Moderator Nick Lowe kicked off the panel by introducing the panel to rounds of applause. Editors Jon Moisan and Jake Thomas are running late because they are conducting portfolio reviews. Lowe revealed that he gave Stegman a portfolio review at Chicago nine years ago, that didn't go well. "Neither of us were very happy about how it went," said Stegman, laughing.

"I think it was probably my first or second year as an assistant editor at Marvel so I knew nothing," said Lowe. "I apologize to Ryan regularly about the horrible advice I gave him."

Lowe gave a quick intro to the "Last Days" concept and showed the cover of "Ms. Marvel" #16, the first part of the title's "Secret Wars" tie-in. Lowe commended the series for its multiple Eisner Award nominations and praised the character as "one of the best new characters" at Marvel. Lowe then gave a rundown of the "Secret Wars" event, saying that the events of this story come from the pages of Jonathan Hickman's "Avengers" books.

"In 'Secret Wars' #1, you are going to see the last two remaining universes -- the Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe -- collide in one of the craziest comics I've ever read," said Lowe. "No character is untouched by what is going on."

Next up came covers for "Magneto's" "Last Days" tie-in, one of which includes a favorite character of Lowe's -- Sugar Man. "Black Widow's" "Last Days" cover for issue #19 came up next. Series editor Jake Thomas spoke about the story, saying that writer Nathan Edmondson has been interested in Natasha Romanoff's guilt. "He's really invested in finding out her history and it's all culminated to this 'Last Days' story. Nathan wants to look at where Natasha is in the present, which is a very bad place, but he's also going back to the very beginning of her story. He wanted to find the worst thing that Natasha ever did during her Red Room days and it is a story that is incredibly emotional and instrumental towards understanding who she is. It's going to be very exciting."

"Punisher" came up next, and editor Thomas continued to talk about Nathan Edmondson's other street-level Marvel series. "He's been building up to these issues his whole run. It's going to be a cathartic moment for Frank and Frank's fans," said Thomas. The editor revealed that the last two issues are going to be "balls to the wall, crazy Punisher action."

Al Ewing then talked about "Captain America and the Mighty Avengers," saying he's aiming to "break as many hearts as possible" with this story. "Just generally, they're reacting to the news of what's happening," said Ewing. "And issue #9 will tell their last hours, what they do in their last hours. I wanted to include the regular people [in this story], the phone operators and regular people that lend a hand and turn up and do what they can. It's the story of what the ordinary people in New York do in their last days. This is a comic that will actually have you in it!"

Lowe asked the crowd if they all knew that they were mighty Avengers. "Your card is in the mail," he joked. "The world dying is all on your watch, so thanks a lot!"

Ewing's corner of the Marvel Universe continued to be explored with talk of his other series, "Loki: Agent of Asgard." "We're going out with a bang," said Ewing. "What's basically happening is the gods of Asgard being gods, they can sense the end of everything and they've got a lot of scores to settle. So massive total war breaks out in Asgard. The fuse is lit by King Loki as part of a plan to try to survive, because that's all he cares about... It's Loki vs. Loki."

"Silver Surfer" #13 took the spotlight next, to a round of applause. Slott shouted out his art team, Mike and Laura Allred, who just received an Eisner nomination. "Issue #11 is one of the craziest comics I've ever read," said Lowe of the next issue.

Slott said that "Surfer" doesn't fit into any "Secret Wars" category, they're just calling the book "Last Days." Slott asked Lowe if he could talk about the cosmos vs. Battleworld. "You're going to be left with Battleworld and there's nothing else in the rest of the Marvel Universe," said Slott, specifying that the Kree, Skrulls, Spartax, everything cosmic is gone. "In the 'Battleworld' and 'War Zones' books, all our cosmic characters were lucky to get back to Earth just in time. Silver Surfer is the one character not on Earth who survives out there in the void. He's been giving Herald powers to recreate the universe," said Slott. "And something else survived too."

