Marvel's press conference today was to announce two additional Epic series, both by journalists previously unpublished as comic writers.  John Jackson Miller, editorial director for the comics and games division of Krause Publications (publishers of Comics Buyers Guide, Scrye, and Comics and Games Retailer), will write Crimson Dynamo, starring a Marvel villain introduced in an Iron Man story in Tales of Suspense #46.  Art will be by Steve Ellis, who's done Lobo, Iron Man, the Silencers (a creator-owned project from Moonstone), and most recently worked for game company White Wolf.  Mark Patton of Destination Entertainment has packaged the book.  Crimson Dynamo will be an ongoing series launching in July, the same month as the only other Epic title announced to date, Trouble (see 'Epic Returns as Creator-Packaged Line').    

Nowhere Man will be written by Mike Sanjiacomo, another journalist who's done comic reviews for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (and various syndicated venues) and Newsarama, but has never before been published as a comic writer.  The story will take place in the 'real' world (as opposed to the Marvel universe), and will star a reporter who has special powers that he uses primarily for his own benefit while doing a little bit of good along the way.  It's planned as a limited series with an as-yet-undetermined release date. 

We asked why, in the context of Marvel's wide media exposure from its movies, it was spending such a significant part of its public relations effort on the Epic line, including this press conference to announce works by writers previously unpublished in the comics field.  Marvel COO Bill Jemas responded, 'The prospects for the healthy future of the industry will depend on our ability to diversify beyond the kind of characters and stories that are in the movies....The comic book industry needs to get back to the rich, diverse level of 30, 40, or 50 years ago and I think that Epic's a big part of that because we have the ability with Epic to be more creative and be more experimental and more wide open. The more diverse we are in terms of subject matter the more diverse we will be in terms of the kind of people who frequent comic book shops and the graphic novel sections of bookstores.  Marvel for the first time in a while is not in serious economic straits and it gives [us] the ability to look at long-term industry-wide growth prospects....That was not part of the job description three years ago.' 

Marvel EIC Joe Quesada said that based on what Marvel has in house now, five additional Epic series will launch in the second half of 2003, and another six series are nearly ready to be ok'ed.