Marvel Creators Who Never Did a Significant Run on Spider-man

[RJT]

I heard an interview with Tom DeFalco this summer where he explained that after he and Ron Frenz were removed from Amazing Spider-Man, they were putting together a pitch to take over Daredevil, but editor Ralph Macchio needed a new team on Thor so asked the pair to take over that book instead. I loved the Nocenti/JRJR run on DD, but I spent a while trying to imagine what a DeFalco/Frenz DD run would have been like. Which lead me to start swapping creative teams from various eras around.

Ann Nocenti did the Mad Dog Ward stories, the first two Web annuals and she did a great one-shot with Rick Leonardi of Spider-Man vs. Thanos. Imagine DeFalco and Frenz taking over Daredevil and having her and Leonardi or JR JR do a run on one of the Spidey satellite books at that time instead. When Conway was doing both Web & Spec, there really wasn't any tonal difference in those books (they were really almost like a bi-weekly book with two different artists) so it would have been interesting giving one of those to Nocenti to do some of her darker, quirky Spidey stories.

Going back to the 70s, I'm bummed that we never got a Steve Gerber Spider-Man run. It was a character that seems like it would have fit in with Gerber's sensibililtes pretty well. It would have been cool to see him paired up with Gene Colan on early Spectacular.

In the 90s, Fabian Nicieza and Darick Robertson could have done a really fun book based on their work on New Warriors. Brian K. Vaughn & Adrian Alphona could have done some interesting things with the book after they wrapped up their work on Runaways.And Matt Fraction would have done a real quirky run, possibly working with some of his artistic collaborators, like the Dodson, or Jamie McKelvie.

This isn't meant to slag off on any of the folks who actually did the Spider-man titles at the time, just a fun thought experiment about what could have been if things had gone differentlly.

[Kevinroc]

Ed Brubaker at one point wanted to do a run on Amazing Spider-Man, but it never happened.

[Matt14teg]

An universe where alan moore did it would be crazy to see.

[Lairston]

I've never read the X-Men but I know of Chris Claremont from people praising him. I don't think he ever did anything with Spider-man. Given his reputation with the X-Men I wonder what he would have done with Spider-man

[Kevinroc]

I've never read the X-Men but I know of Chris Claremont from people praising him. I don't think he ever did anything with Spider-man. Given his reputation with the X-Men I wonder what he would have done with Spider-man

Claremont was on Marvel Team-Up. Wrote quite a few Spider-Man stories there.

[Frontier]

Matt Fraction

Kelly Sue DeConnick

Gerry Duggan

Rick Remender (unless you count Agent Venom)

Jonathan Hickman (unless you count Spidey in FF)

Jason Aaron (unless you count Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine)

Kelly Thompson

Kurt Busiek (aside from Untold Tales)

How much Spidey stuff did Roy Thomas do?

Mark Grunewald

Brian K. Vaughn

Ed Brubaker

Greg Rucka (I think he did maybe a story in an anthology)

[charliehustle415]

An universe where alan moore did it would be crazy to see.

Thank the gods, I don't want that miserable prig anywhere near Spidey.

[Tuck]

Mike Allred.

I remember he wrote a fun Madman/Spider-Man crossover story.

An universe where alan moore did it would be crazy to see.

Moore was making the kind of complaints a lot of people here do about Spider-Man wallowing in stagnation . . . back in like 1980. I can't imagine he'd have even agreed to write it without way more leeway than he would have ever been given on Marvel's flagship character.

[Mister Mets]

Claremont was on Marvel Team-Up. Wrote quite a few Spider-Man stories there.

I strongly recommend it.

It is weird to have a context in which Chris Claremont is an underrated Marvel writer, since his X-Men work is so legendary, but he is an underrated Spider-Man writer.

Ed Brubaker at one point wanted to do a run on Amazing Spider-Man, but it never happened.

Definite lost opportunity.

The same applies to Matt Fraction, who did write an excellent annual.

[Vegan]

Fraction never getting to really play with Spidey is such a shame. Obviously To Have and To Hold is perfect, but he also wrote a few team ups with Spidey, and it seemed like he had a good handle on him in all of them. There was kind of only one scene that really focused on Spidey in Fear Itself, but I thought it was a really good scene. Really a bummer he never got a good run on him. Never say never of course, but I think he’s kind of got good things going in the creator owned sphere of things.

Fabian Nicieza got to play with Spidey a few times, and I thought those were all pretty solid. Think he’s a good fit for Spidey. Would have written some damn good quips for him at the very least.

I hope Donny Cates gets to have a go with Spidey at some point. I think he’d be a great fit.

[Matt14teg]

Damn is moore like really bad, I'm only familiar with watchmen from him that's really the extent of my knowledge.

[Tuck]

Damn is moore like really bad, I'm only familiar with watchmen from him that's really the extent of my knowledge.

No. Moore is a brilliant writer. But a lot of people don't care for his grumpy attitude. (Although I think it's hard to argue against some of his complaints about how creators are treated by Marvel/DC.)

[Vegan]

Yeah Moore is a genius. I don’t think he’s a great fit for Spider-Man personally, but check out his Swamp Thing if you wanna read some of the best horror comics you’ll ever read

[Venomsaurus]

Alan Moore would be pretty great, especially if it was in the 90's when he was on a big retro-kick. He's shown he can handle pre-established series just fine. His Star Wars comics are some of the most wild, inventive and fun sci-fi comics from that time.

I think Jonathan Hickman has shown a knack for writing a fun/funny Spider-man whenever he pops up in his comics. I think Hickman was the best writer who worked on that Full Circle mini-series years back and would love to see what crazy sci-fi stuff he comes up with for Peter to tackle. Maybe some day.

[Frontier]

Alan Moore would be pretty great, especially if it was in the 90's when he was on a big retro-kick. He's shown he can handle pre-established series just fine. His Star Wars comics are some of the most wild, inventive and fun sci-fi comics from that time.

I think Jonathan Hickman has shown a knack for writing a fun/funny Spider-man whenever he pops up in his comics. I think Hickman was the best writer who worked on that Full Circle mini-series years back and would love to see what crazy sci-fi stuff he comes up with for Peter to tackle. Maybe some day.

Hickman's contribution to Full Circle did not convince me if only because it felt more dominated by Nick Fury. I also feel like he's too into his own complex storylines and worldbuilding for Spidey.