Marvel has announced a follow-up to its already-iconic Civil War crossover series event released in 2006, and the creative force behind the Civil War sequel, Civil War II, will be none other than writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Marquez, along with colorist Justin Ponsor.

Bendis, who recently departed Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-Men, Marquez and Ponsor will be replacing writer Mark Millar, artist Steve McNiven and inker Dexter Vines.

While Marquez understood the gargantuan shoes he must fill, he also expressed immeasurable excitement at the opportunity to illustrate and pen (well, ink) the series.

"Civil War is rightly thought of by many as the landmark Marvel event and it's a huge challenge to live up to the example set by [McNiven and Vines]," relayed Marquez. "Working on this book is a huge honor and an amazing opportunity to really push myself and show what I'm capable of artistically, and it's also just great fun to get to pull out all the toys from the Marvel toy box!"

"The original Civil War is one of the most important Marvel comics ever, and we are all very excited to have come up with what we hope is a story worthy of the title," concluded Bendis. "If you are scared of earth shattering Marvel events where no one is safe ... be afraid, be very afraid."

Marvel began teasing a Civil War follow-up earlier this year. The crossover concluded in 2007. 

In an official statement posted on Marvel's blog, series editor Tom Brevoort waxed nostalgic on the creative process behind the threshold between "good" and "bad" in the Civil War story line, which he credits for its enduring popularity:

"The fun thing about Civil War [was] that the issues involved not only divided the heroes, they also divided the fans, to say nothing of the creative people [...] The attempt was to craft the conflict so that each side held a valid and defensible position, so that a reader could fundamentally agree with either one side or the other, with neither being painted as absolutely right or absolutely wrong. While the issues involved are different, we'll be taking the same approach to Civil War II."

Via: Marvel