Chatter: Dan Slott 1/10/2o13

In speakng about his recently released intense turn of events for poor, beleagured Peter Parker in "the Amazing Spider-Man" writer Dan Slott said wonderful things during his interview in The Village Voice. Here's my second favorite excerpt:

"
"We're a crazy medium where people put on skintight costumes, climb up walls, fly, and shoot things out of their eyes," Slott says. "If there's any part of you that goes, 'You can't do a brain swap!' then you should go read Great Expectations." He rattles off a list of other fantastic story lines from his run on Amazing: "If you say, 'You can't give everyone in Manhattan superpowers!' or 'You can't create a doorway that takes you 24 hours into a future where Manhattan is destroyed!' remember, this is the Marvel Universe. We have mutant children raised by talking cows. We have teleporting dogs. It's fun."
"
~@DanSlott

And it's all true.

P.S. ~ Did you get a load of the issue's awesome cover? [See it up top?] Even more importantly, do you appreciate that the current Spider-Man comic-book storyline and the Spider-Man fanbase's reaction is the subject of the cover story for The Village Voice? It's not about the movies (hardly, anyway) or about the Broadway musical (not really, anyway) or about the rumors surrounding the lovelife of an actor palying Spidey, it is an interview with Slott about his current and ongoing work with the original main 616 Peter Parker character. In other words, it's about SEQUENTIAL ART. Genre fiction sequential art no less.

P.P.S. ~ My favorite excerpt of writing from this interview is more just a great joke about fandoms in general. "Game of Thrones" die-hards are apparently a little crazy.

Mr. Spider-Man Goes To Town.

I thought about calling this post "Spider-Man Hits The Big Time, or "It's a Big Time For Webheads, or, even, "Big Time = Big Fun". None of those really rang true, and here's why:

Spider-Man has been big time since Amazing Fantasy #15 hit in 1962. Saying that this is Spidey's big time, that he's hit it big, that now's his moment- well, hasn't it been his moment for almost fifty years? Hasn't Peter Parker been slinging webs and helping offbeat kids get by since JFK was President? Hasn't he been to space? Hasn't he been in the Avengers? Hasn't he worked with the Fantastic Four and fought Galactus and been Marvel's flagship character since then?

Let's just say that I think calling it the "Big Time" era might be a little disingenuous. Still- although the branding might be misguided, the change in status quo must come as welcome to certain corners of Spidey fandom. The Brand New Day era, despite producing some great stories (including a Fred Van Lente written issue featuring the Spot that was one of my favorite comics of 2009), wasn't very well received, mostly because of the poorly conceived story which preceded it also wasn't very received. Getting rid of the brand, then, was probably a huge boon for Marvel marketing and taking solo writing reigns was certainly a boon for writer Dan Slott.

Slott, who had been one of the rotating team of "webheads" responsible for delivering the book on time thrice monthly during Brand New Day, has been given sole writing duties on the book (now bimonthly but at 40 or so pages an issue) for the forseeable future. Given all this, and because I have found Slott to be a singularly entertaining writer of comics, I figured I'd give this new status quo a shot, buy myself the first few issues, see how it stacked up.

Near as I can tell, it stacked up alright. I'm new to the Spidey game (much newer to it then Gorga, at any rate), so I wasn't particularly attached to either the pre- or post-Brand New Day status quos, but my understanding is that poor Peter Parker has really been having a tough time of late, so it's good to see one of the good guys, well, making good. Still, the first part of #648 didn't quite ring true. The character's voices didn't seem quite right- a little stilted, a little overplayed- and this was particularly true of Spidey, who Slott writes, albeit briefly, as just too sloppy and sentimental for my taste. Once we get past the seemingly obligatory team-up (which features a clever, if overwritten, climax), things get a little bit better. Peter's voice is a little stronger, his personality a little more assertive and the pieces just sort of fit together better. It feels like the start of a Spider-Man story rather than a half rate Avengers yarn. There's even a fantastic bit at the end where author and artist Humberto Ramos work together perfectly, and the result is clever use of the comics medium to display precisely what Peter is thinking. Still, Slott goes out of his way to prove Peter's a schmuck (he can't pay his rent! He's been run out of the photojournalism biz!) and then way the other way to remind he's not (Doc Ock, Aunt May and the Human Torch all use the word 'genius' to describe our dear hero).

By the time we hit the second issue, #649, though, Slott's hitting his stride a little bit more. The rise of a new goblin, Pete's first day at his new job, the team-up with Black Cat- it all works. And it all works well. Slott's Spidey may not quite be what we expect, may be a little different from the Peter Parker we've seen around these parts recently, but that's just what we need right now, at the beginning of a new era. Although the characterization is at times ham handed, the author does deftly and subtly make some interesting moves, particularly in suggesting that Peter is a reactive rather than proactive thinker, that he's a situational genius and not one that can work in a vacuum. It's a brilliant thought- let's see where he takes it.

