Character » Spider-Man appears in 17246 issues.
It was the In-Store Comic Convention Kick off Marvel panel streaming live in thirty-six comic stores across the USA – but where was guest Brian Bendis?
@NeptuneComics@InStoreKickOff@Marvel not until 1pm.
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) March 7, 2015
@NeptuneComics@InStoreKickOff@Marvel done as in over? — BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) March 7, 2015
@InStoreKickOff@NeptuneComics@Marvel i’ll hop on at the airport. i’ll tweet you when i’m there. again so so so sorry.
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) March 7, 2015
Well, they found him…
“It Ain’t Over Yet”
Those were the words that Brian Bendis gave the In-Store Comic Convention Kickoff regarding the future of the Ultimate Universe, post Secret Wars, as well as talking about how they found a way to get Guardians Of The Galaxy into the Battleworld with Guardians Of Nowhere, with Mike Deodato.
But until then, he has Ultimate End to finish and is handing in pages this week with an ending he thinks will surprise everyone.
As for artist on the series Mark Bagley, he said that he is “asking as much from an artist as I ever have.”
He also promised the words Peter Parker will show up a great deal in Ultimate End.
And that “Secret Wars is for everyone!” We hope the Pope gets his copy.
Look for Brian at Wondercon for a Powers panel. The first episode is out for free on Playstation Network this Tuesday -I’ve just got the script for the second episode, I really must read it.
Check out more of our In-Store Comic Convention Kickoff coverage right here.
Okay, we’re in the final stretch for the Marvel announcements of the Secret Wars spinoff books for June.
There appear to be nine slots left. This is out best guesses for the books still to be announced, based in part on those Marvel teasers from last year…
Really cute Peter/MJ stuff in today's daily strip. Loved how they came up with the scheme to trick Mysterio together.
Where do you source the newspaper strips from? I would love to read some if they're online somewhere.
You can see the strip(s) here - http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/index.ssf?feature_id=Spiderman
and if you look on Amazon you can find the following
Currently the you can get the following from Amazon
 Spider-Man Newspaper Strips Volume 1 All the strips that are fit to print! And since we're talking about Spider-Man comic strips written en by Stan "The Man" Lee and drawn by "Jazzy" John Romita...that means ALL of 'em! Collecting all of Stan and John's "Amazing Spider-Man" newspaper strips in chronological order, this first volume brings you the earliest classic panels that hit the daily and Sunday papers of the late 1970s! All the daily strips are printed in the original black and white, and all the Sundays in their original colour, featuring remastered linework that will spin a web of enchantment upon anyone who reads them! COLLECTING: JANUARY 3rd, 1977 - JANUARY 28th, 1979 |
 Spider-Man Newspaper Strips - Volume 2
All the strips that are fit to print! And since we're talking about Spider-Man comic strips written by Stan "The Man" Lee and drawn by "Jazzy" John Romita, that means every one of 'em! The second volume collecting all of Stan and John's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN newspaper strips in chronological order, this titanic tome brings you the classic panels that hit the papers in the late 1970s and early 1980s! All the daily strips are printed in the original black and white, and all the Sundays in colour, ready to spin a web of enchantment upon anyone who reads them! COLLECTING: JANUARY 29TH, 1979 - JANUARY 11TH, 1981 |
Personally I would wait for reprints from IDW - IDW & Marvel Team Up To Reprint Classic AMAZING SPIDEY Newspaper Strips
No specific month, only that it's early 2015, which could mean within the 1st 3 months of the year
from that, we can surmise they're starting right from the beginning of the strip under the IDW/Marvel banner
Because
| Here is the dull article regarding it |
|---|
NYCC | IDW to collect ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ comic stripsFollowing news of an expanded partnership with Marvel for its Artist’s Edition line, IDW Publishing has announced it will release deluxe hardcover editions of the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip through its Library of American Comics imprint. The strip debuted in January 1977 with a storyline by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. that pitted wall-crawler against Doctor Doom, and it’s continued daily ever since. For much of its run, the comic has been produced by Larry Lieber, who was joined in more recent years by Paul Ryan, Alex Saviuk and Joe Sinnott. While the serial has featured many familiar friends and foes — from Mary Watson and J. Jonah Jameson to Kraven the Hunter and Doctor Octopus — it’s seldom followed comic-book continuity. However, the two realities intersected in 1987 with the wedding of Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and again in early 2009, when their marriage was magically dissolved, a la “Brand New Day.” But unlike the comic books, the status quo was quickly returned in response to reader outcry. The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1, will be released early next year. |
There's also the thread I put up a while back - Peter & Mary Jane still MARRIED - in the daily comic strip
The statement "with great power comes great responsibility" is one of the most resonant concepts in the Marvel Universe, and not just as the guiding tenant of Spider-Man. Rather, it has become the mantra of an entire host of Spider-Men and Spider-Women from across the Marvel Multiverse, and in the recently concluded "Spider-Verse," which featured "every Spider-Man ever," they united to form an army to protect themselves and all of creation from a family of dimension-hopping Spider-totem hunters.
