The end of the world hits the Marvel Universe this fall, but don’t expect the usual array of costumed characters to be involved—Stephen King’s hosting this particular apocalypse.



Marvel Comics announced Saturday that its publishing partnership would continue with a a serialized adaptation of his best-selling novel, The Stand, which follows a group of disparate survivors as they battle a supernatural menace in the wake of a super-plague that wipes out 99 percent of the world’s population.



Marvel has tapped creators Roberto Aquire-Sacasa (Marvel Knights 4, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four) and Mike Perkins (Union Jack, Captain America) to adapt the massive unabridged version of the novel in a series of six five-issue miniseries, the first of which is scheduled to launch in September. We caught up with series Executive Editor Ralph Macchio to get his take on how this project came together, the challenges of adapting such a well-known, well-loved novel and what other King novels he’d like to see Marvel tackle!

EXCLUSIVE! SIDESHOW REVEALS FIRST GI JOE IMAGE! Sideshow Collectibles rocks WWPhilly by revealing Snake Eyes

KRAVEN’S DAUGHTER Q&A WITH MARC GUGGENHEIM: The Spidey scribe discusses the debut of a new Spider-baddie: the daughter of the famous Wallcrawler hunter set to premiere in an upcoming ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ arc.

GREG PAK ON ‘MAGNETO: TESTAMENT’: The former ‘Hulk’ master takes on the master of magnetism with a new five-issue mini delving into Magneto’s past.

Head on over and check out the whole news recap!

Also, Christos Gage and Sean Chen are taking over IRON MAN: DIRECTOR OF SHIELD for a Secret Invasion tie-in…and War Machine’s on the cover…check back to WU.com tomorrow for an interview with Gage.

The pertinent info:
The Amazing Spider-Man arc about Kraven’s Daughter will be written by Marc Guggenheim and penciled by Phil Jimenez.

Check back to Wizard Universe tomorrow for an interview with Marc Guggenheim!

Daniel Way’s Deadpool will be drawn by Paco Medina.

Mike Deodato will move to art duties on Wolverine: Origins and there will be a crossover between that book and Mike Carey’s X-Men Legacy that Deodato will also do work on.

There will be a King Size Cable written by the series’ scribe, Duane Swierczynski, with art by Ken Lashley.

“Manifest Destiny” will be the title of the new Uncanny X-Men story that brings the merry mutants to San Francisco full time. It will also be the name of a three issue miniseries.

Greg Pak will write Magneto: Testament, which will delve into a young Magneto’s past.

For more, head over to the panel recap at WU.com.

We’re kicking things off on The Convention Report here at Wizard World Philadelphia this weekend, so toss this URL in your favorites, get it on your bloglines account or sign up for the RSS because the first place to get the news is right here!