Marvel.com- SECRET WARS CORRESPONDENCE: FUTURE IMPERFECTPeter David returns to one of his greatest Hulk stories, plus Maestro invades the Contest of Champions mobile game! Starting this June, Peter David brings the distinctive land of Dystopia alive again as part of the diverse Secret Wars landscape in FUTURE IMPERFECT. As he and editor Mark Paniccia reveal, while readers might think they know what to expect from the Maestro—future incarnation of the Hulk and antagonist of the classic original story—the stakes and plans surrounding this Warzones! tie-in prove far different than his past campaigns. “Dystopia is the one place in the desert that has population and a market,” notes David. “It’s pretty much the only city around. There are other areas where people live and try to put together existence, but Dystopia is really the only place where people actually live in the city and it is overseen by the Maestro.” Paniccia adds: “Let me tell you it’s great to see Maestro in his home turf. Peter is having a lot of fun with this and it shows. Ditto for artist Greg Land who is having a blast with the battle sequences.” Fans of David’s X-FACTOR will delight to learn Ruby Summers figures prominently in FUTURE IMPERFECT. In structuring this new series, the writer quickly considered the timeline in which the story exists and the characters who could logically still be around and alive at that future point. “I immediately thought of Ruby Summers since that would be roughly about the time that she was around.” David also shares that other descendants from his legendary INCREDIBLE HULK and X-FACTOR runs definitely will be appearing. While not willing to reveal any further details, Paniccia admits: “There’s a great twist coming in issue #2. Just the kind of fun stuff you can do with an event like this. Peter’s taking advantage of the freedom we’ve got to give readers things that are familiar but also surprising. The kind of stuff that makes comics fun!” Over David’s career the list of his artistic collaborators can best be described as awe-inspiring, which makes his praise of Land’s work all the more impressive. “They just sent me the final inked version of the first issue of FUTURE IMPERFECT and I was blown away by how great his work looks,” he touts. “I mean, it’s just fantastic.” Paniccia hoped for that exact reaction when teaming the two creators on FUTURE IMPERFECT. “I knew Peter was going to dig Greg’s work on this and when the first pages came in I kind of smiled to myself because I knew they were going to make Peter smile,” he says. “A smiling Peter is always a good thing. “Greg is one of my favorite artists and I think he’s done an amazing job on this,” the editor notes. “A lot of that has to do with what Peter has given him to draw. Greg loves super heroes and I told Peter to make sure Greg got a heaping helping of smashing and clobbering. I got a call right after Greg read the first script and he was so excited, like a kid in a candy store. It was cool to hear how jazzed he was.” The editor also thinks fans will be awed at the work of colorist Nolan Woodard. “He is approaching Greg’s stuff a little differently than what fans are used to,” he previews. “It’s gorgeous work, a unique palette that’s very complementary to Greg’s style and really gives the book a stand out look.” However, while Maestro will make his mark as part of FUTURE IMPERFECT this summer—not to mention in upcoming issues of HULK—the tyrant has already found his way into another Marvel universe: the “Marvel Contest of Champions” mobile game from Kabam! “The Maestro is much too powerful to be just a contestant,” says Art Director Gabriel Frizzera of his role in the game. “He is a cunning warrior, but also a conqueror, and a manipulator. His plans are much deeper than simply defeating all heroes in the Marvel Universe in battle—that’s all I can reveal.” “We needed that kind of escalation when it comes to the big bosses,” shares Sam Humphries, writer of “Contest of Champions” as well as the upcoming STAR-LORD & KITTY PRYDE. “Oh, you think Kang is tough? Well, here’s Thanos for you. Thanos is pretty epic, but how about the evil, deranged Hulk from Future Imperfect? “There’s a curveball element to it as well; the Maestro is not usually grouped with cosmic heavy hitters. We think he’s got that epic potential to him—oh and also he’s a bad ass.” When it came to re-imagining Maestro for battle with Marvel’s greatest heroes, Kabam! tweaked their visual approach while staying true to the despot we love to hate. “We love the classic Maestro design by George Perez, but we wanted to something a bit different for our version,” Frizzera notes. “While the Maestro in the original Future Imperfect story was the ruler of the Earth, ours is posed for multiversal domination, so we wanted his battle armor to reflect that upgraded status. The Maestro also has a habit of collecting trophies from fallen enemies, so we designed the new armor to be composed of stolen tech from many Marvel characters. Fans will recognize bits and pieces from Iron Man, Ultron and others integrated into the design, and also many of the weapons from other champions.” “He’s smart, he’s strong, and he’s angry,” warns Humphries. “Also, in some ways, he’s the ultimate fan. You think you got a lot of Avengers merch? Well, Maestro’s got Cap’s shield and Iron Man’s helmet! Beat that!” 
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