Can Spider-Man be a weekly comic book?

[Mister Mets]

There's been talk that Marvel will try to make their own weekly series after the success of 52. It would make sense for them to just turn one of their pre-existing franchises (Avengers, X-Men, and of course- Spider-Man) into the weekly book.

The way the series works would be that each writer/ artist team does a complete story, followed by the next team. For instance- in a six month period, JMS/ Garney may do a five issue arc, followed by 1 issue of Beland/ Phillips, followed by 1 issue of Lee Weeks, followed by 2 issues of David/ Sarcosa, followed by 3 issues of Sacasa/ Medina, followed by 4 issues of Simone/ Coipel, followed by 1 issue of JMS/Garney, followed by 1 issue of Slott/Silvestri, followed by 4 issues of David/Medina, followed by 3 issues of Sacasa/Medina. Then the next six months can begin with a six issue JMS/Garney arc followed by........

The writers would work together a bit to make sure they can work with the developments others make. There may be a chief architect who does more work than the others/ functions as editor. The regular writers may contribute to the work of others, developing subplots, etc.

I see several pros, and cons. I'll post them soon.
But do you guys think something like is feasible, or even preferable to the current model?

[Joe Acro]

It is theoretically possible. He has had four titles (or more) in the past. Changing that into a weekly format under the same title wouldn't be too different. The biggest change would be the flow of story arcs. Perhaps we could have one start and finish in the same month.

An interesting item that may add support to this notion is the fact that Quesada has stated that there will be something involving Spider-Man next year that will "lighten our wallets."

[Mister Mets]

One more thing about how it would work out. All Spider-Man books except Amazing Spider-Man get cancelled. Amazing Spider-Man remains, except it just becomes a weekly book.

Pros:
It's good for more than monthly artists who may be constrained by the monthly format, and can handle 16 issues an year.
It also provides many opportunities for artists who can't do a monthly book (ie- Lee Weeks) or for artists already on a monthly book, and capable of drawing even more issues (ie- Sean Phillips.)
It encourages co-operation between writers.
There's less of a wait between cliffhangers, which makes decompression more acceptable.
Because there wouldn't be 3-4 Spider-Man arcs occuring simoltaneously, Marvel would have an easier type time hyping each arc one at a time.
Marvel has the benefit of a 25th anniversary issue every six months, and a 50th anniversary once an year.
The format encourages experimentation, and exposes readers to new creators, and gives opportunities for new creators.
There are more opportunities to deal with events in other books.
It encourages cheaper comics, because every weekly book so far (US War Machine, 52, etc) has been at least 50 cents per issue cheaper than the monthly books.
It's also an alternative to the old monthly comic that's been done for the last sixty-five years.
The lower-selling creators (and books that would ordinarily be one-shots) would see an improvement in sales.
Readers would never have difficulty knowing when the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man is coming out.
No more crossovers.

Cons:
Writers/ artists can not be late, as it will delay the projects of others.
Out of continuity projects wouldn't be included in this, so you'd easily have more than four Spider-Man books a month.
It hinders creativity, as the writers have to deal with the developments of other writers far more closely than if they were all on seperate books.
Encouraging readers to buy a Spider-Man book a week (as opposed to how readers can currently just follow Amazing Spider-Man) will be hell on the wallet. It may also discourage readers from picking up arcs by creators they would ordinarily follow.
There's a longer wait between arcs by your favorite creators. If JMS/ Garney do a six issue arc (assuming they can create one issue a month) that means you probably won't see anything by them for another 4 1/2 months (18 issues) which also complicates their longer arcs.
It requires more lead time for creators (at least at first), since Marvel can't begin an arc until they have every issue finished. There will be an initial loss of a few months of a productivity
The need to fill 52 issues an year, means that Marvel may have to settle for crappier work by crappier creators. Experiments/ new creators can easily fail. It also encourages padding, when the writers know they have to produce 52 issues an year, and an embarassing hole in the schedule can be resolved by turning a 5 issue arc into an 8 issue arc.
The differences between creators may be jarring, especially in TPB form. TPBs featuring the most popular creators may feature a decline in sales, if they also include the work of the less popular creators. For instance, a JMS fan will be less inclined to buy a seven issue trade with 3 issues of content by him, and 4 issues by other guys.
The architect writer will become more powerful, so if you hate that guy, you'll have more difficulty enjoying the other books than you currently do.
It's more glaringly obvious, when the co-ordination between writers fail, and one arc suddenly contradicts the developments of another.

