SDCC 2014 Interview: Dennis Hopeless Talks SPIDER-WOMAN

Yes. I will so be reading this. Marvel has knocked it out of the park and beyond with their solo women ongoings. Ms.Marvel, Elektra and Black Widow are among my favorite titles.

I'm in!

Edit: Ugh, didn't realise Land was on it.

Man, Marvel is doing a great job with all their female solo titles.

This is like my worst nightmare manifested

Ugh, Land

Now If They Can Only Bring Back Her Connection To Viper/Madame Hydra.

Been wanting another Spider-Woman series. She always just felt liked a tacked on token female in most of the series she has been in, maybe that was just me. So I am glad she gets her own series to give her most of the focus rather than just being Clint's maybe or maybe not girlfriend or Danvers' BFF.

Also that new Silk chick look cool.

The artist sucks but this going to be a great book. This has been such a long time coming if you've been following the character. She pretty much took of Avengers Assemble after the first arch and has been a huge part of multiple series consistently the last 10 years at the same kind of level as wolverine.

I was all set for this until Land.

Land is pretty much the opposite of what a Spider-Woman comic needs.

Actually Land is pretty much the opposite of what any comic needs.

I'm staying away from this book as far as possible.

Aswome Land is the artist the book have 100% crotch shots for the fans. Yay i guess...

Wit so many publicly lesser known characters getting solo titles, do we think Marvel is just testing the water to see which chracter gets a movie next?

I'm surprised Bendis isn't writing this, but then again it would be nothing but Land drawing Jess tied up and naked all the time.

Look at Tony's face then look at the Falcon face and tell me that's not copy, paste and change of skin colour

I am glad to see a new Spider Woman series but am concerned about Land being the artist on it. The thing is aside from faces his art is pretty good. If he would just stop the photo trace BS, get creative and actually draw something it will probable be OK. Well here's hoping.

I found this on Tumblr it's the same cover look at her legs

@marcosvergara14: It's not the same. Just very similar.

I'm quite surprised to see so many behind this series. I mean, for me, it's the ultimate compilation of failure. We have Jessica Drew, a character who has a glut of clunky back story and minimal characterization beyond "has a nice ass" under even the best writers (Kelly Sue Deconick is the only one I've seen make her sound somewhat like a human being, but the "Agent of SWORD" story did do some good for the character as well, it's less fun for me than KSD's work). Pair that with an artist who does . . . really bad butts and while he does to "photo-realistic" stuff, it is generally considered lazy and bland these days . . .

And then we have Dennis Hopeless, a writer who is known for many things and none of them are really good. The last two series he worked on were cut short, alienated and offended the fanbase he was catering to and managed to inspire a hate art for his works. Suffice to say, he hasn't exactly left a positive mark in the readership overall.

So, we have an artist that's hated, a writer who's hated, and they're working on a character that's not exactly easy to make work and has a built in stigma against them. There's certainly people behind it (to my surprise), but to me this is almost a perfect storm of "Well, there's no need to buy THIS title!"

I sympathize with Jessica Drew fans on this one, because they're about to go through the same hell Runaways and Avengers Academy fans went through. Thankfully for them, they won't have the lingering threat of cheap shock deaths of their beloved character looming over them. Just . . . everything else that could go wrong.

@majingojira: I honestly don't get the Dennis hate. I actually loved the Avengers Arena and Undercover, but guess that's just me.

I was excited about Jessica Drew getting her own book but that only lasted until I read the words Greg Land. His art is a deal breaker. I hope he doesn't stick around for very long.

Are you saying it's...Hopeless?

Another title for Spider Woman(after so many cancelations in the past) when Doctor Strange has more than 16 years to get his own back.....

Isn't Greg Land the artist that got busted for copying and pasting a lot of his work?