Marvel then announced a new one-shot, "Last Days of Ant-Man" by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas. Editor Jon Moisan was on-hand to talk about the new one-shot, which arrives on August 5th. "We are exploring how Ant-Man reacts to the world ending," said Moisan. "We see a retirement home of Golden Age superheroes. I know that sounds super thrilling! So this is going to be filling in the Ant-Man universe and him in Miami. He'll be teaming up with a Golden Age hero that we've already seen in the story, but you don't know who it is yet. The cover is a big hint. It's a ton of fun."

While it's not a "Last Days" tie-in, the panel talked about "Inhuman Annual" #1 since Soule and Stegman were present. Soule jokingly asked Stegman if he was reading the scripts. "I feel like I have to just draw a bunch of people all the time," responded Stegman.

Soule then talked about the issue, which the ongoing series has been building towards. "We've been telling a sprawling story involving these new guys and classic Inhuman characters," said Soule. "Everything is going to start humming in the annual. A new guy, Lineage, a bad guy, his power is that he can speak to and access anyone who is in his ancestral line. He can have secret historical knowledge of the Inhumans, and he's been using that against the Royal Family for the whole story and now they've found out what he's trying to do. Ryan was thrilled to find out that I've written a huge battle sequence."

"It's thirty pages of mind-blowing action-packed insanity fest that's the best work of Ryan's career," said Lowe. The editor then turned the conversation to "Uncanny Inhumans" #0, an "unofficial" "Last Days" issue. The issue focuses on Black Bolt, Medusa's husband, and Soule said that the issue finds him trying to redeem himself to Medusa by finding their lost son.

"He's trying to reunite with his son before the world ends," said Soule. "Unfortunately he finds out that Kang the Conqueror has him. You have one of the most powerful characters fighting another one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe." Soule then praised "Uncanny Inhumans'" artist, Steve McNiven. Stegman talked about his writing debut, which happens in the backup of "Uncanny Inhumans."

"I sat there and pounded the story out over a couple hours and went to Nick and he helped out with some ideas," said Stegman. "It was very nerve-wracking, that blank screen."

The "Secret Wars" series "Inhumans: Attilan Rising" came up next, with pages shown from the first issue. "The main concept of the series is a resistance movement," said Soule. "They're lead by Black Bolt and Medusa is the top cop assigned to take them down." The cast will include a classic Ghost Rider previously used in Jason Aaron's run with the character and a new version of Hulk, as well as the Inhuman Naja and Flint, a character that can manipulate rocks.

The floor opened up to questions from fans. When asked how they have gone about saying goodbye to characters with "Secret Wars," editor Nick Lowe said that very question is why "Last Days" exists -- to give these characters a chance to grapple with the end of the world.

"One of the things that's different at Marvel is that you could tell 'Secret Wars' was going to happen when Hickman started his Avengers run," said Slott. "We've known this was coming for a long time. It's always been on the map and we've all been thinking about it for a long time."

Soule was asked how he handled taking on "Inhuman" given the increased prominence and popularity of the characters. "The point of the series was introducing these characters to new readers," said Soule. "There was a lot of pressure. I know that appealed to Ryan, about working on 'Inhuman.' All of us like a challenge. I'd rather push myself. We're trying to do our best work and hopefully we're pleasing you guys."

"It was pretty intimidating just in general, just the idea of the job," said Stegman, who cited the opportunity to create new characters appealed to him. "I spent so much time on the designs of these characters because I wanted them to be classic so they'd be around a long time."

A fan worried about apparently low-selling series, like "Captain Marvel" and "Ms. Marvel," asked about sales numbers and if Marvel ever planned on releasing digital sales numbers, to which Nick Lowe responded that the numbers online are generally wrong and very low. All their book sales are private, but he assured the fan that "Ms. Marvel" is in no danger of cancellation, citing how well the trade paperbacks for that series, "Hawkeye" and "Captain Marvel" sell. Lowe assured the fan that those books are in no danger of being canceled. "We've got really big Captain Marvel plans for years to come that I can't wait to share with you," said Lowe.