SPIDER-MANDATE: Lowe Talks 'Surprise' Hit "Spider-Gwen," "Secret Wars'" Spidey Connections
In "Amazing Spider-Man" #15, writer and chief "Spider-Verse" architect Dan Slott and artist Giuseppe Camuncoli brought the multiverse-spanning epic to a close with an epilogue that impacted the characters and destinies of a number of these Spider-powered characters, including the original Peter Parker. Now, with the Spider Event now wrapped, Slott joins CBR News for an in-depth discussion about the storyline, exploring it from his original idea for the tale, to the unintentional alchemy that led to the breakout characters like Spider-Gwen. Then, we dig just a little deeper to look at the impact the event will have on the Spider-Men and Spider-Women who survived it.
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CBR News: Over the years, you've increased the scope of your Spider events exponentially, starting with "Spider-Island," which covered Manhattan, before heading to the "Ends of the Earth." And in "Spider-Verse," you told a story that took place all across the multiverse. Was "Spider-Verse" always intended to be as gigantic in scope as it turned out?
Dan Slott:Yes! But originally it was going to be a "Superior Spider-Man" story. It would've ran where the Spidey 2099 and Superior Venom arcs ran -- those were stories we came up with to fill the gap because "Spider-Verse" suddenly shifted, right when it was ready to go. If another week or two went by, we probably would have put to bed the issue that had the short that ran as the next year's Free Comic Book Day issue, where we killed Spider-Man 1602. That would've been in the actual "Superior Spider-Man" comics and it would've teed up "Spider-Verse". Where it pretty much was going to be Doc Ock leading an army of Peter Parkers. Otto would've been like, "I'm the Peter Parker from the dimension where I killed Morlun, twice. Everybody shut up and take orders from me!" And the readers would be like, "No, you lying scum! That was Peter!"
That was the plan, and we talked about it at a number of retreats. Everyone was cool with it up until we were right about ready to run. [Laughs] So the train was on the tracks, we were going over it one last time, and everyone went, "Wait a minute! This is going to be a Doc Ock story?" And I was like, "Yeah!" [Laughs] Then Axel [Alonso] was like, "No, no, no. This isn't a Doc Ock story. It's a story for the real Spider-Man. You only get to do something like this once. Let's do it right and save it for when Peter comes back."
Then it was like, "Okay..." and it became a wildly different story that had to be retooled and have its bolts tightened. That's why that Spider-Man 2099 arc was in "Superior," so there was a way to get the Superior Spider-Man back into that story by shoving him forward into the future for an unknown amount of time. Which would be the amount of time he'd be in "Spider-Verse."
Mashing so many Spider-Men and Women into one epic adventure was a once in a lifetime storytelling opportunity
What was it like, getting "every Spider-Man ever" lined up for this event? How involved were you in getting the OKs to used the different incarnations of Spider-Man?
This is something from way back in the Steve Wacker era of Spider-Man. The more we knew it was coming, the more we'd ask ourselves, "Do we have the approval to use this Spider-Man? And that one?" We had a list of like seven or eight guys we couldn't use, so I'd be like, "I just want to clarify. We can use everyone else?" And the answer was, "Yes!" So that was very exciting.
Certain ones were really fun, like being able to play around in the 1967 cartoon Spider-Man world. And getting a chance to use the Toei Spider-man from Japan was really exciting for me.
It was kind of a bummer because my plate was full working on "Silver Surfer" and "Amazing Spider-Man" at the same time, I didn't really able to have the bandwidth to do any of the crossovers and side projects outside of the "Spider-Verse" anthology shorts. It was such a fun playground, I would've loved to do more. I was so envious of Christos Gage. I lobbed one of my favorites over the plate for him in "Spider-Verse Team-Up." Miles Morales and Ultimate cartoon Spider-Man going to the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon world. It was like, "Oh man, I want to write that!" Chris did an amazing job on that one though, so it's hard to grumble -- too much.
I did get to kill "Golden Spongecake" Spider-Man, though, along with "arcade fighting game" Spider-Man. I also got to spare the newspaper strip universe. It was all fun. Any time I got to jump in and do one of the shorts, I had a blast.
Artists Olivier Coipel (L) and Giuseppe Camuncolli brought their A-games to "Spider-Verse"
How involved were you in the creation of the new Spider characters that played prominent roles in the story like Spider-Punk and Spider UK?
It's really weird, because for the most part, the thing that became "Amazing Spider-Man" #9 had a lot of stuff in it that was done and in a drawer for a year -- back when it was an issue of "Superior Spider-Man." I always knew Spider UK was coming. There was always going to be a Gwen Stacy who was bitten by a spider and became the Spider-Woman of her world. There were certain characters that were just always there.
If you grew up outside of New York and were a Spider-Man fan, it doesn't matter where you're from. You'd tend to wonder, "Hey, why doesn't Spider-Man live in my town?" If you're from St. Louis, you're like, "Spider-Man should come to St. Louis." If you're from Oakland, you're like, "Spider-Man should come to Oakland!" Every kid is like that when they're reading Spider-Man, and when I was a kid, I was growing up in England. So part of me always wanted to see a British Spider-Man. A lot of that was wish fulfillment.
Also, there were all kinds of strange bits of magical alchemy that happened as different people contributed to "Spider-Verse." Two prime examples of that were Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk.
