Has there been any word as to why Spencer is leaving?

[Vortex85]

Was he expected to write more issues? Because if he never set any expectation for how long he would be on title, I don't think there's anything to explain or speculate about.

Spencer's Oct 2020 interview with CBR, from the wording below, to me it implied to me his run would extend beyond 2021 since he says the stories really start to get bigger and take firmer shape in 2021 and how he talks about how big the scope is. But maybe he meant the beginning of 2021 they would start to get bigger and take firmer shape, but I didn't really get that vibe at the beginning of 2021:

But one thing I would say I see, in terms of how the book is often evaluated, that I’d push back against is this notion that there is a main story-- the Kindred story-- and the others arcs are just breathers from that. Little stories. That, I promise you, couldn’t be farther from the truth of it. Each of those arcs, while intimate and character-driven (which I love to do, don’t get me wrong) is there to serve the larger plan. They’re putting something on the board or setting something in motion that will pay off down the road.


I had this on a smaller scale with my Cap run. I can remember the back half of Steve Rogers: Captain America, people saying they didn’t get it-- one issue he’s up in space, the next issue is about Baron Zemo and Cap’s barely in it, the next one is all about Maria Hill. And at the time people were like “it’s all over the place, they should get back to the main story”-- then Secret Empire #0 hits, and you see how everything we did there was part of the plan; it was all interconnected, and people seemed to love the payoff.

Well, this, structurally, is that times ten. Every story is a domino, and when we tip it over, I hope people will be impressed by the scale of it. And these stories really start to get bigger and take a firmer shape in 2021. And yes, alongside that, you have Kindred. “Last Remains” is the next big piece there.

In this 2018 interview he said this:

I will also say you won’t have to wait long to see us introduce a terrifying new villain who will upend Peter’s life and challenge him in ways we’ve never seen before. I can’t get too specific-- but trust me, he’s going to leave a lasting scar. There’s a long term plan in place on this book, maybe the most detailed one I’ve ever put forward-- and we’re building to what I truly believe will be one of the biggest Spidey stories of all time. Amazing Spider-Man #1 is the ground floor for that.

I always assumed the end of his run would lead to a huge story but the Sinister War thing has even less issues than Last Remains and originally it was not advertised as the big finale. But maybe it is his big story. Or maybe his big story is just issue 74. Hopefully we will find out if this was really what he planned or not in the future.

[RD155]

Spencer's Oct 2020 interview with CBR, from the wording below, to me it implied to me his run would extend beyond 2021 since he says the stories really start to get bigger and take firmer shape in 2021 and how he talks about how big the scope is. But maybe he meant the beginning of 2021 they would start to get bigger and take firmer shape, but I didn't really get that vibe at the beginning of 2021:





In this 2018 interview he said this:



I always assumed the end of his run would lead to a huge story but the Sinister War thing has even less issues than Last Remains and originally it was not advertised as the big finale. But maybe it is his big story. Or maybe his big story is just issue 74. Hopefully we will find out if this was really what he planned or not in the future.

Good points. I know it’s impossible to speculate at this point since no concrete information has been released. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like this was the “plan”. It’s obvious that his entire run was centering around the Kindred angle and there is still so much left on that front. Seems like quite a bit to wrap up in a few issues and it does worry me if this was how he originally intended it to go.

[Mister Mets]

It will mostly be a PR thing and not quite reflect the truth.

If Spencer was leaving on his own terms with his head held high, the announcement would come with an interview with his own words and talking about the final run and he would have announced it in advance. The fact is that the announcement doesn't quote Spencer at all, he's mum, so that doesn't suggest he's leaving on happiest terms.

The reasons as to why and so on, that will take a while before we get an answer.

It could be either way.

He's been pretty quiet about his run. He gave some interviews when he took over, and when Kindred got revealed, but otherwise he has been very much a "let the work speak for itself" kinda guy.

He has actually said so quite clearly.

https://www.cbr.com/nick-spencer-ama...ins-interview/

I haven’t done a lot of interviews or talked publicly about the run these last couple years. That’s been by design. I wanted to really try to let the work do the talk and leave it in the hands of the audience. And so far, I’m pretty pleased with the results of that experiment.

