Gears of War 2 has been a closely-guarded secret since Gears of War first struck gold on Microsoft's snowy-colored console. But like a boat with a slowly worsening termite problem, info on Gears 2 has finally begun to spill forth from Epic's hull. If the original Gears is any indication, however, I doubt Epic's gonna be scraping the briny depths as a result of the creepy crawlies in their system.

The most recent "leak"? Why, that'd be Comic Con, and Kotaku's Leigh Alexander was on hand to catch any stray drops of Gears goodness that might fall.

Without a doubt, the presentation's main message was "bigger, better, and more badass." And if you played the original Gears, that proposition might just frighten/excite you to a large degree. Most prominently, Epic has hired on Joshua Ortega -- a comic book writer who's worked on Spiderman and The Necromancer, as well as his own major sci-fi novel, Frequencies -- to write Gears 2's story. Quite a pedigree, and, should there be any Spiderman references in Gears 2, they'll be completely spot-on.

Ortega, of course, broke down many details of the war-torn drama behind which he's now the puppet-master. When asked about the game's themes, Ortega elaborated:

"Certainly the big thing is going with the last stand of humanity, and looking at [this] example of a totally collapsed society... a war over limited energy sources, and now [humanity is] at the brink of extinction, fighting their greatest enemy ever. The whole beginning of the game is like the D-Day invasion; it's their last chance."

But it's not all about the (now more than ever) epic conflict that's literally drilling Sera into pieces. The spotlight shines just as brightly on everyone's favorite COG members and their interactions with friends and enemies both old and new.

"We wanted it to be really emotionally resonant," Ortega emphasized, "and part of the reason for bringing Maria, Dom's wife, into the story is that I think it's really powerful in an epic when you also have a micro-level, personal connection. So you get the big story, but then you have this emotional center to connect back to so it's not just all big stuff, nameless people."

Ortega was reticent to expand on his plans for Marcus and company, although he did mention that Dom is no longer Luigi to Marcus' Mario. "I think that he and Marcus will be on a very equal plain by the end, where you know a lot about both of them." Ok, but who's Toad? Cole Train?

Also, while much of the presentation was full of "Oh no he didn't" moments and more than its share of laughter, Epic president Mike Capps did hint the COG team might not survive Gears 2 fully intact. "No one's safe in Gears," Ortega added, after Capps joked that Cole Train's time is nigh.

As far as Gears' misanthropic baddies go, Gears 2 is set to teach us more about why they're stomping our heads into bloody chunks. "A bad guy can't just be 'roooar, destroy world, evil,'" said Capps. Well said, Mike. Well said.

Aside from rampant story teasing, Capps played the DLC card, noting that, while Epic can't promise anything at this point, they've been doing DLC since 1996 -- and mostly for free. "We're not Rock Band. ...Mind you, I bought a lot of the Rock Band songs... but this is how Epic has always done it. You expect that bonus."

Sadly, all the prying in the world hardly extricated any real gameplay info from Epic's grimy clutches. Basically, vehicle stages will be back and there'll be more details on multiplayer in May. That's it.

Overall, though, I'm pretty excited. Sure, Gears 2 won't be a revolution, but if all of these grade-A ingredients are mixed correctly, Gears 2 will achieve near-perfection. But this time, Epic, please don't stick us with any helmeted characters. I mean, we knew Carmine was a marked man from the very beginning. Well, don't do it unless you put us in the saddle -- a Call of Duty 4 style mega-death, if you will. But anyway, Gears 2 sounds great. Here's hoping it lives up to all the promise it shows come this holiday season.

Unrelated side note: Congrats to Leigh Alexander on the job at Kotaku!