In the case of Spider-Gwen, Robbi Rodriguez designed, like, the greatest costume ever. Before her first story ever came out in that amazing tale that Jason Latour wrote for "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2, people were already cosplaying as Spider-Gwen. I was bragging to friends, though, for years, saying that once "Spider-Verse" comes out. I guarantee that there will be two characters that everyone cosplays as -- the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman, and when I go to British conventions, Spider UK. I guarantee it.
I described the Gwen Stacy costume in the old "Superior Spider-Man" plot. The costume was very specific -- and it was just good luck that no one sent that to the "Edge of Spider-Verse" team, so they came up with their own thing.
In my head, I lived with this character for a year, and the visual I had for her was pretty much "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" outfit, but all red and blue with web patterns and a half mask. So you look at it and go, "Hey! It's Gwen as Spider-Girl." She had the trench coat, but instead of it being lime green, it'd be red with webs.
Morlun was a gateway villain, opening up the story to the idea of a family of cross-dimensional Spider hunters
I so wanted that -- and since that was the character that was in my head, and even though these great designs came in, I was like, "That's not Spider-Gwen!" I was the one guy going, "They have to change it!" Then I got to see what they were doing and I was so glad no one listened to me. [Laughs] Because this character is awesome! It's so much better. So that was some really great alchemy -- and luck.
On the flip side, even though Spider-UK was described very specifically in the plot, Olivier Coipel kind of did his own thing. The pages came in, and with all Olivier Coipel pages you look at 'em and go, "My God, this is gorgeous!" It was stunning, and I was getting e-mails asking me what I thought of the new pages. I said, "They're great! They're fantastic! But where's Spider UK? I don't see him in any of the shots."
I didn't see him, because Olivier came up with the design we now know as Spider-Punk. He said, "That's Spider UK." I said, "That's not Spider UK. He's supposed to be from the Captain Britain Corps. He should have the Union Jack and the Spider. This guy's all punk." He was like, "Yeah! It's all punk, and very London!"
That was one where I won and Spider-UK was redesigned, and poor Olivier had to draw patches everywhere Spider UK appeared in issue #9 to put him in the new costume. Olivier was bummed, because the Spider-Punk design was brilliant. So I said, "That's a great design! We will totally use it. We're creating all these new Spider-Men. So when we get to Doc Ock's army we'll put him there. He'll be one of Doc Ock's best henchmen and he'll be there all the time! We'll show you Spider-Punk non-stop! I promise you!"
I'm so glad Olivier was cool with that. And when he made his big splash in "ASM" #10, I made sure he got one of the best lines: "SPIDER-UP OR DIE!" Olivier put so much love into that, and it shows! I mean, now there are people cosplaying as Spider-Punk, and he's now a playable video game character in "Spider-Man Unlimited." People love that look. He kicks ass!
There's all this stuff that never would have happened if we hadn't delayed for a year. We wouldn't have had that great Gerard Way character SP//dr. There's so many different things that wouldn't have happened. They were these little bits of magic and alchemy that only happen once you start rolling up your sleeves and getting into the project. It was all very crazy -- and I'm never doing one of these again. [Laughs]
Were there any characters that you especially enjoyed writing or returning to?
Yeah! How can you not have fun writing Spider-Ham? He was a blast to write! I miss him already. [Laughs]
The original plan, back when "Spider-Verse" was a "Superior Spider-Man" story, was that when everything went back to normal, Spider-Ham would end up being stuck in our world. We would do some Spider-Ham one-shots, and it would be very much a Howard the Duck-like take on Spider-Ham. He would be "trapped in a world he never made." By the time we started wrapping up "Spider-Verse," though, there was going to be a Howard the Duck book. So that would've seemed superfluous.
Believe it or not, Slott's first reaction to Robbi Rodriguez's Spider-Gwen design was to reject it
Also, it was so clear there were certain characters that were becoming everybody's favorites. The whole "Spider-Gwen" book happened because -- dear God -- fans made it happen! "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2 was on its second printing and we had the New York Comic Con coming up. It was like, "That's it! We're selling Spider-Gwen shirts now." The Marvel booth quickly put together Spider-Gwen shirts because, oh, boy, did people want them! You also had the band Married With Sea Monsters convert the song that Jason wrote in "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2 into an actual song. It's fantastic, and the book has a virtual band that now that exists in the real world.
Man, did Jason and Robbi kill on that issue! With that, it was like, "A Spider-Ham book? Get real! We're doing a Spider-Gwen book."
It's really neat to see all the pieces come together. The character of Silk was created for the "Original Sin" elements of the Spider-Man books. Originally, she wouldn't have been in "Spider-Verse." That's another addition. It's weird the way everything changed and morphed and moved as different things took off and different storylines popped up. It was crazy -- and let me repeat -- I'm never doing one of these again -- ever! [Laughter]
I had fun. It was great, but every time you do one of these, it takes a lot of focus and you have to keep your eye on so many moving parts. You can never miss shipping. People work around the clock because this book can't come out until that one is released. Or that thing spoils this thing. It can be brutal to work on. Man, does it age you. I could see, day-by-day, the white growing in my beard.
