Who do you think will write The Amazing Spider-Man after Nick Spencer?

[Hybrid]

How well do you think Kelly Thompson would write Spider-Man, anyways? I've been thinking about the suggestion more and I'm kind of curious. I mean, it'd probably get a lot of hate on the internet for "toxic political correctness" right off the bat (a woman writing the main title with a male character?!) but that's not the indicator of quality. I mean, there are plenty of cases where a female writer wrote a story with a male protagonist well, as is the other reverse with a male writer and a female protagonist. What matters is how well she could write him.

But I do wonder if Kelly Thompson, as a writer, would be able to land it if given The Amazing Spider-Man?

[WebSlingWonder]

How well do you think Kelly Thompson would write Spider-Man, anyways? I've been thinking about the suggestion more and I'm kind of curious. I mean, it'd probably get a lot of hate on the internet for "toxic political correctness" right off the bat (a woman writing the main title with a male character?!) but that's not the indicator of quality. I mean, there are plenty of cases where a female writer wrote a story with a male protagonist well, as is the other reverse with a male writer and a female protagonist. What matters is how well she could write him.

But I do wonder if Kelly Thompson, as a writer, would be able to land it if given The Amazing Spider-Man?

I think Kelly would do well with it. She definitely knows how to write a credible relationship (see Mr. and Mrs. X and Rogue and Gambit) and writes very witty and natural dialogue (see Jessica Jones). While she doesn't have much experience writing Spider-Man (we'll see how well she writes him with Full Circle), I think based on those two attributes alone, I think it'd be entertaining.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

That just makes me think that he'd be more fitting to write Adjectiveless Spider-Man than Abrams, because let's face it, Tom King's real talent is writing miserable characters, and that series being a mini with a miserable Peter, and yeah, it would really be the best place for him to write Spidey.

Tom King's running theme is superheroes coping with PTSD being analogous to servicemen and police dealing with theirs. So I think that part of Peter would come up more often. And there's grounding in canon that Peter does suffer from it, especially when you consider the moments of temporary insanity he's undergone in the books. ASM #87 and ASM#100 are famous examples.

If Marvel allowed him to do all of that, they'd probably do a New X-Men and let him do whatever like dumbasses, then retcon away some/most/everything they normally wouldn't allow in the first place once he's out of the picture.

Well that's probably why Morrison won't come back to Marvel. Quesada was giddy over scoring a coup in getting one of the big three of the British Invasion (Moore, Gaiman, and GM) to do a Marvel ongoing title for the first and only time (Gaiman remember did the AU 1602 and the Eternals mini) that he let Morrison loose and didn't bother telling him that Magneto Bin Laden Hitler ain't happening.

And I honestly doubt he would do an equivalent to that with Spidey, because ultimately, Morrison only really did that with Batman to bring back silver age stuff, 'cause it's really, really obvious he's a silver age fanboy, and Batman had his silver age adventures mostly erased post-crisis, so at best I could see him bringing back some forgotten villain, like say, Big Wheel or Hypno Hustler, or that meteor guy from Ditko's run and make them less goofy.

Morrison likes the Silver Age sure but his run on Batman didn't entirely feature Silver Age stuff. For one thing Ra's Al Ghul and Talia (Bronze Age Neal Adams/O'Neill characters) play huge roles in his entire run. The silver age stuff was important for sure, but not the only thing in his run. In the case of Marvel, his run on New X-Men wasn't a Silver Age Lee-Kirby throwback...Wolverine (a Bronze Age character) plays a huge role as does Emma Frost (and you can tell that Emma is his favorite character in that run). And Morrison said that his favorite X-Men run was Claremont/Byrne. His run on New X-Men actually felt more in line with his creator owned stuff like Invisibles more than anything. And Invisibles has nothing Silver Age about it.

Of course, I could be wrong, but even a writer as unpredictable as Morrison, he has patterns, and silver age bias is the most obvious one, hell, I'd bet the whole "Magneto was possessed by some ancient bacteria" in New X-Men was just his excuse to have evil Magneto again.

Magneto being evil was Morrison's response to 9/11...which obviously came from a place of sincere feeling but was poorly conceived.

