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

[Hybrid]

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?

[CrimsonEchidna]

Prior to Nick Spencer taking over, there was that rumor going for a while that Ta-Nehisi Coates would be the next Amazing writer. I could see that happening if the stars were to align and his and Spencer's current respective runs ended around the same time. Coates is also a bigger Spider-Man fan.

Chip Zadarsky is definitely an easy pick. Between Specatcular and Life Story he definitely gets how Peter works, so I would be down to see him take the helm.

Kelly Thompson is someone else I think would be a good pick.

[WebSlingWonder]

I could definitely read Chip Zdarsky's take on Spider-Man all day. The man has more than earned my respect as a fantastic spider-writer.

Tom Taylor (of FNSM fame) would be another pick for me. But DC just drafted him for a new tour of "Suicide Squad", so he may be busy for a while.

Peter David would be cool, as he's never had an extensive ASM run, if they're looking for older but proven talent.

I like the suggestion of Kelly Thompson. Has a woman ever written ASM before long-term? If not, then she would be my go-to pick.

[HypnoHustler]

I’m hoping Chris Yost. He did a fantastic job with the Kaine ‘Scarlet Spider’ series.

[Batman Begins 2005]

I agree with Hybrid that Dan Slott was on the book too long, the right time was when Superior Spider-Man ended. There's very few Slott stories I liked from that point on.

I have two choices, I'd be happy with either. Chip Zdarsky has written two Spider-Man classics in My Dinner With Jonah and especially Finale, I love that story.

I’m hoping Chris Yost. He did a fantastic job with the Kaine ‘Scarlet Spider’ series.

Same goes for Avenging Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up and New Warriors. Christopher Yost writes the Superior Spider-Man character better than anybody else.

Yost or Zdarsky please.

[Yvonmukluk]

If they're committing to Peter & MJ as a couple again, I'd love to see Ta-Nehisi Coates write them, since he's already written several articles that show he gets the characters and the relationship.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

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

You know Spencer has only been here for a year and a few months and he isn't half done with his run. I feel it's kinda weird to start speculating who will be the next in line.

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.

The tendency in ASM since Michelinie is to give writers long runs...Michelinie was on for 7 years (1987-1994), JMS was on for 7 years as well (2001-2008). Slott's run from Big Time to GDS is (2010-2018), which is longest with 9 years but again falls in the same pattern. So I think it's likely for Spencer to be there for four-five years at a minimum at least. Before Michelinie, ASM had shorter runs after Stan Lee stepped down.

As for who will take over (as opposed to who should/who you would wish, on which more later)...here's some stats to give you some idea of long-term patterns which might exclude pre-emptively some writers.
-- In publication history terms, there have only ever been two writers who started on satellite titles and then went to do the main title -- Roger Stern (who started on Spectacular Spider-Man), and then Michelinie (Web of Spider-Man). Those two are aberrations and since then no satellite writer has made that leap. So Chip Zdarsky writing Spectacular has excluded himself from this already. IF you consider Venom a Spider-Man offshoot, that also includes Donny Cates. Tom Taylor likewise with FNSM.
-- No main writer of Daredevil has gone on to do ASM. Bendis maybe comes closest since he did do stuff with 616 Spider-Man in peripheral titles like the Pulse and then in New Avengers, and of course the Spider-Men stuff...but again never on ASM. So again Zdarsky has excluded himself.
-- No main writer of Thor has gone on to do ASM. There have been writers on ASM who have done Thor...like Defalco/Frenz and JMS, but never the other way around. So I'd say Donny Cates who's taking over Aaron has excluded himself as well.
-- Captain America writers have tended to start ASM, so Ta-Nehisi Coates has a shot. But he's also a budding fiction writer and much-in demand essayist. ASM always has to ship on time and is published fortnightly so that means a longer commitment. Coates would be the second African-American writer to write ASM after Owsley worked on the Gang-War story (that ended with him getting fired).

