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  1. #361
    Extraordinary Member John Ossie's Avatar
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    I absolutely despised the Alpha arc personally. If Slott is saying that he feels that it was a bad-arc than I agree with him completely on that, I won't go into too detail as to why as I don't want to derail the thread though.

  2. #362
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Ossie View Post
    I absolutely despised the Alpha arc personally. If Slott is saying that he feels that it was a bad-arc than I agree with him completely on that, I won't go into too detail as to why as I don't want to derail the thread though.
    I think this warrants it's own thread...gimme a mo.

  3. #363
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    Quote Originally Posted by blackspidey2099 View Post
    Wow. Why all the hate for the Alpha arc? I actually really enjoyed it, and the Alpha miniseries we had a while back was really cool too. It definitely was better than Osborn Identity, IMO. To be honest, I'd like to see you bring back Alpha and/or the Parker Particles concept for a story, since I thought it was really cool to see how great power transitioned to (effectively) absolute power.
    I've met people who say it's one of their favorites. Which is bizarre to me. I don't think it worked well at all. Over time, I've found that people who read it in trade form liked it way more than people who read it in singles. That makes a little more sense to me.

    Originally it wasn't an arc. It was a good deal shorter, and an over-sized story for the 50th Anniversary special. It was meant to be a done-in-one:

    Peter has a science experiment go awry. A nerdy high school student on a field trip gets zapped by it. Everybody sees that kid's "origin story". When he gets his powers, he doesn't have to hide them. So he gets to do everything Peter wanted to do back when he had powers like that in high school. Peter feels responsible for what's happening to this kid-- and sees how he's becoming a bit of a jerk. So he takes the kid under his wing, trains him to be a super hero. But the kid rebels, uses his powers even more irresponsibly, people are put in immediate harm. Spidey has to save them-- and take the kid down-- a kid who has now started approaching Superman-levels and is out of Spidey's league. Spider-Man wins, uses science to take the kid's powers away, and then drops him back at his school where everyone is super-mean to him now because he really was a jerk when he did have those powers. The End.

    That was what the story was supposed to be.

    But then, for budget-y reasons, the size and scope of new original material that could be produced for the 50th Anniversary issue drastically changed. The Alpha story had to be shaved down to 20 to 22 pages in length. I said I couldn't fit all of that in 20 to 22 pages. The decision was made to spread the story out into a 2 or 3 issue arc, give it some room to breathe, and lean into the false tease that Spider-Man was actually getting his first official sidekick.

    I made the argument that maybe we should just kill the story and come up with a new 50th anniversary angle. But time was running out. I didn't have any extra ideas that were that big or iconic at the moment. So we decided to stick with the altered plan as is. That was my biggest mistake. I should've been more assertive and killed it. That was all on me.

    Before the story came out, there was already buzz about Spidey getting a side kick, how Spidey should never get a side kick, and how that new character was going to pull focus from Spidey on his 50th. Before page one even showed up in previews, the knives were out for this fictitious kid. And then he showed up and was already completely unlikable... which kinda was the point of him. In a done-in-one story where the kid gets his comeuppance, that's not a problem. But in a multi-part arc, where readers have weeks to stew about how much they hate him, and how he's clearly more powerful than Spidey, that's a huge problem.

    Then, in the middle of the story, there was a new wrinkle. Sales for the 50th were huge. Good-or-bad there was a lot of buzz about Alpha. And it was decided to give him his own mini-series out of the Spider-Office. That meant that the ending of the story had to be knee-capped. Peter couldn't take Alpha's powers away completely. Which kinda defeated the purpose and intent of telling the story in the first place.

    Also-- and again, this one's ALL on me-- I botched the middle chapter. Instead of making it a clean 3 issue arc, I tried to make them more like 3 done-in-ones, and made the middle chapter a Spidey/Alpha/Jackal story. That fed into the narrative that this kid was Spidey's side kick and some kind of recurring character.