Stuff like "Original Sin" is a core publishing event, and this is clearly a Spider-Event. So this is like a baby event, and working on something like this makes me go, "I am never working on a main event! Seriously. If I raise my hand for one those, shoot me. Shoot me right in the head."
Now that "Spider-Verse" is over, I'm turning my back on giant Spider-Armies and having a blast co-writing the next three issues of "Amazing Spider-Man" with Chris Gage. They're great issues, and big things happen in them. They're very much a return to form, because we've spent about 6-7 issues away in various realities across the Multiverse. It's really important that we get back and see Peter's supporting cast and something more street level. Let's also check in on Parker Industries. And, uh-oh! Big changes! Because that's always part of Spidey's life -- the soap opera!
Spider-Punk was Coipel's first attempt at Spider UK -- Slott liked the design so much, though, that he worked the new character in as an integral part of the story
In addition to the legion of Spider-Men and Women, "Spider-Verse" featured Morlun and his family of inter-dimensional Spider Totem hunters, the Inheritors. What made you want to tap Morlun as the villain of "Spider-Verse?" And what inspired the creation of the Inheritors?
The way this came about was, I wanted a character that had a very simple dynamic. You saw it, and you got it. I did not want a super-complicated villain with way too many moving parts, because we were going to have dozens and dozens of Spider-Men running around. They were going to be the complicated thing.
If we had a super villain with a labyrinthine plot, everyone would be scratching their heads going, "What? Spider-Man India did that? And which one is this one? And all their masks look the same! I'm confused." The Spider-Men, Women, Pigs, Cars and Cowboys were going to be the thing that was a jumble, so when it came down to a villain, you wanted someone as easy to understand as, say, the Terminator. All the Terminator wants to do is kill Sarah Connor.
You also wanted something that related to all these Spiders coming together. And here's Morlun, someone who's given Spider-Man a fight on the level of "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut." He's beaten him to a pulp and wants nothing more then to eat animal totems, especially Spider ones. So, boom! That's perfect, but it's going to be a crossover with lots and lots of guys, so it couldn't just be about Morlun going into every single book. That would be silly [Laughs]
So I thought, "He's got a family!" There's fat Morlun, and short Morlun, and tall Morlun. So here's Morlun and all the Morlun-ites. You couldn't just call them Morluns, though! Because that's silly. By linking it all to the Web of Life and Destiny, the "Green"/"Speed Force"/"Anti-Life Equation" of the Spider-Man universe, suddenly it was like, "Wait a minute! Something's clicking! This is kind of cool." And with everyone talking about all these different dimensions and numbered Earths like 616, I was like, "Has anyone ever laid claim to Earth 001?" Marvel said, "No." So I was like, "Mine!" [Laughs]
So here's The Web of Destiny and Fate at the center of all reality, and here are these power hungry beings who control it and have used it so that they can be… dum-dum-dum… THE INHERITORS OF THE UNIVERSE! And I'm like, "That's good." [Laughs] So I ask, "Has anyone used the Inheritors yet?" And they're like, "No." So I was like, "Done!"
Just by saying the word "Inheritors," it gives Morlun's family a feeling of destiny and dynasty. That was exactly what we were going for.
Then we had more fun coming up with names that sounded like Morlun. When you think about it, Morlun means nothing. It's not like Kraven or Carnage! It's not one of those magical names like Darkseid. Morlun sounds evil, though. It was fun coming up with more names that sounded evil and, when you heard the name, gave you a picture of that character; names that sounded almost sort of satanic or demonic. Morlun gave birth to Solus and Daemos! And it was like, "Okay. This will work."
Peter left "Spider-Verse" with a newfound level of confidence in himself
Bringing Morlun and the Inheritors into "Spider-Verse" infused it with a lot of quasi-mystical elements, and while you haven't shied away from that in other stories, those elements can be controversial with Spider-Man fans. What's your sense on Spider-Man's relationship to mysticism and the supernatural and tying those things to his origin?
My take on it is, I grew up on classic "Marvel Team-Up." That was a book that suddenly had Spider-Man fighting on the moon, or teaming up with Doctor Strange and going to the Dark Dimension to battle the Mindless Ones, or going underwater for an adventure with Namor.
There was something about "Marvel Team-Up" that led to the craziest set-ups where it's suddenly like, [Slott adopts gruff voice] "A dinosaur?! In New York?! Parker! I want you to write an article on the Savage Land! Here's a plane ticket." [Laughs] It was the craziest stuff. You could have Spider-Man teaming up with Killraven and going into the future to battle Martians and Tripods.
So that has always been part of Spider-Man's character, too, that he can do this crazy stuff. And if you have a book that's 750 issues long, it's okay to every once in a while have Spider-Man go to the Savage Land, or the Dark Dimension, as long as when you come back, you have a story where he's fighting the Kingpin again.
Earth story! Grounded! City. Okay. Phew! But for six issues, you can bend and stretch. As you can see from the very ending of "Amazing Spider-Man" #15, and -- don't read this if you haven't read the ending yet -- at the end of the epilogue of "Spider-Verse," Peter stops a purse snatcher. He's back home. It's like, "Awwwwww!" And we will never do it again!