Any other pros/cons I haven't mentioned?

[GrandMaster Funk]

I don't know, the attraction for me in 52 other than it being weekly is that we get to see all corners of the Universe. With just having one main character that's a bit different for me.

[TassleTREX]

I don't know, the attraction for me in 52 other than it being weekly is that we get to see all corners of the Universe. With just having one main character that's a bit different for me.

Agreed, I see it being similar to 52 in that it will focus on the Marvel Universe recovering from the events of its massive crossover. Maybe a year of Civil War: Aftermath, where they explore every corner of the Marvel Universe and how the new status quo affects it, and also, unlike 52, keep it running in continuity with the weekly comics so that as things build toward the next big crossover, you see the foundations being laid on a weekly basis. I think that'd be really cool.

[spacy]

i personally don't see a single weekly book. A fourth book might be more possible

[MakeshiftHero]

I'd be all for it, count me in.

[MicroZone]

Superman did this for years under the four separate monthlies. They even added a quarterly series to fill in during the months with five shipping days. Worked pretty well from what I recall. Other than specific story arcs, each series still had it own identity, with it's own set of supporting cast members. It was just set so that each week's book was set after the previous week's book. they even added a secondary cover numbering to each book so that you'd know what order to read them in if you didn't buy your comics every week.

[Mister Mets]

Superman did this for years under the four separate monthlies. They even added a quarterly series to fill in during the months with five shipping days. Worked pretty well from what I recall. Other than specific story arcs, each series still had it own identity, with it's own set of supporting cast members. It was just set so that each week's book was set after the previous week's book. they even added a secondary cover numbering to each book so that you'd know what order to read them in if you didn't buy your comics every week.
The problem with that format is that it prevents the writers from doing longer storylines by themselves, which is what current writers often want to do. It also prevents writers from dealing with the immediate aftermath of their own storylines, as other writers would have to do that (unless the writers briefly swap books, at which point the seperate titles thing become pointless.)
Although it does prove the viability of making Spider-Man (arguably a more popular character) into a weekly comic.

[Cody H]

I'd be all for a Spider-Man comic each week, in theory. I'd like to be able to finish a six part storyline in less than a month as oppose to say, six months because if the storyline is uninteresting or disappointing, you have months of it to endure, as oppose to a few weeks. I do see a few problems though.

First off, if we've got 4 different creative teams, there will be difficulties with writers being able to craft long term or stand alone storylines as they'd be obligated to continue from the previous week's story. If you look back to the clone storyline where they were doing interlocking stories, this was one of the problems.

It also has it's downside when there's an artist you don't like on a particular title. Again, this was a problem for me during the clone storyline as I pretty much despised Sal Buscema's artwork but I was compelled to pick up Spectacular because I wanted the whole story.

I guess I'd say no to the idea of one ongoing title, but I'd love it if they arranged shipping so that a new Spider-Man comic comes up every week.

[phantom1592]

I think something like this would be perfect for someone like Bendis. Someone who nomally takes 6 months to tell a simple story, can now do it in less than two months. It would make reading some of his stuff a lot better.

