Tangled Webs: Pitching Satellites

Last time, we looked at hooks for the various ancillary Spider-Man titles, the identity that makes it different than any other book on the stands, even Amazing Spider-Man. This time I’m considering potential hooks for the future. If I’m trying to be a Spider-Man writer/ editor, what am I going to bring Marvel?

Making a Spider-Man title unique requires more than just an impressive creative team, as under most circumstances the writer and artist would probably get better sales on Amazing Spider-Man. However, there are advantages to offering readers more entry points into Marvel’s top hero, as well as some accessible options. The emphasis on accessibility does restrict one method of raising sales: crossovers with Amazing Spider-Man, since Marvel could always just pump out more issues of that book once a month.

So, here are five potential spinoff books.

Spider-Man

A slight issue with Spider-Man comics is that Amazing Spider-Man has a better reputation than any of the satellite books. There are two potential exceptions: Amazing Fantasy, and (adjectiveless) Spider-Man. Picking this title functions as a way to honor the highest-selling Spider-Man comic of all time, as well as the Raimi/ Maguire films.

There are some stories that don’t work quite as well in Amazing Spider-Man. I recently read DeMatteis’ Defenders, where he often tackled then-contemporary issues, featuring characters dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam war and disillusionment with post-60s politics. An emphasis on modern issues could be something that works for a Spider-Man satellite book, generating story ideas and gaining attention from the media. Since this is all occurring in its own book, it avoids affecting the Amazing Spider-Man brand, and the awkwardness when five-year old issues of the main title are suddenly anachronistic. Stories dealing with the controversy over a potential wall on the Mexican border, online harassment, social media firestorms, acceptance of antisemitism in left-wing activist groups, and Russian interference in American politics might read a little differently in five years, which is fine if it’s an artifact, but strange when it’s meant to be very recent. Peter’s professional interests in journalism and research would allow him to encounter people affected by news events, while his significant other works in the entertainment industry, so it definitely fits the character, even if it’s an odder fit for Amazing Spider-Man.

This would be a bit like Marvel Knights Spider-Man was supposed to be, with top creative teams coming on board for runs of approximately twelve issues. The change is that it would be fan-favorites, writers like Peter David, Roger Stern, J.M. DeMatteis, Marv Wolfman, JMS, or Gerry Conway. It would probably be important to have two writers on-board initially, so it doesn’t just become a vehicle for one creative team. As for artists, they could go with people who have well-regarded runs on Spider-Man (Mark Bagley, Mark Buckingham, Terry Dodson, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Ryan Stegman, etc.) to keep with the theme, or they could pair the iconic writers to go with new voices. There might be later pairings of top writers who haven’t done much work on the character, and fan-favorite artists (Jason Aaron and Mark Bagley, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman.)

Marvel would get a relatively self-contained story that can be used to introduce new readers to the character, and to promote the earlier work of the creative teams involved. It’s also easier to coordinate subplots in Amazing Spider-Man with the creative team of a finite maxi-series, rather than to have multiple writers plotting years-long subplots with the same characters.

This is a bit inspired by an idea I saw online for a Spider-Man title that was more like a post-Rebirth Detective Comics style team book, with Spider-Man and some of the super-powered heroes who have premiered in the Spider-Man book. This has been done with the Outlaws, a team that premiered in Web of Spider-Man #50, and disbanded in the title’s seventh annual.

The narrative would be pretty simple. After Spider-Man and Black Cat face a team of supervillains (it could be the Sinister Syndicate or the New Enforcers) she realizes the disadvantages of working alone all the time and assembles a team. Potential members would include characters we’ve seen before in the Spider-Man books: Flash Thompson’s Antivenom (death rarely stopping comics characters), Alpha (an arrogant powerhouse), Morbius, Silk and Harry Osborn (potential financier, he could very well want to make up for the terrible things his father did.) Spider-Man would be reluctant to be involved, but could feel it’s necessary in order to keep the Black Cat on the straight and narrow following her stint as the Queenpin. Keeping Spider-Man involved would be good for sales, while the team aspects allows for a focus on the private lives of the ensemble, which means it doesn’t have to delve too deeply into his private life, and potentially contradict what’s going on in Amazing Spider-Man. As a team book it would have a different identity than the solo title.

