Who was a better Spider-Man writer: Dan Slott or Nick Spencer?

[Kevinroc]

Slott frequently built things up. He set up multiple spinoff titles throughout his run (Agent Venom, Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man 2099, Web Warriors, Silk, Morbius, Spider-Gwen etc.), created new supporting cast members at Horizon Labs, Parker Industries and so on. He used Clone Conspiracy as a way to bring back characters like Ned Leeds, Montana and Ox.

How many characters did he actually kill off? Real characters, not the Spider-Man from the alternate universe where he lives on the moon.

He killed off one of the few Queer Spiders. Yes, she wasn't major at all. No, that doesn't make it alright.

[Matt Rat]

How many characters did he actually kill off? Real characters, not the Spider-Man from the alternate universe where he lives on the moon.

Considering Mayday and Benjy, children of MC2 Spider-Man, were crucial to Spider-Verse, I'd say that makes for a compelling case that Alternate Spider-Men are real characters. MC2 Peter was killed in that event and people were so upset about it Slott decided to bring him back and even give him the powers of The Other. which Marvel still haven't done anything with, likely because if they give you even a whiff of a Peter Parker who has it all figured out, people will prefer that one over the 616 version. Even the RYV Parkers are barely used anymore for likely the same reason...they have it more together than 616 Peter and MJ do, therefore they're afraid fans will consider them the superior variants (and rightfully so)

Slott frequently built things up. He set up multiple spinoff titles throughout his run (Agent Venom, Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man 2099, Web Warriors, Silk, Morbius, Spider-Gwen etc.), created new supporting cast members at Horizon Labs, Parker Industries and so on. He used Clone Conspiracy as a way to bring back characters like Ned Leeds, Montana and Ox.

And where are all those titles now? Where are these new supporting characters? Where is Horizon? Where is Parker Industries? Nothing Slott built could stand, and the real Ned ended up being revived so there was no need for his clone, and who the hell cares about Montana and Ox? Who's even using them?

[Kanos]

How many characters did he actually kill off? Real characters, not the Spider-Man from the alternate universe where he lives on the moon.

Considering Mayday and Benjy, children of MC2 Spider-Man, were crucial to Spider-Verse, I'd say that makes for a compelling case that Alternate Spider-Men are real characters. MC2 Peter was killed in that event and people were so upset about it Slott decided to bring him back and even give him the powers of The Other. which Marvel still haven't done anything with, likely because if they give you even a whiff of a Peter Parker who has it all figured out, people will prefer that one over the 616 version. Even the RYV Parkers are barely used anymore for likely the same reason...they have it more together than 616 Peter and MJ do, therefore they're afraid fans will consider them the superior variants (and rightfully so)

Slott also killed Ashley Kafka.

[exile001]

Dan Slott for me. As has been said by others, his highs were much higher.

He gave is Big Time through Superior Spider-man which is one of my favourite Spider-man eras. While the second and third ASM reboot runs aren't great (sometimes aren't even good), I also love their centerpieces of Spider-Verse and The Clone Conspiracy (yep, screw you. I love clones and thought it was super fun!). Red Goblin was pretty fun, too.

I don't think Spencer actually did much if anything we hadn't seen before and, while I agree with most of the continuity fixes he made, basing a run on fixing continuity issues isn't really the best idea.

The Kindred thing wore out its welcome way before Last Remains for me and, point fingers where you will, the outcome is that the Kindred saga was a dud.

[Frontier]

Kindred was Spencer's white whale like Doc Ock was Slott's.

He gave is Big Time through Superior Spider-man which is one of my favourite Spider-man eras. While the second and third ASM reboot runs aren't great (sometimes aren't even good), I also love their centerpieces of Spider-Verse and The Clone Conspiracy (yep, screw you. I love clones and thought it was super fun!). Red Goblin was pretty fun, too.

I would think even clone fans would hate what that event did to Ben.

[Lee]

Considering Mayday and Benjy, children of MC2 Spider-Man, were crucial to Spider-Verse, I'd say that makes for a compelling case that Alternate Spider-Men are real characters.

It's relative. MC2 Spider-Girl was a series that ran for over 100 issues. Moon Spider-Man was a character who appeared for a few pages in Spider-Verse and was created to be cannon fodder. Moon Spider-Man's death is more on par with Innocent Bystander #3's death than it is an established cast member.

MC2 Peter was killed in that event and people were so upset about it Slott decided to bring him back and even give him the powers of The Other.

If Slott was the one who decided to bring him back, then it's balanced out. But Spider-Geddon wasn't really part of his run, so it's arguable that that one doesn't count.

And where are all those titles now? Where are these new supporting characters? Where is Horizon? Where is Parker Industries? Nothing Slott built could stand,

That's a weird metric. Something doesn't have to last forever to be successful or worthwhile. Most things don't last forever.

But it's also irrelevant to what we're discussing, which is how much Dan Slott built and how much he tore down, and how much Nick Spencer built and how much he tore down.

Which writer is better is subjective. Which writer introduced more characters, locations, concepts and set up the most spin-off books is something that can be measured objectively. Which writer killed off or revived the most characters is something that can be measured objectively.

Spiderfan001 claimed that Dan Slott destroyed more than he built. I don't think that claim holds up to scrutiny. I'd like to see how this was determined. I imagine most of the "destroyed" entries will be the deaths of obscure alternate universe Peter Parkers who had never previously crossed over with the core Marvel Universe.

[Frontier]

That's a weird metric. Something doesn't have to last forever to be successful or worthwhile. Most things don't last forever.

But it's also irrelevant to what we're discussing, which is how much Dan Slott built and how much he tore down, and how much Nick Spencer built and how much he tore down.

