teaser video of the Gang War event. Lots of dramatic fighting. Elektra vs. AIM. Luke CAge versus a car.
• About the Gang War event, Wells says, "We've been building up to it for a while... we get about six issues of unbroken John Romita Jr." Wells says that he's excited to get more Spider-Man street level crime, and having Spidey interact more with other superheroes. "That's always fun."
• "There's been a long history of different superhero gangs in Manhattan in the Marvel Universe. There's characters like Hammerhead... Tombstone... There's a dark force that is getting all of them to fight each other." This causes issues, as we know that when people are trying to consolidate power, others aren't going to be happy about it.
• Purdin asks Ryan Stegman how he approaches work encapsulating a big event. Stegman responds that he had been wanting to do a piece with multiple Spider characters swinging on the same web (he says about the promo art shared by Marvel to tease the event).
• Now jumping to Miles Morales Spider-Man, from Cody Ziglar and Federico Vicentini. Ziglar shares "It's no secret that I'm a giant nerd... I definitely wanted to do a shonen Spider-Man."
• Ziglar continues that Spider-Man really excels when he's on the ground level. He also mentions giving Miles more mentors. "Editorial was really cool in letting me bring in more characters," citing being able to bring in Misty Knight into Miles' story.
• "And you gave Miles a sword, which was awesome," Wells cuts in. It is, indeed, awesome. About the sword, Ziglar says that it seemed like a "pretty natural evolution of his powers. One thing that I think that manga does pretty well is that the characters plateau and then get a new level of their powers."
• It's a direct homage to one of Ziglar's favorite characters from Dragon Ball Z. Ziglar says that the sword also adds a new level because Spider-people have to pull their punches because of their power level. Because Miles doesn't kill people, it's interesting to see how he uses the sword
• And an announcement: For Miles Morales: Spider-Man 18 will be getting legacy numbering #300.



• We're also getting Spider-Gwen: Smash from Melissa Flores and Enid Balam
• "She's kind of having to deal with the messes that she's left in her home dimension with the Mary Janes."



• Spider-Gwen will be crossing over with DAZZLER and the Uncut Gems, and a Hulk is after Dazzler and for some reason is hellbent on ruining their tour
• "So maybe we might be seeing a little bit of [Carnage]" Flores says
• Flores says that it means "everything" to her to write Spider-Gwen, that she was really moved when the character first debuted. "To write comics and get that email... I literally screamed in the middle of a [writer's room] meeting... I could be done tomorrow and it's okay because I got to write Spider-Gwen."
• More news: Giant Size Spider-Gwen #1 in March 2024 from Melissa Flores and Alba Glez
• Now moving to Dan Slott's Superior Spider-Man with Mark Bagley. "We made all of you so very happy by killing Peter Parker, you're all so very excitable," Slott says happily. He continues that he needed to keep a straight face for a year and a half and having to tell children, "No. He's DEAD."
• "What we're doing is we're trying to do it in a way that we've never done it before. No clones. No time travel. No magic. You'll just have to see how we're doing it. It's fun," Slott says about the new return to Superior
• "We are totally using all the gifts Zeb's giving us with the Octoids," Slott says, about crossing threads with other Spider-books.
• Time to talk Spider-Boy!
• "Spider-Boy came out of literal nowhere." When they were bringing back Spider-Man and Spider-Woman after they were cut out of the Web of Destiny, Slott says that it felt like they needed to bring out one more character. Slott asked editorial, "What if we then brought somebody back who was forgotten entirely?" He asked if Marvel had the rights to the Spider-Boy name, and they did.
• The whole thing started organically, Slott says, in response to reader interest. Slott says he's been having a bunch of fun with Paco Medina building out the world. "We don't want to drop on Zeb's toes and Cody's toes. There's only so many Spider-Man villains," Slott says, about creating a whole new set of villains for Spider-Boy. "we're creating the stupidest villains ever."
• ALSO: In issue 3, we'll learn about a secret power that Spider-Boy has that hasn't been revealed yet.
• Purdin asks the panel how they keep Spider-Man fresh after all these years. Wells responds, "I wanted to make sure that I was doing stuff that would make me a little scared, or a little worried... I challenged myself to do stuff that would feel a little uncomfortable."
• Ziglar says, "I write what makes me the most excited. If I'm not excited writing it, I'm definitely not going to be excited reading it."
• Melissa Flores says, "For me, I really wanted to approach it from a social aspect. Writing can be a very lonely career... for Gwen especially to be at home and not feel at home. I wanted her to feel as uncomfortable as possible because she was making me sit at home alone." Flores continues that she wanted to force Gwen to stay in one dimension and "force a connection"
• Dan Slott says, "I always look for a wild swing. I look for the story I shouldn't tell. What is the thing that Peter Parker would never do?"
• "I would love to go back and do more wings with the Lizard and Mysterio," Dan Slott says, about characters he would write more. They were his favorite as a kid.
• Ryan Stegman would love to draw more Green Goblin.
• Purdin asks the panel what they want to talk about that's coming up. Ziglar shares that after Gang War there will be some more mundane school stuff and a bit of a focus on his family. Flores says that she's excited about her Echo miniseries for Marvel Voices on Marvel Unlimited. Slott says that in Spider-Boy, we'll soon finally meet one of Spider-Boy's parents - "Or maybe you already have..."
• Stegman plugs his free Comic Book Day comic "with some parallels to Five Nights at Freddy's"
• Zeb Wells is excited for Ed McGuinnes to come onto the series.
• And that's a wrap on the panel! Thanks for following along.
• See ya'll around the show.

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Marvel Comics' Gang War crossover event: Spider-Man, Elektra, Luke Cage, and more team-up to save NYC .