Is Dan Slott hogging Peter Parker / Spider-Man?

[William300]

If he was good, I'd be fine with it. Some people like him, but I've never liked his writing on Spider-Man. I'll pick up the book once he's off of it.

[Dan Slott]

If he was good, I'd be fine with it. Some people like him, but I've never liked his writing on Spider-Man. I'll pick up the book once he's off of it.

Hope you have a fallback book to last you till the end of never, pal. :-)

[William300]

Hope you have a fallback book to last you till the end of never, pal. :-)

I do, it's called Spider-Man. It's staring Miles Morales, who's book has been better than Peter's for quite some time now.

[boots]

Did Claremont ever get burnt out?

While I enjoyed his run, I often wonder if I just collected him out of habit more than anything after a while. To be fair, I wasn't scrutinizing every issue and arc, examining them for faults. He wrote the X-Men at the time and so it's what I was reading.

Also didn't have the Internet to point stuff out that might sway me.

i came in on the end of his run and i thought it was pretty damn good. i remember thinking that he and PAD were in a different league to say, michillinie. i don’t know if he burned out as such, but the style of comics definitely changed around him.

also, there are some whacky questions asked on this board.

[Probalus]

i came in on the end of his run and i thought it was pretty damn good. i remember thinking that he and PAD were in a different league to say, michillinie. i don’t know if he burned out as such, but the style of comics definitely changed around him.

also, there are some whacky questions asked on this board.

I thought there was definitely a noticeable drop in quality after Byrne left the book. But he was also going a little kooky and ridiculous with his ideas after a while too. I don't think Slott's strayed nearly as far as Claremont did yet, even with the new volume coming up.

[emac1790]

i came in on the end of his run and i thought it was pretty damn good. i remember thinking that he and PAD were in a different league to say, michillinie. i don’t know if he burned out as such, but the style of comics definitely changed around him.

also, there are some whacky questions asked on this board.

For me, the beginning of the end was that Outback X-Men stuff.

[boots]

I thought there was definitely a noticeable drop in quality after Byrne left the book. But he was also going a little kooky and ridiculous with his ideas after a while too. I don't think Slott's strayed nearly as far as Claremont did yet, even with the new volume coming up.

i missed the glory days, it seems. i think i came along during some sort of shadow king story and i remember rogue and magneto making out in the savage land. i don’t know if things were kookier than previously, but the characters were compelling. I thought his magnus was particularly inspiring (and lee’s kingly rendition suited).

[Tuck]

For me, the beginning of the end was that Outback X-Men stuff.

Was that when they all went into the Siege Perilous and we got Asian Psylocke, 12-year-old Storm, and Gambit?

[Dan Slott]

I do, it's called Spider-Man. It's staring Miles Morales, who's book has been better than Peter's for quite some time now.

Yay! Very happy for you. (And it is an EXCELLENT book.)
I'm sure you spend an equal amount of time or more praising it, Brian, and Sarah on threads about Miles.
Because you really strike me as one of those positive kinds of people on the internet who devotes as much time talking about what they enjoy instead of bitterly slagging things they hate.

[Metamorphosis]

I like to think that the team's been doing pretty well creatively.
But "creatively" is subjective.

As far as "doing better", that is measurable.
And you'd be wrong there.
The book is performing better in many measurable ways:

For the past two and a half years the book has regularly been the best selling Marvel U. book-- and usually twice a month.
In fact, no regular title in the industry has appeared in the Top 10 more times in the past 2 and a half years.
And its satellite titles-- most of which have been generated by, set up, and spun out of the core title-- have greatly expanded the reach of the Spider-Office, and have also sold extremely well.

If you were running a company, and projects being overseen by one group of employees regularly brought in more and more profits each year, till they were the leading division in your market, were spinning off more and more profitable side ventures, were regularly head hunted by other businesses that wanted to steal them away, and were happy and enthusiastic to keep working on the same line of projects...

...why would you let them go or try transferring them to another division?

Dan,

I know you like to tout your sales numbers. I can't speak to your's or Marvel's profit motives, you know more about that stuff than us readers, as you like to remind us. But based on the sales up to then, it does seem like you had to replace Peter in Superior in order to get there. Why is that? Did people just not like
the existing take on Peter Parker post-OMD?