Which writer is better is subjective. Which writer introduced more characters, locations, concepts and set up the most spin-off books is something that can be measured objectively. Which writer killed off or revived the most characters is something that can be measured objectively.

Spiderfan001 claimed that Dan Slott destroyed more than he built. I don't think that claim holds up to scrutiny. I'd like to see how this was determined. I imagine most of the "destroyed" entries will be the deaths of obscure alternate universe Peter Parkers who had never previously crossed over with the core Marvel Universe.

I think quality is more important than quantity. Slott can do all the big-name events, spinoffs, and new characters he wants but if he doesn't write Peter or his supporting cast well, focuses more on other characters than the stories actual protagonists, or doesn't make compelling characters not related to Doc Ock, I don't think it should be seen as a net positive in his favor. And all those spinoffs didn't benefit ASM much.

And the shock value deaths in Spider-Verse were only one of the problems with that story.

[TinkerSpider]

He killed off one of the few Queer Spiders. Yes, she wasn't major at all. No, that doesn't make it alright.

Slott trolled first, made up a situation to fit the troll later. He had interesting concepts, but the troll always got in the way of telling a cohesive, character-based story within the concept. And he couldn't stick a landing, especially toward the end, demonstrating that telling a fulfulling story was never really his original intent.

[Lukmendes]

Considering Mayday and Benjy, children of MC2 Spider-Man, were crucial to Spider-Verse, I'd say that makes for a compelling case that Alternate Spider-Men are real characters. MC2 Peter was killed in that event and people were so upset about it Slott decided to bring him back and even give him the powers of The Other.

Slott wasn't involved in Spider-Geddon, that was Gage.

which Marvel still haven't done anything with, likely because if they give you even a whiff of a Peter Parker who has it all figured out, people will prefer that one over the 616 version. Even the RYV Parkers are barely used anymore for likely the same reason...they have it more together than 616 Peter and MJ do, therefore they're afraid fans will consider them the superior variants (and rightfully so)

I mean, RYV Parkers had their life figured out too much after a while, and they're boring 'cause of that lol.

I'm not saying the current direction is right, this is boring in the opposite way, just that struggles can keep **** interesting, but Marvel takes it too far with Spidey and make his life be nothing but struggles, and while being the universe's punching bag is part of the point in Spider-Man, he also gets a few big wins once in a while, and that was being done since Ditko era, 'cause while he had some pretty bad losses, he also had very clear wins, and hell, the generally best considered story in Ditko's run is Master Planner trilogy, which gives Spidey a very clear win because he was that desperate to save aunt May.

Slott trolled first, made up a situation to fit the troll later. He had interesting concepts, but the troll always got in the way of telling a cohesive, character-based story within the concept. And he couldn't stick a landing, especially toward the end, demonstrating that telling a fulfulling story was never really his original intent.

**** like is how I keep wondering how so many enjoy Slott's run.

Also over time I'm noticing more just how bad Slott's dialogue is, feels like a parody of dialogue instead of proper dialogue at times, he's not Bendis/Tom King levels (Those two are on another level), but it gets awkward at times lol.

Also man it's pretty funny how this poll is about even, right now Spencer has the slight advantage, 22 votes against Slott's 19.

It's also surprising that 42 people voted in this, I didn't even think this forum had that many active people .

[Frontier]

Slott trolled first, made up a situation to fit the troll later. He had interesting concepts, but the troll always got in the way of telling a cohesive, character-based story within the concept. And he couldn't stick a landing, especially toward the end, demonstrating that telling a fulfulling story was never really his original intent.

Slott was an idea man first and foremost.

[Matt Rat]

Slott wasn't involved in Spider-Geddon, that was Gage..

Slott revealed it was his idea to add MC2 Peter's revival to the ending.

[Lukmendes]

Slott was an idea man first and foremost.

Which can explain why characters may act so awkwardly in certain stories, if their personality is fitting for story, good, then they may do fine, if they're not, well, have fun being unrecognizable lol.

Slott revealed it was his idea to add MC2 Peter's revival to the ending.

Ah, good to know.

[PCN24454]

I think quality is more important than quantity. Slott can do all the big-name events, spinoffs, and new characters he wants but if he doesn't write Peter or his supporting cast well, focuses more on other characters than the stories actual protagonists, or doesn't make compelling characters not related to Doc Ock, I don't think it should be seen as a net positive in his favor. And all those spinoffs didn't benefit ASM much.

And the shock value deaths in Spider-Verse were only one of the problems with that story.

Has anyone focused on Spider-Man’s supporting cast in recent years? I’ve all but forgotten they exist.

As for Spencer, most of his stories were just retreads of old ones (something that was especially blatant during the Hunted story arc), and none of them really went anywhere besides re-establishing the old status quo.

[Frontier]

Has anyone focused on Spider-Man’s supporting cast in recent years? I’ve all but forgotten they exist.

I think it's more an issue of focusing on them well. But other than maybe Jonah and May Slott seemed to care more about his own characters. And Doc Ock.

As for Spencer, most of his stories were just retreads of old ones (something that was especially blatant during the Hunted story arc), and none of them really went anywhere besides re-establishing the old status quo.

I think it was more of a continuation/sequel than an outright retread.

[Lee]

I think quality is more important than quantity.

Right. But that's not what I'm discussing. I'm discussing Spiderfan001's claim that Dan Slott destroyed more than he built. That's something that can be determined somewhat objectively. Dan added a lot of new characters, locations, concepts, special suits and so on to the series, while also setting up a lot of spin-off titles. Did he really subtract (through character deaths etc.) more than he added? Is this something that is provably true?

the generally best considered story in Ditko's run is Master Planner trilogy, which gives Spidey a very clear win because he was that desperate to save aunt May.

He also screwed up his social life at college and his relationship with Betty.