CBR: Web of Secrets: Slott Talks Spider-Man

**CBR News** · 10-17-2008, 02:36 PM

With "Amazing Spider-Man" #573 in stores now, CBR spoke with writer Dan Slott
about all the bombshell revelations dropped in the issue as well as what's next in
the tumultuous world of Peter Parker. Plus <b>exclusive art!</b>

Full article here.

**TF_loki** · 10-17-2008, 03:52 PM

Damn, it's gonna be a long wait for that sub copy. It all looks interesting. I think they just made it an easy choice about renewing my subscription.

**icespider78** · 10-17-2008, 04:16 PM

New Way's to Die was a great read and i'm really excited about the direction of the book. I'm really enjoying ASM after what was a rocky start with BND, keep up the good work Dan (and everybody else).

And i'm glad to see that we are finally gonna get some hints about what's going on with Pete's identity.

P.S. Please Dan (or Mr. Slott if you're nasty) I NEED more MJ!!! help a brotha out!

**stillanerd** · 10-17-2008, 04:29 PM

Okay, if I understand Slott correctly, he's basically saying that not only what ever is in place caused everyone to forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but also it prevents anyone from putting two and two together to figure out Peter Parker is Spider-Man as well?

A while back, a poster on Newsarama speculated something along these lines after "Kraven's First Hunt" and seemed ludicrous at the time. That's because it pretty much says there really is no drama involved with anyone discovering Peter's secret identity. Basically, if we're reading what Slott is saying right, Peter got unmask in a public street, yell out "I'm Spider-Man" and everyone would think it's a gag. Or when he's fighting a villain and his mask gets torn off and it's witnessed by Aunt May, Jonah, Harry, Betty, etc. they'll somehow think he's not the real Spider-Man and that he's abusing Mutant Growth Hormones or something. Now, I can understand that it's hard to recreate the threat of having his identity exposed after the Unmasking, or that, if what ever prevented characters from figuring out Peter is Spider-Man wasn't in place would make them come across as stupid, but still, having some mysterious device or force involved to prevent them from putting two and two together? That's not only half-baked it kills what little drama is left of having his identity exposed again. And of course, we know darn well that whatever is in place will eventually be undone, so really it's nothing but an ongoing "mystery" that distracts from the overall stories themselves.

As for the Prometheus references with regards to Harry, I think anyone who knew a little about basic classical mythology got the reference from reading the latest issue and put it together, although I don't fault him for pointing it out in case there were those who did not.

Oh, and he basically is going with the emotional yo-yo explanation for Lily actions, which is understandable so as to not call attention to it taking place when Peter almost found the secret Goblin stash, and to some degree I believe that's partly what was happening with her as well. Problem is, considering what little character development we got from her prior to New Ways to Die, it still comes off as a bit forced.

Also, sorry to say, I'm really not all that impressed with the way he describes Brock as Anti-Venom and how he believes he's on a mission from God, now. Basically, all he's done is not just turn Brock into a Venom knockoff when he should be the original, not just revert him back to the "Lethal Protector" phase that all but ruined him in the 90s, but has basically made him into another cliched religious zealot villain.

All I can say is that, considering how much he's hyping "Character Assassination" these "mysteries" the Spidey braintrust have been dragging out better have a solid payoff.

**DeadXMan** · 10-17-2008, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by stillanerd

Okay, if I understand Slott correctly, he's basically saying that not only what ever is in place caused everyone to forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but also it prevents anyone from putting two and two together to figure out Peter Parker is Spider-Man as well?

A while back, a poster on Newsarama speculated something along these lines after "Kraven's First Hunt" and seemed ludicrous at the time. That's because it pretty much says there really is no drama involved with anyone discovering Peter's secret identity. Basically, if we're reading what Slott is saying right, Peter got unmask in a public street, yell out "I'm Spider-Man" and everyone would think it's a gag. Or when he's fighting a villain and his mask gets torn off and it's witnessed by Aunt May, Jonah, Harry, Betty, etc. they'll somehow think he's not the real Spider-Man

you do know that has happen before, right?

**Shade 20x6** · 10-17-2008, 04:50 PM

“In Greek mythology, Prometheus is the bringer of life and fire,” Slott explained. “The gods punished him for his crimes by chaining him to a rock where his innards were eaten by an eagle and would constantly grow back. What character have we seen chained to the rock? What character was used for strange medical experiments? Then there's the fire reference. There's a lot to Prometheus.

Molten Man?

**ZeoVGM** · 10-17-2008, 04:56 PM

A big changing to the MU from the Spidey books? Nice.

**stillanerd** · 10-17-2008, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by DeadXMan

you do know that has happen before, right?

With Doc Ock, sure, and the rationale was that Peter was sick and so didn't have his Spider strength, making it so that when he was unmasked, the belief was he was trying to save Betty by pretending to be Spider-Man since he was at the Bugle when Doc Ock made his challenge. The difference here is that the implication is there is some mysterious force which prevents people from drawing this conclusion, thus reducing the drama of having his identity exposed whereas before, there was the drama of "gee, how does Peter get out of this one?" So, what's the point of Peter even trying to hide he's Spider-Man at all? Technically, he can strip out of his clothes into his Spidey costume and web sling away in the middle of Times Square and nobody would think anything of it, much less remember who he is. That's how ridiculous it can become, in my opinion.

