Slott on His Future With Spider-Man

30 Comments

1. @28 But is Otto really Spider-man? No. He isn’t even a hero. Some issues might be very good (if you ignore the strange characterisations and plot holes) but I want to be reading a Spider-man book, whether it has Peter in or not. Thank god for Scarlet Spider!

2. Sorry for the bad grammar on the previous message. I originally wrote it only about Slott, and then expanded it to include the excellent work by Yost.

3. Personally, I have been absolutely loving Superior Spider-man, and would love to see Slott (and Yost) stay on the titles for several more years (as long as they doesn’t run out of ideas….) I look forward to SSM as my #1 book every month (err…two weeks). It is definitely not Peter Parker, but hey…. we already had 700 issues of him. Let’s see more Otto!

4. Slott and Wacker’s vision of Peter Parker is that he is annoying, and makes dumb mistakes. Not that Spider-Man adopts an annoying persona as a battle tactic as well as a way to conceal his identity, but that Peter actually is annoying. And ADD, immature, and a chronic mistake-maker. Not an attractive character.

5. Personally I’m happy to hear Dan say that. I started with ASM during Civil War and all during BND Slott was one of my favourite writers on the title and my enjoyment hasn’t decreased through Big Time & Superior. Hopefully he’s got plenty of ideas left in him to go on for many more years.

6. @#23

   EWven I have to admit that there were some good issues in Superior… there were also BAD ones. But yeah, the REAL problem with Superior is that it’s not about the Spider-Man I want to read.

7. I agree. It has some chronic problems (mostly that the premise is carried forward by key characters all acting uncharacteristically stupid at key moments), but it is an entertaining comic. But it isn’t Spider-Man, it’s The Ambiguous Otto. Which is fine, as a premise for a series goes. I didn’t like Slott’s ASM, but that was mostly because I *really* dislike his/their characterization of Peter.

8. I don’t even think Superior is that bad a comic if you look at it on its own. The problem is that it treats the supporting cast badly and its not actually about Spider-Man, its about Doc Ock. Really, Slott has already stopped writing Spider-Man.

9. I come to this message board to enjoy the Slott-haters’ angst. So thank you once again for taking the time to write about how much you dislike the current Spider-Man. Not only are you expressing yourself in a healthy manner, but you are entertaining your fellow man.

10. The last issue that sold less than 57.9k was ASM #681… and that was back in March of 2012… and Slott has never sold anything ASM-related than has dipped below 50k… you think those numbers are bad? Look at what people consider to be “good” Marvel books, and they’re hovering in the 30 k range… so mid 50k, top 25 every month… I would say that Slott’s run has been consistently good, imo.

11. “But Slott was not writing a successful Peter Parker-centric series before, and when Peter returns, the series will sink back down into the 50K mire again.”

    Bingo. The book is doing better right now yet they couldn’t do that with the main character because he’s been run into the ground so much by the current regime. It’s interesting that they could find a way to get people to care about a Dr. Octopus Spider-Man when people stopped caring about their direction for Peter Parker.

12. If you check the comichron estimates from exactly a year ago, you can see that the Dan Slott-written Amazing Spider-Man was *barely* hanging on to 25th position in sales, hovering in the mid to high 50Ks, and continuing to slide. JMS’ (unprofessional) crowing about how superior his run was over Slott’s was factually accurate.

    Superior Spider-Man was a Hail Mary stunt that is paying off, because Slott really likes and relishes writing the Octavius character. But Slott was not writing a successful Peter Parker-centric series before, and when Peter returns, the series will sink back down into the 50K mire again. What Marvel ought to do is give Slott an Otto Octavius series, and assign Chris Yopst or someone who can write a dynamic, attractive Peter Parker to the renewed ASM.