[Laughs] You've already touched on working artist Olivier Coipel on "Spider-Verse." Your long time collaborator, artist Giuseppe Camuncoli also contributed some issues. How did it feel to work with him on such a big story?
Giuseppe Camuncoli, more than myself, more than the super heroes of the Editorial Office, Nick Lowe and Devin Lewis, more than any human being in the universe, Giuseppe Camuncoli is the hero of "Spider-Verse."
Giuseppe Camuncoli produced the most amazing art for this under the most pressing of deadlines. There are days where the book has to leave because all these other crossovers are depending on it so you can get your books in a timely fashion. So this man killed himself for all of you, to produce the highest quality art work -- while adhering to strict and grueling deadlines. His hand is probably still in a bucket of ice right now.
He really came through! You'll read reviews where people thought it was still Olivier for an issue. Because -- dear God -- Camo is fantastic! I look at "Spider-Verse" and ["Amazing Spider-Man"] issue #9, the first one done by Olivier and I can say without any reservation that it is absolutely one of the most beautiful comics I've ever had the privilege to work on. It's gorgeous, but at the same time I can look at the epilogue, "Amazing Spider-Man" #15 where Giuseppe Camuncoli didn't just run the marathon. He ran it at a sprint. And he never compromised his style and craft! It's beautiful! It's stunning!
Chain me to this guy! I want to work with him on projects for the rest of my life! I love Giuseppe Camuncoli!
"Spider-Verse" is over, but there's still the inevitable fallout to deal with. The end of "Amazing Spider-Man" #15 suggests that you're sending Peter and several other characters on their way to new destinies, including the Scarlet Spider, who appears to not be dead.
Slott couldn't be more excited to see Gerry Conway return to Spidey's world
Oh my God! There have been so many arguments about Kaine! People think I'm so bloodthirsty. They think I live to kill characters. I was the guy though who was going, "We've got to have him break out of that spider! We have to do that and we have to show it!" Nick was like, "No, no. Let's leave him dead for a while." He was very much on the side of, "We'll show him bursting out of the spider later -- in flashback. Let's take him off the canvas for a while."
I was like, "We have to show it now! Or people will come to my door with pitchforks and torches!" [Laughs] I'm not going to be the guy who killed Kaine after the stunning work that Chris Yost did on the "Scarlet Spider" book. I'm not going to be that guy. Then, when "Scarlet Spider" was over, Chris lovingly life-rafted him over to "New Warriors." After all of that love, I wasn't going to be the guy who killed Kaine!
I want to be able to sit down to a meal with Chris Yost and not have him glare at me. [Laughs] I also didn't want to do that to all the Kaine fans; the people who read all the issues of "Scarlet Spider" and followed him onto "New Warriors." This is a character who's gone through so much growth.
So that was a fight that we had. And Nick was really nice to let me win that one.
In addition to Kaine's fate, Issue #15 also set up Mike Costa's "Spider-Verse" series for "Secret Wars," and you tied things into the incursion phenomenon that leads to "Secret Wars" as well.
Yes, you see Spider UK's destiny. He decided to go and help the Spiders when all of the Captain Britain Corps were going to go off and deal with Jonathan Hickman's incursions. Spider UK was the one guy going, "I think we should help the Spiders." There was always going to be a price to pay for that, and as we saw in "ASM" #15, the price was that his home dimension got destroyed by an incursion.
He's now a Spider without a world. So what is a Spider without a world going to do? Well, there's a lot of worlds without Spiders, so he now has a new lease on life. This is what he's doing, and of course there are worlds without Spider-Women as well. And since every time we turn around there seems to be a new Spider-Woman, Anya Corazon joined up with him. She has a history with these totems, so it was a really nice fit, and it was something that she can now do that's unique to her.
So now we have Spider UK and Spider-Girl and, of course, since they have access to The Web of Life and Destiny, they can pluck different Spider-Men and Spider-Woman from across the Multiverse to help them. That's a book! You look at that and you go, "That's awesome! I want to read that! I want to see Spider UK, Spider-Girl, Spider-Ham and Spider-Man India. I want to see them running around with Spider-Man Noir and going across the universe and dealing with stuff.
There have been certain Spiders that have been really popular that we never saw coming, like Lady Spider, and now suddenly there's a place for these great new characters where they can show up and flex some Spider muscle.
What I got out of the fallout from "Spider-Verse" for Peter was that he now has a newfound confidence in his abilities as a leader.
Yes! Because Spidey has always been the loner or the follower, and when he came back, he discovered that Doc Ock had left him with his own company. And he's been doing a pretty crappy job of running it. He's been running off to be Spider-Man, and even when he's around his employees, he's very mercurial. He's almost bipolar. Peter wants everyone to like him. So he's, "Hey! I'll be the fun boss!" [Laughs]
This is the first time someone has said to him, "Run your own company," and Peter is not Doc Ock. Doc Ock would have no problem running around Parker Industries, yelling at everybody, and getting them to do exactly what he wants. That's not Peter's speed, but now he's had this giant quest. He's had all this responsibility shouldered on to him of, "Lead us." He's now just led this whole army and is like, "If I can lead a giant army of Spider-Men against these unkillable hordes of vampires, I can probably run my own company. Let's try this!" So we'll see where that goes.
