Is a twice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man a good idea?

[Mister Mets]

I'm curious which option you guys prefer: a twice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man and another monthly title with different creative teams, two different monthly Spider-Man books with the same writer (what Howard Mackie did in the late 90s, and what Bendis did with Iron Man and Superman), and for the hell of it- a monthly Amazing Spider-Man title with no satellite books.

I'm personally in favor of the current schedule.

[Miles To Go]

So long as there's a product, I'm not fussed over the quantity. It's quality I'm concerned about.

[Johnatellodi]

I can't speak to the business side of the question. I'd need much more information.

Let me say, I have all the respect in the world for Humberto Ramos. He's clearly a hard worker, passionate about Spider-Man, and very talented. That aside, it feels like he is the Spider-Man artist Marvel sticks with in order to pump out Spidey books as fast as possible. As a reader, I am completely tired of Ramos' art on Spider-Man. He's been on the book for ages now and his style, to his credit, is distinct enough to drive the mood of the book. So, while Ryan Ottley's pencil's are the main ingredient attracting me to the book, the fact that we will once again have Ramos plugged in for an arc, to keep things moving, annoys me to no end.

If you are going to double-ship, make sure you can do it while keeping things fresh for the audience. So, like I said, much respect to Humberto Ramos, but I won't be picking up the issues he is drawing. Marvel won't double their sales with me while attempting to pump out the book as cheap, quick, and efficiently as possible. I'm only paying for what I consider to be a top quality product.

[md62]

two different monthly Spider-Man books with the same writer (what Howard Mackie did in the late 90s, and what Bendis did with Iron Man and Superman)

[WebSlingWonder]

I can't speak to the business side of the question. I'd need much more information.

Let me say, I have all the respect in the world for Humberto Ramos. He's clearly a hard worker, passionate about Spider-Man, and very talented. That aside, it feels like he is the Spider-Man artist Marvel sticks with in order to pump out Spidey books as fast as possible. As a reader, I am completely tired of Ramos' art on Spider-Man. He's been on the book for ages now and his style, to his credit, is distinct enough to drive the mood of the book. So, while Ryan Ottley's pencil's are the main ingredient attracting me to the book, the fact that we will once again have Ramos plugged in for an arc, to keep things moving, annoys me to no end.

If you are going to double-ship, make sure you can do it while keeping things fresh for the audience. So, like I said, much respect to Humberto Ramos, but I won't be picking up the issues he is drawing. Marvel won't double their sales with me while attempting to pump out the book as cheap, quick, and efficiently as possible. I'm only paying for what I consider to be a top quality product.

All due respect, the audience that you mention actually likes Ramos and views him as complimentary in art styles to Ottley (stylized, efficient, fast, energetic). I get what you're saying that you're bored of Ramos, but that doesn't mean he should leave the book or not be selected. If that was the case, we never would have gotten amazing writer/artist runs with 30-50 issues straight of the same artist (like Bendis and Bagely, JRJR with literary everyone, and Ramos with Slott and Spencer).

[Gamma Burst]

As long as the product is great, and it's with the current team, I'm all for it!

[Prof. Warren]

All due respect, the audience that you mention actually likes Ramos and views him as complimentary in art styles to Ottley (stylized, efficient, fast, energetic). I get what you're saying that you're bored of Ramos, but that doesn't mean he should leave the book or not be selected. If that was the case, we never would have gotten amazing writer/artist runs with 30-50 issues straight of the same artist (like Bendis and Bagely, JRJR with literary everyone, and Ramos with Slott and Spencer).

This. I don't see Ramos and Ottely trading off arcs as any kind of compromise in quality.

They're both A-level artists with complimentary styles. If someone doesn't like Ramos, well, that's on them but it's hardly like Marvel is putting a substandard artist on the book just to crank it out faster.

I'm stoked to have both these guys on ASM. And I like the twice monthly schedule. It keeps the stories moving at a great pace.

[Scott Taylor]

Well the ASM writer or current storyline in ASM may blow and I need an alternative.

Not generally a fan of 2+ monthly schedules. The quality seems to suffer, eventually, and it costs me more money to keep up. An exception to that would be if it were only temporary for a month or two for a big storyline.

[Johnatellodi]

All due respect, the audience that you mention actually likes Ramos and views him as complimentary in art styles to Ottley (stylized, efficient, fast, energetic). I get what you're saying that you're bored of Ramos, but that doesn't mean he should leave the book or not be selected. If that was the case, we never would have gotten amazing writer/artist runs with 30-50 issues straight of the same artist (like Bendis and Bagely, JRJR with literary everyone, and Ramos with Slott and Spencer).