Moderator Nick Lowe kicked off the panel by asking Jonathan Hickman to describe the main "Secret Wars" book, which started as Hickman's ultimate plan for his "Avengers" run and has grown into something more. Hickman praised his artist, Esad Ribic, and said, "You guys are going to dig this, even if it's written terribly, it's gorgeous." Lowe showed off four pages from "Secret Wars" #1, which featured numerous characters from the Marvel Universe locked in a heated battle. Lowe asked Hickman to describe what happens in the first issue, prompting Hickman to answer, "Everybody dies."

Like other Marvel events, "Secret Wars" will have a number of series that play a role in the main event. First up, Lowe showed the covers for "Inhumans: Attilan Rising," which will be written by Charles Soule with art by John Timms. The cover for #2 features a makeover for Black Bolt, which includes a suit. "He runs this bar where everyone can go, but secretly there's a resistance underneath it," explained Soule. Medusa, Black Bolt's wife in the regular Marvel Universe, has been tasked with taking him down. Soule teased the cast which includes Undead G-Man, a Ghost Rider, and Mega-Rad, an all-new version of Hulk. Soule teased that the tone of the book is very much in line with "Casablanca."

The anthology series "Secret Wars: Battleworld" came up next, which will focus on fights. The first issue will have a Doctor Strange-powered Punisher fighting a demonic Fantastic Four. The story was written by Joshua Williamson and features magical bullets. The other story will feature M.O.D.O.K. and his cohorts trying to take over Battleworld. Editor Moisan teased that Blade will fight Howard the Duck, old West Deadpool will fight Devil Dinosaur, the Egyptian Silver Surfer will fight a crocodile version of Abomination and much more. "It's a ton of fun," said Moisan. "A bunch of Wolverines will come together and fight for Mojo. The goal was to do something so outlandish and weird that people have no choice but to pick it up. The creators involved are great."

Writer Joshua Williamson said a bit about his "Battleworld" book, "Red Skull," telling the crowd that in this world, Red Skull is supposed to be dead and his influence is still felt in the realm. "A group of anti-heroes from different realities have set out into the Deadlands to find him and, if he's still alive, kill him," said Williamson. "[Artist] Luca [Pizzari] is great. The detail, storytelling and energy of it is great."

The next anthology series, "Secret Wars: Journal," came up next, with editor Jake Thomas saying a bit about the series. "This is the premiere anthology series in 'Secret Wars'," said Thomas, getting a dig in at fellow editor Moisan. This series will explore parts of the Battleworld setting that haven't found a home in other series. "For instance, if you look at the covers, you can see the Kevin Wada cover of Kate Bishop from the '1602' universe where she is a Robin Hood-esque figure," said Thomas. "It has some of the other 'Young Avengers' characters in it. The other story takes place in a world called Killville, which was created by editor Dan Ketchum. He pitched it as an '80s action movie world where all problems are solved by guns, motorcycles and speed boats." The main characters of the Killville story are Misty Knight and Paladin, two "cops who play by their own rules." Thomas revealed that Scott Aukerman of "Comedy Bang Bang" has a story focusing on psychiatrist Doc Samson trying to cure a world full of Hulks.

The audience applauded when art from "Thors" appeared on the projector. "We can't tell you much about this book," said Lowe. "It's going to be an incredible series. It has Beta Ray Bill, Destroyer, Storm-Thor -- a lot of really cool stuff in there that we can't talk about yet."

James Robinson spoke about his series, "Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies." "As you've seen in the map, there's an area called the Dead Zones," said Robinson. "It is where certain elements abide. Among those elements are the Age of Ultron, the Bendis series, and the zombie world which is where all the Marvel Zombies are. They are in a war for land and turf and control. In the middle is a pocket of humanity, like in one of these old westerns where there's one fort surrounded by hostile environments. They're trying to hold on while these two sides are tearing at each other. There's a lot of mayhem, violence and black comedy, but there's also these characters that love each other trying to survive."