Ramos works great for this story, too, which helps turn the pages even when Slott doesn't hit his mark. His work is both kinetic and blocky, a synthesis of two styles that I love which are rarely integrated very well. The thick black lines are complemtented by brilliantly cartoony and just-this-side-of garish colors that really bring out parts of the storytelling, parts that might go unnoticed otherwise.

So, how is the new status quo so far? Pretty good, by my reckoning, but not quite good enough. I've got faith in its creative team and it is quite a lot of fun, so I'll hang on for a few more issues to see how it goes, but unless they step it up (and, to be honest, I'm expecting they will) we may need to wait a little longer for Spidey to really hit it Big.

(Sorry.)

I carry with me at all times a near-perfect recipe for making new comics readers:

Good comics.

That is the best way to convince people this stuff is worth their time. By showing them. But a random confluence of events has brought together some particular comics in my shoulder bag. These comics together represent many of the talking points I think might help people to recognize comics as the separate, viable, wonderful art medium it is. And as I walk the streets of New York City I thought I would share with you what they are and why I think they might work as somebody's 'first comic'.


Some of these I bought just recently, some of them were given to me as birthday presents, some of them I have because I'm reading them, some of them because I am or was reviewing them, or both the former and the latter:

"Electric Ant" #1
From Icon (an imprint of Marvel Comics), David Mack's and Pascal Alixe's adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's prose novel

Opening a comic such as this one can lead to thoughts like: Oh, a smart adaptation of a prose novel? It's really not a new edition is it? Comics isn't just illustrated prose. It's a different experience of the same story. Not a translation, an adaptation. Just the idea that a book can become a comic in the same way a book can become a film encourages one to think of it as smart mass media entertainment instead of junk. And it's by David Mack (@davidmackkabuki), of "Kabuki" fame. So you know it's good.

"Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island" #2
From Avatar Press, Warren Ellis' and Raulo Caceres' steampunk crazy time

Well... This one's crazy and perhaps not great for most new readers. Shocking an old lady with bloody violence and guns that shoot tiny light bulbs for bullets probably won't endear her to my beloved sequential art. But someone who digs steampunk, someone who likes things off the beaten path. Pirate ships flying on electric oars? They should see this stuff. The imagination owned by Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) has few equals in the field of comics. The evidence of vibrant imagination in the art-form is priceless to an argument that it should be appreciated. I bought issue #1 on a whim and I'm glad I did.

"Superman: Earth One"
DC's experimental graphic novel written by J. Michael Staczynski and drawn by recent L & S interviewee Shane Davis

This one has blown not only individual brains but the entire industry straight to the ground. A depiction of Superman as a 20-year-old young man with the problems of the average modern American 20-year-old: what the fuck do I do with my life? how the fuck do I do it? why am I doing it? To see a superhero character made so simply and easily relatable would no doubt be a major eye-opener to many who see superheroes (most particularly ones like Supes) as dumb jocks in a cape. No, the main genre found in the medium isn't only punching and explosions. My review of this just went up days ago.

"Captain America: Man Out of Time" #1
A new series from Mark Waid and Jorge Molina about one of Marvel's first superheroes

Speaking of recent comics re-telling a superhero's story from their own point of view, this is another great-looking work. Captain America is, in the perception of the mainstream, probably the only more prissy superhero than Superman. But, as usual, the mainstream is missing the new trees because it is expecting to see an old forest. I was sold on this issue the moment I saw the way Waid (@markwaid) brought Cap from World War II through his frozen state to the present in two successive splash pages. Someone who doesn't know what mainstream superhero comics are actually like will be amazed to see so 'goofy' a character as Captain America presented with such imagination and gravitas.

"Amazing Spider-Man" #648
With a three-year debacle behind him (mostly) Marvel's Spider-Man moves on to the "Big Time" with Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos

Well... I haven't read this yet. But it ISN'T "Brand New Day". So it might be more new reader-friendly than Spider-Man has been for a few months to a few years, depending on your point-of-view. Dan Slott (@danslott) has a great ability with humor. Anybody with a funny bone would probably enjoy Slott's writing and thus prove that the Joss Whedon style of dramedy can be found in comics, further proving that it's capable of anything.

"Falling for Lionheart"
A glorious mash-up of the two worlds of American comics by Ilias Kyriazis, released on the same day as "Superman: Earth One" from IDW

Not having actually read this, I can only comment on what it looks like. But it looks like one of the best graphic novels of the year and maybe the best 'first readers' graphic novel I have ever seen. It tells the story of Lionheart, a super-powered man on a state/corporate-approved team of superheroes. It is also the story of a man who feels that something about this life is hollow and chooses to make autobiographical mini-comics to express his ennui. None of that is new material (superheroes beholden to centers of authority, characters who make comics about their lives), except of course the brilliant twist that these men are one-and-the-same! Yes, "Falling for Lionheart" is about a superhero who is also an underground comicsmith. A tortured artist superhero love story. The two strongest arms of American comics re-introduced in one slim volume. I'm going to LOVE it. Look for a review soon.