    Basically, I think it was a story that could've had potential if it stuck to its original format-- but then it got a little out of control when it ballooned out into a 3 issue arc and was played out over a number of months-- instead of what should have been one sitting. The blame for that is on me-- with ANY story, if you see it's not going the way you would like, you ALWAYS have the option to kill it or just-not-do-it. Same kinda thing happened to JMS on Sins Past. I should have hit the kill switch. (Marketing, altering story's length, and even the company's need to change an ending are things you have to be prepared for when working on a licensed property. That's all part of the game. And if you can't deal with stuff like that, you shouldn't be writing licensed comics. Understanding that is important. Blaming that process is pointless. You might as well be complaining about the weather. It ain't gonna help. Things happen like that, good-or-bad, all the time in comics.)

  4. #364
    Astonishing Member CrimsonEchidna's Avatar
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    That's actually really interesting, especially since it reaffirms that more things happens behind the scenes that readers are willing to admit. It's easy to bash a writer for a story or character going a direction they hate, but it seems like there's a lot of influence from behind the scenes that we can't take into account.
    The artist formerly known as OrpheusTelos.

  5. #365
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    Thanks, Dan, for sharing the experience of writing the Alpha storyline. Interesting behind-the-scenes stuff!

    -Pav, who likes learning from other writers...
    You were Spider-Man then. You and Peter had agreed on it. But he came back right when you started feeling comfortable.
    You know what it means when he comes back
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    "You're not the better one, Peter. You're just older."
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  6. #366
    Fantastic Member Sparko's Avatar
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    Dan Slott is just awesome.

  7. #367
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Slott View Post
    This actually happened to me:

    3 issues into the LIZARD: NO TURNING BACK arc (ASM #690), I had a fan approach me and say, "You should leave Spider-Man. It's just not as good anymore. This Lizard story is not doing it for me. You haven't done anything I've liked since Ends of the Earth."

    I told him, "That's literally the last story we did. The one right before this Lizard one."
    And he was like, "Really?"
    And I was all, "Yeah."
    So he said, "Hmm. Okay. You can keep going."

    I've met people who've said, "You should've quit after Superior..."
    And then, minutes later start talking about how Spider-Verse, Learning To Crawl, and/or Renew Your Vows were some of their favorite stories in my run.
    And when I point out those are all post-Superior, there's usually a moment just like the Lizard/Ends of the Earth guy, where they go, "Really?"

    I've had people in Silk and/or Spider-Gwen cosplay say that post-Superior wasn't doing it for them. And I'll ask, "Did you like Spider-Verse?" And they'll say it was their favorite Spider Event EVER. On more than one occasion, when I've pointed out that that was post-Superior, I'll get the response, "But Superior Spider-Man was in it."

    Same thing happens where I go, "Did you like the one where Spidey & Prowler broke into the underwater base?" and a reader will go, "That's the one with the guards playing Pokemon Go. That one was good."
    Or "Was the Spidey/Torch story where Peter bought the Baxter Building okay?" And they'll bring up the reveal with Pete, Johnny, and the FF statue and how it was a really nice Pete & Johnny moment.
    Or they'll say that the Cloak & Dagger/Mr. Negative three parter was something they liked.
    Or MJ putting on the Iron Spider suit.
    Or the one where the Living Brain/Doc Ock has his big freak out.
    Or the issue where Jay Jameson passed away.
    Or the Rhino/Clone Conspiracy Omega issue where Spidey had the heart-to-heart with him.
    Or the fight in the castle and down in the snow with Norman Osborn...

    :-D

    This isn't unique to me. This happens with every creator on a long run. Every creator gets this. I can think of a specific fan who told me I "peaked" at Spider-Island and should step down-- only to come back, months later at a signing, to say that Superior was his favorite Spider-Man run in the history of Spidey and that I should never leave the book.

    You want me to say I've written some clunkers? Yes. I've written some clunkers. I've written 200+ Spider-Man Universe comics. You swing for the fences, you're gonna strike out every now and then. It's gonna happen. Can't be helped. (Especially when-- because of the nature of the beast-- you're writing 2, 3, 4, or 5 issues in a month. And, so multiple artists can work on the book at the same time, issues that are often written out of sequence.) It's a challenge, but it's a rewarding one. I really do love this gig. But does stuff like the Molten Man 2-parter or the 3-part Alpha arc happen from time-to-time? Yeah. They do. None of it is on purpose tho. Each comic is one I take my best possible swing at. You will always get my best effort. That I can always promise you.
    Dan,
    You are literally "The Man" for Amazing Spiderman Stories... I look forward to your book every month.
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  8. #368
    World's Greatest Hero blackspidey2099's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Slott View Post
    I've met people who say it's one of their favorites. Which is bizarre to me. I don't think it worked well at all. Over time, I've found that people who read it in trade form liked it way more than people who read it in singles. That makes a little more sense to me.