There's another zombies book coming out, called "Marvel Zombies" written by Si Spurrier with art by Kev Walker. The series will star Elsa Bloodstone of NextWave fame, which will put her monster-killing talents to use. Lowe then showed the cover of "Ghost Racers." "Ghost Rider" scribe Felipe Smith will write the series with art by Juan Gedeon. The covers kept coming when the presentation cycled to "Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde," which is written by Sam Humphries with art by Alti Firmansyah. The series stars "Age of Apocalypse" Kitty Pryde, not the one from the main marvel Universe.

Thomas talked a bit about "Siege," a book by Kieron Gillen that the editor teased by saying, "I love crazy nonsense." He said that Gillen pitched the book as "NextWave meets tragedy." The series will deal with the terrifying areas of Battleworld that are separated from the rest of the domain by The Shield, which Thomas teases is "a presence, and an amazing thing to see visually." Thomas said that Kieron will be using favorite characters from his previous runs as well as characters he's never written before. This includes Abigail Brand, which Thomas described as "hardcore." "Every day these hordes of zombies and Ultrons attack this wall to get through to the other side, and they are forced to be on this wall and hold them back -- a siege if you will," said Thomas. The series will include a Scott Summers, the 1602 Kate Bishop, a version of America Chavez and Kang the Conquere. "If you like pompous jackasses, Kang is the best," said Thomas with a chuckle. Thomas also revealed that each issue of "Siege" will have three double-page spreads of battle scenes drawn by guest artists.

Lowe ran through the final book in the presentation, the newly announced "Secret Wars: Secret Love." "We're diving right back into the romance comics pool," said Lowe, pointing to the cover which features Kamala Khan and Robbie Reyes. The creators involved include Michel Fiffe, Felipe Smith, Jeremy Whitley, Katie Cook, Gurihiru and more.

The floor was then opened up to questions, which included Jonathan Hickman and Charles Soule discussing the Detroit Lions. Following the quick NFL talk, the panelists talked about where the ideas came from. "I pitched 'Secret Wars' years ago at this point," said Hickman. "It was always going to be the conclusion of my 'Avengers' run, the decision to make it a huge thing came from us sitting in a room and talking about what books people want to write. I'm not joking, that retreat was three days of absolutely fantastic ideas."

"When everybody understood what Jonathan was doing, the story rules were out the window and you could do whatever story you wanted using any part of Marvel," said Soule. "The fun continues throughout the execution of it all."

When asked which of the series are pertinent to the main story and how long each series will last, Lowe replied that people can just read "Secret Wars." "The next level of books would be 'Battleworld,'" he continued. "Those are the ones that tie in the closest to the story Jonathan is telling in the main 'Secret Wars' story. The books labeled 'War Zones' are more self-contained. Those are different books for different genres. Each of them is way more self-contained... Then there are the 'Last Days' books, which depict the last eight hours of our characters before the final incursion."

"Those are very sad, too," said Hickman. Lowe joked that those books should be printed on tissue paper. Hickman said that all of these questions will be answered the second week of May when "Secret Wars" #2 comes out.

A fan asked about Sentry and his role in "Secret Wars." Soule admitted that the character will play a role in his "Civil War" series, but kept quiet about how he will be involved in the "Warzones" series.

Things kicked off with an announcement of a new book from Remender: "Hail Hydra." Drawn by Roland Boschi with covers by Andrew Robinson, the series will flesh out the real purpose and goals of Hydra for the first time with some of that alternate universe New York elements from the writer's "Captain America" run having an effect. The series will star Ian Rogers (AKA Nomad) but will also introduce some new Hydra characters with long term plans for the Marvel U, Remender said.

Waid announced that he and Chris Samnee are nearing the end of their "Daredevil" run, but there are many issues yet. The focus for the immediate future is Matt Murdock's plan to be more open about his life as a vigilante, including a new costume. As Waid said, some fans were unenthusiastic about Samnee's new design, but those people would do well to note that Daredevil didn't have the best fashion sense when he started out. The writer wrapped by promising, "The return of some very in demand villains that we have not touched on yet in our 'Daredevil' run."