It's also sales on the backs of two major Hollywood movies, an anniversary issue, and two (and counting) #1 issues, all with a slew of high-priced variant
covers. Not to mention the fact that Spider-man is one of the most recognizable, marketable characters in the world, as well as Amazing Spider-man being Marvel's flagship title.
I'd be surprised if it wasn't selling high after all that.

The Obama cover was the highest-selling single comic book of 2009. Does anyone here remember anything about that particular story?

There's also an interesting article here about the possible practice of Marvel inflating their claimed sales numbers:

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...0000-orde.aspx

But I actually don't begrudge you all that (since it's you and the usual posters on here who are always bringing up sales) nor is it my aim to diminsish that. Really, congratulations Dan on selling so many funny books. It's good for Marvel and even the rest of the industry.

But what you've been doing with Spider-man isn't that good for the character.

I think people point to sales and have this "everything is awesome" approach to the book. But what is really awesome about:

a Peter Parker who has to be saved by a character like Silk?

a Peter Parker who still thinks Otto was "a great man" even after Otto killed and meat-puppeted him?

a Peter Parker who is then upstaged by Otto and "every Spider-man ever" in Spider-Verse (despite the lip-service paid to Peter being the greatest, the story read otherwise).

a Peter Parker who is made out to be a bumbling, idiot manchild, who has to be helped out at about every turn in his personal life by Anna Maria Marconi?

I picked up Gerry Conway's "Spiral" and the difference is quite shocking. Peter is competent. Peter isn't a fool. He's not relying on ersatz members of his supporting cast to fix his personal problems. And the emphasis isn't on him being some super-scientist, head of a tech company. This is the Peter Parker I grew up reading,
that we lost exactly during your very first Brand New Day arc, Dan, where Peter was pointedly portrayed as a hopeless loser and set the tone for the rest of BND.

Someone brought up (your buddy) Bryne's run on the title. At least if a reader didn't like that, they had Jenkins' Spectacular. If someone didn't like latter-day JMS, there was PAD or Sacassa to go to so they could get their spider-fix.

So my choices are this or Miles (a character written solely by Bendis up to now)? Yeah, no thanks.

And comments like

Hope you have a fallback book to last you till the end of never, pal. :-)

do make it seem like you are clinging to the character, almost out of spite. Though I'm sure (I hope) it's a joke.

Also, your header for this thread is really obnoxious.
If you had a long standing job, I hope no one at your company would post something like this about you on a web-site about your industry.

Except I don't work at your company. I'm just a discerning reader who isn't afraid to raise questions about what I don't like. I think you know I'm not one of the "trolls" or "sock puppets" you go after on boards like this while a blind eye is turned and the rules are violated.

As far as Spider-Man goes, he's my favorite character of all-time. I'm very proud of the work my fellow creators and I have produced while working on this line of books. And I am VERY grateful to both the readership who've supported our work-- and to Marvel for their continued faith in my plans (and long term plans) for the book.

He's my favorite character too. You don't have to treat it like a contest.

[boots]

…you all that (since it's you and the usual posters on here who are always bringing up sales) nor is it my aim to diminsish that. Really, congratulations Dan on selling so many funny books. It's good for Marvel and even the rest of the industry.

it certainly looks like you were aiming at that. i’m not a racist but…

the rest of the post is a mixture of your tastes (fair enough) and attempts to reframe dan’s comments negatively.

[Metamorphosis]

it certainly looks like you were aiming at that. i’m not a racist but…

the rest of the post is a mixture of your tastes (fair enough) and attempts to reframe dan’s comments negatively.

Well, to paraphrase your typical responses, maybe this just isn't the thread for you, "mate".

[boots]

Well, to paraphrase your typical responses, maybe this just isn't the thread for you, "mate".

interesting approach for two reasons: firstly that i’ve never told anyone that a thread isn’t for them and secondly that you’re implying it’s a thread for those who wish to misconstrue arguments (which makes it a perfect job for bootsy-man!).

[emac1790]

Was that when they all went into the Siege Perilous and we got Asian Psylocke, 12-year-old Storm, and Gambit?

Yeah, that was part of that run.

[AJpyro]

Yay! Very happy for you. (And it is an EXCELLENT book.)
I'm sure you spend an equal amount of time or more praising it, Brian, and Sarah on threads about Miles.
Because you really strike me as one of those positive kinds of people on the internet who devotes as much time talking about what they enjoy instead of bitterly slagging things they hate.

Hey Dan, not really a fan but was wondering if you're planning/running for that "Spidey writer for a decade" honor?