    Originally it wasn't an arc. It was a good deal shorter, and an over-sized story for the 50th Anniversary special. It was meant to be a done-in-one:

    Peter has a science experiment go awry. A nerdy high school student on a field trip gets zapped by it. Everybody sees that kid's "origin story". When he gets his powers, he doesn't have to hide them. So he gets to do everything Peter wanted to do back when he had powers like that in high school. Peter feels responsible for what's happening to this kid-- and sees how he's becoming a bit of a jerk. So he takes the kid under his wing, trains him to be a super hero. But the kid rebels, uses his powers even more irresponsibly, people are put in immediate harm. Spidey has to save them-- and take the kid down-- a kid who has now started approaching Superman-levels and is out of Spidey's league. Spider-Man wins, uses science to take the kid's powers away, and then drops him back at his school where everyone is super-mean to him now because he really was a jerk when he did have those powers. The End.

    That was what the story was supposed to be.

    But then, for budget-y reasons, the size and scope of new original material that could be produced for the 50th Anniversary issue drastically changed. The Alpha story had to be shaved down to 20 to 22 pages in length. I said I couldn't fit all of that in 20 to 22 pages. The decision was made to spread the story out into a 2 or 3 issue arc, give it some room to breathe, and lean into the false tease that Spider-Man was actually getting his first official sidekick.

    I made the argument that maybe we should just kill the story and come up with a new 50th anniversary angle. But time was running out. I didn't have any extra ideas that were that big or iconic at the moment. So we decided to stick with the altered plan as is. That was my biggest mistake. I should've been more assertive and killed it. That was all on me.

    Before the story came out, there was already buzz about Spidey getting a side kick, how Spidey should never get a side kick, and how that new character was going to pull focus from Spidey on his 50th. Before page one even showed up in previews, the knives were out for this fictitious kid. And then he showed up and was already completely unlikable... which kinda was the point of him. In a done-in-one story where the kid gets his comeuppance, that's not a problem. But in a multi-part arc, where readers have weeks to stew about how much they hate him, and how he's clearly more powerful than Spidey, that's a huge problem.

    Then, in the middle of the story, there was a new wrinkle. Sales for the 50th were huge. Good-or-bad there was a lot of buzz about Alpha. And it was decided to give him his own mini-series out of the Spider-Office. That meant that the ending of the story had to be knee-capped. Peter couldn't take Alpha's powers away completely. Which kinda defeated the purpose and intent of telling the story in the first place.

    Also-- and again, this one's ALL on me-- I botched the middle chapter. Instead of making it a clean 3 issue arc, I tried to make them more like 3 done-in-ones, and made the middle chapter a Spidey/Alpha/Jackal story. That fed into the narrative that this kid was Spidey's side kick and some kind of recurring character.

    Basically, I think it was a story that could've had potential if it stuck to its original format-- but then it got a little out of control when it ballooned out into a 3 issue arc and was played out over a number of months-- instead of what should have been one sitting. The blame for that is on me-- with ANY story, if you see it's not going the way you would like, you ALWAYS have the option to kill it or just-not-do-it. Same kinda thing happened to JMS on Sins Past. I should have hit the kill switch. (Marketing, altering story's length, and even the company's need to change an ending are things you have to be prepared for when working on a licensed property. That's all part of the game. And if you can't deal with stuff like that, you shouldn't be writing licensed comics. Understanding that is important. Blaming that process is pointless. You might as well be complaining about the weather. It ain't gonna help. Things happen like that, good-or-bad, all the time in comics.)
    I actually did read that arc as it came out, and maybe this is because I was always thinking Alpha would be temporary, but I didn't really hate Andy enough to hate the story. In fact, I think it remains one of my favourite stories from your run, LOL, which is why th hate it gets always surprises me. The whole angle of Peter being in the driver's seat, both as a mentor and as the person who created Alpha worked so well for me, especially as a 50th anniversary issue. And of course, I thought the whole Parker Particles concept was super cool as well (I think it was around that time that the Marvel NOW! teasers were coming out, and when we got that teaser for SUPERIOR. my theory for Spidey was that he was going to use Parker Particles to become a superior hero - gaining more power and taking on more responsibility as a veteran hero in Marvel, since that followed on from him mentoring Alpha pretty well).