I would say put ONE writer on a book like this, with about 2 or three artists. As long as they all fit the style of writting without too much discrepency it could work. For a while there Ultimate spiderman was coming out probably bi-weekly. My biggest problem with Decompression is (like Avengers Disassembled) It takes 4 months to get through ONE Comic DAY. If you want that many pages to tell a story, fine. but do it in a MONTH :)

Considering all these writers who are working on 3-5 books every month, they should easily be able to work on one solo book weekly, as long as the art can keep up.

[The Confessor]

I really like the idea of a '52' style weekly comic from Marvel but I'm not convinced it should be an exclusively Spider-Man title. ASM, FNSM & SSM all seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment and I'd hate to see quality slip due to deadline pressures.

A title that explores the whole 616 universe like TassleTREX suggested earlier in this thread would be a much more appropriate use of the amount of issues a project like this would produce IMO.

Thing is though, Marvel have had enough trouble producing monthly comics on time recently. Look at Civil War for instance!

[Black Atom]

They should tackle writing good Spider-Man stories every MONTH, then we'll talk.

[Chris S.]

I would agree with Black Atom, but add a little. Don't we already have four spidey titles a month if you count USM? If these books came out on each diffrent week it would seem as if we had a weekly spidey book. We don't need four issues of ASM, rather one good issue of ASM, FNH, SSM, USM. Thus we have weekly spidey books.

I would also add that I started a thread about how Spidey should only carry one to two books monthly. I think over writing has caused sloppy, forced stories. Filler issues drive me crazy.

Thus no I don't think spidey can carry a weekly comic.

[Joe Acro]

I would also add that I started a thread about how Spidey should only carry one to two books monthly. I think over writing has caused sloppy, forced stories. Filler issues drive me crazy.
I think the biggest proof of this is that, at one time, even Marvel realized it was bad idea, creatively, to have so many titles. Hence, we got a reboot in 2000.

[Taltos]

They should tackle writing good Spider-Man stories every MONTH, then we'll talk.
the thing is, with this way they have four chances a month to satisfy you. Additionally, with the knowledge that the next issue is only 7 days away, the expectations you have for each issue will lower as will your disappointment. One only hopes that the writers expectations do not lower as well, i doubt it because they should get the same amount of time to create.

[Mister Mets]

I'd be all for a Spider-Man comic each week, in theory. I'd like to be able to finish a six part storyline in less than a month as oppose to say, six months because if the storyline is uninteresting or disappointing, you have months of it to endure, as oppose to a few weeks. I do see a few problems though.

First off, if we've got 4 different creative teams, there will be difficulties with writers being able to craft long term or stand alone storylines as they'd be obligated to continue from the previous week's story. If you look back to the clone storyline where they were doing interlocking stories, this was one of the problems.

It also has it's downside when there's an artist you don't like on a particular title. Again, this was a problem for me during the clone storyline as I pretty much despised Sal Buscema's artwork but I was compelled to pick up Spectacular because I wanted the whole story.

I guess I'd say no to the idea of one ongoing title, but I'd love it if they arranged shipping so that a new Spider-Man comic comes up every week.
One rule with the interlocking stories. The writers would be able to finish their own storyline, so the next guy can begin with their own new arc. It may not be any different than JMS's first Amazing Spider-Man arc being followed by Paul Jenkin's first Peter Parker Spider-Man arc, except by the same writers. Writers may touch on subplots of other writers, although many don't seem to use that storytelling technique anyway (* cough cough JMS)


I think something like this would be perfect for someone like Bendis. Someone who nomally takes 6 months to tell a simple story, can now do it in less than two months. It would make reading some of his stuff a lot better.

I would say put ONE writer on a book like this, with about 2 or three artists. As long as they all fit the style of writting without too much discrepency it could work. For a while there Ultimate spiderman was coming out probably bi-weekly. My biggest problem with Decompression is (like Avengers Disassembled) It takes 4 months to get through ONE Comic DAY. If you want that many pages to tell a story, fine. but do it in a MONTH :)

Considering all these writers who are working on 3-5 books every month, they should easily be able to work on one solo book weekly, as long as the art can keep up.
I think putting one writer is a bad move, as it prevents that writer from working on other books, prevents other good writers from working on the best character in comics, and screws over people who just don't like the work of that one writer (readers who could otherwise just buy the issues without the writer.)

