Superior Slott Video

28 Comments

1. #27 actually makes the point that I think everyone else has been missing. This is not a permenant move by Marvel. If your looking for permenance you should read the Ultimate line. The most frustrating thing about all of this is that in 6 months to a year (I would be shocked if it lasted any longer than that) Superior Spider-Man will either be cancelled or the title will just change back to Amazing and the original numbering will be preserved. This is the worst stunt of all (and one that they have pulled numerous times since the mid-nineties). They’re not exploiting the fan in you. They’re exploiting the collector with variant covers and limited series that are barely cohesive to the continuity. Spider-Men could’ve been really cool….. I take that back, it was very good, but they’ve fish-bowled the idea and have no plans for going any futher with it. That was pure exploitation. Let’s hype a limited that involves our most successful franchise and partner him with his most recent iteration. $$$$$$$$$$. This is just the most recent example. Trust me folks. If Peter Parker does stop being Spider-Man, he will be back along with the title changing back to Amazing. It’s just a matter of paitience.

2. Many of the editors Quesada brought with him are still there, to be fair. Alonso was one of the first people Quesada brought over in that era, and he’s now EIC. And to be honest, I’m not sure comic status quos had ever moved that far from their silver-age set-up. There were a few big changes like Spider-Man’s marriage and the FF having kids (who still exist), but many characters like Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America are basically the same as they’ve always been, and they’re unlikely to change.

   If you really want evolution or major changes in your comics, you really need to either go read long-running indie series that actually have a beginning, middle and end, or alternate superhero universes like MC2 or the Ultimate Universe. Hell, the main selling point of the Ultimate U now seems to be “It’s the Marvel Universe – except sometimes things actually change!”. Which is just a firmer statement of the fact that the mainstream universe won’t really.

3. @25: Thanks again for another great response. I don’t think “big events” have led to lackluster sales. I said big ecvents are a short term way of dealing with them, ignoring having to make any constructive changes in the ong term.

   And yes, Quesada was on staff when those events happened, but a great deal of the success of those projects was due to many people. Since that time, many of the people responsiblke for that have moved on. We’re in teh Disney/Quesada era, where characters are not allowed to evolve, stpries may not progress, an editorial mandate searching for a way to recapture an idealized silver age that never really existed.

   COmics are set out to attract new readers, nothing worng with that. I don’t see what tehyre doing as pandering to long term readers. My impression is that, despite the stated intent to go after a younger audience (and Quesadahas said as much), they just don’t know how to do it, so they end up going back to a clumsy default mode, such as Van Lente’s infamous drunken sex issue. I honestly don’t think Marvelk is in any way pandering to long term readers: They just don’t seem to know what sort if stories to write.

4. I don’t even particularly think it’s a “Quesada/Brevoort model”. That same team also presided over the era that brought us the early Ultimate books, JMS on Spidey, Morrison on New X-Men, the original Marvel Knights line, during which there were very few events or variant covers. I think it’s just the way things have spilled for both companies.

   And as I say, the events haven’t really led to lackluster stories. The deaths of Cap/Human Torch/Ultimate Peter Parker and the subsequent debut of Miles Morales were all well-received pieces of work, and there’s no reason to think Superior won’t be either.

   And I don’t think any of this is being caused by pandering to “youth demographics” or trying too hard to reach out – kinda the opposite actually, I think they’re pandering too hard to existing audiences and collectors. Crossovers, variant covers, endless comics with the words “Avengers” or “X-Men” in the title even when the content barely resembles those things – this isn’t the sign of a company desperately trying to get a new audience in, this is a company milking the fans too hard and not making much effort to bring in new readers.

5. @ #23: Nick, you very eloquently underlined the very heart of the matter: Marvel is going for the short-term “quick fix”, a single issue mega event sales spike. Regardless of the quality of the issue, the problem is twofold: Sales quickly slump back after an issue or two and the long term problems-lackluster stories and poor relations with customers-still plagues Marvel.

   That, of course, is the problem with big business as a whole: Too focussed on short term gains and completely oblivious to long term problems.

   As you said, Marvel has no impetus to change the “big event” practice because it does yield a quick spike of profits, forestalling, for a little while, the inevitable day when they’ll finally have to resolve the heart of the matter. And of course, Marvel is too focussed on the short term to want to deal with the problems inflicted by the Quesada/Brevoort model.