Asked about his work on "Howard The Duck," Zdarsky deadpanned that the book would be very changed after Marvel and DC combine universes in the wake of "Secret Wars." He then promised he'd deliver something never seen before in comics – a giant superhero battle in New York City. Then he asked any fans with ideas he could steal for the book to stop by his table in artist's alley.

Looking over Marvel's line of "Star Wars" comics, Lowe teased that a pair of droids who look like C3PO and R2-D2 would appear in "Darth Vader," but they would be much more sinister than fans imagine. "You never thought a protocol droid could make you soil yourself, but I've soiled myself so many times reading that book," he joked.

Waid then described his run on "Princess Leia" as a series that found the secret Skywalker embracing her role as Princess of Alderan and going across the galaxy trying to gather the lost members of her destroyed home planet. Soon, the series will reintroduce classic movie supporting player Nien Nunb.

Lowe then confirmed that Neil Gaiman and Marc Buckingham's run on "Miracleman" will start its reprint run September with an eye towards getting the creators into brand-new material next year. "It will be so interesting to see creators who 20 years after being a part of it who can come back and revisit this with everything they've learned in between then and now," he said. There is a jam variant cover from a score of past Miracleman artists including Gary Leach and John Totleben.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." then came to the fore with the panel announcing a 50th anniversary special starring Agents from Peggy Carter to Nick Fury and beyond with stories by veteran and new writers David Walker, Kathryn Immonen, Jody Houser, Chelsea Cain, Matt Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon.

Waid's own "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." series will include never before seen flashback pages drawn by Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko. The art was originally put together to pitch the concept of a "S.H.I.E.L.D." series to Stan Lee in the '60s, and Waid said, "Tom Brevoort and I know where all the bodies are buried and where all the hidden pages are" so they found a way to work them into the modern narrative.

Also incoming is a "S.H.I.E.L.D." Omnibus that Lowe said will be the highest page count collection Marvel has ever printed.

Lowe also showed off a round of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." themed variants tied to the TV show, and he confirmed for a fan that Marvel's hope is to get the long-delaye Jonathan Hickman "Shield" series wrapped in time to release in September for the 50th Anniversary.

Zdarsky gave a rare serious answer to a query about whether he was trying to emulate the style of late "Howard The Duck" creator Steve Gerber, but he said that his goal in the book was to inject himself into it while keeping the spirit of the original series in tact. Trying to ape Gerber's style would be an overall disservice to the book, he said.

The question over who the mole in the Avengers teased in Remender's "Captain America" was brought up, but the writer deferred to the future issues, saying that Hydra has a very big role to play.

Lowe said that there are currently no plans to crossover the Marvel Universe and the Star Wars universe.

Lowe told a fan that there are no announcements to be made surrounding additional original graphic novels, but if people support current initiatives like "Avengers: Rage of Ultron," there's a better chance of more stuff happening.

The presentation started off with a spotlight on "Captain America and the Mighty Avengers." Writer Al Ewing talked about the series' upcoming "Secret Wars" storyarc, which falls under the event's "Last Days" banner. "It's the last day in issue 9, which is where all the heroes and support staff going through the last day," said Ewing. "One thing we're doing is making everyone a Mighty Avenger in the final issue... Anybody can be an Avenger, you just have to want to help out." Ewing teased that the cast members of his book will appear in the main "Secret Wars" series; he also said that an alternate version of She-Hulk will appear in "Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders," the series that takes the place of Ewing's Avengers title. The series depicts the war between two neighboring Battleworld dominions. "She-Hulk has a big part in that, or rather a version of her does," said Ewing. "And she has a big role in 'A-Force.'"

