NYCC 2014: All The Announcements From Marvel’s Cup O’ Joe Panel

No matter where it’s being held, when Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada takes the stage for a “Cup O’ Joe” panel, exciting announcements usually follow.

More from Conventions And Shows

• Dungeons & Dragons: What it is and what it isn’t?
• Marvel fans stunned by disappointing San Diego Comic-Con announcement
• X-Men: Hellfire Gala set to come to life at SDCC 2023
• Titans star Brenton Thwaites previews Dick’s new leadership approach: ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’
• Marvel D23 panel 2022 recap: Every Marvel D23 announcement

That was once again the case on Saturday at the New York Comic Con. To a packed house in the Empire Stage, Quesada was joined by editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, executive editor Mike Marts, and several other editors and Marvel writers — one of whom, Sam Humphries, had told Bam Smack Pow to look out for a big announcement concerning his corner of the Marvel Universe during the panel.

Humphries was right, but that wasn’t the only thing announced or revealed. Here’s a brief rundown of what we know now that we hadn’t heard about before Saturday:

• The Black Vortex – It’s not just a mysterious object in Humphries’ Legendary Star-Lord run, but also an event that will link Marvel’s cosmic and (some) X-Men titles together beginning next February. While Mister Knife has already been hinting that the titular artifact is powerful, it turns out to be more than anyone could have imagined, with the power to “unlock the cosmic potential inside anyone.” In classic X-Men event style, it will have Alpha and Omega issues at the ends (the latter drawn by Ed McGuinness) and run through Guardians of the Galaxy, Legendary Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, Nova, Cyclops and All-New X-Men.
• Star Wars: The Last Padawan – Joining Marvel’s already ambitious plans for Star Wars comics in 2015 is this series from writer Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz. Its first issue will release in April.
• Operation: S.I.N. – Remember Woodrow McCord, the guy who secretly protected Marvel Earth from all kinds of threats before handing over the job to Nick Fury (and he, in turn, to the Winter Soldier)? He’s in this five-issue limited series alongside Peggy Carter and Howard Stark as they tackle a mission together. The series debuts in January 2015, written by Kathryn Immonen and illustrated by Rich Ellis. And just wild speculation here, but could Marvel be setting things up for McCord to appear on the Agent Carter TV series? Hmm …
• James Patterson’s Max Ride: First Flight – Could comics based on YA novels be the next big thing? It sure seemed that way at NYCC, and this is more proof: a five-issue limited series for 2015 based on author James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series. Marguerite Bennett writes and Alex Sanchez handles the art, with the first issue coming in the spring.

The panel also touched on AXIS, Secret Wars and included a Q&A session. Quesada also wasn’t done for the day, popping up in a Disney Infinity panel, for one, but his signature event was a highlight once again.