@spulk: Doctor Strange was one of the first comic books I ever owned and has been one of my all time favorites since I was able to grasp the concepts of his stories. So, I am right along side you in trumpeting for a new Doctor Strange solo title. I do believe we will see it but probably not until his movie is closer to being released. I'd say about 6 months to a year before his movie is set to release there will be a new solo series for the Sorcerer Supreme. I think it is unfortunate that the movies hold so much power over the comics but I think it is pretty obvious that they do.

I was interested until, well, take a guess.

I'm honestly preparing a thing for that, but let me say this:

Just because you like something doesn't mean someone else won't.

As to why, I found both series to be extraordinarily poorly put together (to the point where I'm not even sure if some of it was intentional or not -- not that it matters because for both instances, that poorly put together 'game' or 'mission' is pretty much all that happens in the plot, so the complaints about one equally apply to the other); the new characters were flat, annoying, hypocritical (and he doesn't realize it) or just plain boring; the death scenes were all shock, and what substance there was ended up being quickly squandered, leaving them extremely unsatisfying; to much of the characterization occurs off screen due to time skips (though to be fair, any off screen characterization is bad, period) and poor focus choices; flaccid action; the premises are poorly understood/executed; Arcade is an out and out Mary Sue character under his pen; and it was just boring overall.

That's just a basic runddown off the top of my head, I'm sure there's other greivances others have raised that i agreed with.

But I can think of reasons to love it. You could get things out of the characters that I do not, and like the development given to Nico, Chase and Hazmat. I don't, but that's just my opinion. I won't inundate you with further reasoning, just know that it's there.

Marvel says "I know we're doing a lot of awesome solos, but hey, here's Spider-Woman." xD I'm broke Marvel! You done broke my wallet! lol I'm still excited for this.

I've been waiting for a new solo for Jessica for awhile, but that creative team does not excite one bit.

Like pretty much everyone else, my interest lasted until I saw the words "Greg Land". 22 pages of stiff, unnatural posing, and awkward T&A, ahoy!

Such a shame, cuz for those 15 seconds between seeing the headline and seeing Land's name halfway through the first paragraph, I was actually really pumped about a new Spider-Woman ongoing.

At least, in costume, we'll only be able to see half of Jessica's porn face...

I've never really personally experienced Land's art, just heard it's the worst thing in existence (and/or that he traces porn as a reference). Combining that with Hopeless would suggest I wouldn't touch this book with a ten foot pole, but I actually might.

I'm a bit concerned that among all the prior Jessica stuff Hopeless has named as having read to prepare for this, the most recent stuff (Avengers Assemble) hasn't come up -- especially since that's the book that made me like her, and her personality there would be one I'd actually enjoy reading -- but given the grim nature of the Spider-Verse story I guess it might be okay. I still think he should have looked at how Jess & Anya worked together if he's meant to be writing a story about Jess and a newbie with spider powers in over their heads. But then maybe he did and just hasn't mentioned it.

It's tiresome for every interview with Hopeless -- for every book he writes -- to always say "I can't comment because we'll have to see who survives." I guess that's as much editorial's fault as anything else but it's still rather annoying. Especially when most of the characters in the book are ones with decent fan-bases. I'm going to follow Spider-Verse but it may well be the event that causes me to drop half my current Marvel pull, if Slott hasn't just been teasing people about the death toll.

Yes, that scares me too. That was the Jessica I grew to love, as well as Bendis' New Avengers run, I hope that she won't be grim all the time, considering she's been a bubble of joy and biting sarcasm in in Marvel NOW.

Yeah, it definitely seems like it'd be a step backwards to more or less ignore the Marvel NOW approach to her, since that's undoubtedly the version many readers looking to read a new Spider-Woman book will be most familiar with (assuming the NOW initiative has actually accomplished its goal of bringing in newer readers).

It wouldn't, of course, be the first time that fans of a character read a Hopeless book and found recent history ignored and the character they loved unrecognizable, but then, hopefully that won't be the case.

torn about silk's new look. its super cool but i like that webbing fit she had. oh well. i think this book should be called spiderwomen and have all the spiderwomen in it like an anthology like savage wolverine. you can do one story with all then have shorter stories with two or three.

