Thread Drift: Bring back the Spectacular Spider-Man style B-title

[Vic Vega]

It sounds like you want a change of direction in Amazing rather than a secondary Spidey book.

The Amazing/Spectacular thing worked back in the day because the extra real estate was used to cover a wider range of material. Plotlines could run separately in both books but issues from one series would often follow issues from the other, weaving between the two books. That allowed Peter's story to be told in more detail, with the two books covering different parts of his life without slowing the monthly progression down. Since Amazing is released twice a month Spectacular is obsolete.

The Spectacular Spider Man book of my youth ( ouch), focused on mostly the classic supporting cast and Spidey's more obscure villans.

In other words all the stuff Dan Slott has little intrest in.

You could easily fit a second Spider Man book that deals with all the stuff that the main book doesn't do at all like deal with the Lightmasters Mirages and the Sinister Sixes.

...Or check in on the Liz Allens, the Hobie Browns and the Betty Brants.

[SuperiorIronman]

One of those books could be brought back with the Ben Reilly from scarlet spiders should he be resurrected for a book. He essentially had a life almost identical to Peter so most of the history would be intact give or take a few things changing. It also wouldn't affect the main book seeing as they would operate in different realities.

[Darthfury78]

The Spectacular Spider Man book of my youth ( ouch), focused on mostly the classic supporting cast and Spidey's more obscure villans.

In other words all the stuff Dan Slott has little intrest in.

You could easily fit a second Spider Man book that deals with all the stuff that the main book doesn't do at all like deal with the Lightmasters Mirages and the Sinister Sixes.

...Or check in on the Liz Allens, the Hobie Browns and the Betty Brants.

Or the book could feature the Black Widow, Jessica Drew, Jennifer Walters(human form), and Tigra(human form; member of the NYPD CSI division)!

[Minerboh]

But would it have sold 2.5 million copies as Spider-Man #1 did?

These numbers are not so easily to be repeated, especially with that 3.99 price.

[Darthfury78]

Millar's Marvel Knights Spider-Man might show the pitfalls of satellite books.

This was a title with a big creative team and a very appealing clear concept: Top creators come on Spider-Man for self-contained twelve issue runs. Millar specifically had Spider-Man take on his deadliest foes, a contrast with JMS's Amazing Spider-Man.

And it didn't sell that well at the time, hovering around 20th place in sales charts towards the end.

They also didn't stick to the concept, with Millar and Dodson getting replaced by Hudlin and relatively anonymous artists, with a good chunk of that run being part of "The Other" crossover.

I think that the focus of the secondary Spider-Man series is to format it in the same manner as Marvel Team-Up whereby Peter is interacting with other heroes in their Civilian guise, like Steve Rogers and Piotr Rasputin working at the Daily Bugle; Greer Grant working for the NYPD; Bruce Banner working at ESU science department, and Jennifer Walters working with Peter Parker on legal matters.

I have yet to see a Spider-Man series where the Marvel Universe is integrated into Peter's everyday social life as well as some of the MU villains working with some of his rogue galleries.

I see other Marvel titles doing this, why can't Marvel allow the same for Spider-Man. I would love to see Peter and Jessica hanging out at the Coffee Bean, or Peter working with Dr. Bruce Banner on a research project together.

[Darthfury78]

These numbers are not so easily to be repeated, especially with that 3.99 price.

You got that right. And another reason why we'll never see those numbers again is the internet(Previews and Reviews) as well as the price.

[Mister Mets]

These numbers are not so easily to be repeated, especially with that 3.99 price.

Probably not.

But it's an impressive part of the series' relatively brief history.

[Mister Mets]

I think that the focus of the secondary Spider-Man series is to format it in the same manner as Marvel Team-Up whereby Peter is interacting with other heroes in their Civilian guise, like Steve Rogers and Piotr Rasputin working at the Daily Bugle; Greer Grant working for the NYPD; Bruce Banner working at ESU science department, and Jennifer Walters working with Peter Parker on legal matters.

I have yet to see a Spider-Man series where the Marvel Universe is integrated into Peter's everyday social life as well as some of the MU villains working with some of his rogue galleries.

I see other Marvel titles doing this, why can't Marvel allow the same for Spider-Man. I would love to see Peter and Jessica hanging out at the Coffee Bean, or Peter working with Dr. Bruce Banner on a research project together.

That's a legitimately interesting concept for a spinoff, but I can understand why Marvel might not want to do it.

From a sales perspective, Spider-Man comics benefit less from guest-starr appearances from other heroes than those books would from Spider-Man guest-starr appearances.

The Peter Parker side of things is generally a major part of the Spider-Man comics, and having Spider-Man hang out with other superheroes to this extent takes away from that. On the other hand, it might have something to say about cultural changes, and the way people are able to find and hang out with individuals who share their interests in ways that weren't true when the character was introduced.

[cyberhubbs]

Probably not.

But it's an impressive part of the series' relatively brief history.

To be fair, it was the 90s and its variants were going for crazy bucks. That isn't the sole reason, of course, but I bet it helped a great deal.

[RD!]

Slott's opening arc was all over the place, but it had a fight with the White Rabbit, and was essentially about Electro teaming up with Black Cat. These aren't really major events. The Ms. Marvel team-up was relatively grounded as was the annual.

The first new Amazing arc was the definition of major. He came back fm the dead, found out another got bitten by the same spider as him and was betrayed by his ex girlfriend.


A small team up to to promote a new book doesn't constitute an arc and neither does an annual written by someone else generally unrelated to the main series. And an annual is one issue anyway. I'm sorry but you can try to say the new Amazing hasn't been full of big events since it started.

[Mister Mets]

The first new Amazing arc was the definition of major. He came back fm the dead, found out another got bitten by the same spider as him and was betrayed by his ex girlfriend.


A small team up to to promote a new book doesn't constitute an arc and neither does an annual written by someone else generally unrelated to the main series. And an annual is one issue anyway. I'm sorry but you can try to say the new Amazing hasn't been full of big events since it started.

I didn't realize that by story, you means arcs rather than single issue stuff.

I guess the issue is right now that there have only been two real multi-part storylines. Although multi-part storylines tend to be consequential. My impression is that fans don't care as much for multi-part stories that aren't full of events as you define it.

[Dexy]

I'd be very happy to have Paul Jenkins or someone write a second title, I'd probably stop buying ASM.

[Darthfury78]

I'd be very happy to have Paul Jenkins or someone write a second title, I'd probably stop buying ASM.

Paul Jenkins is now the sole writer for Spawn, excursively. But I would love to see him write a Spider-Man x Black Widow Team-up mini series.

[Phantom Roxas]

I didn't realize that by story, you means arcs rather than single issue stuff.

I guess the issue is right now that there have only been two real multi-part storylines. Although multi-part storylines tend to be consequential. My impression is that fans don't care as much for multi-part stories that aren't full of events as you define it.

People can care about multi-part stories that aren't full of events. Just because the first arc wasn't on the scale of Spider-Verse doesn't excuse it's quality.

[Mister Mets]

People can care about multi-part stories that aren't full of events. Just because the first arc wasn't on the scale of Spider-Verse doesn't excuse it's quality.

According to RD!, the first arc was still an event, due to the Black Cat's betrayal and the introduction of someone with ties to the origin.