Tangled Webs: What did Zeb Wells Plan For Dead Language?

After nearly one year and over 20 issues of the new volume of Amazing Spider-Man, the current “Dead Language” arc is giving readers some answers to  just what Peter Parker did that led to his break up with Mary Jane and so much of the Marvel Universe getting angry at Spider-Man. But, why did writer Zeb Wells wait so long in his run for this story? It would be quite normal to have a mystery villain reveal his secret identity after this amount of time; it’s a bit different for the readers to learn the protagonist’s secrets, especially in a series where we usually know what’s going on in the main character’s head.

One answer I’ve heard is that Zeb Wells is just making things up as he goes along.  This specific question shouldn’t be a proxy for something else, like quality. Something could be well-made and rushed. It could also be carefully planned, and still flop. I’ve got some thoughts on this, as well as the structure of the run so far.

Let’s look at what happened before “Dead Language” (the only reason I know to call it that is that it’s the name of the trade paperback in the Amazon listing.) The current run followed the 18 issue Spider-Man Beyond mega-arc where Zeb Wells was the lead writer, and Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man before Peter Parker had to take over again. When the title relaunched with Wells as the solo writer, his first story was illustrated by John Romita Jr. and featured Tombstone, while hinting at events six months earlier which led to Spider-Man alienating the Avengers and Fantastic Four, and Mary Jane seemingly leaving him for a new guy named Paul.

This was followed by a giant anniversary issue illustrated by Ed McGuiness with the Living Brain getting an upgrade and hints of a romantic reconciliation between Spidey & the Black Cat, a two part Vulture story by John Romita Jr, an X-Men tie-in by Patrick Gleason, a Judgement Day tie-in illustrated by Nick Dragota, and a three issue Hobgoblin story by Romita. There was a rematch with Ben Reilly in Dark Web (too many artists to name), which included bookend one-shots, a prelude issue,  tie-in mini-series, and a Free Comic Book Day prologue. And then we had a two issue story by the completely different creative team of Joe Kelly and Terry Dodson where Black Cat and Peter had a sitcomish encounter with Paul & MJ. All of this was published before we got context for why Peter was so upset in the first page of the run.

One way to think about this is that when the newest version of Amazing Spider-Man #1 was produced, did Zeb Wells know what happened to Peter and MJ? The last issue of Beyond ends with Peter & MJ about to move in together when they’re interrupted by a glowing man talking about a road of blood.

Amazing Spider-Man Volume 6 #21, published roughly one year later, revealed that this was was Dr. Rabin,  AKA The Emissary, an acolyte of Mayan gods introduced in Zeb Wells’ first story as one of the braintrust from the Brand New Day era. The Deity made multiple references to blood in that story, with lines like “Your world will worship me with its blood.” and “You carry the sun-blood. You are not my sacrifice.” One of his final threats is “I walk the black road.” before he promises to return in the next alignment.

So I’m pretty sure Wells knew when he was writing the last issue of Beyond and the early issues of his run with Romita Jr. and company that whatever happened involved Dr. Rabin, that Paul was a scientist who had worked with him, that Mary Jane & Peter are sent to an alternate universe where time moves differently, that Spider-Man escapes without her and gets into conflicts with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers trying to get her back, and that he would turn to Norman Osborn for help. In that case, much of the backstory was planned out. This isn’t Geoff Johns connecting disparate threads for retcons; it’s one writer bringing back an original character from a story that was likely meaningful to him, and that he had put a lot of thought into.

A separate criticism is that Wells should not be using his own characters for such an important story. I can understand why he does it. These villains tie into the totems and it is narratively a way to get the results Wells wants, without detractors being able to go after him for violating continuity someone else had set up. Tying it into an earlier adventure makes it seem like a typical Spidey story at times, which is an advantage over an entirely new bad guy. And it’s been established that the villain has time-bending powers.

Wells has done major stories elevating Tombstone and the Living Brain, so he’s willing to pick less-obvious villains other writers had created. However, this story was guaranteed to be controversial, so it wouldn’t necessarily be good for other characters to be featured here. If the antagonist were Fusion (either one), the Blackie Drago Vulture, Calamari, the Disruptor or whatever obscure bad guy you like, would it really do them in any favors to be involved in a story that breaks up Peter and MJ for the readers invested in them as a couple? Wells also has some fun with the story by having Peter completely forget this bad guy he fought once in a blizzard years ago, a contrast to how he immediately recognized Digger in the first issue.

Using a villain from one earlier arc is fairly accessible to new readers. There’s a bit of a history, but it’s not overwhelming.  If readers like the idea of Spider-Man VS Mayan villains, they can check out that one story illustrated by Chris Bachalo (a well-regarded artist who has his own Marvel monograph), and guest-starring Wolverine. Readers can also follow the current comic without ever checking it out.