LOVE mr. land's art, oh how i miss him on uncanny x-men. one of the best artists out there, super pretty and i LOVE pretty

As everyone else has said, it's unfortunate that Greg Land is on this. But I like Jessica, so I'll read it. Nice to see Araña will be in the first arc too. :)

Two cancellations is "so many"?

Man I am so excited for a solo Spider-Woman......uh...Greg Land....CRAP

@v_scarlotte_rose: Why the three of Doctor Strange are much more???Why they don't give him another change when they give already to Jessica??

@syncig: I think 18 years without a title are to much...When other heroes with also canceled books (ex.Ms.Marvel/Captain Marvel or Moonknight)had their own titles again and again every 1-2 years....

@mercy_: Amen to that. I can't stand his "art".

Everything sounds good except Land. Seriously, land. stahp

@spulk: You know there is a Doctor Strange comic coming right?

I don't see why people are against the idea of Jessica Drew being connected to Peter Parker in the same manner as she had with Carol Danvers. Their friendship, with Peter being a reoccurring guest might help the series in the long run. While Spider-Man might appear, it would not be a crossover on a regular basis; but rather a story(within the pages of Spider-Woman) where Peter and Jessica can talk about anything during their off time in a civilian setting or crime investigation. I feel that the series would really benefit from Jessica Drew having a very deep personal relationship with Peter Parker as she had with Carol Danvers develop in an organic way. Otherwise, the series will not last very long because most people would not be interested in a Spider-Woman character not connected to Spider-Man from a mass market readership...

If Peter Parker is featured as a reoccurring guest(as himself rather than as Spider-Man) and interacting with Jessica (in the same manner as he did with Carol Danvers) then I'll have the Spider-Woman series on my pull list. Especially if the series brings in Madam Web, Black Widow and Ezekiel Sims to assist Cindy Moon respectively with her abilities. But I see Jessica taking responsibility for Cindy due to her friendship with Peter and really no one else in particular. As for the Cable & Hope angle, that would be a very difficult relationship. Had it been Jessica Drew and Peter Parker working together, that might have been interesting to see as well because Jessica would certainly open up to him about her past and vice versa as they do have shared tragedies that they find very tough to talk about, which would be the death of their respective parents...

Especially if the series can acquire some of Spider-Man's rogue galleries like the Jackal/Mysterio, Tombstone/Carnage, Toxin/Spidercide, Hobgoblin/Jack O'Lantern, and Morlun/Menace to Jessica Drew's own rogue galleries.

been waiting for a spider woman book since I started reading comics. this pleases me

Before: Yeah!!!! Spider-Woman! All of my loved character have a solo-book now! Yeah! Great!!!

After: Oh s***... Dennis Hopeless =_= and oh, Big S***, Greg Land... the worst artist-combo of the year...

Marvel, you really know how destroy my joy =_=

Totally Agree

@v_scarlotte_rose: No and thanks for the info.But until I have it in my hands I can't be sure about it....

@spulk: I expect the proper announcement will come shortly after Original Sin finishes. :)

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/06/27/axel-alonso-has-a-plan-for-doctor-strange/

I was on board until "Greg Land."

He's the reason I didn't buy Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man or the Mighty Avengers.

I loathe that man's traced art.

The sad thing is that I have seen his real art and he's really good. The guy just phones it in with traced work. So sad.

I'm just glad to see Spider-Woman is getting another shot at having a solo title. I really hope though that they spend more time on just Jessica and not have the entire title be a Spider-verse tie in, you know? Focus on her character, that's what we need to see. I will still pick it up but I'm hoping that Greg Land will be removed. His work, if you can even call it that, is an insult to the industry and to other ACTUAL artists. (Anyone can trace a picture and say they are good). Anyways, looking forward to the adventures of Jessica Drew