CBR News: Interview with Roger Stern

[CBR News]

In this week's “Amazing Spider-Man� #580, veteran Spidey scribe Roger Stern
returns to the character after an eight-year absence. We talk with Stern about the
issue, how it feels to be back, and what's next.


Full article here.

[TF_loki]

The Blank! The guy had a pretty good visual back in the day. And since he's been barely used in 20 odd years you can do anything with him. There's a little overlap in powerset with Slyde but I think Uncle Rog is right....lotta potential as a Spidey villain. Good call, I'm psyched.

[kalorama]

Roger Stern and Lee Weeks? I stopped caring about or paying any attention to SM ages ago, but I'll have to check this out.

[Karl Cook]

Roger Stern and Lee Weeks? I stopped caring about or paying any attention to SM ages ago, but I'll have to check this out.

I'm getting this tomorrow... can't wait! Uncle Rog has been gone way too long.

[James Conniff]

The issue was (dare I say ) Amazing. It has been far too long since Uncle Rog showed up to penn a Spider-tale. The Blank is a great addition to Spidey's Rouges gallery. A villain Spidey can't hurt or have his webbing stick to fits perfectly into Spidey's rogues gallery...and I could see him getting drafted by Mr. Negative(he does fit the whole Black and white motiff). Blank even has a motivation beyond "An Experiment went wrong, I BLAME SPIDER-MAN!" Sterndoes a good job of humanising this villain, to the point where you kinda feel bad for him even while you root for Spidey to catch him.

And Lee Weeks' art is just great in the issue. Great character work, solid action and some classic high swinging panals that show Spidey moving about the city and fighting like the Spectacular Spider-man he is. Great stuff.

[stillanerd]

The issue was (dare I say ) Amazing. It has been far too long since Uncle Rog showed up to penn a Spider-tale. The Blank is a great addition to Spidey's Rouges gallery. A villain Spidey can't hurt or have his webbing stick to fits perfectly into Spidey's rogues gallery...and I could see him getting drafted by Mr. Negative(he does fit the whole Black and white motiff). Blank even has a motivation beyond "An Experiment went wrong, I BLAME SPIDER-MAN!" Sterndoes a good job of humanising this villain, to the point where you kinda feel bad for him even while you root for Spidey to catch him.

Well, the Molten Man is also someone whom Spidey's webbing can't stick to either. Although he does fit the "David and Golitah" motiff Stern brought up when he was the regular writer for Amazing Spider-Man.

Interestingly enough, I think this is the first time the Blank has appeared in a Marvel Comic book since West Coast Avengers #3--which was WAY back in 1984. And since his last appearance involved being flung into the Pacific Ocean, all this time, it was assumed Blank was dead.

[James Conniff]

Well, the Molten Man is also someone whom Spidey's webbing can't stick to either. Although he does fit the "David and Golitah" motiff Stern brought up when he was the regular writer for Amazing Spider-Man.

Jugs fits the Goliath role a bit better than Blank though. Blank is just a guy that spidey can't keep his hands or webbing on. Makes him a trickier foe to keep tangled. I'm a fan of that. He isn't any stonger than a reguar guy, but Spidey can't hurt him or stop him very easily. Maybe a David and...well I can't really think of an appropriate Biblical character topair against Peter's David.

Interestingly enough, I think this is the first time the Blank has appeared in a Marvel Comic book since West Coast Avengers #3--which was WAY back in 1984. And since his last appearance involved being flung into the Pacific Ocean, all this time, it was assumed Blank was dead.

It was almost like a new origin story for him(that stays perfectly in line with previous continuity. A great reintroduction into the Marvel Universe.

[hysang]

Roger Stern on Spider-Man? He was *the* Spider-Man writer for me, as far as I was concerned...I'll be checking this out.

[cpahl2000]

Roger Stern and Lee Weeks? I stopped caring about or paying any attention to SM ages ago, but I'll have to check this out.

[The Shadow]

Great interview!

Loved Stern's comments about no marriage.

[ZeoVGM]

Honestly, while I think ASM is the best its been in years, I've always thought killing the marraige was lame.

But lately, with writers like him coming out and putting it in such a fashion, I'm changing my mind. Slowly, but changing none the less.

[David Walton]

Great interview!

Loved Stern's comments about no marriage.

Me, not so much, but oh well. Stern's very amicable about it.

I also think he has a unique angle. Whereas a lot of creators speak about the marriage from an analytical perspective (i.e. does it handle better?), Stern genuinely lost interest in the character after the marriage.

[ShaggyB]

Me, not so much, but oh well. Stern's very amicable about it.

I also think he has a unique angle. Whereas a lot of creators speak about the marriage from an analytical perspective (i.e. does it handle better?), Stern genuinely lost interest in the character after the marriage.

I grew up on the marriage but i always liked the classic issues before the marriage better.... so i can say i agree with him on his statements.

[die_yng]

I really liked Stern's Spider-man, but for me Spidey sans marriage remains a no go.
As far as Stern's comment about marriage / no marriage, you really think a creator working on Spidey today is going to say:"I really think brand new day sucked and it's probably the worst idea ever..."???

We don't know what any creator thinks on the matter, just what they are letting the public know.
Now I don't mean in any way that Roger Stern isn't expressing his opinion, just want to remind readers not to take anything being said in these interviews at face value.

[James Conniff]

I really liked Stern's Spider-man, but for me Spidey sans marriage remains a no go.
As far as Stern's comment about marriage / no marriage, you really think a creator working on Spidey today is going to say:"I really think brand new day sucked and it's probably the worst idea ever..."???

We don't know what any creator thinks on the matter, just what they are letting the public know.
Now I don't mean in any way that Roger Stern isn't expressing his opinion, just want to remind readers not to take anything being said in these interviews at face value.

I'm not going to question Uncle Rog's honesty. He has been pretty straight forward form the get go about his opinions here and i think there is no reason to doubt his sincerity on the matter.