CBR: Dan Slott Talks Amazing Spider-Man

[CBR News]

He meets America's new president in this week's “Amazing Spider-Man� #583,
and in the coming weeks Spider-Man will tangle with Wolverine, the Fantastic
Four and Anti-Venom. CBR spoke with writer Dan Slott about all things Spidey.


Full article here.

[Matt Linton]

Really good interview. I didn't realize Bachalo was drawing Slott's Anti-Venom story in BND: Extra, but that ensures that I'll be picking it up. The Spidey/FF arc sounds good, too.

[stillanerd]

Harry's return to Spider-Man's world is something that Slott and many of his fellow “Amazing” creators felt would have happened regardless of the status quo shake up in the wake of “One More Day.”

So they admit that not everything requires that Spider-Man had to be single to tell these kind of stories? Score one for the Anti-BND fans!

“I have this Mysterio story that I want to tell,” the writer revealed. “When we pick up with him later in the year, he doesn't have a new status quo, but he's got a new hook. He's still everything you love about Mysterio but what he's doing with his abilities is kind of cool. So I suddenly went, 'Wait a minute? What if we seeded that here? That could solve everything. So Mysterio does a number of things and tells Norman that he has to pretend to go along with it. I knew there was a scene where Norman visited Harry's grave side, but that instance didn't bug me because I knew if Norman was in on faking Harry's death, he would have to put on a performance to fool anyone that might be following or keeping tabs on him. Even if it looked he might be alone, he had to keep up the pretense.

Yeah, I figured Quentin Beck eventual return was on the horizon because of that flashback. And I'm wondering if when Slott talks about what Mysterio is doing with his abilities is that Mysterio can now make his illusions real--considering that Mysterio never actually had abilities to begin with because his "powers" were all suped up special effects, mechanics, electronics, and chemicals. It also makes me think that, maybe, there could be something to my "Bobby Carr is really Mysterio back from the dead and in disguise theory."

“On a fun aside, last week I got a call from Glenn Greenberg, the writer of ‘The Osborn Journal.’ And he said, ‘I wanted to let you know, you did it. That was the best possible way to bring Harry Back.’ When I pointed out to him that my solution made his issue crazy ‘lies’ that Norman was telling himself, Glenn said he totally bought that and, ‘If anyone gives you grief for it tell ‘em Glenn Greenberg, the writer of ‘The Osborn Journal’, says it works!’”

Well, that's really cool getting Greenberg's endorsement. Course, considering how the Osborn Journal also said Norman had nothing to do with Aunt May's death, it was pretty much unreliable anyway. :D

[ShaggyB]

So they admit that not everything requires that Spider-Man had to be single to tell these kind of stories? Score one for the Anti-BND fans!

was that ever in question when they said it wasnt part of OMD?

Yeah, I figured Quentin Beck eventual return was on the horizon because of that flashback. And I'm wondering if when Slott talks about what Mysterio is doing with his abilities is that Mysterio can now make his illusions real--considering that Mysterio never actually had abilities to begin with because his "powers" were all suped up special effects, mechanics, electronics, and chemicals. It also makes me think that, maybe, there could be something to my "Bobby Carr is really Mysterio back from the dead and in disguise theory."

i like that twist. it'd be fun

Well, that's really cool getting Greenberg's endorsement. Course, considering how the Osborn Journal also said Norman had nothing to do with Aunt May's death, it was pretty much unreliable anyway. :D

lol too true.... but im guessing the norman lies so much he believes himself theory still holds......

[ShaggyB]

another important thing to take away is Issue #600 seems like it will no longer deal with the break up.......

Also something happens in the Spidey / FF team up that is big for the Marvel universe

and to round all that out......

ASM will tie into Dark Reign in some form......

[Mister Mets]

I'm sure this was considered internally, but it bothers me a bit that Marvel's releasing two 22 page stories (and the Jiminez Ana Kraven thing) in Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2, when the projects would sell significantly more copies (and allow Marvel to charge $2-$3 more) as two issues of Amazing Spider-Man. I find it weird that Marvel's giving up the opportunity to make a significant amount of money. It's not a matter of protecting the Amazing Spider-Man brand, as all five creators worked on the title before. And I understand that it's giving customers more bang for their buck, but as sales of Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1 demonstrated, the customers don't seem to care.

[Matt Linton]

Putting those stories into Amazing Spider-Man would affect the pacing on that book, which has already been a complaint.

