Spider-Boy #1 Preview

[Spider-Ham]

Spider-Boy #1 is the best thing that happened to the Spider-Fam since Nick Spencer's run. I can't even remember the last time I laughed like that while reading a comic book.

I can't thank enough Dan Slott for what he achieved here.

[Huntsman Spider]

Not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Didn't a Superman comic get made returnable due to something involving skyscrapers published the same week as 9/11?

The Imperiex War's finale, if I'm not mistaken.

[betaraybob]

I liked it! Wasn't too goofy, close but not too much. Want to see more Hellifino. Also Spider-Boy has claws

[Hypestyle]

more new villains needed, keep up the momentum, at least none of them are outright mass murderers.

[exile001]

Professor Emilio Helio killed me. This book was an absolute delight.

[Refrax5]

Spider-Boy #1 is the best thing that happened to the Spider-Fam since Nick Spencer's run. I can't even remember the last time I laughed like that while reading a comic book.

I can't thank enough Dan Slott for what he achieved here.

Yeah, I've never been Slott's biggest fan, but this was a very charming, funny comic. I laughed out loud a few times myself. Bailey is a likable kid.

[JustLuke]

Co-signed with everyone in the thread so far: This book is actually really fun!

[Dan Slott]

Heads up:
If you had fun and enjoyed what the SPIDER-BOY team brought you in the Web-Less Wonder's first issue...

*THIS* weekend is your last chance to call your Local Comic Shop and ask them to put SPIDER-BOY #2 on your pull list.
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Reminder:
Practically every comic book appearance of Spider-Boy has sold out and gone back to press for 2nd printings.

SPIDER-BOY #1's second printing is one of the highest advance reorders this week (according to Comichron).
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Bleeding Cool's Best Seller's List (made of 140+ comic shops) had retailers saying it was one of the TOP selling books that they were hand-selling to customers on SPIDER-BOY #1's release week.
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Paco, Ty, and I are having a blast working on this title. We greatly appreciate all the love and support! And I promise to keep this one of the weirdest/goofiest/what-in-the-heck-did-I-just-read-iest books out there! (And also a fun title to share with your friends and family.)

[Dan Slott]

The beauty of the internet is that if I (mostly) take a month off to deal with real world things (*good* things-- like hanging out & traveling with future in-laws)...
...I somehow "don't have faith" in my projects.

But if I *do* make a post like this, it's because somehow those projects are "in trouble" and I'm trying to right a sinking ship.

It's very much a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't scenario.

Here's the deal:

All 11 issues of SPIDER-MAN were in the Top 25, most were in the Top 10, almost half of the run (5 issues out of 11) sold out and went back to press for second printings. Those are darn good stats. (Check the data on ICV2.com.)
And, if those figures weren't enough, last year it was an issue of SPIDER-MAN that was Marvel's #2 best seller for dollars and #1 best seller for unit sales.
Quick common sense check: If you're America's #1 comic book company, that's not a "ship you need to right" or a book you want to cancel.

But it might be a book you want to split into two books and gamble that you can keep that streak going. Ever play Blackjack and get dealt a pair of 10's? This is what happened.

We honestly did not expect the reception we got for Spider-Boy. The angry internet reaction to the character? Yes. We expected that 100%. But the real world reaction? The reaction that Marketing and Sales saw... that was unexpected. That's why they approached the Spider-Office and asked if we could spin the character out into his own monthly book. There was no secret calculation to deprive another spider-character of a spot, or to replace another spider-character for some bizarre reason. There was tangible interest-- and fans showed that, not with angry posts online, they showed it with support at the register. Those are the kind of "votes" that cause ripples and make changes.

I had plans for Spider-Boy in the pages of SPIDER-MAN. That was where readers were going to see him next. This whole experience has been a wonderful windfall for me, Paco, and the creative team. It's been a chance to take some big, wild, weird swings-- and, honestly, it's some of the most fun I've had in comics in years! I'm loving everything we're doing in SPIDER-BOY. Paco is killing it on every page-- and along with Ellie and MR on editorial-- we're all on the same page for what we want Spider-Boy's world to be like! I think it's a "flavor" that we really haven't seen in the Spider-Office in ages. You couldn't really swap in Miles or Kaine or Ben or Gwen and get this kinda goofy/bizarro feel. I hope people enjoy our book! I hope they share it with their friends and family-- especially those who don't regularly read comics.

