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

[Kevinroc]

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

It always seemed like he felt bad because DeFalco and Frenz were so unhappy that MC2 Peter was killed in Spider-Verse (Frenz was definitely not shy about expressing his feelings about that), and he never wanted to actually upset them.

[Matt Rat]

It always seemed like he felt bad because DeFalco and Frenz were so unhappy that MC2 Peter was killed in Spider-Verse (Frenz was definitely not shy about expressing his feelings about that), and he never wanted to actually upset them.

I think it's mostly because Tom D and Frenz got their own back, they persuaded editorial to allow them to imply in their own story for Spider-Verse that it's Mayday wasn't the 'real' one they worked on.

[Frontier]

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?

Again, quality over quantity. Slott throwing out so much doesn't necesarilly equate to being "good" and I think characterizations and use of certain characters can be as subtractive as actual character death.

It always seemed like he felt bad because DeFalco and Frenz were so unhappy that MC2 Peter was killed in Spider-Verse (Frenz was definitely not shy about expressing his feelings about that), and he never wanted to actually upset them.

Remember when were debating that dumb costume change of giving Mayday her dads' costume instead of her own? Good times .

[The Urge]

I can't wait for the inevitable "Who is the better spider-man writer: Slott or Wells" thread. But it'll probably be more like " Who destroyed the character more: Slott or Wells.

[Frontier]

I can't wait for the inevitable "Who is the better spider-man writer: Slott or Wells" thread. But it'll probably be more like " Who destroyed the character more: Slott or Wells.

Ironically they were both on the Brain Trust together .

[duke togo]

Slott has some good ideas, but his run felt more like an alternative universe of the characters as a lot of the characters didn't behave like characters that were fleshed out in the past.

Spencer had a good run, that was rushed towards the end, but at least they characters felt like the characters.

So, yeah, Spencer for the win.

[Frontier]

Slott has some good ideas, but his run felt more like an alternative universe of the characters as a lot of the characters didn't behave like characters that were fleshed out in the past.

Spencer had a good run, that was rushed towards the end, but at least they characters felt like the characters.

So, yeah, Spencer for the win.

I think this is a fair summation of both runs.

[PCN24454]

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.

I don’t see a problem with that (except the Superior Spider-Man fiasco). It was refreshing to have Peter interact with new characters and especially with new villains. My biggest disappointment was how quickly he was willing to discard them to go back to the status quo no matter how drawn out it was.

As stated before, the lack of anything actually new is one of my biggest gripes with Spencer’s run.

Spencer’s run was popular because of cliffhangers, lots and lots of cliffhangers. No actually plot to be spoken of. So long as OMD got alluded to people would read it. No other reason.

[Kanos]

Spencer’s run was popular because of cliffhangers, lots and lots of cliffhangers. No actually plot to be spoken of. So long as OMD got alluded to people would read it. No other reason.

Lol, OMD wasn't mentioned until Last Remains and people called Spencer's run the best since Straczynski.

[Lukmendes]

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

The relationship with Betty had already ended by that point, since he ended things with Betty in ASM#30:



Tried get her pissed with him in #32:



And he intentionally sounded like a danger junkie to push her away in #33.



And while Ditko made it so Peter isn't aware that she would choose him over Ned, he is aware she still has feelings for him anyway, and is very correct in assuming that Betty would hate it if she learns he's Spider-Man, since in earlier issues, she occasionaly mentions she doesn't like people who put themselves in danger like Spidey (She doesn't hate him though, even tried to find a way to save him from Spider-Slayer), ASM#32 has another scene with Betty not being happy in seeing Spidey:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...88/unknown.png

and in ASM#34 she has a nightmare where Peter reveals himself to be Spidey:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...86/unknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...43/unknown.png

Basically by that point, it was clear the relationship wouldn't work, ending things with her is the best thing he could've done.

He did screw up his social life at college, but, so what? He still got a massive win by managing to save aunt May, stoping Otto and even getting some extra money from that adventure, having a bunch of snob assholes like Harry, Gwen and Flash not like him is whatever compared to how good **** he got, specially since he was happy by the end, and didn't really seem to care about Flash, Gwen and Harry hating him afterwards.

So yeah, bad stuff still happened in that story, but it's mostly good that happened, focusing too much on the negative would be like if he found a cure for cancer, but we only talk about how he stubbed his toe afterwards.

I don’t see a problem with that (except the Superior Spider-Man fiasco). It was refreshing to have Peter interact with new characters and especially with new villains. My biggest disappointment was how quickly he was willing to discard them to go back to the status quo no matter how drawn out it was.

Slott's new characters could be lazy rehashes of old characters though, Sajani and Lian in particular, oh boy lol.

Modell is alright though, Anna Maria was generally fun too.

Spencer’s run was popular because of cliffhangers, lots and lots of cliffhangers. No actually plot to be spoken of. So long as OMD got alluded to people would read it. No other reason.

I correctly guessed since the beginning that the run wouldn't address or undo OMD and I still found myself enjoying his run, specially the earlier issues, so no, it wasn't just the "One More Bait".

Lol, OMD wasn't mentioned until Last Remains and people called Spencer's run the best since Straczynski.

It wasn't mentioned, but the way Kindred kept talking about Peter's forgotten sins made plenty of people deduce that the run would address OMD, Last Remains is what made the references more direct.

