Comic Book Question of the Week VOTING: Favorite Spider-Man Writer

Tough choice...

TOOOUGH. Without ignoring Yost and Zeb Wells, It comes down to Bendis and JMS, which is nearly an impossible choice.

Kraven's Last Hunt possibly influenced my vote...

Easy question. Roger Stern.

Why "Stan Lee & Steve Ditko" why not just Stan Lee?

Anyway, my choice is Stan Lee/John Romita then I guess, which is not represented in the poll.

Mary Jane is shown and finally starts playing a part, Pete and Gwen start dating, Pete and Harry become friends, Norman Osborn tension (will he regain his memory?), hanging out at the Coffee Bean Barn and parties, Gwen and Mary Jane trying to one-up each other, Kingpin, Rhino, and Shocker introduced, Spider-Man No More, Horns of the Rhino, Doc Ock Wins etc

Whitout Stan Lee there wouldn't be a Spider-Man, just saying...

Brian Michael Bendis for Ultimate Spider-Man.

This.

Although the voting results are making me lol atm.

I like the Lee/Ditko years the most of any Spidey run. Much more than Stan lee's stuff after Ditko left.

A close second was JMD.

@silent_bomber: Ditko was a major player in what happened, and while Stan Lee later worked on the book without him, it felt odd having Stan Lee put up there twice, you know? If your favorite work is under Stan Lee, just give that option your vote.

Me and Bendis disagree with a lot of things but Spider-Man and Daredevil are not one of them.

I'm not really a big fan of Stan Lee/Steve Ditko, I'd vote for three or four other people on the list before them to be honest.

Bendis

I'm not proud in saying that pretty much the only writer I've read of Spider-Man's (extensively, at least) is Dan Slott... But I've really enjoyed his run! It's just the only one I've read more than just a few issues of.

Sadly I've only read recent Spidey stuff. So I guess it's between Bendis and Slott for me.

David Michelinie

Ughhhhh, hate to see Dan Slott winning. And I'm not just butthurt about Peter dying. I just think his writing is clumsy. I'll give him points for enthusiasm.

I don't think he's ever had an extensive run on the book, but Joe Kelly has written some incredible issues. First one that springs to mind is the Rhino issue of the Gauntlet.

Stern or Bendis for me

Tough choice. Lee obviously shaped Peter and gave him his personality and who he is. Dan Slott, despite Superior, has made great progress in Peter's life and evolved his character. Bendis' work on Ult Peter was amazing (see what I did there?) but I also love JMS work as well. Zeb Wells work was good but he isn't on the list.

Really tough, I'm holding onto my vote for now.

Wow. Slott is starting off strong. didnt expect that. My other picks besides Roger Stern would be

2.Brian Michael Bendis

3.J. Michael Straczynski

4.Stan Lee

5.Dan Slott

Dan

Jesus,Slott's winning........

Haha, Slott's winning!

@punyparker: I know how is that possible?

some people liked superior. didn't get mad because he tried a new idea and delivered a story.

JMS for me embodied the archetypal Spider-Man run. He had some of the very best Spider-Man stories of the past 14 years and I'd argue some stories that'll be looked at classics in years to come. Yes there were missteps Sins Past and OMD come to mind, although the later was more on editorial and was the reason he quit the book.

But there were also awesome stories as well; The Other Saga, Back In Black, and my personal favorite: ASM 500 which bounces between the beginning of Peter's costumed career highlighted by some of his greatest triumphs and failures along the way; his present day struggle and a haunting Dark Knight Returns esque portrayal of a future Peter Parker hunted down by the NYPD during his last days as Spider-Man.

It ends with one of the most heartwarming moments I've ever seen in not just a Spider-Man comic but comic books in general Peter get's a chance to talk to his Uncle Ben one last time, as a birthday gift from Doctor Strange.

But beyond that JMS did a lot of new and exciting things with his run, he introduced more supernatural elements into Spidey's mythos with Morlun, The Other, Shathra and Ezekiel. May learned Peter's secret identity, MJ and Peter were reunited after being estranged and Peter wasn't surrounded by the familar crew of the Daily Bugle but was potrayed as a school teacher, something that jived well with Peter's personality imo.

He wasn't afraid to shake up the status quo with changes that (for the most part) felt organic to the character and that above all else is why JMS' run is my favorite run.

After that I'd give it to Slott.

Well to quote Brian Cronin from CBR...

Exactly, Stan Lee got the top spot AND the number two spot. He just had to share the top spot with Ditko, which is fair since Ditko, you know, co-wrote the issues. Again, for the last year or so of their run (the precise issue is hard to pin down), Ditko did not even speak to Lee. He would deliver the issues fully drawn without any input from Lee whatsoever. Lee would then script these fully drawn pages. Of course, Lee’s dialogue was an important addition to these pages (hence him getting the credit, as well), but the notion that Lee should be termed the sole writer of issues that he had no involvement with until they were fully drawn is, at best, absurd.