One of the underappreciated aspects of JMS' run with JRJR on ASM is that the run is a subtle commentary about Post-9/11 America. I don't just mean the 9/11 issue but the stuff that comes after all develops from that. There's careful allusions to Post-9/11 America throughout that run...and "Doomed Affairs" has Spider-Man foil a terrorist attack at Denver Airport...and you can compare how JMS' humane liberalism goes against Morrison's extreme heavy-handedness. JMS' makes sure that the Latverian terrorists who attack that airport are humanized and not simple monsters...since after all they want to assassinate a dictator collateral damage be damned. At the same time, Spider-Man comes and saves Doom and also protects Cap's identity in the process and after foiling the attack, he tells Doom he belongs to the Hague and he's responsible for this. So that's more humane all around.

But I do wonder if Kelly Thompson, as a writer, would be able to land it if given The Amazing Spider-Man?

Well it's going to be hard and difficult because there's never been a major female writer on any of the big ongoing titles. Ann Nocenti came closest in Daredevil but look at Fantastic Four, X-Men, and ASM and you won't find any outside of fill-in issues (like Louise Simonson's wonderful ASM Annual #19). Kelly Thompson would have to make the pitch and idea of the decade for her to get ASM, thrice as good than any male writer. That's the glass ceiling.

[Hybrid]

Is that really it, or the comparative lack of female comic book writers? People like Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson in the '80s were like the only female comic book writers in the industry. It certainly was like finding a needle in a haystack. Sure, it's grown a lot since, but the men still greatly outnumber the women here.

To be fair, pigeonholing is a thing. As in "black writer gets black character, female writer gets female character etc" which isn't inherently wrong because they'd likely relate easier on a personal level in this case, but can cause problems if done badly. Priest (formerly Jim Owsley) ran into this issue where despite his talent he got considered a "black" writer and that's all he was offered for a long time. Saladin Ahmed broke it pretty well -- a Muslim male writer who's done white (Black Bolt/Quicksilver), diverse team-oriented (Exiles), Afro-Latino (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), and a female-led (Magnificent Ms. Marvel) titles. If he can break it and be recognized as "a writer" and not "a Muslim writer", then that gives hope for others.

Point is, I don't think they'd refuse Kelly Thompson just for being a woman.

[WebSlingWonder]

Is that really it, or the comparative lack of female comic book writers? People like Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson in the '80s were like the only female comic book writers in the industry. It certainly was like finding a needle in a haystack. Sure, it's grown a lot since, but the men still greatly outnumber the women here.

To be fair, pigeonholing is a thing. As in "black writer gets black character, female writer gets female character etc" which isn't inherently wrong because they'd likely relate easier on a personal level in this case, but can cause problems if done badly. Priest (formerly Jim Owsley) ran into this issue where despite his talent he got considered a "black" writer and that's all he was offered for a long time. Saladin Ahmed broke it pretty well -- a Muslim male writer who's done white (Black Bolt/Quicksilver), diverse team-oriented (Exiles), Afro-Latino (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), and a female-led (Magnificent Ms. Marvel) titles. If he can break it and be recognized as "a writer" and not "a Muslim writer", then that gives hope for others.

Point is, I don't think they'd refuse Kelly Thompson just for being a woman.

That is true. It's all too frustrating to read said writer is put on a book just because of their skin color or gender (or even orientation). If Thompson has a good pitch, they should be all for it regardless of her gender. That said, would she even want it? Like you mentioned, she would automatically be targeted unfortunately by those who think themselves "superior" (they're not).

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Is that really it, or the comparative lack of female comic book writers?

That creates a self-perpetuating loop. Because it's really "it" (glass ceiling) you don't have female comic book writers, and when you get female writers, they still find it hard to break "it". There were female writers at Marvel in that era. Mary Jo Duffy wrote Power Man and Iron Fist, and Frank Miller has said that she was his mentor when he started at Marvel. She could have been someone who could have written ASM in the 70s.

To be fair, pigeonholing is a thing. As in "black writer gets black character, female writer gets female character etc" which isn't inherently wrong because they'd likely relate easier on a personal level in this case, but can cause problems if done badly.

Dwayne McDuffie was someone who broke through in that regard in terms of being a major writer on all kinds of characters (he even had a run on Fantastic Four) and he was a key showrunner on the classic JLU cartoons. I think TNC is the first African-American writer to do Captain America.

Priest (formerly Jim Owsley) ran into this issue where despite his talent he got considered a "black" writer and that's all he was offered for a long time.