**Shade 20x6** · 10-17-2008, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by ZeoVGM

A big changing to the MU from the Spidey books? Nice.

What, the whole divergent timeline that OMD created wasn't a big enough change to the MU?

**Hertz** · 10-17-2008, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by DeadXMan

you do know that has happen before, right?

When did that happen?

**CMBMOOL** · 10-17-2008, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by stillanerd

Okay, if I understand Slott correctly, he's basically saying that not only what ever is in place caused everyone to forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but also it prevents anyone from putting two and two together to figure out Peter Parker is Spider-Man as well?

A while back, a poster on Newsarama speculated something along these lines after "Kraven's First Hunt" and seemed ludicrous at the time. That's because it pretty much says there really is no drama involved with anyone discovering Peter's secret identity. Basically, if we're reading what Slott is saying right, Peter got unmask in a public street, yell out "I'm Spider-Man" and everyone would think it's a gag. Or when he's fighting a villain and his mask gets torn off and it's witnessed by Aunt May, Jonah, Harry, Betty, etc. they'll somehow think he's not the real Spider-Man and that he's abusing Mutant Growth Hormones or something. Now, I can understand that it's hard to recreate the threat of having his identity exposed after the Unmasking, or that, if what ever prevented characters from figuring out Peter is Spider-Man wasn't in place would make them come across as stupid, but still, having some mysterious device or force involved to prevent them from putting two and two together? That's not only half-baked it kills what little drama is left of having his identity exposed again. And of course, we know darn well that whatever is in place will eventually be undone, so really it's nothing but an ongoing "mystery" that distracts from the overall stories themselves.

As for the Prometheus references with regards to Harry, I think anyone who knew a little about basic classical mythology got the reference from reading the latest issue and put it together, although I don't fault him for pointing it out in case there were those who did not.

Oh, and he basically is going with the emotional yo-yo explanation for Lily actions, which is understandable so as to not call attention to it taking place when Peter almost found the secret Goblin stash, and to some degree I believe that's partly what was happening with her as well. Problem is, considering what little character development we got from her prior to New Ways to Die, it still comes off as a bit forced.

Also, sorry to say, I'm really not all that impressed with the way he describes Brock as Anti-Venom and how he believes he's on a mission from God, now. Basically, all he's done is not just turn Brock into a Venom knockoff when he should be the original, not just revert him back to the "Lethal Protector" phase that all but ruined him in the 90s, but has basically made him into another cliched religious zealot villain.

All I can say is that, considering how much he's hyping "Character Assassination" these "mysteries" the Spidey braintrust have been dragging out better have a solid payoff.

I must admit I agree with you Stillanerd, and this is coming from a fan of Slott's Spider-man work.

I mean just how low can Marvel go to in order for them to see that they are messing up Spidey?

**Shade 20x6** · 10-17-2008, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by CMBMOOL

I must admit I agree with you Stillanerd, and this is coming from a fan of Slott's Spider-man work.

I mean just how low can Marvel go to in order for them to see that they are messing up Spidey?

Regardless of Marvel's official stance, if sales drop far enough, they WILL change things. Marvel is a business first and foremost. All you can do is stop buying it and hope that enough other people do the same to put a significant dent in their profit margins.

**Dr. Chaos** · 10-17-2008, 05:27 PM

“Not only do people not seem to know, but you can have Anna Kravinoff discover a Spider-Man costume in Peter Parker's apartment and think it belongs to his room mate Vin Gonzales,” Slott continued. “You can have Venom sitting right in front of Peter Parker in his apartment and not detect symbiote residue in Peter Parker. Yet Anti-Venom can sense it in Spider-Man. You have Norman Osborn finding Peter Parker's camera webbed to a wall with Spider-Man pictures on it and he goes, 'Ah-ha! I've got it! Spider-Man takes pictures of himself and uses Peter Parker as a front!' So Something fishy is going on here.”

*rolls eyes before sighing and covering face in palm*

I can live with the fact that Peter wiped everybody even though I would rather it just been everybody post civil war (though that would have made stories like NWTD harder to pull off admittedly) but the idea as I've said before of people having magic butterfingers when it comes to uncovering his identity pisses me off.

In comic book worlds where people are stupid enough not to see through disguises that consist purely of a nice suit and glasses, it's not needed regardless of it's mystical expiration date.

It's the type of thing that almost makes me sort of understand why the anti-amazing crowd bitch about magic so much.

(I mention magic because I'm running on the assumption this is mystic arts/Dr. Strange related)

Originally Posted by ZeoVGM

A big changing to the MU from the Spidey books? Nice.

If Norman is running for/becoming President like I think he is, it better be. It's not something they could really do a three issue arc about and then put their hands up in the air and say "done" about.

**QCCBob** · 10-17-2008, 05:51 PM

This is like the comic book editing/writing version of the old Telephone game. You know, I whisper a 'secret' and everybody repeats it until the last person says it out loud and everybody laughs when they find out how it started compared to how it ended. These guys sit around and tell each other what they're gonna do in the book and nobody bothers to actually put it all in the book, but the writers know what's supposed to be there. No wonder it's got a 50/50 variant cover now. Before long, more people will be complaining more about the illogic and uneven feel to the book than the Mephisto nonsense...

By the time they get around to making up whatever nonsense that explains what stopped the wedding, how his identity is secret, how Harry came back from the dead, and so on, will anybody still care?