    I am also glad that you did decide to take the extra time to flesh Alpha out a little more, and show us why he was such a huge threat (like him easily breaking carbonadium, and then beating a villain more powerful than the entire Avengers team) and possible danger, because it would have been hard to justify Peter forcibly depowering him otherwise. In my opinion, the major mistake that Marvel made was advertising Alpha as a permanent sidekick for Spidey, since that made people like him even less. If fans weren't worried that he would become a major character, I think a lot more people could have taken the story in stride.

    And like I said, with the whole Parker Industries angle, I think a short arc focusing on Alpha and Parker Particles could be really cool. After all, Andy is STILL Peter's responsibility, and since Otto gave him back 10% of his power, I think he should be around Thor's power level. Also, with the whole theme of Peter trying to use his intelligence through Parker Industries to save the world, I'm surprised he hasn't exploited the power of Parker Particles to solve energy problems. I think Reed's problem with Parker Particles was supposed to be that they were too powerful to use, but considering Peter did invent that way to neutralize Parker Particles, it kinda solves that. It might be cool to see Peter checking up on him and maybe teaming up with him in case of a big threat (like Secret Empire currently is). The whole "reverse-Peter" angle is really cool, and I think Alpha's character could still be redeemed.

    Thanks for going through the details behind the story, btw. It was great getting a glimpse into your thought process and learning how stories like this evolve.

  9. #369
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    molten men two-parter had the part where he got melted into the concrete so Spidey hit em with the webbed up fists like the N64/PS1/Dreamcast game. That was cool, at least.

    Alpha is legit top 10 worst Amazing Spider-Man story of the past 10 years. That's including One More Day, OMIT, and that one issue where Betty Brant got assaulted so our hero breaks into homes and beats up people and the hypocrisy is never questioned.

  10. #370
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Slott View Post
    I've met people who say it's one of their favorites. Which is bizarre to me. I don't think it worked well at all. Over time, I've found that people who read it in trade form liked it way more than people who read it in singles. That makes a little more sense to me.

    Originally it wasn't an arc. It was a good deal shorter, and an over-sized story for the 50th Anniversary special. It was meant to be a done-in-one:

    Peter has a science experiment go awry. A nerdy high school student on a field trip gets zapped by it. Everybody sees that kid's "origin story". When he gets his powers, he doesn't have to hide them. So he gets to do everything Peter wanted to do back when he had powers like that in high school. Peter feels responsible for what's happening to this kid-- and sees how he's becoming a bit of a jerk. So he takes the kid under his wing, trains him to be a super hero. But the kid rebels, uses his powers even more irresponsibly, people are put in immediate harm. Spidey has to save them-- and take the kid down-- a kid who has now started approaching Superman-levels and is out of Spidey's league. Spider-Man wins, uses science to take the kid's powers away, and then drops him back at his school where everyone is super-mean to him now because he really was a jerk when he did have those powers. The End.

    That was what the story was supposed to be.

    But then, for budget-y reasons, the size and scope of new original material that could be produced for the 50th Anniversary issue drastically changed. The Alpha story had to be shaved down to 20 to 22 pages in length. I said I couldn't fit all of that in 20 to 22 pages. The decision was made to spread the story out into a 2 or 3 issue arc, give it some room to breathe, and lean into the false tease that Spider-Man was actually getting his first official sidekick.

    I made the argument that maybe we should just kill the story and come up with a new 50th anniversary angle. But time was running out. I didn't have any extra ideas that were that big or iconic at the moment. So we decided to stick with the altered plan as is. That was my biggest mistake. I should've been more assertive and killed it. That was all on me.

    Before the story came out, there was already buzz about Spidey getting a side kick, how Spidey should never get a side kick, and how that new character was going to pull focus from Spidey on his 50th. Before page one even showed up in previews, the knives were out for this fictitious kid. And then he showed up and was already completely unlikable... which kinda was the point of him. In a done-in-one story where the kid gets his comeuppance, that's not a problem. But in a multi-part arc, where readers have weeks to stew about how much they hate him, and how he's clearly more powerful than Spidey, that's a huge problem.