Priest didn't want to do Black Panther for that reason. That's why it took a lot of effort on Quesada's part to convince him to do MK:Black Panther. Commissioning that is easily Quesada's major lasting significant accomplishment as an editor (which is otherwise mediocre all things considered).

Saladin Ahmed broke it pretty well -- a Muslim male writer who's done white (Black Bolt/Quicksilver), diverse team-oriented (Exiles), Afro-Latino (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), and a female-led (Magnificent Ms. Marvel) titles. If he can break it and be recognized as "a writer" and not "a Muslim writer", then that gives hope for others.

He's also a guy who's a fantasy novelist and achieved success there, so that probably helped him somewhat. But good for him and good for everyone.

Point is, I don't think they'd refuse Kelly Thompson just for being a woman.

These days perhaps not, but it'd still be hard going. Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote the Osborn miniseries in the aftermath of Siege and she made Norah Winters a cool character and she wrote a very scary and compelling Norman Osborn (whose face is basically Dafoe's in that miniseries). So I think she'd write Spider-Man well. She's of course famous for making Carol into Captain Marvel and co-designing that outfit that became Brie Larson's.

In terms of art though, Sara Pichelli has probably broken the ceiling in terms of being a female artist who works largely in titles that aren't traditionally female quote-unquote. She's worked on Fantastic Four and so on.

There are other ceilings as well in superhero comics. Have you ever noticed that there's never been an openly gay writer on any superhero title?

[WebSlingWonder]

That creates a self-perpetuating loop. Because it's really "it" (glass ceiling) you don't have female comic book writers, and when you get female writers, they still find it hard to break "it". There were female writers at Marvel in that era. Mary Jo Duffy wrote Power Man and Iron Fist, and Frank Miller has said that she was his mentor when he started at Marvel. She could have been someone who could have written ASM in the 70s.



Dwayne McDuffie was someone who broke through in that regard in terms of being a major writer on all kinds of characters (he even had a run on Fantastic Four) and he was a key showrunner on the classic JLU cartoons. I think TNC is the first African-American writer to do Captain America.



Priest didn't want to do Black Panther for that reason. That's why it took a lot of effort on Quesada's part to convince him to do MK:Black Panther. Commissioning that is easily Quesada's major lasting significant accomplishment as an editor (which is otherwise mediocre all things considered).



He's also a guy who's a fantasy novelist and achieved success there, so that probably helped him somewhat. But good for him and good for everyone.



These days perhaps not, but it'd still be hard going. Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote the Osborn miniseries in the aftermath of Siege and she made Norah Winters a cool character and she wrote a very scary and compelling Norman Osborn (whose face is basically Dafoe's in that miniseries). So I think she'd write Spider-Man well. She's of course famous for making Carol into Captain Marvel and co-designing that outfit that became Brie Larson's.

In terms of art though, Sara Pichelli has probably broken the ceiling in terms of being a female artist who works largely in titles that aren't traditionally female quote-unquote. She's worked on Fantastic Four and so on.

There are other ceilings as well in superhero comics. Have you ever noticed that there's never been an openly gay writer on any superhero title?

What? Sina Grace was gay and wrote "Iceman". Two volumes of it.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

What? Sina Grace was gay and wrote "Iceman". Two volumes of it.

Sina Grace has talked about how little support he got for Iceman
(https://io9.gizmodo.com/comics-write...e-r-1835973365)

In general it's pretty rare right across the board. In fact I heard rumors that some writers have stayed in the closet in the comic business because they fear they won't get good gigs because of discrimination they might face, and their stories being perceived a certain way.

[WebSlingWonder]

Sina Grace has talked about how little support he got for Iceman
(https://io9.gizmodo.com/comics-write...e-r-1835973365)

In general it's pretty rare right across the board. In fact I heard rumors that some writers have stayed in the closet in the comic business because they fear they won't get good gigs because of discrimination they might face, and their stories being perceived a certain way.

That doesn't negate the fact that he was an openly gay writer who wrote a superhero book. And I'm sure he's not the only one.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

That doesn't negate the fact that he was an openly gay writer who wrote a superhero book.

You are right. Should have said major superhero title then. But the point still stands that there's a glass ceiling for openly LGBT writers in mainstream superhero publications.

And I'm sure he's not the only one.

There are most likely instances where some of them are in the closet. It's like it is with sports too for instance.

[Snoop Dogg]

The Mary Jane book is being written by a bisexual woman and the Morbius book is being written by a queer enby (non-binary).