Soule's turn came up, with the writer discussing the upcoming "Inhuman Annual" #1, which caps up a year of stories. "The way 'Inhuman' has worked we told a lot of small stories," said Soule. "All of them were part of a larger plan we're now executing. They're making this gigantic superhero action thing where every Inhuman in the Marvel Universe is in it. Ryan had to draw all of them, which he was excited about." A spread from the annual appeared, featuring a segmented double-page image of a dozen Inhumans including Medusa, Lockjaw and more. Soule explains that a villain named Lineage, whose power is to talk to anyone in his ancestral line, has access to lost Inhuman knowledge and he intends to use it against the humans. Medusa, who appeared in another interior page in a new armored-up version made of wreckage that she's attached to herself with her hair, takes up the fight against Lineage. "I think Ryan has done the work of his career on this series," said Soule.

Another spread was shown, which featured Ms. Marvel and Lockjaw surveying the big battle. "The whole issue is riots and fights," said Stegman, the issue's artist. "We expanded on all the characters we created's powers. There are new things you'll see the characters doing... Everything towards the end of this run has felt very epic and like '90s 'X-Men' to me, with tons of characters who all have a purpose."

At this point, Dan Slott showed up to a round of applause as the presentation continued to "Inhuman" #14, which hits stores on April 29th. "Lineage is a chess player, working every angle," said Soule. The interior pages from the issue showed Medusa using her prehensile hair as fists deflecting the offensive rainbows of the "evil hippie" Grove. The following page depicted a character that makes an unexpected return in the issue.

"Don't tweet that!" said Slott. "You've now had something spoiled just for you!"

Slott's other ongoing series, the Eisner-nominated "Silver Surfer," came up next. "Something you need to know about [#11], Mike Allred is so proud of this issue that he bought a crate of them at cost because he knows he wants to give people this issue for the rest of his life," said Slott. The writer discussed the story, saying that everyone should buy the physical comic because the digital experience will be vastly different from print. "The story will still make sense, but you'll have a fun time if you buy the comic in print," said Slott. "You're going to play with this comic while reading it. The main guts of this comic is a story all in one take. The main guts -- there are 11 extra pages -- is 11 double page spreads that interconnect. It just keeps going. On top of that, the top half of the comic goes forward and the bottom goes backwards. The giant comic is a Moebius strip." Penagos then showed the interior pages all joined together, featuring a mind-bending flip and two dual narratives. The writer teased that there are even more twists -- story twists -- in the issue aside from the twisty narrative.

"Howard the Duck" #3 came up next, which Latour talked about since Zdarsky was absent and he drew a five page section of the book. "Howard is hired to find out if Wolverine is really dead or not because a Logan impersonator's life has fallen apart," explained Latour.

A clip from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." episode 19 was played, depicting the reunion of the show's original cast. The clip featured Jemma Simmons reporting for duty on Coulson's team and the reassembled group boarding the Bus. The clip ended with Ward sarcastically saying, "This is great, we finally got the team back together."

The final clip, which isn't exclusive, was a clip from the soon-to-be-released "Avengers: Age of Ultron." While Latour, Ewing and Stegman watched the clip of the Hulkbuser fighting Hulk, Soule and Slott opted to remain unspoiled by covering their ears and eyes. "I will say that if you're like them and trying to remain unspoiled," said Penagos, "there's stuff in the final movie that you don't see in there and that scene goes on for a lot longer. There's a moment two minutes after that clip ends that is one of my favorite scenes in any action movie ever."

Penagos opened the floor to questions, which included a fan in full Lizard cosplay asking -- through his elaborate Lizard mask -- if Curt Connors has a role to play in "Secret Wars." With the sprawling nature of the event, Slott noted that everyone is going to show up, possibly even obscure character Top Dog. "Don't make promises you can't keep," Penagos told Slott with a laugh.

After making introductions, moderator Thomas introduced the concept of "Warzones," and ran through the concept of "Secret Wars." "The Marvel Universe is dead," said Thomas. "The only thing that has survived is Battleworld." First up in the presentation was "Hail Hydra," a new series by Rick Remender and Roladn Boschi. "One of the Battleworlds we have, one of the sections, is a world where Hydra rules," said Thomas. "That doesn't go terribly well for a lot of people in that world."

