Marvel Big Shots – An Architectural Display?

Marvel have just unveiled an image promising forthcoming relaunch titles for Moon Knight, The Punisher, and Daredevil. We know the creative team for Moon Knight is Bendis and Maleev but the other two teams are rendered classified. Who could they be? Could this tie into the Marvel Architects announcement from the end of last year? Let’s have a look at who might be creating Matt Murdock and Frank Castle in the middle of 2011.

I’ll run through each character one at a time and speculate with no real direction or true insider’s perspective. For those who don’t remember the Marvel Architects announcement was made last December and it talked of the very top tier of Marvel writer and what they were doing, and hinted at what was to come. Here’s what was said:

• Brian Michael Bendis, writer of Avengers, New Avengers, Death of Spider-Man, the upcoming Moon Knight and an upcoming top secret project
• Matt Fraction, writer of Thor, Invincible Iron Manand a top secret upcoming event
• Ed Brubaker, writer of Captain America, Secret Avengers and top secret upcoming new series
• Jonathan Hickman, writer of Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D. and a top secret upcoming new series
• Jason Aaron, writer of Wolverine, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine and a top secret upcoming new series

We know that Fraction’s event is Fear Itself. As far as I know, none of the other secrets have been revealed. Could a few of them tie into this Big Shots tease? I’m not certain. Let’s run some numbers.

Moon Knight

I would think that putting Bendis and Maleev on Moon Knight is a big call on many fronts. Moon Knight is a character who rarely sells well, isn’t a major draw on a team, and usually ends up being cancelled with middle-ground sales. That’s not to say he isn’t a fan favourite and with Marvel putting what I think are a high profile creative team, albeit not always a high selling one, shows dedication and confidence in the character.

You can’t say they aren’t trying to sell the character. I appreciate that. If the highest selling creator at Marvel can’t make Moon Knight stick then perhaps he’s destined to a few more years without an ongoing and loitering around the background of team books and events.

The worst that can happen is Bendis and Maleev raise the profile somewhat, get some fresh faces through the door, and then an arc or two into it all a new creative team comes on board and tries to work withthe popularity gained.

The Punisher

Rick Remender is telling his last Punisher story right now, In The Blood. He had a good run, great when it was Frankencastle, but he’s definitively said he’s done with Frank Castle, so who will pick up this title?

Of the architects named above, none stand out as being the worthy successor (except Jason Aaron, but he already writes PunisherMAX and I don’t see them giving him the 616 version too). It might be Hickman or Fraction but I still doubt it, to be honest. But then who will it be? I honestly have no idea. I could see Brubaker writing Punisher, maybe, but it doesn’t seem like an obvious choice. Though, having read his Sleeper, he could make the Punisher a great noir tale. Maybe get Lark or Aja on art duties…

Who do you think will be the creative team for The Punisher?

Daredevil

This is, obviously, the one I’m most excited about. As much as part of me wanted Daredevil to just lie low for a while, even a year, and then come back without the dust from Shadowland in his eyes, I am pumped to see Daredevil come back strong. And I’m equally excited to find out who will be bringing me my favourite character.

For months, I petitioned and lobbied and screamed hard for Rick Remender to pick this title up. I thought he was just the man to start a bold new era for the Scarlet Swashbuckler, and if anyone, anywhere was ever going to use Man-Bull it would be Remender. I must have said it a few dozen times on Twitter and finally Remender got back to me, with soul crushing denial. He said he was not the future Daredevil scribe, but whoever it was would do a grand job.

With my heart broken, I turned my thoughts to other creators. Looking at this list it makes me think maybe, just maybe, Jason Aaron could be writing Daredevil. I think it’s a damn good fit and could be just right. He’s usually got the right tone of voice, for a harder edged Daredevil, and I’d support this decision vocally and with my wallet.

Imagine if this was actually Brubaker’s return to Daredevil, that could be quite cool but I doubt it would happen. Creators so rarely return to their old stomping grounds.

To step out of the Architects zone for just a moment, I also think Jeff Parker could write a fantastic Daredevil. There are also any number of other creators who could be up for these jobs but I wanted to keep today’s discussion to just the architects.

Not to ignore the other architects but I don’t see Hickman really fitting either of these characters – though The Nightly News was pretty bleak so maybe he could bring his game along. Creators should never really be typecast. I wonder what book Hickman will be picking up after Secret Warriors ends?

To also throw a few other random thoughts out on this one, how about the new, new, new #1's. Damn, it's just crazy. Daredevil finally gets up to over 500 and they give that hard work to the Black Panther. Surely The Punisher will be up for an anniversary soon, and Moon Knight would be pretty excited to hit #100. Look for that news soon enough, ha.

I am also seeing some people a little deflated that this Big Shots initiative isn't helping real B-list properties get back into the ongoing game. Characters like Dr Strange and Iron Fist would fit into this mold well, though perhaps Marvel want to see this succeed and then the second roll out will feature some more fan favourites.

Conclusion

This promo has me excited, but mainly just because Daredevil is there. Maybe the creative teams will be announced at C2E2, we can only hope. Until then, who do you think should or will take over these titles? I'm going to throw down good money for Aaron on Daredevil, and gamble with a little less vigour on brubaker writing Punisher. But I could be way off, maybe it won't even be architects on these titles. What do you say? Let us know in the comments.

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