The final question is why Wells waited until now, after one year to reveal all the information in a story so big it doesn’t fit in one standard Trade Paperback. The structure is a bit weird. A year is an appropriate amount of time to get to answers, but saving it all for this point has its cons. It’s kinda like a TV show that lightly seeds a big story for the season finale, but saves all of the big moments for that storyline. That’s a bit different from a series that mixes the big arc episodes with standard adventures, like how X-Files was mostly “monster of the week” but would have a few mythology episodes each season. Both of these are valid approaches for ongoing series, but this is a situation where readers would be especially interested in the mythology.

With the benefit of hindsight, it would have made sense to split the current Dead Language saga into at least two sections. Instead of a six issue story (and the last two issues seem to be double-sized so it’s longer than it seems) where we learn what happens and Spider-Man fights Rabin, we could have had one story with most of the flashbacks getting released half a year into the run. That could set up the idea that the Deity will return in a story that might still have one or two more revelations.

This way, readers would get a bit more clarity about what happened to Peter, and a better understanding of Paul early in the run. And Wells would’ve been able to seed the rematch with Rabin, now that readers have a bit more context. One way it could have been done would have been for the current volume’s Amazing Spider-Man #1-10 to be pretty much the same. #11-14 could show what Peter did, covering the major flashbacks in the alternate universe (an extra issue may be needed when splitting up the run since there would be some new framing story set in the present.) #15 could be a Ms Marvel spotlight, since her role in the series so far is mainly set-up. #16-#20 could be Dark Web (since a rematch with Ben Reilly fits this point of the narrative, when it’s been more than six months but less than a year since his departure from the series.) #21-23 could be the Hobgoblin story. The Kelly/ Dodson Black Cat team-up could be moved to an annual, since we’ve added two more issues. And #24-#26 could bring Rabin back to New York, with one or two twists about what happened in Pennsylvania.

There is a potential downside with the split. More time between chapters of the Dead Language arc gives readers more time to speculate, which may not be great from Marvel’s POV. A six issue story published over three months allows Marvel to rip the Band-Aid off faster, rather than readers spending half a year speculating about how Mary Jane has two children in a magical dimension where time moves differently.

I get what Wells was doing keeping things vague. For the first storyline, the reader experiences Peter Parker in a way that’s similar to how the supporting cast sees him. They know that he’s a good guy, but he’s made some inexplicable decisions and they don’t quite know why. This gets across what things are like for people in Peter’s life, whenever he sacrifices something in his personal life to try to do the right thing as Spider-Man. The readers usually know the answer, but now we’re a bit like his supporting cast.

There is also a sneaky way it could acclimate fans into a status quo that they wouldn’t like. I wonder if Wells is using the mystery box to break up Peter & MJ quietly, kinda like dropping a frog into a pot of water and slowly increasing the temperature until it boils.

It is similar to what Marvel did with One More Day and One Moment in Time, although in that case they waited longer (nearly three years and eighty issues of Amazing Spider-Man) to explain what Peter and MJ knew about their break-up.

A simpler potential structural change would be to publish Dead Language ahead of Dark Web. Readers would get the answers two months faster. It seems Marvel is seeding something big in Amazing Spider-Man #26, which would likely have some emotional impact on Peter, so instead of an arc delaying the answers readers are invested in, we would have an arc where Peter processes his trauma. Maybe it could culminate in a heart to heart with Ben Reilly, which would fit his long-term redemption arc. Moving  Dead Language four issues early (assuming Amazing Spider-Man #14’s Ben Reilly prelude would remain) also means the double-sized issues would be #21 and #22, which fits with the allusions in promotions to Amazing Spider-Man #121-122.

There may very well be some logistics reasons for why Dead Language is coming out now as one big story. Dark Web was a big story that took Peter Parker to an unfamiliar location, so it wasn’t going to fit into some of the ongoing arcs.  The supporting character with the biggest spotlight was Jonah. It had to be coordinated with the X-men office, and tied into the Venom ongoing title. One other factor is that there are tie-ins connecting to the run, like the Gold Goblin specials, the Ms Marvel Dark Web mini-series, or the Mary Jane & Black Cat mini-series, so any changes to when Amazing Spider-Man stories are published would affect those.

There are a lot of moving parts in comics, so even without tie-ins in other books, if Marvel moves a story around, it means some artists get more time for a story and some get less. John Romita Jr’s a fast artist, but if Dark Language is published a few months earlier, that’s going to mean that Marvel would publish a lot of stories he drew in quick succession. Moving Dark Web, largely illustrated by Ed McGuiness, later means that it would be followed by the Doctor Octopus arc he’s expected to draw, and with the twice-monthly schedule, he may need a lot of lead time. The artists could have been assigned different arcs, but it does seem that these stories play to their strengths (IE- It was cool to have the artist who created the Hobgoblin bring him back.) It could also be that the Doctor Octopus storyline is  a better fit for Peter’s emotional state after Dark Language ends than Dark Web would have been.

Zeb Wells has said that he plans to stay on the title for at least another year until Issue 50. Even if that’s it, that means that for about half of the run the readers will finally know what the main character knows. And it makes for a different reread of the earlier chapters as well.

There’s plenty of discussion about whether it was a good idea for Marvel to break up Peter and MJ. But what do you guys think of the structure, independent of that?