Slott announcing a return to Spider-Man?

[Prof. Warren]

As a writer, Dan Slott has not had the gift of turning an underselling low-prestige title into something big. He has worked most of his life on licensed properties and rarely on creator owned titles. So he has no chops creating a character and story on his own and trying to see how that lasts in the marketplace of ideas whereas Bendis, Ellis, Hickman, Fraction, Zdarsky, Deconnick have all had that and proven that before they did licensed characters. Slott's work with She-Hulk and The Thing were at best cult successes, as is that Silver Surfer thing he did later. Spider-Man is the only time he's ever had success whether it's the Human Torch team-up series or Post-BND and again Spider-Man is Marvel's banner title, so it's not exactly proof that Slott by himself can sell and succeed. So it wouldn't surprise me if Slott would want to return to Spider-Man sometime soon or down the line. His issues at Fantastic Four and Iron Man haven't set the world figuratively on fire.

Slott's FF and IM are both doing very well. And the habit of some fans of trying to denigrate or wave off Slott's success by saying that his success hasn't been earned because, well, it's just that the characters were already popular, is flatly ridiculous. Many writers over the years have been given the chance to write big characters at both DC and Marvel only to botch the job. So just because you're writing Spider-Man or the FF, that doesn't automatically translate into success. It's not an easy slam dunk. You have to do the work, you have to keep the fanbase engaged.

Slott's done that, time and again. You don't have the career that he's had and the sustained success that he's had without consistently delivering the goods. And that "Silver Surfer thing he did" won him and Mike Allred an Eisner Award. He's done more than ok for himself, you know? Better than most people who want to make it as a writer will ever do.

[NC_Yankee]

Slott's FF and IM are both doing very well. And the habit of some fans of trying to denigrate or wave off Slott's success by saying that his success hasn't been earned because, well, it's just that the characters were already popular, is flatly ridiculous. Many writers over the years have been given the chance to write big characters at both DC and Marvel only to botch the job. So just because you're writing Spider-Man or the FF, that doesn't automatically translate into success. It's not an easy slam dunk. You have to do the work, you have to keep the fanbase engaged.

Slott's done that, time and again. You don't have the career that he's had and the sustained success that he's had without consistently delivering the goods. And that "Silver Surfer thing he did" won him and Mike Allred an Eisner Award. He's done more than ok for himself, you know? Better than most people who want to make it as a writer will ever do.

Please do not bring up awards. Why? They are almost meaningless For example: Lady Gaga won more Grammys then Elvis and Led Zeppelin put together. I do not think anyone considers her better then Elvis or Zep. That said, I give Dan Slott credit for even being able to get his work punlished ( very few people succeed at that). My problem was the content. Superior, Silk, Alpha, Jackpot and of course, OMD come to mind. Comic Books are supposed to be escapism and entertaining but what he did to Pete, MJ and Felicia actually got on my nerves, so except for back issues and Renew Your Vows ( which I give him credit for), I stopped reading or even following Spider-Man.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

... OMD come to mind...

Dan Slott did not write OMD and had no involvement with that story, nor with OMIT. His writing of Peter and his supporting cast entirely out of character after that, that's all him.

[WebSlingWonder]

Please do not bring up awards. Why? They are almost meaningless For example: Lady Gaga won more Grammys then Elvis and Led Zeppelin put together. I do not think anyone considers her better then Elvis or Zep. That said, I give Dan Slott credit for even being able to get his work punlished ( very few people succeed at that). My problem was the content. Superior, Silk, Alpha, Jackpot and of course, OMD come to mind. Comic Books are supposed to be escapism and entertaining but what he did to Pete, MJ and Felicia actually got on my nerves, so except for back issues and Renew Your Vows ( which I give him credit for), I stopped reading or even following Spider-Man.