Marvel then announced a new series, "Hank Johnson, Agent of HYDRA," which will be written by "Curb Your Enthusiasm" executive producer David Mandel with art by Michael Walsh.

Dennis Hopless then introduced the audience to his book, "Inferno," where Hell has taken over Earth. "Inferno has been raging for five years and it's like Colossus in 'Escape From New York,' trying to rescue Magik," said Hopeless. The writer's other book, "House of M," came next. The presentation included interior pages from "Inferno" featuring Colossus squaring off against a number of demons alongside the '80s iteration of X-Factor.

"Infinity Gauntlet" came next, with newly-arrived editor Nick Lowe giving those in attendance the lowdown on the book. "It reinvents the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe as it is on Battleworld," said Lowe. "The Infinity Stones are scattered around. Artist Dustin Weaver is incredible and he and [writer] Gerry Duggan are doing great work."

Andrea Sorrentino's interior artwork from "Old Man Logan" came up next, featuring visceral action from the titular character. According to Lowe, Brian Bendis was eager to take over "Old Man Logan," as part of his playful competition between him and original "Old Man Logan" writer Mark Millar.

Nick Lowe revealed that the 2099 section, which is the setting of Peter David and Will Sliney's "Secret Wars 2099," was one of the first realms they knew would be included in the Battleworld. "They have done some amazing work with some new characters and characters you know," said Lowe. When asked how many issues it will last, he said "You never know!"

Next up came Garth Ennis and Russ Braun's "Where Monsters Dwell," a series from the creative team of "The Boys." "Garth doesn't really love superheroes very much, so it's hard to get him on Marvel books," said Lowe. "I took him out to drinks and got as many beers in him as I could and got him to write this book for us. I know he's big into aviation and dinosaurs, so I said let's combine two things you love... The art is coming in and it is bonkers. It's twisted, just like you'd expect from Garth Ennis. It turns a lot of conventions on their heads."

When "A-Force" appeared, enthusiastic applause erupted. "This book is freaking me out, I love it so much," said co-writer Bennett. "It's an all-female Avengers team set on the land of Aracadia that is now under attack from within and without and is about the cost of trying to create a paradise. It stars She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and a new character named Singularity." Interior art fro Jorge Molina appeared, featuring high-flying action including Captain Marvel.

Bennett's other "Secret Wars" book, "1602: Witch Hunter Angela," came next. "We're trying this alternate history where Angela acts as an assassin for a holy order," said Bennett. "In the original story there were the witchbreed, which were mutants, and now Angela is hunting faustians -- people that bargained for their powers. Now Angela is tasked with who to save and who to destroy. I think this book is the prettiest book I've ever worked on." Stephanie Hans will handle most of the art with interior sub-stories illustrated by guest artists.

Thomas talked about "Planet Hulk" and how a story in one of his anthology series takes place in this world. Thomas said he got to read the first few scripts and they are "brutal and harrowing." "All of the Hulks are gathered on an island called Greenland," said Thomas. "As you can imagine it's a savage place. In the middle of the savage place is a gladitorial Captain America. [Writer] Sam [Humphries] is unkind with what he does to every character."

Skottie Young's "Little Marvel: AVX" came up next, with interior artwork featuring baby versions of the Avengers and X-Men throwing down -- including Falcon and Archangel. Thomas excitedly introduced "Weirdworld," the "fantasy, sword and sandals, vast universe that Marvel had a while ago. When we had the chance to bring anything into 'Secret Wars,' this was one people were excited about. Jason Aaron, writing dudes with swords doing crazy business, is something he jumped at."

"We just got the first pages from artist Mike Del Mundo and I want to frame every page in this book," said editor Jon Moisan. "Every issue builds to something shocking."

Moisan then teased Marc Guggenheim and Carlos Pacheco's "Squadron Sinister," billing it as a series wherein the almost-gods of the Squadron Supreme run their own domain in Battleworld.