   Again, a large amount of the problem could be dealt with by overcoming tunnel vision about sales demographics: That “holy grail” youth audiencee is only PART of the audience, and amuch smaller one than DC and Marvel want to admit. Stan Lee had the right idea: Write stories that appeal to EVERYONE and you won’t have to rely on one big event after another for an all-too-brief shot in the arm.

   Comics reflect the culture of their times , and in this day and age, that culture is myopic crass corporatism. We won’t see any change until new leadership takes the helm at Marvel and I don’t envy them the job they’ll have in cleaning this current mess.

6. I have no idea how enthusiastic readers on other message boards are for this particular storyline, but the fact remains: sales did take a big spike when they killed off Captain America, the Human Torch, etc, so even going beyond Spider-Man specifically, Marvel have no reason not to keep doing that sort of thing. Based on those two examples, they have every reason to believe there will be a big influx of interested readers/speculators for ASM #700 and Superior #1 at the very least. And the two events I mentioned were apparently good stories as well as being big events, so hopefully this will be too.

7. More thoughts on Dan Slott’s “monkey’s paw”.

   The best case is, if Slott’s quote has been reversed, then it’s actually non-Spider-Man Peter who gets back together with MJ.

   Worst (and, frankly, more likely) case is that it’s a non-Peter Spider-man who gets binvolved with MJ. The former is a revisitation of the Clone Saga’s failed effort to retire the married Pete. The later is trolling, by having MJ hook up with a stranger in Peter’s costume (even if said stranger wears Peter’s face, it’s still a dig at fans).

   Either way, I’m just not feeling all that enthusiastic, and it’s certainly not my job or my obligation to feel enthusiastic. That’s Marvel’s job to get me enthusiastic.

   If readers are not enthusiastic, Marvel needs to ask themselves what they are doing wrong. Part of the problem is tunnel ivsion when it comes to audience demographics : They shouldn’t be trying to woo younger readers to the excllusion of longtime readers, nor should they woo longtime readers at the expense of new readers.

   A good story is written for readers of all ages, with enough adventure for younger readers and enough for longtime readers to sink their teeth into, as well. Write good stories and they will woo everybody, regardless of age.

   What we have here is yet another Big Event—and readers are pretty numb to them by now.

8. @#20

   What are you trying to say exactly? That I’m calling him a terrible person?

9. @19 “Giving him the benefit of the doubt”? Because anyone who voluntarily and enthusiastically wrote this storyline that we haven’t yet read must be a terrible person?

10. @#17

    In all truth, I sincerely believe this is just Slott “doing what he’s told.” I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and guessing that he’s just following orders.

11. JR and Zach for the win.

    I love Slott’s expression on this video. If I could add a word balloon it’d be “Why am I on Crawlspace? ” lol

12. Can you say soft interview?????

    I feel so conflicted. On the one hand Slott is a fellow Whovian and does….sorta seem like a fun guy to hang out with….on the other hand he has futzed around with and might do know god knows what to Spider-Man

13. @#15

    OUCH!!! How did I miss that setup?!?!? I’m slipping!

    And I keep seeing this line everywhere.Paraphrasing, “Fans are gonna get what they want, but not how they want it…”

    … how is that giving them what they want? And that’s not even what I want. I want OMD dealt with. And yes, Robert in New Orleans, I don’t like the book, so I stopped buying it.

14. Seriously… this was sad and pathetic. BRAD DOUGLAS WOULD’VE DONE BETTER!

    ***********************************************************************

    Preceded by “Alex, I’ll take the category “The Last Thing Men Want to Hear From Their Significant Others in Bed” for $500, please.”

15. I’m still convinced it will be Peter, and as some are guessing, he will be Spider-Man 24/7, but can no longer hide his feelings for MJ, so we’ll finally have the story where MJ must learn to love the Spider-Man side of Peter’s life since it’s all he has now.

16. Agreed: This was a terribly disappointing piece. No news at all.

17. This interview was not the least bit informative. I’m glad I know where Slott’s ATM is.

18. A pox on me for offending the typographical gods! I meant to type “monkey’s paw” above. May the gods and Noah Webster forgive me! 0_0

19. Sadly, CBR has been veering more and more towards lightweght puffery in place of real comics journalism (and no, that’s not an oxymoron). We know from Slott’s “money’s paw” comment that we won’t see Peter and MJ together the way we’d hoped. From Slott’s mixed writing we know not to expect too much from the coming arc and , from what has already been teased, we can gather that a lot of features of the Clone Saga and Peter-as-the-Spider arc will be revisited in some form.