The way he's leaving seems to fit the idea that he's leaving of his own accord. He's writing a double-sized final issue and a four issue mini-series.

The extra-sized specials suggest that his departure has been in the works for a while, and that Marvel's trying to navigate scheduling the next creative teams with other logistics concerns, like where they want the book to be during upcoming milestones (the release of No Way Home, the 900th issue, the 60th anniversary.)

It's worth noting that when prominent comics figures are forced out, the news of this tends to leak out. We could see that with the departure of Axel Alonso as EIC, or Tom King from the Batman books. There hasn't been much conversation from the comics industry about Nick Spencer getting pushed out.

[Vortex85]

It could be either way.

He's been pretty quiet about his run. He gave some interviews when he took over, and when Kindred got revealed, but otherwise he has been very much a "let the work speak for itself" kinda guy.

He has actually said so quite clearly.

https://www.cbr.com/nick-spencer-ama...ins-interview/



The way he's leaving seems to fit the idea that he's leaving of his own accord. He's writing a double-sized final issue and a four issue mini-series.

The extra-sized specials suggest that his departure has been in the works for a while, and that Marvel's trying to navigate scheduling the next creative teams with other logistics concerns, like where they want the book to be during upcoming milestones (the release of No Way Home, the 900th issue, the 60th anniversary.)

It's worth noting that when prominent comics figures are forced out, the news of this tends to leak out. We could see that with the departure of Axel Alonso as EIC, or Tom King from the Batman books. There hasn't been much conversation from the comics industry about Nick Spencer getting pushed out.

Yeah I'd have to imagine the only reason for a giant sized King's Ransom #1 and Chameleon Conspiracy #1 would be for scheduling upcoming milestone issues around where they want to be for ASM #875 - ASM #900 over the next year. There is no reason for those arcs to not be just regular issue numbers in regular format otherwise. The very atypical format for those arcs suggests they have been planning the next creative team / ASM 900 for a while and adjusted the format of King's Ransom / Chameleon Conspiracy /etc for that. Maybe they didn't know which issue number to end Spencer's run on until they had the story arcs and release scheduling for the next creative team planned out until issue 900.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

It's worth noting that when prominent comics figures are forced out, the news of this tends to leak out. We could see that with the departure of Axel Alonso as EIC, or Tom King from the Batman books. There hasn't been much conversation from the comics industry about Nick Spencer getting pushed out.

Marvel is better, or has gotten better at keeping goings on in the company, schtum. Far more than DC.

It generally gives an image of a company that's supportive and collegiate with creators having each other's back and so on.

Given that the comics business hasn't changed fundamentally (i.e. Marvel's page-rate is still bad, and they are IP-farming and IP-stealing) and human nature is constant, I'd argue that's reason enough to doubt any and all official notices.

[RJT]

I always assumed the end of his run would lead to a huge story but the Sinister War thing has even less issues than Last Remains and originally it was not advertised as the big finale.

Given the biggest critique of Last Remains was that it was too long, could it be possible he decided to do Sinister War in a more tight and concise number of issues?

[Vortex85]

Given the biggest critique of Last Remains was that it was too long, could it be possible he decided to do Sinister War in a more tight and concise number of issues?

True, and it may not be that its big on issue count... but its big on impact.

[Mister Mets]

Marvel is better, or has gotten better at keeping goings on in the company, schtum. Far more than DC.

It generally gives an image of a company that's supportive and collegiate with creators having each other's back and so on.

Given that the comics business hasn't changed fundamentally (i.e. Marvel's page-rate is still bad, and they are IP-farming and IP-stealing) and human nature is constant, I'd argue that's reason enough to doubt any and all official notices.

It's fair that we shouldn't blindly trust official sources, but if Spencer chose to leave, which is entirely possible given what we know, it would be the combination of obnoxious and wrong to act as if he got pushed out.