[Ronin1108]

i'm really hoping for some big mood changer in the upcoming months, and hope in the FF mini Somehow Spidey's deal gets brought to light. It'll be interesting to see what they do with how he operates with Dark Reign...

[stillanerd]

I'm sure this was considered internally, but it bothers me a bit that Marvel's releasing two 22 page stories (and the Jiminez Ana Kraven thing) in Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2, when the projects would sell significantly more copies (and allow Marvel to charge $2-$3 more) as two issues of Amazing Spider-Man. I find it weird that Marvel's giving up the opportunity to make a significant amount of money. It's not a matter of protecting the Amazing Spider-Man brand, as all five creators worked on the title before. And I understand that it's giving customers more bang for their buck, but as sales of Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1 demonstrated, the customers don't seem to care.

Putting on my conspiracy theory tin foil hat again, I'm wondering if this has anything to do with wanting to wrap up all the loose ends in Brand New Day before issue #600 comes out, because if these full length stories were released as full length issues of Amazing rather than being part of Brand New Day Extra, they would end up going past issue #600 where they want to wrap things up and foster another change in direction for Spider-Man.

EDIT: Not to mention what Matt Linton said in that it would drag out the pacing even further.

[Matt Linton]

i'm really hoping for some big mood changer in the upcoming months, and hope in the FF mini Somehow Spidey's deal gets brought to light. It'll be interesting to see what they do with how he operates with Dark Reign...

"Character Assassination", with the death of a supporting character and the revelation of Menace's identity might do that.

[Mister Mets]

Putting those stories into Amazing Spider-Man would affect the pacing on that book, which has already been a complaint.

Not sure I buy that.

The Anti-Venom and Kraven stories will both move forward several plots.

[Dr. Chaos]

“What's nice about 'Extra,' though, is that's now the book where we can do stuff like that. If people want to know more about this one story element, or if a certain character is gaining traction we can do stories featuring them in 'Extra.'”

Soooo ...the next place we'll be seeing Norah is in Extra?

Slott further described the story as a big cosmic adventure where the two people most likely to come to blows are Spider-Man and the Human Torch, and said the end would be of interest not just to Spider-fans, but to Marvel Comics readers in general. “You always hear this in every interview or read it in every solicit, but oh my god is this a big game changing story!” the writer promised. “By the end of this two-parter, something has happened, and it's so big that it will be reflected in almost every Marvel book down the line! And it all happens in this story!”

Everybody who knew before Civil War remembers?

Please, God.

[Mister Mets]

Putting those stories into Amazing Spider-Man would affect the pacing on that book, which has already been a complaint.

Not sure I buy that.

The Anti-Venom and Kraven stories will both move forward several plots.

[Matt Linton]

Not sure I buy that.

The Anti-Venom and Kraven stories will both move forward several plots.

At the expense of other plots. Given the number of plots and subplots they're juggling, the number of creators (which includes coordinating the availability of different writers and artists), and presumably a desire to have at least a few "downtime" stories in between the big arcs, it makes sense to have ASM: Extra as a place to showcase stories that they can't fit into ASM.

Let's say they have a Slott/Bachalo Anti-Venom story done, but the schedule on ASM is already full with "Mind on Fire", "Character Assassination", etc. Do they hold off on printing the Anti-Venom story until they have an open slot? Do they bump Character Assassination back on the schedule to make room for it, thus delaying the revelation of Menace's identity even further?

At this point, even if the ASM Extra's sell at the level of FNSM it's still a win for them.

[stephen wacker]

I'm sure this was considered internally, but it bothers me a bit that Marvel's releasing two 22 page stories (and the Jiminez Ana Kraven thing) in Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2, when the projects would sell significantly more copies (and allow Marvel to charge $2-$3 more) as two issues of Amazing Spider-Man. I find it weird that Marvel's giving up the opportunity to make a significant amount of money. It's not a matter of protecting the Amazing Spider-Man brand, as all five creators worked on the title before. And I understand that it's giving customers more bang for their buck, but as sales of Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1 demonstrated, the customers don't seem to care.

To clarify: it's a 22 page story and an 18 page story. Both were just too hard to place in the regular book without disrupting plans the plans already in place. We are packed full until #600, so it's hard to move stuff around.

And for what it's worth, we were happy with the sales on Extra! which is why we're doing more.

SW