Marvel Comics has released this simple promo image promising... not so big things to come?
As far as details go, we'll have to wait for the Spider-Man panel next weekend at San Diego Comic Con for them. This is all we get for now. The title of Minimum Carnage and the date of October.
The title is a play off of Maximum Carnage, a Spider-Man story from the 1990s that is probably one of the early examples of an excessive comic book crossover event. It was a 14-part story event spanning the entire Spider-Man franchise, which then consisted of Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited and them simply Spider-Man. The story featured Carnage assembling a dysfunctional family of homicidal maniacs and going on a killing spree in Manhattan. Spider-Man teamed with a large cast of heroes and anti-heroes to stop him while grappling with the issue of whether or not Carnage should be killed to put an end to it all. Some consider it a low point for Spider-Man in the '90s due to its excessive nature and a factor that led to some drastic decisions being made for the Clone Saga later. Personally, I remember it as an exciting story that made for a pretty fun video game.
In all likelihood, Minimum Carnage will be the third installment of what will then become Zeb Wells' and Clayton Crain's Carnage trilogy, the first two installments of which have already made references to the Maximum Carnage story. I'll be surprised and disappointed if this turns out to be anything else.