So why *am* I online plugging this book this weekend?

Because it's the FOC weekend for SPIDER-BOY #2 and I want to ensure that people know that. If people read the first issue and want to come back for the second, I want them to know that the first issue sold out in a large number of markets (if it hadn't, Comichron wouldn't be showing such high advance orders on the SPIDER-BOY #1 second printing). And I want people to know that if they want SPIDER-BOY #2 to be waiting for them in December, they should contact their Local Comic Shops and have them pull the issue for them.

"But if you're so sure it'll sell well, what do you care? By your logic it'll sell out and people can just buy a 2nd printing later, right?"

Sure. They could. But the BIG reason I want people to pull the issue is that both stories are HOLIDAY-based stories and everyone who worked on them would so much rather have readers enjoy those stories in December... instead of reading a second printing of them in January.

That's it.

That's the big mystery of it all solved.

(Though, I'm 100% certain there are some very specific people who will never believe that. Even though it's the God's honest truth.)

[Dan Slott]

The beauty of the internet is that if I (mostly) take a month off to deal with real world things (*good* things-- like hanging out & traveling with future in-laws)...
...I somehow "don't have faith" in my projects.

But if I *do* make a post like this, it's because somehow those projects are "in trouble" and I'm trying to right a sinking ship.

It's very much a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't scenario.

Epilogue:
I did a quick search on a site under "Spider-Boy". The top two posts that came up...

The 1st post was from someone saying they didn't see ANY online promotion for Spider-Boy from Marvel, and if Marvel REALLY had faith in the book, they'd promote it.

The 2nd post was from someone saying that Marvel was OVER-promoting Spider-Boy, and if Marvel REALLY had faith in the book, they wouldn't have to promote it so hard.

The internet is a very, very, VERY silly place.

[Kurus]

Epilogue:
I did a quick search on a site under "Spider-Boy". The top two posts that came up...

The 1st post was from someone saying they didn't see ANY online promotion for Spider-Boy from Marvel, and if Marvel REALLY had faith in the book, they'd promote it.

The 2nd post was from someone saying that Marvel was OVER-promoting Spider-Boy, and if Marvel REALLY had faith in the book, they wouldn't have to promote it so hard.

The internet is a very, very, VERY silly place.

I don’t see what’s silly about that at all. Just two people who have hade different experiences and different opinions. Happens all the time.

[Dan Slott]

It's silly because there's no winning. There's no move you can make-- at all-- that won't get you roasted online by a part of the fandom.

[Mercwmouth12]

It's silly because there's no winning. There's no move you can make-- at all-- that won't get you roasted online by a part of the fandom.

Isn't it easier to just let the writing do the work.
If the book does well without any variants attached and let word of mouth do it's job like it did back in the day. Isn't that enough? Why try extra curricular stuff?

[Garlador]

It's silly because there's no winning. There's no move you can make-- at all-- that won't get you roasted online by a part of the fandom.

That's comics. And movies. And video games. And basically every creative medium. And politics. And... ugh, basically everything. It's not unique to Spider-Boy or Spider-Man whatsoever.

I see that joked about every single day, because people view ideology like a battleground (this goes both ways with creators and consumers...), where people draw lines in the sand, insist their views are the only correct ones, and disregard all opposite sides in a binary black-and-white battle of wills. For my efforts, I TRY to remain subjective and see the big picture, then taking an informed stance.

But you're not arguing with one person. You're arguing with thousands of people with different views and stances and preferences. My wife shared the other day the double-standard for The Marvels movie, where women hero movies are expected to be "perfect" and need those high Rotten Tomato scores and big box office numbers, otherwise some Hollywood executive will - AGAIN - claim that women can't carry action movies and "woke" agendas are ruining films. When their movies succeed, folks give credit to every other factor. When they lose, it's because of the preconceived reasons in their heads. There is no "winning".