I mean, even before it got to that point, Ditko was likely the driving force in the plotting of the series, but that stuff is at least open to interpretation (at worst, he was an equal to Lee in the plotting of the issues. No one, not even Stan, has ever tried to claim that Lee was the driving force of the plotting of the early Ditko/Lee issues. It is just open for discussion how much of the early plotting was joint plotting and how much was Ditko-driven. Either way, at worstDitko was equal to Lee in the formation of the early Spider-Man plots). The later issues, though (including the Master Planner Arc, only one of the most famous Spider-Man stories ever), are not up for discussion. They were clearly solely plotted by Ditko with Lee adding his script to the stories after they had been fully drawn.

BB

JMS. His run was the only Peter Parker Spidey run ever that held my interest from beginning to end. The only Spidey run I love.

I really like Slotts Superior, but his Amazing run before didn't do anything for me.

1. Lee & Ditko

2. Bendis' USM run

3. Roger Stern

3. JMS before he became a drug-addict

4. Peter David

5. Tom DeFalco

That's my top 5.

@punyparker:

Well Superiors only the most intresting thing to happen to Spider-Man in like 10 years....

I don't believe it...how can someone like Slott's writing? 127 issues and only No One Dies was good...2 out 127.

I loved JMS, Bendis' Ultimate...DeMattis' Kraven's Last Hunt was one of the best Spidey story...the other were also Gold Writer. How can Slott win this race?

Lee/Ditko for me please

There should be a poll question about favorite Spider-Man artists.

I'm going JMS before Joey Q screwed everything up.

No no no,Superior is his best Spider-Man work!!.....his Amazing isn't so much.....that's why i posted this.

Wait,what?.....

Then any comicbook for the last 10 years(and more) is un-interesting.......because this is an example of a "stunt" story.And "stunt" stories tend to have fast developments.
Will you follow Amazing with the same passion?!

If you don't,then your "That's why Slott's better" arguement is invalid.

Some people started reading comics when Slott was writing,and doesn't have a clue what a "Peter David" is.....

It's hard to pick one, but the most impactful four are definitely J.M Dematteis (Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Harry Osborn), Roger Stern (Hobgoblin, The Boy who Collects Spider-Man), Dan Slott (New Ways to Die, Last Legs, Big Time, Spider-Island, Ends of the Earth, Superior Spider-Man), and Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Men). I also have to give a shout out to Gerry Conway (Death of Gwen Stacy, the introduction of the Punisher, and the first Ben Reilly saga before it became a mess).

Ultimately, and I really hate to ride the bandwagon, but I have no choice, I'll have to go with Dan Slott. People seem to only reference Slott's more recent run, when he has been writing Spidey for a while before that. He is one of the writers who helped guide and re-establish Peter in the Brand New Day Era, adding new villains and supporting cast members.

What exemplifies Slott's run is that, he allowed Peter to do something most writers are afraid to do, he allowed Peter to grow, as a person and as a hero, while maintaining the core values that made him popular in the first place. Look at Slott's run alone, and see how far Peter has come along. And weather you like the guy or not, there's one thing you can't deny, he's one of the top 3 most daring Spider-Man writers ever, willing to go places others wouldn't (the other two being Dematteis and Conway).

His run featured Spider-Man becoming a think tank scientist, Flash becoming Venom, hooking up with Carlie Cooper (who was given more depth as a character), Peter announcing that while he's around No One Die, re-establishing villains like, Doc Ock, Sandman, Hobgoblin Alistair Smyth and the Scorpion, the introduction of Anti-Venom, the return of Norman Osborn to Spider-Man comics (twice), establishing Spider-Man as a major member of the Avengers, and finally who could forget Superior Spider-Man. Not only did Superior add new found depth to Octavius, but it also showed how much Peter's core values as a character have made him different than others, and that he is not just another colorful super-hero, he truly is a unique character, the one and only Spider-Man that can never be duplicated.

I was wondering when someone would bring up Joe Kelly, even though it was only a 2 part story that took place in the middle of the Gauntlet saga, the Rhino story is one of the strongest SM stories I've ever read, it re-defined the Rhino and added a new sense of tragedy to Peter himself. He also wrote American Son, a very powerful story involving Spider-Man and the Osborns, and how Peter is dealing with Norman's Dark Reign, and it featured Spidey fighting Bullseye, Venom, Iron Patriot and Daken.

I almost voted for Dan Slott (you all know why!), but then I saw Bendis and had to give it to him. Though Ultimate Spider-man is a different version, he made me love the character all over again. He made me love a character that I wrote off years ago.