13. To be honest, why should Slott leave? Not many top writers at Marvel ever get the chance to write Spider-Man. Personally, I would have loved to have seen Victor Gischler become the permanent writer for Avenging Spider-Man, or become a part of the rotating ASM writers. But, Marvel decided to give Slott the Full-Time gig, leaving him the sole writer for Spider-Man. Wasn’t it a good idea? Maybe; as it allowed him to forward his story for Superior Spider-Man. And that was not going to happen if he was part of a rotating team of writers for Spider-Man.

    As long as Superior Spider-Man continue to sell as well as it is doing, I am sure that there are no plans by Marvel’s Editorial Staff to remove Slott from his regular post as writer of Spider-Man. While some might say that he trashed Peter Parker, the fact is Parker’s deal with Mephisto spelled the end for him and the beginning for Dr. Ock to take over as Spider-Man in his place.

14. Well this is the worse news I’ve read in quite a long time ugh thank goodness for scarlet spider.

15. … you know that response was directed at us.

    And you’re right Donovan. But we CAN be unhappy about it.

16. Well, Dan might not have any foreseeable plans to leave. But that doesn’t mean editorial shares the same feelings. Ultimately, it’s Marvel’s book, and if they decide they want to go in a different direction after Dan is finished his Superior storyline, then Dan might be out of luck. Or things might change and another writer might be brought in. Anything is really possible. Just because Dan doesn’t want to leave doesn’t mean (a) he’ll never leave or (b) Marvel wants him to stay indefinitely.

17. So with that new revelation I guess I’m doomed to go back and read the old books that were far superior to Slott’s garbage.

    -To Dan Slott:
    Just in case you read this, I wanted you to know that I actually didn’t mind your stories up until the last few issues of ASM Spidey. I came back in around ASM 500 and I gave you until Superior 12, even through that pathetic excuse of a send off you gave Peter. The story that you’ve dreamed of telling for years is so full of potholes and disrespect for the mantle of Spiderman that I can no longer support you. Such as the case, I wish you the best, but know that you are the reason I’ve put the book back down again.

18. Well that sucks. I picked Spidey back up around ASM#600. While the stories weren’t, well, AMAZING, I did enjoy the slow progression of Peter being a bit more than a shutter bug and learning Spidey-Fu. SpOck is not something I like, but I gave it a fair chance even though I felt like Slott stabbed me in the heart by taking a dump on everything that Spidey stood for with this change. Perhaps what’s even more ironic is that just prior to the mind swap I was about to actually start getting subscriptions for Spidey so I could share them with my soon-to-be-born kiddo. I can’t, in sound mind, share Slott’s SpOck with my child when the underlying theme of the book is that Bad Guys win and that Good Guys will always get screwed over. So I guess with Slott’s new revelation of sticking around, I’ll go take my money elsewhere. So I guess I’ll continue my ban on Spidey and other Marvel related items until Slott’s gone…which could be a really long time now. RIP PP, the one TRUE Spiderman.

19. I think I might be ill!! This news may be the kind of shock that’ll bring on Aunt May’s deadly heart attack.

20. The J. Scott Campbell variants of ASM #700 and Superior #1, I think.

21. What issue(s) is he holding up?

22. Can’t be mad at him. If this is his dream job, he has every right to hang on to it for as long as he wants to.

23. Can’t blame him. Wonder if Slott can beat Bendis’ eight years with the Avengers.

24. Glad Slott’s on-board for the foreseeable, still enjoying the comics and would like to get the resolution as author intended. Curious whether this means a whole post-Superior era, or whether he’ll just take a year or two to finish Superior and tie-up any loose ends. It does kinda feel like a big climactic story for his run.

25. Obligatory “it’s crazy town banana pants” riff.

26. Excellent news, loving Spidey lately 🙂

27. Good news.

28. Yay… It’s like being shot in the face with a honey badger.

29. Oh joy.

30. Well, that’s bad news altogether. I haven’t enjoyed current Spider-Man stories since… well, since at least 50 comics, but especially don’t like the inferior nonsense. Let’s hope bad sales convince Marvel to remove Slott from the Spidey-comics. I like to read some good Spider-Man stories again, with Peter Parker behind the mask and well written characters.