    Slott is just a symptom, not the entire problem. The problem is Marvel editorial, which continually trolls and inflames its readers, then decries anyone who dares object as a “bad fan” and “hater”, regardless of the quality of the comic.

    All too many fans, accustomed to disappointment from Marvel editorial, have simply become indifferent. I’d like for nothing better than for ASM to be better, I’d like to enjoy it again, but there’s enough advance information out there already-most from Slott himself-to indicate that this will be essentially more of teh same.

    So sadly, I just can’t force myself to be interested at all. I’ll pass.

    So with respect to all those interested, and to the usual Marvel shills attempting to post incognito, I say I’d like nothing more dearly than to love AMS again, to lookforwrad to it with relish and anticipation, but I just don’t see that happening anymore. Give the readers what they want and they’ll come back. Simple logic.

20. @#4

    Now who’s gonna bother thinking about little details like that?

21. Seriously… this was sad and pathetic. BRAD DOUGLAS WOULD’VE DONE BETTER!

22. That was weird. An interview with no real questions, and Slott said nothing new about Superior Spider-Man. I wonder what the point of this truly was. Was it to get the interviewer to meet Dan Slott? In regard to ASM 700 and SSM 1, I think it will be okay. I have really liked some Dan Slott (Lizard/Morbius arc, I’m looking at you), and really not liked some Dan Slott (Alpha), but I have mostly thought his stuff was just okay. I think Superior will be the same, just okay

23. “Meanwhile, they’re happy with the sales, Slott’s work, his ability to work social media to his own benefit, and they don’t mind your outrage.”

    What outrage? The expression i’m getting is that no one cares about this. Its another stunt that will fall flat on its face, like all the other stuns that came before to try to sell more copies of the book and the sales always fall back to where it was a month latter to the mid 50,000.

24. Don’t care about Slott one way or another, just like the Spider-Man and marvel I grew up with,
    and this ain’t them. Therefore, as I have said time and again: I haven’t bought anything new (??)
    from marvel in half a decade or more.

25. “I know this board is the home of Slott Haters so I don’t expect anything but blowback, but these kinds of reactions are SO predictable.”

    Not everybody is going to like what you like. its called a difference of opinion.

26. This interview was…well it wasn’t an interview. He revealed nothing, talked about Doctor Who and fan reaction. That was…well that was it. Slott did his job, CBR should consider firing that dude. He did nothing to even pressure Slott in the direction of a question. All he did was sit there and listen and crawl to him. ‘Twas ridiculous. Slott came across fine. He knows what to expect. The interviewer thclearly didn’t know what he was doing.

27. I know one thing Slott knows how to do is yank on the chain of everyone who’s afraid of any little change in their sacred Spider-Man. I know this board is the home of Slott Haters so I don’t expect anything but blowback, but these kinds of reactions are SO predictable. Slott knows it and he’s using it to generate even more publicity for his work. If you really don’t like what he’s doing the only thing you can do that won’t create any further awareness of his work is to completely ignore him and don’t buy his books. If enough people did this, then Marvel would replace him so they could get sales back up to where they want them. Meanwhile, they’re happy with the sales, Slott’s work, his ability to work social media to his own benefit, and they don’t mind your outrage. In fact, your upset is actually helping them get more attention in the bigger media outlets because now what they’re doing is controversial. Congratulations for playing right into their hand.

28. Yeap, Slott does not know what he’s doing. It pretty much confirms it.

    I am really hoping that the “new” Spider-man is just a modified Peter Parker. People keep complaining to Slott on twitter asking him if he remembers the clone saga and others attempts at replacing Peter Parker as Spider-Man. He always replies that he understands the concerns and keeps reminding us to read SSM#1 and everything will make sense. He even says that after SSM#1 it’ll be safe for him to come out of his “bunker”, the one he’s going to be in after ASM#700. I don’t know. For one, Slott likes misdirection, both in solicitations and in the stories. But on the other hand Marvel has already ruined Spidey with a mishandled Clone Saga (I did like Ben Reily but the story was mishandled), OMD, Brand New Day, and (V)OMIT. So I am hoping my theory is right, but wouldn’t bet on it.

    Also the teases that he’s been giving about Pete and MJ getting back together to then say she’ll be with Spidey but Spidey is not Pete, it’s just infuriating.