Awards being meaningless devalues the recognition of the recipients that they rightfully deserve. You may not think they deserve it, but someone else, usually a group of professionals who know each industry, provide that award. So to say "don't bring up awards" is rather silly and insensitive.
And, as far as Slott's body of work, I'm not even the biggest fan of his. I wanted him to be done with Spider-Man before Superior. But that's not to say I hate the guy or won't acknowledge his contributions. And Prof. Warren is right: even if you were all mad at his stories, he still kept you engaged (which, I don't wholeheartedly approve, but it is what it is)

[Matt Parker]

I think Slott is an excellent idea guy. He helped plot the new Spider-Man game last year, and then let other writers actually script it, and that game ended up having a fantastic story that was universally acclaimed. Plus, the ideas for most of his Spider-Man run were really cool, but they just weren't executed that well IMO (even though his run did absolutely have some great high points).

I think Iron Man and FF are better fits for him, because I don't think Slott us great at writing the interpersonal drama that is so important for Spider-Man. He's good with big, over the top superhero plots and with displaying the scenery chewing villains, but those relationships that define Peter's world were beyond his grasp as a writer. However, Iron Man and FF are more about the big superhero plots with high concept villains than they are about personal drama, so I think they are both franchises that are in Dan's wheelhouse.

I liked the first 5 issues of his Iron Man run. It was fun and seemed to seed cool stuff to come with a Sunset Bain/Arno Stark team up and the return of the Controller (who is one of my favorite Iron Man villains). I haven't read his FF stuff yet, but I will probably check out the first trade at least.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think Slott is an excellent idea guy. He helped plot the new Spider-Man game last year, and then let other writers actually script it, and that game ended up having a fantastic story that was universally acclaimed.

That's not true. The credits for the Spider-Man game (as is clear when you read City at War #1), list John Paquette as lead writer, and lead narrative designer, and several other writers were credited, with Christos Gage having a bigger credit, and the end credits of that game attribute to Slott, "Additional Lines" as a credit. Slott was important because Big Time and his Mr. Negative stories was an influence on the story, and he was consulted. But he didn't help "plot out the game and then let other writers actually script it". That's not how game development works. Slott was also just one of the Spider-Man influences, including Bendis (for Miles, and also Peter and MJ which draw on the Ultimate version of those characters), and the Raimi movies which inspired Dr. Octopus' characterization and father-son bond with Peter and so on.

And to be honest, I don't know if coming up with ideas and letting other writers script it is much of a recommendation for a writer. The best writers do plotting and scripting both, and even Stan Lee while there's debate about his plotting credit with Ditko and Kirby, did do all the scripting himself. Bendis for instance did plotting and scripting for all his stuff, as does Spencer. Whereas in Slott's long run, at least 40 of his issues were scripted by Gage, including the entire finale of Superior Spider-Man. And now his run on Iron Man has Jim Zub and others step in and help him get the issues out on time, while the War of the Realms tie-ins will be written by Gail Simone. So not a good look.

[bob.schoonover]

That's not true. The credits for the Spider-Man game (as is clear when you read City at War #1), list John Paquette as lead writer, and lead narrative designer, and several other writers were credited, with Christos Gage having a bigger credit, and the end credits of that game attribute to Slott, "Additional Lines" as a credit. Slott was important because Big Time and his Mr. Negative stories was an influence on the story, and he was consulted. But he didn't help "plot out the game and then let other writers actually script it". That's not how game development works. Slott was also just one of the Spider-Man influences, including Bendis (for Miles, and also Peter and MJ which draw on the Ultimate version of those characters), and the Raimi movies which inspired Dr. Octopus' characterization and father-son bond with Peter and so on.

And to be honest, I don't know if coming up with ideas and letting other writers script it is much of a recommendation for a writer. The best writers do plotting and scripting both, and even Stan Lee while there's debate about his plotting credit with Ditko and Kirby, did do all the scripting himself. Bendis for instance did plotting and scripting for all his stuff, as does Spencer. Whereas in Slott's long run, at least 40 of his issues were scripted by Gage, including the entire finale of Superior Spider-Man. And now his run on Iron Man has Jim Zub and others step in and help him get the issues out on time, while the War of the Realms tie-ins will be written by Gail Simone. So not a good look.