[phantom1592]

I think putting one writer is a bad move, as it prevents that writer from working on other books, prevents other good writers from working on the best character in comics, and screws over people who just don't like the work of that one writer (readers who could otherwise just buy the issues without the writer.)

It might be nice to get some new blood on the other books. ONE writer doing ALL of Marvel is getting a little Ridiculous. I wouldn't have a problem with there being MORE than one Spiderman book. But the One Weekly, should be a single writer. Having 4 people tell one story will just get to be a mess

[littleredhat]

Sounds wonderfull. Spidey is my favorite and I hate the way his story is currently being told.

Having to work out continuty constantly for a single character is awfull.

I would much prefer one spidey story very fast than a half dozen all at the same time.

Think about it. Say you were to read the lord of the rings to somone,you wouldn't read them a chapter from each seperate book on alternateing nights would you?

No you would tell it in the order of which it happened.

I say Marvel should go for it. Its the best idea I've heard in a while.:D

[Mister Mets]

It might be nice to get some new blood on the other books. ONE writer doing ALL of Marvel is getting a little Ridiculous. I wouldn't have a problem with there being MORE than one Spiderman book. But the One Weekly, should be a single writer. Having 4 people tell one story will just get to be a mess
It wouldn't be 4 people tell one story.
For the most part, each writer would tell their own story, followed by the next writer's story. There may be more cases of writers cooperating on a story, but it would be something smaller, such as one writer using four pages of another writer's story to further a subplot.
Multiple writers are used in movies and television, so it shoudln't result in a mess.

[phantom1592]

It wouldn't be 4 people tell one story.
For the most part, each writer would tell their own story, followed by the next writer's story. There may be more cases of writers cooperating on a story, but it would be something smaller, such as one writer using four pages of another writer's story to further a subplot.
Multiple writers are used in movies and television, so it shoudln't result in a mess.


Well then that's no real difference than what we already have. Writers have a hard time staying in one place more than an arc or two.


As long as we don't get what we had on Superman in the 90's with the little triangles each week of four seperate but overlaping stories. That was a mess to read.

[Mister Mets]

bump.

Because it pretty much ended up happening.

[Chris N]

bump.

Because it pretty much ended up happening.

You're quite the seer.

[scottv]

As long as the series is good and it gets put out on time. They aren't the most reliable for getting things out when they say they will. I wouldn't mind seeing this happen.

[captain_unimpressive]

DC should go this route. No more "Read (comic)#87, read (comic)#12, and read (comic)#14 if you want to have any idea of what's going on--keep stories self-contained, like in 52.

[Labman]

I'm always up for more spidey. Pushing all the titles into a single weekly deal sounds excellent.

[Ult. Fireboy]

I don't think that they need another Spider-Man title coming out. Especially one that comes out every week.

[Mister Mets]

I don't think that they need another Spider-Man title coming out. Especially one that comes out every week.
The idea here was that all the side titles would be canceled, except for Amazing Spider-Man which would go weekly.

This is what pretty much ended up happening, except Marvel decided to publish Amazing three times a month, which makes it easier to publish one more monthly Spider-Man title.

This allows them to use popular but less reliable creators for a more accessible book (ie- an Astonishing Spider-Man to complement Astonishing X-Men) and/ or story ideas which wouldn't work as well in Amazing Spider-man (ie- a team-up title.)

[Mister Mets]

DC should go this route. No more "Read (comic)#87, read (comic)#12, and read (comic)#14 if you want to have any idea of what's going on--keep stories self-contained, like in 52.

That problem has nothing to do with the books being monthly as opposed to weekly, but DC being unable to keep the books self-contained.