WTF... Dan is winning, i'm not saying he is bad writer, but how come Stan "the man" Lee is not on top followed by Bendis

PS Whoever wrote the arc about Osborn knocking up Gwen can rot in hell...is that writer listed?

PPS

I don't think he's ever had an extensive run on the book, but Joe Kelly has written some incredible issues. First one that springs to mind is the Rhino issue of the Gauntlet.

Yea but the issue that left me breathless was the conclusion of Rhino's Gauntlet story when his girl died and he put his suit back to fight the Mecha-Rhino and Peter is pulling Alexi as hard as he can then eventually Peter is in street clothes leaving bloody foot prints . . . one of the most powerful issues of Spider-Man ever. Did Joe Kelly write that?

Really sad that Slott is in the lead, He is not a great Spidey writer I would think of him as an average one his run has been mediocre since it began. I guess there is just a ton of young readers on the site that did not see the impact of JMS or David.

What?Dan Slott wins even though his Spider-man run is mostly meh...It only strengthen my case that current runs, writers etc. shouldn't be in polls because the poll is often swayed, by new readers who still haven't delved into the characters or by excitement about the recent run(etc. etc.) which is fresh in the memory.

Voted JMS, I love (most of) his run. He wrote some of my favorite Spider-man stories and I feel that his run is a modern classic that is often overlooked by casual comic fans.

PS Whoever wrote the arc about Osborn knocking up Gwen can rot in hell...is that writer listed?

PPS

@liveforever said:

I don't think he's ever had an extensive run on the book, but Joe Kelly has written some incredible issues. First one that springs to mind is the Rhino issue of the Gauntlet.

Yea but the issue that left me breathless was the conclusion of Rhino's Gauntlet story when his girl died and he put his suit back to fight the Mecha-Rhino and Peter is pulling Alexi as hard as he can then eventually Peter is in street clothes leaving bloody foot prints . . . one of the most powerful issues of Spider-Man ever. Did Joe Kelly write that?

EXACLY!!!
So many Spider-Man writers ,who left a golden mark in Parker history......and he's winning!!

@facemelter88:

I feel the exact same way. Yes Joe Kelly wrote it, and he also wrote American Son.

And the writer who wrote the Gwen/Osborn affair story is J. Michael Straczynski, who also wrote One More Day, but to be honest those were his very few misses, and OMD was bad mostly due to editorial, but he also wrote some very powerful stories, like, The Spider-Totem saga that featured Ezekiel and Morlun, The Conversation, that featured a very powerful moment between Peter and Aunt May after she finds out he's Spider-Man, Happy Birthday where Peter gets reunited with Uncle Ben, The Other and Back In Black.

@wolverine08 said:

And what about Wolverine? I heard he is written well these days...

@punyparker:

Stunt or not the comics was good and the most intresting thing to happen to Peter basically withint the last 10 years? How does that mean comics have been unintresting before Superior? It just means Spider-Man has been boring for 10 years before. Because Spider-Man has sucked before superior for about 10 years it was the same boring repetitive bullcrap it was unbelievable. While other characters were getting intresting arcs or even just intresting writing everything good from Spider-Man was before 2000 until Superior. I plan on giving Amazing Spider-Man a chance but last i heard it's not Slott writing it is it? Then why should i read Amazing? i will to see if Spider-Man continues to be intresting and the aftermath of Superior could be intresting but if it goes back to the same boring reptitive bullcrap i will probbably drop the comic.

The mindset that it's nothing but a stunt so it sucks is why Spider-Man has sucked for the last 10 years before Superior. So anything major that happens in comics is just a stunt and sucks? So comics should continue to do what Spider-Man did before Superior and tell you the same repetitive bull crap over and over again?

I also have to mention Mark Millar's Marvel Knights run, one of the more darker Spider-Man stories. It featured Spider-Man going up against the Sinister TWELVE, a new Venom, having his identity almost exposed, the abduction of Aunt May, and almost reliving the Gwen Stacy experience with Mary Jane, all part of a grand master plan orchestrated by the Green Goblin.

I also have to mention Peter David, who wrote the Death of Jean DeWolf, another Dark Spider-Man story that featured a team-up with Matt Murdock and a major character development for Peter himself.

I see a lot of Slott hate on here, people seem to think the only reason he's in the lead is because of younger readers, and while that is probably one of the reasons, Slott has solidified himself as at least one of the strongest Spider-Man writers. To summarize my earlier comment, Slott's Spider-Man actually grew, instead of getting stuck in the typical status quo and also showed what makes him different from other characters. Spidey could easily be written as just another colorful, fun super-hero, but Slott's run showed that no matter how much things change, Peter's core values will always define him and make him the character he is today, a character that is imitated but never duplicated. This is notably shown in the story-lines called No One Dies, Alpha, and Superior Spider-Man.