Spencer's Oct 2020 interview with CBR, from the wording below, to me it implied to me his run would extend beyond 2021 since he says the stories really start to get bigger and take firmer shape in 2021 and how he talks about how big the scope is. But maybe he meant the beginning of 2021 they would start to get bigger and take firmer shape, but I didn't really get that vibe at the beginning of 2021:





In this 2018 interview he said this:



I always assumed the end of his run would lead to a huge story but the Sinister War thing has even less issues than Last Remains and originally it was not advertised as the big finale. But maybe it is his big story. Or maybe his big story is just issue 74. Hopefully we will find out if this was really what he planned or not in the future.

To be fair, the Kindred showdown was one of the biggest Spidey stories ever.

[NC_Yankee]

Yeah I'd have to imagine the only reason for a giant sized King's Ransom #1 and Chameleon Conspiracy #1 would be for scheduling upcoming milestone issues around where they want to be for ASM #875 - ASM #900 over the next year. There is no reason for those arcs to not be just regular issue numbers in regular format otherwise. The very atypical format for those arcs suggests they have been planning the next creative team / ASM 900 for a while and adjusted the format of King's Ransom / Chameleon Conspiracy /etc for that. Maybe they didn't know which issue number to end Spencer's run on until they had the story arcs and release scheduling for the next creative team planned out until issue 900.

Here is my question if Marvel knew Spencer was leaving for awhile, why did they not offer Amazing to Cates? They know he can write street level characters and it is is his dream job, especially because the last Amazing collaborated effort BND was not exactly a smashing success.

[RJT]

Here is my question if Marvel knew Spencer was leaving for awhile, why did they not offer Amazing to Cates? They know he can write street level characters and it is is his dream job, especially because the last Amazing collaborated effort BND was not exactly a smashing success.

They might’ve but he’s writing Thor for them now. Given that Marvel seems to want to publish three issues a month of Amazing, he would’ve had to have left Thor. The timing wasn’t right.

And the success of BND appears to be in the eye of the beholder. We do know they kept it up for three years/100 issues, so it was successful enough for Marvel to keep it going for so long.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

It's fair that we shouldn't blindly trust official sources, but if Spencer chose to leave, which is entirely possible given what we know, it would be the combination of obnoxious and wrong to act as if he got pushed out.

Being skeptical and dubious about the manner in which Spencer left is not the same as "acting as if he got pushed out".

They might’ve but he’s writing Thor for them now. Given that Marvel seems to want to publish three issues a month of Amazing, he would’ve had to have left Thor. The timing wasn’t right.

For all we know, Cates might be taking over around ASM#900 a few months down the line or later on anyway.

And the success of BND appears to be in the eye of the beholder. We do know they kept it up for three years/100 issues, so it was successful enough for Marvel to keep it going for so long.

Ah "the we must doing something right to last 200 years" argument:

[RJT]

Being skeptical and dubious about the manner in which Spencer left is not the same as "acting as if he got pushed out".



For all we know, Cates might be taking over around ASM#900 a few months down the line or later on anyway.



Ah "the we must doing something right to last 200 years" argument:

Dude, you can not like the book, but clearly it made Marvel money. Nobody publishes a hundred comics over three years if it’s not at least somewhat successful. And that’s the only metric Marvel can use to judge whether readers like a book—whether they’re buying it. As I’ve said on other threads, the membership of this board represents a fraction of a percent of the actual readership of Spider-Man. All of you are in an echo chamber where your own views are repeated back to you enough you start to believe they’re true.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

And that’s the only metric Marvel can use to judge whether readers like a book—whether they’re buying it.

Voting with your wallet is never an idea that companies actually practise or uphold. Otherwise a failed character from a controversial series that sunk ASM into doldrums in the mid-90s wouldn't get another chance to headline an event decades later.

[RJT]

https://www.comichron.com/titlespotl...spiderman.html
Comichron is missing the sales data from 2006 and 2007 (the last two years of the JMS run) but they were selling an average of 112,000 copies in 2005 (12 issues a year) and 105,000 average in 2008 (36 issues a year) That isn’t a drastic drop, and they were selling 3x as many issues per year. Looks like a success to me.

[RJT]

Every issue of the Ben Reilly Spider-Man outsold the JMS run.