So the only response and life advice I've learned is that "winning" isn't important. Who cares if you win or lose? No, seriously? Say you convinced every hater tomorrow that Spider-Boy is the best thing ever... great. If nobody comes around at all... fine. The world keeps turning. The book may not ever be for them. "Citizen Kane" has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes - so SOMEONE didn't like this seminal masterpiece of groundbreaking cinema, and they might hate it to their dying breath.

No creator should care too much about the "winners and losers" game. Just put out what your heart and talent drives you to create. "If you build it, they will come". Even the wildest and strangest books have a following. I had a brief heart-to-heart with J.M. DeMatteis about an oft-forgotten one-shot comic he wrote in the 90s that left a strong, positive impression on me, and it blew his mind that anyone remembered it, let alone walked away with a greater sense of appreciation for life afterwards, and he said it reminded him that no book is unimportant.

For what it's worth, Spider-Boy clearly has silenced many critics. I view myself as a healthy skeptic - and I'm not very happy with what's happening to many other characters in the pages of ASM - but that's independent of what Spider-Boy is doing, which I think it's doing well. I see vastly more positive messages regarding this book than certain other titles. I have no skin in this game; that's just my observation.

By all means, take feedback into consideration, but ultimately readers just want a good, fun, entertaining book, just as much as creators do. Filter out the noise, appreciate the positives, and ever march forward towards greatness. It's all any of us can do.

[Dan Slott]

Isn't it easier to just let the writing do the work.

The writing, the art, everyone's work on the project. Yes. In the end, that's what gets the job done, and the proof is at the register.

If the book does well without any variants attached...

Ugh. This is a new bane of existence for people working on books that are actually doing well-- that fans with an agenda can point to genuinely successful books and say, "But it had variants!"

For starters, Marvel titles are going to have variants. You can choose to ignore them if you don't like variants, that's cool. But you're not going to stop seeing variant covers on books because there is a demand for them. And when there's a proven demand, a company will step up to provide the supply side of that equation. As a company, they'd be foolish not to.

But no company is ever going to use them to prop up something that is failing. That's the myth that you see people spread on message boards and social media. If there were something that was clearly not working, the company IS a company. They won't do something that's unprofitable when a MORE profitable solution exists.

I saw the sales figures for a number of Marvel titles that a very vocal section of online fandom is convinced is "failing"... and those figures are astounding. They're performing in the exact opposite direction that a certain vocal group of online detractors fervently believe those titles are going. If those detractors could see the actual data, they would throw the biggest freak out in history and burst into tears, because the receipts at the register wouldn't match up with the fantasy scenarios they've made up in their heads. Seriously, we're talking night and day here.

Variants happen for a number of different reasons. And there are different kinds of variants. In the case of SPIDER-BOY, this book has the standard number of variants Marvel would provide for any new monthly title coming out of the Spider-Office. But what it also has is an ENORMOUS amount of retailer variants. I will absolutely cop to that.

But you have to ask yourself, "What is a retailer variant?" Those are variants that retailers and brick-and-mortar shops have commissioned for themselves. No one's held a gun to their heads and coerced them to do this. They've approached Marvel, they've taken the initiative to commission an artist and have come up with their own variant cover. They've seen all the books that are coming out and they've said, "Our shop wants to take a bet on that specific issue, because we think our customers want it-- and we think other fans are going to want to go out of their way to order it from us." That's a vote of confidence, and that's something that the creative team has earned-- by track record, strength of concept, and/or straight up faith. If retailers are lining up to produce retailer variants for a specific issue, that's something a creative and editorial team should be proud of. Those are variants that are "being attached" not because it's a standard practice, they're there because of a retailer's belief in that issue. And if that retailer continues to come back time-and-time again to that title or those creators, then that's something that's been earned.

and let word of mouth do it's job like it did back in the day.

Word of mouth is the best. I agree with you on that. Word of mouth wins out in the end. But we're not back in the day. Back in the day there weren't online groups with specific personal agendas, culture war fanatics, and what-have-you. There weren't groups who'd review bomb a movie like THE MARVELS. Or people who'd use social media to go troll and ratio an editor working on a book for not giving in to their online demands.