Marvel Comics announced at C2E2 in Chicago that writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman will helm Absolute Carnage, an event centered on the serial killer Cletus Kasady. Following the announcement, the two creators have declared their belief that the upcoming event will unseat Jim Lee and Chris Claremont's X-Men #1 to become the highest-selling comic ever.Stegman posted an image to his Twitter showing a copy of Absolute Carnage in front of X-Men #1. The number of X-Men #1 copies sold -- 8,104,611 -- is crossed out, with 8,104,612 written in red ink below. Stegman's caption for the tweet makes reference to a faux feud he had with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen while working on Venom.RELATED: Marvel Comics Announces Absolute Carnage Event

Cates made a similar joke in a video talking about the upcoming event, saying, "It all starts in August with Absolute Carnage #1, which Ryan and I feel pretty strongly is gonna outsell Jim Lee's X-Men #1."

Seeing as comics don't really move those kinds of numbers anymore, Cates and Stegman are pretty clearly joking. Still, Carnage is an immensely popular villain, so it's very likely that a major event focused on him will move a lot of books, especially one that promises to be as massive as this one.

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Absolute Carnage #1 will release in August, with the lead-up to the event starting in Spider-Man/Venom #1, which releases on March 5