    Then, in the middle of the story, there was a new wrinkle. Sales for the 50th were huge. Good-or-bad there was a lot of buzz about Alpha. And it was decided to give him his own mini-series out of the Spider-Office. That meant that the ending of the story had to be knee-capped. Peter couldn't take Alpha's powers away completely. Which kinda defeated the purpose and intent of telling the story in the first place.

    Also-- and again, this one's ALL on me-- I botched the middle chapter. Instead of making it a clean 3 issue arc, I tried to make them more like 3 done-in-ones, and made the middle chapter a Spidey/Alpha/Jackal story. That fed into the narrative that this kid was Spidey's side kick and some kind of recurring character.

    Basically, I think it was a story that could've had potential if it stuck to its original format-- but then it got a little out of control when it ballooned out into a 3 issue arc and was played out over a number of months-- instead of what should have been one sitting. The blame for that is on me-- with ANY story, if you see it's not going the way you would like, you ALWAYS have the option to kill it or just-not-do-it. Same kinda thing happened to JMS on Sins Past. I should have hit the kill switch. (Marketing, altering story's length, and even the company's need to change an ending are things you have to be prepared for when working on a licensed property. That's all part of the game. And if you can't deal with stuff like that, you shouldn't be writing licensed comics. Understanding that is important. Blaming that process is pointless. You might as well be complaining about the weather. It ain't gonna help. Things happen like that, good-or-bad, all the time in comics.)
    Very interesting.

  11. #371
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    Quote Originally Posted by ViewtifulJC View Post
    ...and that one issue where Betty Brant got assaulted so our hero breaks into homes and beats up people and the hypocrisy is never questioned.
    Hi. In ASM #665, "Crossroads", Spider-Man breaks into a total of 1 place: a pawn shop that was a regular place where muggers and pick pockets would go to sell stolen goods to a known creep. C'mon. There was a double page spread where Spider-Man worked his way through lowlife crooks to find the location of the mugger who assaulted Betty. If you find that hypocritical, there are a LOT of Spidey comics going all the way back to Stan's run that you're going to have to take issue with as well. ;-)

  12. #372
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    #665 is one of my all time favourites. It really honed in on the themes of Amazing Fantasy #15 but with a thoughtful twist. I'd put it up there with The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.

    (As an aside, it disappoints me when "Greatest Ever" lists only focus on status quo changing events, character deaths and character first appearances. Some of the best crafted stories are self-contained ones with little impact on the overall mythos).

  13. #373
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Slott View Post
    Hi. In ASM #665, "Crossroads", Spider-Man breaks into a total of 1 place: a pawn shop that was a regular place where muggers and pick pockets would go to sell stolen goods to a known creep. C'mon. There was a double page spread where Spider-Man worked his way through lowlife crooks to find the location of the mugger who assaulted Betty. If you find that hypocritical, there are a LOT of Spidey comics going all the way back to Stan's run that you're going to have to take issue with as well. ;-)
    I'm always highly unconvinced by "motivated by RAGE" Spider-Man stories. Somebody assaulted Betty cuz they had something he wanted, so Spidey goes around beating up other people cuz they have something he wants doesnt sit well with me. Not to mention the whole climatic Aunt May phone call of shame seems phony seeing how Peter has done all the work in tracking this guy. He can just web him up a lam[post in 10 seconds, then rush over to Betty. Its supposed to be this big choice between his responsibility to crime and his responsibility to his loved ones, but...its not a binary choice here! In fact, there's a last page stinger of him doing that very thing in relatively quick fashion?

    (Not to mention they JUST did the Aunt May guilt trip phone call literally 2 issues ago and she comes to the opposite conclusion that Peter should do everything in his power to stop crime if he can, so lol)

    And I just thought the ending of Peter, showing up late, sneaking into Betty's room, locking himself in for their designated movie night(which has never been established before this issue and considering Betty's lack of appearances in most Spidey comics I find it hard to believe) and all her other loved ones(including her Boyfriend Flash who's all smiles about it??) out was just stupid, even a little creepy. The whole thing is so forced and contrived. An earnest attempt at a "serious" issue, but the structure is wobbly, forcing characters to do and say things like square pegs into roles holes for something not particularity illuminating or revelatory.
    Last edited by ViewtifulJC; 06-29-2017 at 02:50 AM.