Slott did write Shattered Dimensions and provided help on the new game:
"Marvel’s Spider-Man
Story Lead Jon Paquette; Writers Benjamin Arfmann, Kelsey Beachum; Co-Written by Christos Gage; Additional Story Contributions by Dan Slott
Insomniac Games & Sony Interactive Entertainment"
That's from the Writer's Guild, and they don't let you put random names in the credits w/o a reason. That's not to say the above poster's assertion is correct (he'd be further up the WGA credits if it was), of course, but your characterization is also off.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Slott did write Shattered Dimensions

What does that have to do with the PS4 game? Yeah Slott wrote for games before, but when the PS4 game went into production he was busy with doing the bi-monthly main title, while also working on the cartoon shows (USM and the current Spider-Man cartoon). When he worked on Shattered Dimensions he was one of the writers on the BND brain trust.

That's from the Writer's Guild, and they don't let you put random names in the credits w/o a reason.

I never said his name was not on the credits. Merely that there were a huge number of writers before him, and Christos Gage was credited above Slott, and Gage below others, with the Story Lead being Jon Paquette. If you see the game's end-credits Slott is below everyone else.

It's a huge stretch to go from that to claim "he wrote the entire plot".

[WebSlingWonder]

That's not true. The credits for the Spider-Man game (as is clear when you read City at War #1), list John Paquette as lead writer, and lead narrative designer, and several other writers were credited, with Christos Gage having a bigger credit, and the end credits of that game attribute to Slott, "Additional Lines" as a credit. Slott was important because Big Time and his Mr. Negative stories was an influence on the story, and he was consulted. But he didn't help "plot out the game and then let other writers actually script it". That's not how game development works. Slott was also just one of the Spider-Man influences, including Bendis (for Miles, and also Peter and MJ which draw on the Ultimate version of those characters), and the Raimi movies which inspired Dr. Octopus' characterization and father-son bond with Peter and so on.

And to be honest, I don't know if coming up with ideas and letting other writers script it is much of a recommendation for a writer. The best writers do plotting and scripting both, and even Stan Lee while there's debate about his plotting credit with Ditko and Kirby, did do all the scripting himself. Bendis for instance did plotting and scripting for all his stuff, as does Spencer. Whereas in Slott's long run, at least 40 of his issues were scripted by Gage, including the entire finale of Superior Spider-Man. And now his run on Iron Man has Jim Zub and others step in and help him get the issues out on time, while the War of the Realms tie-ins will be written by Gail Simone. So not a good look.

Jack, why do you have it in for Slott? I know you don't like his run, but come on man.

[Celgress]

Dan Slott did not write OMD and had no involvement with that story, nor with OMIT.....

Exactly, Slott had nothing to do with OMD. He has even said he was told the one thing he was not allowed to write in 616 was Peter/MJ which is why he was so happy when he got a chance to do RYV.

Another user listed events like Superior for why they didn't like Slott's run. Well, to each their own. Superior Spider-Man is what brought me back to the Spider-Man Fandom after the debacle that was OMD. Due to my immense enjoyment of Superior, I sought out past Slott stories like Spider-Island, Big Time and No One Dies (which likewise were excellent). While I detested certain aspects of the PI arc, Slott still produced a far more constantly good Spider-Man than did many who came before him.

[bob.schoonover]

What does that have to do with the PS4 game? Yeah Slott wrote for games before, but when the PS4 game went into production he was busy with doing the bi-monthly main title, while also working on the cartoon shows (USM and the current Spider-Man cartoon). When he worked on Shattered Dimensions he was one of the writers on the BND brain trust.



I never said his name was not on the credits. Merely that there were a huge number of writers before him, and Christos Gage was credited above Slott, and Gage below others, with the Story Lead being Jon Paquette. If you see the game's end-credits Slott is below everyone else.

It's a huge stretch to go from that to claim "he wrote the entire plot".

I was editing and omitted the "so maybe the previous poster was confusing the two games" line that had been there before. My apologies for lack of clarity.

As to the second part, I completely agree that when you remove the followup sentence from my quote, it looks like I'm saying something completely different from what I actually said.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Jack, why do you have it in for Slott? I know you don't like his run, but come on man.