It looks like Peter's first real test to his leadership of Parker Industries kicks off in "ASM" #16,.
Oh, man! It sucks because here's Peter Parker and he didn't have his eye on the ball. So there's all these secrets and things bubbling up in his own company. That can't be good. It almost seems like more fodder for stories. [Laughs]
While you're doing that, legendary Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway will be telling a tale of a gang war in, "Spiral," a five-part story arc that runs through "Amazing Spider-Man" #16.1-20.1. What's that been like, seeing what he's been doing?
It's awesome! One of the coolest things about writing Spider-Man is, you kind of join a fraternity. You become part of this legacy of guys. You're part of the-great-big-everybody who's followed Stan Lee. Stan, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. created this mythos. Then, everyone afterwards gets to be the torchbearers. There's a kind of camaraderie in that. It's nice. It's been fun at shows to hang out with Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. I correspond every now and then with J.M. DeMatteis. When I was in Indianapolis for a signing, I got to hang out with Roger Stern.
One of the people who's really been the nicest to me has been Gerry Conway. When all of the craziness was happening around "Amazing Spider-Man" #700, Gerry was the guy who reached out to me and said, "You're the Spider-Man writer during the age of social media. I don't even want to think what would happen if social media existed when I killed Gwen Stacy."
We both got invited to the "Amazing Spider-Man 2" premiere party because I was the current guy, and since most of that movie used all of Gerry Conway's stuff, they rightfully invited him. What was real fun was the next morning, when we met up and traded notes. We sat down to big stacks of pancakes and had a lovely breakfast where we got to shoot the bull about Spider-Man. That's one of the nicest memories I'll ever have during my tenure as a Spider-Man writer.
We correspond every now and then, too. So when they said, "Gerry is coming on and he'd like to do a gang war story. He wants to use characters like the Wraith, and Mister Negative and Tombstone." I was like, "That sounds great! I totally want to read that."
That's also part of the fun. I get to sit back and read an arc of Spider-Man. And not just any arc of Spider-Man! I get to read an arc of Spider-Man written by Gerry Conway! That's awesome!
Then, of course, a little bit further down the line is "Secret Wars."
Here's the thing about "Secret Wars," sir. It's not called "Transparent Wars." It's called "Secret Wars." [Laughs] So we can not talk about "Secret Wars." Once we can talk about "Secret Wars" we'll talk about "Secret Wars." Just not right now, or they'll kill me.
It's Jonathan Hickman's baby. I can ruin my own stuff, but I'm not going to ruin his. Plus, he's been working on this for so long, we're keeping this pretty close to the vest. Who would have thought that Brian Michael Bendis would be writing a new "Old Man Logan?" Or that Sam Humphries would write "Planet Hulk" with a dinosaur-riding Captain America? You don't know what we've got coming next. Mwha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Extra images
Stay tuned to CBR News for more on the future of the Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham and the rest of the extended Spider-family.
"Spider-Gwen" #3 cover by Robbi Rodriguez.
Robbi Rodriguez's Spider-Gwen costume design was a hit with fans shortly after being introduced to the world last year, but at least one person wasn't quite satisfied at first glimpse: "Amazing Spider-Man" writer Dan Slott, who sparked the idea of a spider-powered Gwen Stacy appearing in the recently concluded "Spider-Verse" story.
"I described the Gwen Stacy costume in the old 'Superior Spider-Man' plot," Slott shared in an interview with CBR published earlier today. "The costume was very specific -- and it was just good luck that no one sent that to the 'Edge of Spider-Verse' team, so they came up with their own thing.
"In my head, I lived with this character for a year, and the visual I had for her was pretty much 'The Night Gwen Stacy Died' outfit, but all red and blue with web patterns and a half mask," Slott continued. "So you look at it and go, 'Hey! It's Gwen as Spider-Girl.' She had the trench coat, but instead of it being lime green, it'd be red with webs."
Though the now-famous look that the "Spider-Gwen" team of Rodriguez and writer Jason Latour wasn't what Slott originally had in mind, he admitted he's happy that things went the way they did.
"I so wanted that -- and since that was the character that was in my head, and even though these great designs came in, I was like, 'That's not Spider-Gwen!'" Slott said. "I was the one guy going, 'They have to change it!' Then I got to see what they were doing and I was so glad no one listened to me. [Laughs] Because this character is awesome! It's so much better. So that was some really great alchemy -- and luck."
In the same interview, Slott also disclosed that the creation of Spider-Punk was something of a happy accident.
"["Spider-Verse" artist Olivier Coipel] came up with the design we now know as Spider-Punk," Slott related. "He said, 'That's Spider UK.' I said, 'That's not Spider UK. He's supposed to be from the Captain Britain Corps. He should have the Union Jack and the Spider. This guy's all punk.' He was like, 'Yeah! It's all punk, and very London!'
"Olivier was bummed, because the Spider-Punk design was brilliant," Slott continued. "So I said, 'That's a great design! We will totally use it. We're creating all these new Spider-Men. So when we get to Doc Ock's army we'll put him there. He'll be one of Doc Ock's best henchmen and he'll be there all the time! We'll show you Spider-Punk non-stop! I promise you!'"