One thing that can make a monthly title unique that isn’t done very often is to make it completely self-contained, so that every issue has a complete beginning, middle and end, though there would be subplots and other threads that cross issues. A model for this would be Fell, Paul Dini’s early work in Detective Comics, and Busiek’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man.

This is the book that would deal with the ramifications of events in other books. be it crossovers or other stuff that happens in the Marvel Universe (IE- something to do with the aftermath of Ben Grimm and Alicia Master’s wedding in The Fantastic Four, or Matt Murdoch’s hospitalization in Daredevil.) Some issues will be funny, some will be tragic and some will just have lots of action. Some will feature new villains, while others will feature classic villains, or rarely used B‑level villains, or villains from other franchises. It’s meant to compliment the shortages of the other Spider‑Man books, but should still be accessible to those cheapskates who want the best deal in comics and aren’t interested in the other titles.

This should also give an artist like John Romita Jr an opportunity to do the best work of their career, given the variety of things they could draw over a one-year period. It would also be a good opportunity for artists who work slower, and might take too long to complete a TPB-length story (IE- J. Scott Campbell,Joe Madureira, Marcos Martin.) Because of the “done in one” aspects of this title, fill‑in work may be common, but it should always be good, and by respected creators (IE‑ Paul Jenkins, Roger Stern, Ed Brubaker, Lee Weeks, Paolo Rivera, Kaare Andrews.) I would be strict on the single issue rule, as it would be an important part of maintaining this book’s identity. If whoever is on this book wants to write a longer story, he’d have to do it as a separate mini series, or take over Amazing Spider‑Man for a few months. The writer would work closely with the writers on the other Spider-Man books, given how well this series could be used to set up events elsewhere.

This one may be the least likely right now given the sales of Venom, and the successful efforts to distinguish the Venom brand from Spider-Man, but it would be an option if the pendulum swings in the other direction. The basic pitch is that Spider-Man gets the symbiote back.

Narratively, it would require a bit of set-up. At the end of a Spider-Man arc in which Venom was the bad guy, Peter agrees to bond with the symbiote to keep it out of the wrong hands. The next Amazing Spider-Man issue opens two months later, with Peter waking up on a hotel rooftop with no memory of what’s happened in the meantime.

The Peter Parker Venom title would over the course of roughly 25 issues cover that gap, showing what happened when Peter Parker once again had the alien costume. If this were released while there was a Web of Spider-Man team book, that title may have a similar jump. A five issue Web of Venom mini-series could fill in the gaps. In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Peter would deal with the consequences of his actions during a period he can’t remember and wasn’t in full control, while trying to determine the identity of the new Venom.

By the time this volume’s finished, and all the loose ends are resolved, there could be a new Venom monthly with Eddie Brock, or whoever happens to be in control.

Final Thoughts

There are more potential identities for monthly titles than there is realistically space for them at any given time, and that’s fine. When new creative teams come on board, they may go in a different directions, working with the guys in charge of Amazing Spider-Man to figure out what should happen in the side title to offer something unique from the main book. Tom Taylor’s currently focusing on the people who live around Peter in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which allows him to take advantage of the regular supporting cast, and to add new characters who wouldn’t necessarily have to appear elsewhere. Coordination works best, so the writers can take advantage of what’s new developments, and fill in potential needs. So if Amazing Spider-Man features mostly new villains as in JMS’s run, Spider-Man could be the book where Spidey fights his greatest foes, and we get to see what makes them tick. The next guys may make it more of a crime noir. The next girl may make it an ensemble title, focusing more on the supporting cast, as Gerry Conway’s did with his 1980s Web of Spider-Man/ Spectacular Spider-Man work, and with his Spiral mini-series which looked the downfall of a supporting cast member. And after twelve issues of that, it could become a book about Mary Jane. Amazing Spider-Man might sell better, but there’s room for different types of stories that can offer different and complementary experiences, as long as there’s more to the book’s existence than the suspicion that a new Spider-Man title will sell okay.

Do you guys have any ideas for what you’d like to see in satellite books?