Kelly Thompson is on two flagship Marvel books and if she has continued success doing long-form storytelling there she could definitely write ASM, but maybe not by 2021 when I suspect Spencer'll dip since ASM ships fast. She'd do okay if you gave her the book right now.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The Mary Jane book is being written by a bisexual woman and the Morbius book is being written by a queer enby (non-binary).

That's good and steps in the right direction but both are satellite titles and not main ones...

When a LGBT writer gets to do the major Batman title without it being a big deal then there will be progress. Batman is an aggressively heteronormative title ever since Frederic Wertham and it's also been consistently the industry benchmark superhero title.

Kelly Thompson is on two flagship Marvel books and if she has continued success doing long-form storytelling there she could definitely write ASM, but maybe not by 2021 when I suspect Spencer'll dip since ASM ships fast. She'd do okay if you gave her the book right now.

And I still think there are hurdles for her or any female writer to be on the major titles.

[Somecrazyaussie]

All good things must come to an end, and I thought we'd speculate who will succeed Nick Spencer after his run is finished?

I don't know when that will be, and I bet we have a good amount of time, but I hope it isn't as ridiculously long as Dan Slott's run. I think his run was too long, and the brand grew stale under him (especially when it became clear he wanted to write Iron Man before he actually did). No one should hold onto the main Spider-Man title as long as him, even those who are more talented than Slott have grown stale after a while. So for this topic, let's bring up the best possible candidates to succeed Nick Spencer and continue the legacy.

I feel like the most natural choice to succeed Spencer is Chip Zdarsky, what with him writing the successful secondary title Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, and the out-of-continuity Spider-Man: Life Story which told Spidey through the decades without comic book time. I think he'd do great with Spider-Man and I hope to see it.

I know some have thought Donny Cates (because Marvel is trying to make him their new go-to guy after Bendis left), but he specializes in darker and edgier titles with a heavier sci-fi bent. Unless he has this secret talent for writing the lighthearted and comedic yet down to earth style of Spider-Man that he hasn't gotten the chance to show off, I don't think he'd be a good choice. Nothing against him though, because I like his stories. It's like how I wouldn't want Jonathan Hickman to do Spider-Man solo because it's not a good fit.

What about you guys?

How long is Spencer planning on sticking around? 2 - 3 years at the current rate would be 48 - 62 issues. Which would be a nice run to have for any writer. I am happy with him at the moment, so I don't want him going anywhere anytime soon.

BUT if I had to speculate who I would like to see on the title after him, my top pick would be Zdarsky. He is the unsung talent at Marvel at the moment in my eyes with stellar work from Spectacular through to Invaders and now Dardevil. Not really sure if he would be keen on returning to Spidey after his Spectacular run, but maybe being given the keys to the main book proper might be enough to sway him.

I also have no problem with Coates either. Although I don't see how he would be able to do it as he has trouble putting out two titles now as it is. So if he was given the title, I'd want him to have no other ongoing besides Amazing.

I also wouldn't mind Jim Zub. That guy sold me on him with his run on Uncanny Avengers. Which was the most Avengery Avengers book since Busiek left.

[Inversed]

How long is Spencer planning on sticking around? 2 - 3 years at the current rate would be 48 - 62 issues. Which would be a nice run to have for any writer. I am happy with him at the moment, so I don't want him going anywhere anytime soon.

I'm imagining at the very least, we're gonna get a 4 year 100 issue run out of him. Whether he decides to go longer after that we don't know, it could very well be possible, but I feel like at least 100 is a guarantee.

(Also side note, Cates said his plan for Venom is to go up to 50 issues at least, which would be around the same time ASM gets to 100. So that's a door that suddenly becomes open if anything happens)

But I do wonder if Kelly Thompson, as a writer, would be able to land it if given The Amazing Spider-Man?

I'd say in terms of the "down-on-their-luck" archetype, Spider-Man would probably land somewhere in the middle between Hawkeye and Jessica Jones, and she wrote those traits in both of them extremely well and very differently, so I think she'll be able to handle Spidey no problem. And now she's getting to do Deadpool, who's on a whole other level in that same feed, so that may help paint a clearer picture too.

[Lukmendes]

Uh, I think the only thing from Kelly Thompson I read is her current run in Captain Marvel, which is pretty mediocre so far, does she have anything better?