As a result, Spider-Punk has already extended beyond comic books -- he's a character in the "Spider-Man Unlimited" mobile game. Slott also discussed the end of "Spider-Verse," the fallout of that story and more, in in CBR's full interview with the longtime Spidey writer.
http://www.comicboards.com/php/show.php?msg=spidergirl-2015031022340947&layout=thread
Ron Frenz has posted the cover for the MC2 Secret Wars project...and it features classic Mayday on the cover (according to Frenz, this was something that was deliberately decided on by Nick Lowe, it's supposed to be "for the cover only"...why do I get the feeling this is one last big f-you to Slott?)
Jeff Loveness says his three-part story running through this week's Amazing Spider-Man Special #1 and the upcoming Inhuman Special #1 and All-New Captain America Special #1 represents "the Classic, the Old and the New." You might think Spider-Man is the "Classic" one, but what Loveness is referring to is a hero older than web-crawler -- older by decades.
Loveness, who spends his days writing for the late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, sat down to talk with us about this trio of specials that make up his first long-form comics work for Marvel. In it, he talks about what brings these disparate heroes together -- Red Raven.
Originally created in 1940 by Captain America co-creator Joe Simon and artist Luis Cazeneuve, Red Raven was one of Marvel's first heroes. For these specials, Loveness has seized upon a rarely-thought of plot thread connecting the Red Raven's homeland, the Aerie, as one of the lost cities of Inhumans. Now, with Inhumanity behind us, Red Raven is re-entering the world and bringing Spider-Man, the Inhumans, and All-New Captain America together in one of the most unlikely team-ups of the year.
Loveness also talked about his fondness for the late Inhuman Karnak, his ongoing inner-monologue, and the similarities between comedy writers and Spider-Man.
Newsarama: Jeff, what's going on in this trio of special issues you're doing for Inhuman, All-New Captain America, and Amazing Spider-Man.
Jeff Loveness:It’s a trilogy of specials which unites Spider-Man, the Inhumans, and the All-New Captain America against a threat hearkening back from the Golden Age of Marvel Comics. Each issue focuses on their particular point of view in the story and how they tackle this unforeseen disaster.
Nrama: What does it take to get such different characters together?
Loveness: The threat directly ties into the Inhumans. They’re the ones under siege in their new home on the Hudson River.
And well… Spider-Man’s everywhere. If there’s a problem in New York, he’s on top of it… perhaps annoyingly so. Your problems are his problems… mainly because he uses that as an excuse to not focus on his actual problems.
We’ll see it tie into Cap on an emotional level. Sam Wilson’s always had untapped psionic control when it comes to birds and avian creatures. When an island of savage bird-monsters attack New York, one would imagine Sam would feel some impact from that. I wanted to push those abilities as far as they can go.
Nrama: Who has been your favorite character to write as a part of this story so far?
Loveness: I’ve had a running Peter Parker monologue in my head since I was 4 years old… and I’ve kept it to the stage of my adult life where it’s embarrassing. (There was this one time in college... I was deeply in love with a girl. I made the plan to confess my eternal love for her. I had a speech and everything. I practiced. Later that day, I ran into her on the campus shuttle bus… where she introduced me to her new boyfriend. I legitimately fell down the stairs and out of the bus in shock. I muttered “Typical Parker luck” as they drove away… and they’re married now. So I guess it all worked out for everybody.)
What was the question again?
Nrama: You answered that one, even if you didn't know it. Let me try to get it out of you again -- what are this assembled group of heroes up against? Something or someoen Golden Age, but that's a very long list.
Loveness: The main threat comes from a locale that hasn’t popped up in Marvel Comics for quite a while. It’s an independent Inhuman settlement known as The Aerie, or “Sky-Island.” The continuity’s always been a little blurry on it. It was destroyed, then that was revealed to be a fake-out (comic books are so excellent at resurrection, aren’t they?) then it was just left alone for a while. This story brings it into the modern day.
Spidey, Cap and Medusa are going up against Red Raven, a forgotten hero from The Golden Age of Marvel. He was one of the very first Marvel characters. He’s older than Captain America. He fought alongside the Marvel heroes of World War II, but he never really took off in popularity. Outside of a few, continuity-fuzzy issues, he hasn’t been seen in a while… so what happened? Why does he suddenly hate the Inhumans so much?
Nrama: Speaking of mysteries, how’d you wind up getting the chance to write these three specials? You're entrenched in TV, but this is one of your first comic book works.
Loveness: I had done some one-off work for Marvel. I wrote a Broo and Iron Man team-up in A+X #17, and I wrote a short story for Death of Wolverine: Life After Logan about Cyclops reflecting on his complicated feelings about the mangy Canadian. That was an especially personal story for me. Cyclops is, flat-out, my favorite Marvel character. It was hard growing up as a Cyclops fan in the 90’s. There are, like, four Cyclops fans in the world. But we are resilient. The Cyclops and Wolverine relationship is my favorite thing in the Marvel Universe… it was truly an honor memorialize that.
And from there, I just assume Marvel editor Nick Lowe got violently drunk one night and offered me the 3-part specials in a cruel prank that accidentally went too far.