My opinion is that Slott is highly overpraised and overrated. And he tends to get credit for stuff that he didn't do entirely by himself or his own. Some of this is stuff like OMD and OMIT which yeah it's not fair to blame him for that. But then there's stuff that he wrote the entire PS4 game by himself and it gets ridiculous. Slott keeps going on about writing all these issues for Spider-Man and how he's only behind Bendis and so on, but that number falls short if you consider that a sizable chunk of his run was scripted by Gage. At best at ASM, Slott did plotting and scripting for 111 issues by my count. Which puts him a little above Michelinie. Stan Lee is ambiguous since the plotting of his issues in large chunks was done by Ditko and a little by Romita but Romita said that Lee had more of a hand since he wasn't as confident or strong in that front. But the scripting was all Lee. Spider-Gwen likewise I see sometimes credited to Slott when in fact that character and series was created in spite of him since Latour and Rodriquez went rogue on Slott's pitch and Slott didn't like what they did and then it broke out in a big way.

I actually do like and prefer Slott's pre-OMD work, like I love the Chronos stories he wrote for Justice League Adventures, these DCAU tie-ins. Those stories made me a big fan of Chronos the Time Thief and I read that before I knew who Slott was. Those DCAU Tie-Ins tended at times to have better stories than the main run did. And Spider-Man/Human Torch is excellent and even many Slott's defenders will tell you that's his best work. I always feel that Slott works best when he is inhabiting pre-existing status-quos and reworking existing stuff than as a guy spinning stuff on his own. He works better when he is doing pre-set characterizations than he is when trying to actually direct those characterizations.

As far as Slott's run goes, some moments and scenes work very well, the issue in Go Down Swinging where Norman talks at the Gentleman's Club and you don't know if he's talking to himself or someone until the end, and that leads you to re-read the issue. That was cool. And that issue in the first RYV series where Mary Jane talks to Annie about Peter's past. But stuff like No One Dies...the art by Marcos Martin is better than that story deserves. It's a ridiculous bit of self-pity that doesn't communicate anything tangible or meaningful about death but pretends to do so and it's main hook is the frankly meaningless phrase "from this moment on no one dies". I mean it's sounds like Slott is trying to give Spider-Man his own "I am the night" speech. And that meme keeps recurring throughout his run in ways that never have any real payoff. There's also the lack of originality. Superior Spider-Man borrows its main setup from KLH only it failed to executed its own stated moral argument and the entire story requires practically everyone to act like idiots and for you to know nothing about any of the character beats for it to work. He's on the whole consistent on a plot basis but I never got any sense that I was reading something that wasn't done before and done better. I say that as someone reading his work in the trade. I avoided the BND era like the plague when it came out and followed it in reviews and so on. The only time I checked in was to read Dying Wish and the first two issues of Superior which I hate then and despise now. I only caught up around last year, where he was stepping down and Spencer was coming in. I felt that now with emotions cooled I could give him a fair shake, and in general reading Big Time, Spider-Island, No one Dies, and other issues and moments from across his run that I saw recommended, didn't change my views. Reading Slott against classic runs which I was discovering and looking at, only solidified that.

...

Cool. No issues. You know Shattered Dimensions actually planted the seeds for the Spider-Verse, which is now this big sub-franchise of Spider-Man. Of course you can argue that the Fox Cartoon's final season actually did the Spider-Verse thing first.

[xpyred]

He was on the title a LONG time

I wonder if anyone said that about Chris Claremont and his 15 years on Uncanny X-Men. I'm sure not all of Claremont's X-Men stories during that period are gold standard.

[WebSlingWonder]

...

Well, I get all of that. But he's hardly the first comic writer to not do something new. :P And won't be the last.

[WebSlingWonder]

I wonder if anyone said that about Chris Claremont and his 15 years on Uncanny X-Men. I'm sure not all of Claremont's X-Men stories during that period are gold standard.

Right?! Like I know someone was saying that Claremont needed to be gone long before he left. Same with Peter David on Hulk and more.