CBR: Slott Sets Sail for "Spider-Island"

[CBR News]

Writer Dan Slott kicks off the six-part "Spider-Island" epic this summer in the pages of "Amazing Spider-Man." CBR News spoke to Slott about what happens when the citizens of NYC get spider powers.


Full article here.

[oldschool]

Wow....great piece. So we now know The Jackal is coming back and that promo image was not a red herring. Interesting.....

Also, I think it's funny that Slott debated calling the arc "Spider-Manhattan"----I get the feeling Stan would not have been able to resist the corniness of it!

Great insight in this piece and it really underscores not just what a big fan Slott is but how he really thinks things through and pulls together fans from all corners of the MU. Can't wait for this thing to kick off in July!!

[Hypestyle]

...They should also bring in the Radiation Specialist, that would make a good surprise villain...

[NickFury90]

Hopefully Slott lets The Jackal shine as the big antagonist and not get the Sinister Six involved. Doc Ock has big plans, and I think he should get his own story arc instead of sharing the spotlight with the Jackal and the current epidemic of everybody having Spidey powers.

So at 2 issues a month, if it stays on schedule, then the event will run from August-October. That leaves a good two months for wacky Sinister Six hijinks.

[remoteman]

I really like that Shocker image. From what I have seen of his work on Big Time Humberto Ramos is one of the most improved artists in comics today (not that I didn't like his work before).

[YouthofToday]

I really like that Shocker image. From what I have seen of his work on Big Time Humberto Ramos is one of the most improved artists in comics today (not that I didn't like his work before).

I wasn't a fan before and was bummed when I heard he was going to be one of the artists, but he totally sold me with that first arc. So glad he's doing this storyline.

[oldschool]

I wasn't a fan before and was bummed when I heard he was going to be one of the artists, but he totally sold me with that first arc. So glad he's doing this storyline.

Totally 110% agreed!

[NickFury90]

Yeah, Ramos was one of my most least-liked artists working in superhero books today. He seemed like all the worst excesses of Chris Bachelo.

But he's definitely improved, although I think his action scenes are still pretty stiff.

[Mikey Brown]

Ive always liked Jackal, well more so during the original clone story, but Im glad hes coming back. The future of Spider Man looks great, it just keeps getting better!

[oldschool]

Ive always liked Jackal, well more so during the original clone story, but Im glad hes coming back. The future of Spider Man looks great, it just keeps getting better!

It's interesting that The Jackal was introduced way back in ASM #129 (same issue as The Punisher!) and was the mastermind behind the Original Clone saga, "died" in ASM #150 and has only appeared once more since then (the 1990's Clone Saga, of course) yet he remains a pretty popular villain among us Spidey fans---glad that Slott is bringing him back!

[NickFury90]

And he always seems to get involved with multiple people getting Spider-man powers!

[Sighphi]

Watch the Jackal get killed in issue two then get replaced by a newer, younger, Jackal.

[Johnny Triangles]

This sounds great and all, but I think they really dropped the ball by not going with their original idea and calling it Spider-Manhattan. Yes its silly, but so what, it's pretty clever and catchy.

[the Dagman]

Okay, we all saw the picture with the Jackal at the top of the article. I just have a bit of a question/idea to pose: is the other guy in the pic Peter or is it Ben Reilly?

Wasn't it Ben who was the one with a thing for blue hoodies? Scarlet Spider anyone? And the part of the spider-suit we see on his arm, that could be Ben's spider-suit too, couldn't it? It would be so easy to explain Ben's return. As when he "died" his body crumbled to dust unlike the way any other clone was shown to have gone through "degeneration". Just say that Ben was captured just before the Revelations story that ended the Clone Saga. Captured, put in stasis, and cloned again as an experiment since he was the only stable clone of Peter Parker. And it was that clone of a clone who was used to replace Ben that died and crumbled to dust. The actual Ben has been kept in stasis and studied by the Jackal all this time. And then the lab loses power for some reason, the stasis chamber goes off line and Ben wakes up and busts out.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the spell that keeps Peter's ID secret affects Ben, a different man who is basically the same man? Would he forget he was Peter too? What would he see if he looked in the mirror wearing his spider suit all except the mask? Would it be like that faceless statue we saw when the FF were in the dark still? And at this point in his life, couldn't Peter really use Ben to help out? Being on three teams and holding down a full time job is quite taxing. And with the various costumes Spidey has been sporting as of late, who would question one more? Plus, wouldn't Ben still have HIS spider-sense? And which version of reality would Ben remember? The current one or the pre-Mephisto'd one where Peter and MJ were married?

It just seems like Ben's return at this point would provide a lot of fun story elements to explore. At least if it were me writing the book. His existence wasn't what was wrong with the Clone Saga. And I think there'd be enough interest generated by his return now to warrant it happening.

[TheAmazingSpidey]

I'm excited! I know part of the point of these interviews are to generate hype, but Dan Slott has never failed me before and to me, he always delivers. So I can't wait to see everything he was talking about in this interview.