Thomas talked a bit about Gerry Duggan's Marvel western "1872," which will feature Nik Virella on art. "I love westerns and it's driving me nuts," said Thomas. "Gerry is taking this to a place where he feels bad about what he's doing because it's so hardcore. He turned in a page apologizing if Marvel couldn't publish it, and we can and we will."

Robinson spoke to his series, "Armor Wars," saying that he loved the original "Iron Man" story. "This is a world called Technopolis where a disease has made it so that everyone who wants to survive has to wear armor," said Robinson. "So in that world, there is a mystery, which is how did this illness first descend on the world and why does no one remember a world before when that happened. One person finds out the answer to the mystery -- but that person is murdered. You'll get big action but also a murder a mystery, where the chief of police, James Rhodes, has to solve this mystery and deal with feuding brothers Tony and Arno Stark." Robinson said that every version of Iron Man and War Machine's armor will be included in the story, as well as Stingray. The cover at also included Wilson Fisk, who wears a giant version of Iron Man's original armor.

Bennett talked about "Years of Future Past," saying that the cover for #3 has left her reeling. "We're back to the dystopia where mutants have nearly gone extinct, so it's at the end of their species and they've made the choice to fight back," said Bennett. "Mike Norton has been turning in killer pages. You'll see this bombastic '80s style and bright colors from FCO Plascencia."

The Deadpool fans in the audience applauded for "Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos," which will star Deadpool's widow and a group of Marvel monsters. "If you're a Deadpool fan, you will want to read this," said Thomas. "It is going to be epic. I wish [Deadpool editor] Jordan D. White is here because he would cackle and twist his mustache."

Nick Lowe spoke about "Guardians of Knowhere," a reteaming up of Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato. "There's only so much I can talk about until you read 'Secret Wars' #2," said Lowe. "Knowhere is orbiting around Battleworld and they're reinventing it for 'Secret Wars.' There's a new villain in there that will be around for a long time."

Cheers erupted for "Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps," which will be written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Kelly Thompson with art by David Lopez. "We tried to find an artist named Kelly," said Lowe. "An all-Kelly team... David Lopez was amazing before this book but seeing him grow on 'Captain Marvel' and now this -- he's pulling out all the stops."

When Thomas revealed the title "Howard the Human," the audience erupted in gleeful laughter. "This is our big announcement," said Thomas.

"The way I've been describing this to people is Roger Rabbit in the Marvel Universe," said Moisan. The detective will be in New Quack City, an animal-filled version of the MU that will feature cameos from Black Cat and Kingpin. "I've been waiting to get Jim Mahfood on a book for years and Marvel was totally cool with it. Jim was having a blast working on it. It's a cool, weird book and I hope people check it out."

The floor opened up to questions, staring with a fan asking about the decision to reveal the teenage Bobby Drake as gay. "It's a beautiful issue and scene," said Lowe. "It's something Brian pitched quite some time ago and we wanted to make sure we did exactly right. Doing it right was most important to us. It started to kick in more when Brian and [editor] Mike Marts started talking about it, and they talked to everyone else to make sure we were all in the loop. It's an ongoing story, so whatever happens to adult Bobby, you will see it as issues unfold. It's a big part of 'Uncanny X-Men' #600 in a couple months."

A fan wanted to know about the CrossGen characters and if they came up in talks about "Secret Wars." Lowe noted that their situation is a little complicated, even though they were also purchased by Disney. "We decided it was best not to include them here because of what Disney might have planned. We did a couple of CrossGen books a few years ago to dip our toes in the water, but we decided to just keep 'Secret Wars' with the Marvel characters."

Lastly, a fan asked if the characters on Battleworld will be aware of the other characters that exist on other domains on the patchwork planet. Lowe said to pick up "Secret Wars" in a few weeks, adding that it's a little complicated. "I can't tell you that, I'm sorry," said Lowe. "Everyone dies!"