  14. #374
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    Quote Originally Posted by ViewtifulJC View Post
    I'm always highly unconvinced by "motivated by RAGE" Spider-Man stories. Somebody assaulted Betty cuz they had something he wanted, so Spidey goes around beating up other people cuz they have something he wants doesnt sit well with me. Not to mention the whole climatic Aunt May phone call of shame seems phony seeing how Peter has done all the work in tracking this guy. He can just web him up a lam[post in 10 seconds, then rush over to Betty. Its supposed to be this big choice between his responsibility to crime and his responsibility to his loved ones, but...its not a binary choice here! In fact, there's a last page stinger of him doing that very thing in relatively quick fashion?

    (Not to mention they JUST did the Aunt May guilt trip phone call literally 2 issues ago and she comes to the opposite conclusion that Peter should do everything in his power to stop crime if he can, so lol)

    And I just thought the ending of Peter, showing up late, sneaking into Betty's room, locking himself in for their designated movie night(which has never been established before this issue and considering Betty's lack of appearances in most Spidey comics I find it hard to believe) and all her other loved ones(including her Boyfriend Flash who's all smiles about it??) out was just stupid, even a little creepy. The whole thing is so forced and contrived. An earnest attempt at a "serious" issue, but the structure is wobbly, forcing characters to do and say things like square pegs into roles holes for something not particularity illuminating or revelatory.
    I've read this complaint before about #665, that Peter and Betty's movie night had never been previously "established", and I've always found it a bit ridiculous. The idea that two old friends have a regular night together is not something that needs a lot of track laid down for. We didn't need references across fifty other issues to support it. And if there had been work done ahead of time to set it up, people would've complained that it was all just to make #665 happen.

    People always use the word "forced" to complain when they don't like a story - the implication being that if a story had flowed naturally from the characters that it wouldn't have happened and only the outside hand of the writer recklessly "forcing" his will on the characters made it so, forgetting the fact that every story only happens because the writer is imposing their will. In Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter - a kid raised with the best of values - only decides to let the burglar go in a fit of selfishness so Stan could deliver that life changing lesson at the end. That could be referred to as "forced and contrived" as well. As could any choice that any character makes. "Forced" is always just code to me for "I didn't like that."

    In the case of #665, I think the suggestion that Peter did something wrong back in AF #15 offends some fans and puts them off the whole issue. Just the idea that Peter's actions in his origin story, which were heroic from our perspective, might have seemed callous and thoughtless from May's point of view is something that they find intolerable for some reason. Maybe because they think it criticizes Peter's actions. But while it does to a point, it doesn't make him out to be a bad guy in any way and also we know that May doesn't have benefit of knowing the whole story of Peter's actions that night. Personally I found it to be illuminating. Thinking about the events of that story from May's POV had never occurred to me but after reading #665, I was amazed that no one before then had ever thought to address the story from that angle before.
    Last edited by Prof. Warren; 06-29-2017 at 03:30 AM.

  15. #375
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Slott View Post
    I've met people who say it's one of their favorites. Which is bizarre to me. I don't think it worked well at all. Over time, I've found that people who read it in trade form liked it way more than people who read it in singles. That makes a little more sense to me.

    Originally it wasn't an arc. It was a good deal shorter, and an over-sized story for the 50th Anniversary special. It was meant to be a done-in-one:

    Peter has a science experiment go awry. A nerdy high school student on a field trip gets zapped by it. Everybody sees that kid's "origin story". When he gets his powers, he doesn't have to hide them. So he gets to do everything Peter wanted to do back when he had powers like that in high school. Peter feels responsible for what's happening to this kid-- and sees how he's becoming a bit of a jerk. So he takes the kid under his wing, trains him to be a super hero. But the kid rebels, uses his powers even more irresponsibly, people are put in immediate harm. Spidey has to save them-- and take the kid down-- a kid who has now started approaching Superman-levels and is out of Spidey's league. Spider-Man wins, uses science to take the kid's powers away, and then drops him back at his school where everyone is super-mean to him now because he really was a jerk when he did have those powers. The End.

