DanSlott

Definitive answer: nope.

Love working on Spidey. Have tons of plans-within-plans worked out. Very excited about the future.

The book's selling well. It's been in the Top 10 this year more times than any other book in the entire industry. (Thank you EVERYBODY who's supporting the title!)

Marvel couldn't be happier. They've re-upped my exclusive contract on the strength of how well Spidey's doing.

So... I'm here for some time to come. :-)

Something that a lot of people here aren't bringing up is that WALKING DEAD was included in Loot Crate subscribers' boxes in October. That upped WD's numbers by an additional 100K or so. http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/10/07/october-loot-crate-to-include-exclusive-walking-dead-comic

Barring a miracle, WD was going to be the #1 comic for October no matter what. (Same thing happened to the 1st issue of ROCKET RACCOON. And it should have happened to Titan Comics' 1st issue of their new DOCTOR WHO comic-- which was offered as a pack-in to aLoot Crate competitor. Unfortunately for Titan, the deal wasn't distributed through Diamond, so those sales weren't in the Diamond numbers (which isn't all that fair to Titan... but what're you gonna do?).

Anyway...

I think a lot of you guys are burying the lead:

MS. MARVEL was the #1 GN last month.

First collection out of the gate-- and it was #1.

First comic from the big 2 to go back to press for a SEVENTH printing. (That's insane!)

And one of the (if not the) best selling Marvel title in digital sales.

If you're not reading it-- then it's the best Marvel book you're not reading. :-)

Seriously, everyone should give it a try. I honestly believer that it's the best title that Marvel's putting out right now.

Don't worry.

I am absolutely positive that you'll find a reason to hate it. :)

I'm not responding to a fan saying something negative about the book. I'm sure that poster says negative things about the book all the time.

I'm responding to the silliness of implying that a book in the Top 5 is suddenly doing poorly because it only outsold every-other-DC-Future's-End-3D-Cover-book-in-the-line for September except 2 of them.

That's so monumentally silly, it begs for a reality check.

If me having a little too much fun doing that makes you "proud" not to buy any of my books, I think I'll survive. Somehow.

Yes. That's exactly what that means. :-P

Last September when DC did their line-wide 3D cover month, four 3D Bat titles sold higher than Spider-Man.

This year, two 3D Bat titles sold higher than Spider-Man.

And this time, Spidey was in the Top 5. Let that soak in for a second. Every year DC throws everything they have at September. It's part of their market strategy now, ever since New 52. September is now their battleground month where they take their best shot: New 52, Before Watchmen, Forever Evil (3D cover villains month), and Future's End (3D cover month again).

So... during DC's September gamble-- and in a month with Marvel's line wide Original Sin event wrapping up, and the Death of Wolverine launching, Spidey still placed in the Top 5.

Yes. Fans are really "upset" with the direction.

And, by the way, the issue-- like all five previous issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN-- sold out at a distributor level and are going back for 2nd Printings. That's 6 for 6. If you want a 2nd Printing of #6, it'll be on sale Oct. 29th, along with 2nd Printings of #4 and #5.

Agreed. I'm friends with Jimmy & Amanda and couldn't be happier for them. It's a FANTASTIC book, one of the stars of the entire DC line, and it deserves all the success it's getting. Was just extolling its praises to Ty Templeton two nights ago and telling him he should add it to his pull list.

No promises. :-D

And, c'mon, if I did that, think of all the time I'd rob you of having something to talk about over the Internet. ;-)

If you honestly believe that you haven't said derogatory things about me as a person, you really need to go back and reread your past comments.

C'mon. Be honest. You've taken a LOT of personal shots in a lot of places around the web. It's not just your opinion about the book. It's when people take their feelings about the book and extrapolate them to the point where they're taking shots at me as a person. Or using those feelings about fictional characters to justify truly ugly behavior. I know there have been Viners here who've had their accounts suspended or temporarily banned for taking things to a disgusting personal level. So do me the favor of NOT playing the shell game of "Are you taking my opinion of the book as a shot at you personally." Because of course that's not the case.

As long as there's an audience out there that IS enjoying the book, I'd be doing a disservice to them if I started treating this like a democracy and taking everyone's concerns from every corner. Especially the loudest and most outspoken corners.

It's not a case of "it's my story and I'm going to tell it regardless of magnetic eye's feelings". It's a case of:

This is the story I feel passionately about telling. A lot of people are enjoying it. And the last thing I should do is compromise it. Any story worth telling is worth telling because a writer believes in it. As much as there were people saying, "We want Peter Parker back!" during the Superior Spider-Man run, the creative team didn't bend. Because that was the story we were telling. We brought him back exactly how and when we wanted to in our story. And when it was done, we've received an equal number of Superior fans saying, "Keep Superior going!" And we haven't given in that way either. Because we're staying true to the story we've mapped out.

And yet, on some level, you want polls that go the other way-- ones that agree with you-- to count. You're the one who can't go a day without making the Bieber/Michael Bay argument because the sales/votes of the readers indicate something that disagrees with you so much it's silly. The sales might not be an indicator of what you consider "quality", but they're undeniably an indicator of what a LARGE group of fans are enjoying and supporting-- and a good measure that this book is something that they consider to be of quality.

Yes. One of many things that spurs me on:

Like signed letters from Stan Lee, John Romita Sr., and the head writer of one of my favorite TV shows, about how much they enjoyed the risks I took by doing the Superior Spider-Man arc.

Emails and calls from fellow creators-- acting like fans, telling us that we're killing it on the book and that they want to know what's coming next! Some of my favorite celebrities reaching out to me at shows-- or on Twitter DMs-- asking what's coming up.

Fans bringing books to signings-- cosplaying as characters that we've created for the run-- and just being positive and awesome!

Calls from my dad.

Talking to my best friend on the phone and bouncing upcoming stories off of him.

New pages of gorgeous art showing up in my in box!

There are zillions of great reasons I get psyched to work on each and every issue of Spidey.

But, yeah, when I see someone taking cheap shots, or whining & complaining all over the internet, adding their name to a 3 person petition (or, in the case of Superior, a 200+ person one) to get me removed from the book... it does stoke the fire in the engine. That delicious spark of spite is helpful. Sometimes it takes someone mouthing off and telling you what you CAN'T do-- to make you push back against it and say, "Just watch me!" You BET that can give me that push I need. So thanks for that! :-)

But end of the day, the thing that does get me over the finish line is knowing that thousand and thousands of people are waiting for that next installment-- and what an honor it is to have the kind of a job where you do get that kind of support.

@averywetfrog: It's really hard to pick favorites. There have been too many excellent Spider-Writers over the last 50+ years. Outside of Stan-- if I had to pick-- I'd probably go with Stern, David, and DeMatteis. But there are so many Michelinie, Conway, Wein, Wolfman, and DeFalco stories I love too. And it feels weird to pick someone I've written side-by-side with like Kelly, Waid, or Guggenheim.

My favorite stories of Stan's: Amazing Fantasy #15, ASM #8, If This Be My Destiny, Birth of a Super Hero, and #96-#98.

My favorite classic Spidey stories: Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut, Kraven's Last Hunt, The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man, The Death of Jean DeWolff, and ASM #200.

My favorite modern day stories: Waid's Unscheduled Stop, Joe Kelly's Rhino stories, and Guggenheim's one-shot with Flash Thompson.

I know there's a ton I'm missing. And, honestly, if we're talking about the Lee/Ditko & Lee/Romita eras, I'd just start listing every issue in a row.

Man, picking favorites is way too hard.

I am. Over in SILVER SURFER with Mike Allred. Having a blast on that book.