As for who I think is likelier assuming of course all things are equal a few years from now (i.e. not gone over to DC and so on)
-- Al Ewing. Writer of Immortal Hulk which sold like hell. He's still a new voice and new quantity, not as storied as others. He has a humorous sensibility mixed with seriousness as well. Sure he wrote Loki (and now Valkyrie) but those were Thor satellites as opposed to Thor main. On the other hand he's British so he could stand to be the first non-American to write ASM, or that might discount him. But hey the last two Spider-Man live-action actors were limeys so maybe this could work.

Who I would want/suggest/recommend
-- Kieron Gillen. He's done a lot of top-notch mercenary work for Marvel which sold well on small titles and so on. And he's a proven success with his great indie work -- WicDiv, DIE, Once & Future, Uber. His Darth Vader series for their Star Wars titles were also brilliant successes. He's basically the heir to Alan Moore (as Moore himself has said) and getting Gillen on ASM would be their biggest coup (i.e. major industry talent on major title) since Morrison did New X-Men. The question is would Gillen want to do it? I doubt that, but it would be interesting. I say that despite being unsure what exactly Gillen's idea of Spider-Man is, but I think it would be interesting at least.
-- Kelly Sue DeConnick. She's currently over at DC and again she's focused on her indie work but "first female lead writer on ASM" should be tempting at least.

[Prof. Warren]

Way too soon to start speculating on who's next, in my opinion. Spencer's got at least a five year run, I'm sure - perhaps a bit more. Any names that one were to toss out now, well, who knows where those writers will be by the time Spencer's ready to go and what writers not even on the radar now might have emerged.

[RD155]

I could definitely read Chip Zdarsky's take on Spider-Man all day. The man has more than earned my respect as a fantastic spider-writer.

Tom Taylor (of FNSM fame) would be another pick for me. But DC just drafted him for a new tour of "Suicide Squad", so he may be busy for a while.

Peter David would be cool, as he's never had an extensive ASM run, if they're looking for older but proven talent.

I like the suggestion of Kelly Thompson. Has a woman ever written ASM before long-term? If not, then she would be my go-to pick.

Chip no doubt. The man just gets it completely when it comes to the character. He’s already written some of my all time favorite stories. Would love him on the title regularly. Give him Bagley as an artist and im in heaven. Gates gets a vote as well because the dude is doing some great things. I really feel he could do some special
things with the character.

However it’s going to pain me to say this but can’t go along with the Peter David choice This is coming from someone who absolutely loved his Spider-Man work back in the day. I just don’t think his writing style for the character has aged well. Haven’t liked his current Spider-Man Symbiote stuff at all.

[Vortex85]

Too soon, I don’t want to think about a next writer. I want another 5 years with Spencer at least.

[Yvonmukluk]

As for who will take over (as opposed to who should/who you would wish, on which more later)...here's some stats to give you some idea of long-term patterns which might exclude pre-emptively some writers.

These are some very interesting stats, however I think that you might be reading a little too much into it in some areas. I mean, I doubt anyone is going to look at a writer and say, 'well, he's got a clear understanding of the character and some really good ideas, but he's writing Thor right now!'

I think Cates is a solid pick. He's already stated he wants to write ASM, and has definitely shown he can write in that space well on Venom, as well as having a great grasp of humour. I could see him writing Thor because he wants to do some cosmic stuff right now, while keeping his street-level powder dry for a future ASM run.

Ewing, I think, is already being groomed for greater things. I think his work on Avengers and Marvel 1001 suggests he's being handed the keys to the kingdom as it were, the same sort of role that Bendis had for such a long time. Don't get me wrong, he can write Spidey excellently (I loved him in Captain America & The Mighty Avengers), but that might actually be a little below his pay grade in 5 years time. He could be a future EiC, I think.

Gillen I think will be busy with Skavengers, his Warhammer/Marvel crossover. I mean, he did post it as a joke, but I'm fairly certain he'll be tapped for the Games Workshop stuff.