[Frontier]

Sajani was terrible, to the point that that literally became her whole character .

The version of Max I like the best was cartoon Max where he was a well-meaning, if awkward, screw-up. But he's also probably the only major male LGBTQ+ rep in this franchise (until Kevinroc gets their wish).

I liked Anna Maria more when she wasn't being written as having a moral/intelligent high ground over Peter or when Gage wrote her insinuating Peter has shallow taste in women compared to good 'ol Otto.

I don’t see a problem with that (except the Superior Spider-Man fiasco). It was refreshing to have Peter interact with new characters and especially with new villains. My biggest disappointment was how quickly he was willing to discard them to go back to the status quo no matter how drawn out it was.

As stated before, the lack of anything actually new is one of my biggest gripes with Spencer’s run.

Spencer’s run was popular because of cliffhangers, lots and lots of cliffhangers. No actually plot to be spoken of. So long as OMD got alluded to people would read it. No other reason.

I understand wanting to see new things, but I think the issue becomes whether A. the new stuff fits the character and B. whether the characters are being written well.

Slott wasn't always able to fit both criteria.

[Kevinroc]

Sajani was terrible, to the point that that literally became her whole character .

The version of Max I like the best was cartoon Max where he was a well-meaning, if awkward, screw-up. But he's also probably the only major male LGBTQ+ rep in this franchise (until Kevinroc gets their wish).

I liked Anna Maria more when she wasn't being written as having a moral/intelligent high ground over Peter or when Gage wrote her insinuating Peter has shallow taste in women compared to good 'ol Otto.

I'm giving Marvel a free idea here, lol.

But it is a reminder that, the addition of Max is still reductive compared to what Slott took away.

He took away a Queer Spider-Hero (I don't care how minor she was, the point still stands) and treated one of the most prominent Queer characters in Marvel horribly by turning her into the Queenpin.

[Tabs]

I'm voting for Spencer but my recency bias is against Nick since he destroyed one of the actually good ideas from the BND era: Harry Osborn's reintegration into the supporting cast. He ruined his original death and rewrote Mephisto into one of Spiderman's most influential villain's backstory. He's a better character writer for the protagonist and his supporting cast(except Harry) but he didn't write compelling villains. Everyone's a clone and/or influenced by the devil.

[Mister Mets]

If people can talk about Learning to Crawl in Slott's favor, is it fair to talk about Superior Foes?

I ask because LTC was not the main book when it was being published. It was a side project that tied into the main book. Superior Foes did eventually tie into Spencer's run on ASM. (This also means Slott's Spidey/Torch mini should also be fair game to discuss as it eventually tied into his own work on ASM.)

Also, I'm curious what you think there was to appreciate in the Queenpin story. I've not seen many positive reactions to that and so I am curious.

The Queenpin story wasn't my favorite of Slott's, but I did like how Slott and Ramos captured a Peter Parker making up for burned bridges in the Superior Spider-Man run, and dealing with new responsibilities as a result of Doc Ock's ambitions. There were some decent action sequences.

I would consider Learning to Crawl an obvious part of Slott's run, just as Clone Conspiracy was and Sinister War counts for Nick Spencer. It substituted for issues of Amazing Spider-Man at that time (the book was on a one-month subscription) and set up characters that would have an impact on later arcs in Slott's run, especially Clash. When he wrote the mini-series, he had an idea of how it would affect later issues of Spider-Man he was already commissioned to write.

I don't personally consider Superior Foes part of Nick Spencer's Spider-Man run, because it does not star Spider-Man and he wasn't sure he would even write Peter Parker at the time, let alone be able to use Boomerang as a supporting character.

There are some grey areas, but sometimes major comic book runs have a flashback arc, so I saw Learning to Crawl as an example of that. This is the same way that Geoff Johns and Gary Frank covered Hal Jordan's origin in an arc of their Green Lantern run, Mark Waid had some Flash Year One stories, Snyder's Batman had the zero year, and King's Batman had the war of jokes and riddles.

I wouldn't count Spider-Man/ Human Torch as part of Slott's Spider-Man run, although it can count for the purposes of this question. At that point, he wanted to write Spider-Man and he would build on stuff he set up, but it wasn't obvious at the time he would be able to do that.

[Spidey_62]

I think it depends a lot on your own personal taste or sensibilities when it comes to the character.

Personally I think Spencer on a technical level is a much better writer than Slott, and whatever flaws I can cite in the second half of his run, I can at least say he wrote a more mature Peter, a more competent Spidey, a way better MJ and Black Cat, and a more normal Spider-Man vibe than Slott did.

I also have to give Spencer credit for actually genuinely wanting to write Spider-Man and not seeming to try to shift the character into the kind of title he would actually want to write and end up writing after the title ended (Iron Man and FF), and for not acting like he would rather write Doc Ock than Peter Parker.

Pretty much the same for me, too. I think whatever my misgivings for characterization are for Slott most of the time he had some real banger stories in the front side of his run which I gotta give credit for, and the last story is pretty fun for what it is. Spencer nailed the vibe of the book better than Slott did but overall he didn't have any all-time great stories if you ask me, he had some really fun stories in the front half of his run especially that were refreshing because it felt like the book again so to speak. Fun stories just doing honest-to-goodness Spidey with no gimmicks is a real standout these days, looking back (when Kindred wasn't looming in the background at least).