    That was what the story was supposed to be.

    But then, for budget-y reasons, the size and scope of new original material that could be produced for the 50th Anniversary issue drastically changed. The Alpha story had to be shaved down to 20 to 22 pages in length. I said I couldn't fit all of that in 20 to 22 pages. The decision was made to spread the story out into a 2 or 3 issue arc, give it some room to breathe, and lean into the false tease that Spider-Man was actually getting his first official sidekick.

    I made the argument that maybe we should just kill the story and come up with a new 50th anniversary angle. But time was running out. I didn't have any extra ideas that were that big or iconic at the moment. So we decided to stick with the altered plan as is. That was my biggest mistake. I should've been more assertive and killed it. That was all on me.

    Before the story came out, there was already buzz about Spidey getting a side kick, how Spidey should never get a side kick, and how that new character was going to pull focus from Spidey on his 50th. Before page one even showed up in previews, the knives were out for this fictitious kid. And then he showed up and was already completely unlikable... which kinda was the point of him. In a done-in-one story where the kid gets his comeuppance, that's not a problem. But in a multi-part arc, where readers have weeks to stew about how much they hate him, and how he's clearly more powerful than Spidey, that's a huge problem.

    Then, in the middle of the story, there was a new wrinkle. Sales for the 50th were huge. Good-or-bad there was a lot of buzz about Alpha. And it was decided to give him his own mini-series out of the Spider-Office. That meant that the ending of the story had to be knee-capped. Peter couldn't take Alpha's powers away completely. Which kinda defeated the purpose and intent of telling the story in the first place.

    Also-- and again, this one's ALL on me-- I botched the middle chapter. Instead of making it a clean 3 issue arc, I tried to make them more like 3 done-in-ones, and made the middle chapter a Spidey/Alpha/Jackal story. That fed into the narrative that this kid was Spidey's side kick and some kind of recurring character.

    Basically, I think it was a story that could've had potential if it stuck to its original format-- but then it got a little out of control when it ballooned out into a 3 issue arc and was played out over a number of months-- instead of what should have been one sitting. The blame for that is on me-- with ANY story, if you see it's not going the way you would like, you ALWAYS have the option to kill it or just-not-do-it. Same kinda thing happened to JMS on Sins Past. I should have hit the kill switch. (Marketing, altering story's length, and even the company's need to change an ending are things you have to be prepared for when working on a licensed property. That's all part of the game. And if you can't deal with stuff like that, you shouldn't be writing licensed comics. Understanding that is important. Blaming that process is pointless. You might as well be complaining about the weather. It ain't gonna help. Things happen like that, good-or-bad, all the time in comics.)
    2 months late in seeing this, but in light of my post in the other thread, I kinda want to comment a bit on this.

    I must say, this was an interesting read. I'm surprised, though perhaps not as much as I thought I would be, to see that you weren't the biggest fan on the Alpha story, or specifically, how it turned out to be in the end.

    I'm a bit more surprised to see that I'm not just one of the two whole people in the world who actually liked the overall Alpha story un-ironically so, including the follow-up mini. In the end, I'm personally glad that the story ended up the way it did. As it was envisioned, it would have just been more or less another by the numbers "this is why the hero lead is special and others who aren't the hero lead aren't" story. For an anniversary story, I feel that would have been disingenuous, if not outright disrespectful, to the idea of Peter's origin than what it otherwise would have intended to be. On the other hand, with the way the story turned out, once more, especially after the mini (which cannot be stressed enough), I feel it actually celebrated the idea of Peter and his origin story in such a way that was befitting of a Spider-Man anniversary story. It ended up with a lot more nuance and depth than it would have otherwise, which I'm happy for. It helps that I feel that Pete being a mentor figure and having a protege (played straight) works well for the man. (Peter not keeping up with the "responsibility" side of his mantra when it comes to him not keeping an eye on Andy is probably the biggest sore spot when not taking the back-stage politics of the story's creation into account. Maybe even when taking the aforementioned into account.)

    With that said, I do hope you might consider throwing the fans of the Alpha story, as it turned out to be in the end (as opposed to how it may have been conceived from the start), a positive bone in the future. I really would love to see Alpha again.

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