I wonder if they might experiment with resurrecting the 'brain trust' idea? Granted, the idea has probably been discredited in the eyes of many Spider-Fans due to being tied so closely to the BND era, but I think Avengers: No Surrender/No Round Home shows the idea could work. It would allow writers like Coates who couldn't normally keep up with the current schedule on their own to do so. As long as you get writers who don't wind up pulling in different directions like in BND (in that case, that was due at least in part to a tug-of-war of which love interest would be Peter's new girlfriend), you could accomplish great things. The fact ASM's bimonthly and not trimonthly as it was back then would also help. We're seeing a similar thing in the ongoing Spider-Verse comic, although that's also a miniseries.

If I were to pik a brains trust for a hypothetical post-Spencer run (let's say that Peter & MJ are either remarried or in a committed long-term relationship), I think I'd go with Cates, Coates, and Kelly Thompson (Thompson I think did a great job writing a married couple in Rogue & Gambit, and granted the dynamic would be different with MJ as non-powered, I think she could handle it well), since that would have a good consensus on the strengths of their relationship while also providing some diverse viewpoints for storytelling. I'd perhaps nominate Leah Williams as well, but I can't really speak to how she writes in the Spider-Verse until we get the first issue of Amazing Mary Jane.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

These are some very interesting stats, however I think that you might be reading a little too much into it in some areas. I mean, I doubt anyone is going to look at a writer and say, 'well, he's got a clear understanding of the character and some really good ideas, but he's writing Thor right now!'

These are just patterns that show up. Patterns are stuff people fall into either by accident or unconsciously. It comes down to this, Marvel editors tell their successors what to look for in writers for certain titles...and those end up excluding people from certain areas. The perception that satellites don't count (which is a little bizarre when you think of the fact that the two major writers of ASM in the 80s - Stern and Michelinie - came from there) ultimately led to auto-excluding all satellite writers from going on to do the main title.

But of course patterns can always be broken, changed, and altered. This isn't definite but again the consistency can't be denied.

I think Cates is a solid pick.

Cates has age on his side which is a plus. He might well become the first Thor writer to take over ASM. I mean Michelinie was the first (and only) Iron Man writer to take over ASM after all.

Captain America is generally speaking the proving ground -- JMD wrote Cap, Stern wrote Cap, Spencer wrote (or at least tried to) Cap. So Ta-Nehisi Coates has a shot.

In general people who write Cap well tend to write Spidey well. I mean JMS wrote Captain America beautifully in the pages of ASM and ultimately that informed the depiction of Cap in the MCU (with even a quote of his "you move" speech now given to Sharon).

Ewing, I think, is already being groomed for greater things. I think his work on Avengers and Marvel 1001 suggests he's being handed the keys to the kingdom as it were, the same sort of role that Bendis had for such a long time.

Maybe. I mean he knows his Marvel lore and so on, but I think Immortal Hulk is his most important and defining work. And based on that he's likelier than others.

I wonder if they might experiment with resurrecting the 'brain trust' idea?

Writing teams have a bad reputation in ASM thanks to Clone Saga and BND. The BND trust also were tasked with shipping ASM three times a month which had never been done before whereas now it's settled that ASM will be published fortnightly (that's once every two weeks...or twice-a-month). So there's not a good reason to revive it.

[Hugo Strange]

Donny Cates.

[Inversed]

I'd be interested most in seeing someone out of the box who hasn't had as much experience in writing Spider-Man in the past. So like while Zdarsky, or Taylor, or David would be cool, I'd like to see a more surprising choice, like Spencer was.

Coates would be interesting, but I don't know if he would be able to keep up with the strict (possibly double monthly) Spidey release schedule. Plus I'm not sure if his writing style would fit a Spider-Man ongoing the best, considering his incredibly slow pacing. Would love to see him on a Spidey mini at the very least.

I'm all on Team Kelly Thompson. She's so fantastic, and is even getting a quick shot at writing him in the Full Circle one-sot now.

[Jman27]

cates or chip and maybe they can finish the story