Nrama: You’ve written a few stories for Marvel at this point, but your background is actually in comedy. How has that informed the way you write these characters?
Loveness: It definitely helps, but I also wanted to push myself into more dramatic territory. Obviously, Spider-Man is known for his banter, but he’s also the most resilient character in the Marvel Universe. He’s the world’s greatest superhero for a reason. I didn’t want to shortchange Pete’s sense of loss with constant quips… so the trick was balancing that with his humor. He uses jokes as a coping mechanism for the tragedies he’s faced. Peter Parker is an immensely damaged person, but he’s learned to cope with his failures through selflessness and humor. Hopefully I found a balance there.
But the comedy background definitely helps. Marvel movies maintain a playful outlook on things… even in the midst of despair. I really admire that tone. Grand adventure goes well with a healthy does of comedy and fun, so it’s been nice to shift gears into macro-storytelling, but also fall back on my default comedy mode.
Nrama: The cast of Inhuman has gotten pretty large these days. Were there any characters you didn’t get a chance to write, but wanted to?
Loveness: I absolutely love Ms. Marvel. She’s the new Spider-Man. My favorite classic Inhuman was always Karnak… but sadly, he is no more. And I never turn down the opportunity to write a teleporting dog, but Lockjaw was a no-go as well. He’s hanging with Kamala.
There’s a lot going on with the Inhumans right now, so a few characters were off-limits. Black Bolt is pretty much on his own in the shadows (and dealing with Secret Wars stuff), along with Maximus… so while a lot of the top-shelf characters were unavailable, it gave me a chance to jump into this new crop of teenage Inhumans. How often do you get to write brand new characters untouched by decades of Marvel continuity? I love deciphering the Summers family tree continuity as much as anyone, but this is way easier.
Nrama: Speaking of the Inhumans, they have a higher profile right now than at any other point in their history, with multiple series and a movie on the horizon. How does it feel to be a part of that?
Loveness: I had no idea about the Inhuman movie when I took the job. So when I saw the announcement, I went “Oh… well I better not suck.”
I do not want to be the one to single-handedly derails the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If that happened, I don’t think I would allow myself to be a person on this planet anymore.
Nrama: Other than these specials, what have you got coming down the pike at Marvel?
Loveness: We just announced the Groot series. I’m still in the middle of writing that – but it’s turning out to be remarkably fun… and surprisingly poignant... at least for me. Who knows? People may burn photos of me in the streets in protest… but I like what I have so far. I was up late at 3AM, struggling with the script, when suddenly, something about Groot clicked in me… something made me relate so much to him. It made me both tremendously sad for him and profoundly lucky for the experience to write the story. I hope people like it. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just be a super annoying 25 year old and drop a David Foster Wallace quote that served as some inspiration for Groot: “How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it's just words.”
Nrama: Since the three chapters of your story are listed as “specials,” what do you think readers will find most “special” about them?
Loveness: I really like how all 3 specials tackle a different area of Marvel history: The Classic, the Old and the New.
I tried to structure the first issue like a classic Spider-Man adventure. There are girl problems. There are quips. There is peril. Spider-Man comics have some of the best story structure in the world, and I wanted to celebrate that, while also setting up the broader story to come.
The second part, Inhuman Special #1, presents the old clashing with the new. There have been so many status quo changes in the Marvel Universe recently –and many of those have had unintended consequences upon forgotten players. We bring back an old Marvel character – one of the absolute oldest. He confronts the heroes about the recklessness of their actions. All of our modern noise is destroying the old world… and maybe we should realize the damage we’re doing. Maybe having punch-contests with Thanos every other weekend hurts more innocent people than you realize.
The finale, All-New Captain America Special #3, celebrates the new. We’ve got a new Captain America. We’ve got a new crop of Inhumans with bold new stories to tell, and we’ve got plenty of new ways for Spider-Man to relate to readers of every background. I tried to fuse all of these reference points together in a way that’s weird, big, and hopefully fun to read…I’m thrilled to see what people think of it. Hopefully they like it, but once again… the “Burning my photo in the streets in protest” option is also available.
Marvel creates their first significant female asian american super hero in decades and it took them two issues to wrap her in tentacles.
bahahaha
You'd think the ninja styled costume would have been enough. This is like too much to be a coenadence, so you know some executive had to come over and be like "look we really need to appeal to the Asian audiences with this character... could you figure out a way to make her fight a tentacle monster."
Preview: Amazing Spider-Man #16.1 - OUT March 18th, 2015
GERRY CONWAY (W) • CARLO BARBERI (A) Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS VARIANT COVER BY TBA SPIRAL begins here! • The underworld is in a constant flux and has been since the Kingpin got taken out at SHADOWLAND. That war is heating up and Spidey’s going to do something about it. • But he’s not the only one-- Police Captain Yuri Watanabe is trying to curtail the madness both in her day job as a police office and as the vigilante THE WRAITH! • Do she and Spidey play by the same rules? |
Preview: Silk #2 - OUT March 18th, 2015
(W) Robbie Thompson (A) Stacey Lee (CA) Dave Johnson • Silk fights a familiar foe with metal tentacles! • And there's much you still don't know about Silk! Find more out here! |
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