This is clearly your opinion, but I am also part of the audience and I disagree. Sure, sales dictate what the audience wants in the end, and Ramos sells, but Dan Slott also sells, yet it was fair to say a large portion of the audience was ready for something new. And I'll mention once more, I do think he's a fine artist, generally speaking.

Like you, I also love consistent artist/writer runs such as Bagley/Bendis. But that's not the same as Spencer/Ottley/Ramos/Whatever other artists will surely fill in within the next year or two. Ramos isn't being used to give us any type of consistency, he's being used to "fill in the blanks" - and he's been doing it for way too long. That's my two cents, anyway. All due respect to you as well.

[WebSlingWonder]

This is clearly your opinion, but I am also part of the audience and I disagree. Sure, sales dictate what the audience wants in the end, and Ramos sells, but Dan Slott also sells, yet it was fair to say a large portion of the audience was ready for something new. And I'll mention once more, I do think he's a fine artist, generally speaking.

Like you, I also love consistent artist/writer runs such as Bagley/Bendis. But that's not the same as Spencer/Ottley/Ramos/Whatever other artists will surely fill in within the next year or two. Ramos isn't being used to give us any type of consistency, he's being used to "fill in the blanks" - and he's been doing it for way too long. That's my two cents, anyway. All due respect to you as well.

I understand that, I really do. But Ramos is not just a "filler" artist. Now, in a perfect world Ottley would be the artist all the way through the run and the book would be monthly. But Marvel wants to make a profit, so they placed a veteran Spider-Man artist with a newly minted Spider-Man artist. That's not inconsistency or "fill in": that's so people who like either style can have both. It would only be fill in if Ramos was not already selected by Marvel to pair with Ottley on the book. You see what I mean?

I understand being frustrated with the two-times a month schedule. But it ultimately is Marvel's choice to do what they must. But they didn't go wrong with Ramos or Ottley tag-teaming. At least it's whole arcs and not single fill-in issues, you know?

Out of curiosity, who would you have liked to see be the second artist?

[bob.schoonover]

I would go full Batman and have two twice-monthly titles, each with a dedicated writer. Keep ASM the flagship and make SSM a team-up book (either full Tynion Spider team or something like Mark Waid's Brave and the Bold where he teams up w/different people in the service of bigger quests). Keep the two titles loosely connected (little stuff moving back and forth, not Superman triangle era level continuity), but make both matter.

[Johnatellodi]

I understand that, I really do. But Ramos is not just a "filler" artist. Now, in a perfect world Ottley would be the artist all the way through the run and the book would be monthly. But Marvel wants to make a profit, so they placed a veteran Spider-Man artist with a newly minted Spider-Man artist. That's not inconsistency or "fill in": that's so people who like either style can have both. It would only be fill in if Ramos was not already selected by Marvel to pair with Ottley on the book. You see what I mean?

I understand being frustrated with the two-times a month schedule. But it ultimately is Marvel's choice to do what they must. But they didn't go wrong with Ramos or Ottley tag-teaming. At least it's whole arcs and not single fill-in issues, you know?

Out of curiosity, who would you have liked to see be the second artist?

Sure. It's just my personal preference to not have Humberto Ramos penciling the book, in case I got lost in my post and didn't make that clear. I'll concede that Ramos shouldn't be labeled as a filler artist, seeing as his time on the book seems to be have been planned carefully. I can see how it makes sense to pair a veteran with someone fresh like Ottley.

Now that the ball's in my court, it's hard to say who I'd like to alternate with Ottley. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of artists I'd love to see, but I don't really have a measure of what is realistic to ask for. While I enjoy the double-shipping, I think if they were to slow it down, keep Ryan Ottley as the main artist, and therefor allow Nick Spencer a bit more room to breath with his scripts, I'd be happy with that.

At the end of the day, I'm happy to be following the book and appreciate all the creators involved. I really like Humberto Ramos as a cover artist. Just nitpicking.

[Inversed]

I like the twice monthly format, if only because I personally like only having to wait 2 weeks in-between issues, makes the story arc pacing flow alot better in the initial read throughs.

I also don't mind artists being swapped between arcs, as long as there isn't any artist changes within the arc itself (not counting back-up stories). I also don't mind Ramos coming back, but I do hope for the next artist (#16-20?), they get someone different because it gives a great opportunity to bring back other Spider-Man artists or give other popular artists a big chance to do some Spider-Man work.

[Batman Begins 2005]

I prefer two monthly titles with different writers for different voices.

For financial reasons, TASM once a month for sure.

[Thievery]

Two monthly titles with different writers for me. That way I can choose whichever comic that I like better. If I didn't like the current ASM, I would still have something to read.