I hope this silly list serves a few purposes for you, dear L&S readers:
1. I hope it has laid out just a little bit more of the incredible variety available in the medium of sequential art.
2. I hope you now know that you can ask me for reading material, if you ever see me on the street!
3. I hope you have some ideas about how to get that special STUBBORN someone in your life to give comics a chance. Lord knows there's plenty of them left out there...

~@JonGorga

Spider-Man's Brand New Day: Three Years Too Much?

This Christmas would be the three year anniversary of the blackest, hardest piece of coal Spider-Man fans ever found in their stockings. Many of our readers may not know what the big hullabaloo is around the just completed period of Spider-Man comics called "Brand New Day". So here is a quick rundown:

On December 28th of 2oo7 "Amazing Spider-Man" took a strange turn with "Amazing Spider-Man" #545, an issue concluding a story called "One More Day" which has become one of the most widely disliked of the decade. Spider-Man and Mary Jane's marriage of 1987 was deleted. No, not annulled. The Pope was not involved. No, it was not a divorce. There were no legal proceedings. The marriage and, without explanation, the death of supporting character Harry Osborn, the destruction of the Parker home in Queens, and Spider-Man's "Civil War" unmasking were simply deleted, either from the characters' memory, history, or both. Or were they?

Long-time fans (among whom I count myself) felt understandably confused and somewhat betrayed. The truth is long-term serial fiction requires house-cleaning from time to time. I always try to think: 'Just show me in your story that you put serious thought into how your story works even if it is just a device to change an old story and/or set-up a new one.' It appeared as if the mastermind of this story, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada (@JoeQuesada), hadn't done that. The details of the situation are complicated and don't particularly make anyone involved look good. But what followed over the next two years, depending on your point-of-view, was either a masterfully-laid slow-burn reveal of what "Brand New Day" always really was: a new Spider-Man status quo or a massively convoluted backpedaling away from an attempt at giving Spider-Man a remaking. There is a difference between the two, more on that later. First, quick as I can, a run-down of the little clarifications that came down the path during "Brand New Day":

Stephen Wacker (@StephenWacker) was made the new "ASM" editor and the first issue taking place in the new status quo (the new continuity) (or whatever it is) was "Amazing Spider-Man" #546. The dialogue in the issue made it clear that six months had passed since the last public sighting of Spider-Man. Strange, but it opened many doors. It was revealed in "Amazing Spider-Man" #569 that Peter could remember a time when at least some people did know his secret identity as the superhero Spider-Man. It was 'ret-conned' through flashback and explanations in "Amazing Spider-Man" #581 that Harry Osborn had never, in fact, died at all. In the same issue we learned that the Parker house had been rebuilt as a good-will present from Harry upon his return from hiding. (Note that, although strange, these changes are organic.) In "Amazing Spider-Man" #591 it was revealed that Spider-Man had succeeded in creating a 'global mindwipe' of the knowledge of his secret identity. "Amazing Spider-Man" #601 revealed that Mary Jane remembers that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Why does that all matter? It means that there is still a single story thread, as convoluted as it may be. A status change as opposed to a re-boot. It seems that Marvel (E.i.C. Quesada, Spider-Man editor Stephen Wacker, and the multiple rotating "ASM" writers) after giving the string of this nearly 50-year ongoing story a swift snap, then applied band-aids, electrical tape, gum and elbow grease to reconnect it. Who really knows whether or not this was the plan all along. I have very little inside information to go on. It worked well-enough compared to the catastrophe it could have been. For me, it was like a murder mystery where the victim was continuity and instead of 'Who killed it?' the question was 'How dead is it really?'

So a lot of the B.S. has been explained. Mind you, they are still goddamn stuck on the marriage never having occurred. Which is... well, bullshit. Sorry Marvel Entertainment. Sorry to Joe Quesada and Stephen Wacker and every writer and artist, colorist, and letterer who's worked on "The Amazing Spider-Man" from "One More Day" to the present, but regardless of the quality you bring to everything around it, it just doesn't stand because it doesn't make sense.

And at first the whole thing was not only tactless but didn't make up for it with real quality. The early "Brand New Day" stories were fairly mediocre. Mind you, those first creators were in a damned-if-they-do-and-damned-if-they-don't situation in regard to... everything. There was a tone of experimentation. Things got better in fits and starts and eventually the 'Web-Heads,' as the rotating creative teams were nicknamed, turned out some fantastic stories. Some of the better Spider-Man stories of the decade. And that is the real tragedy here, that as a commenter my opinions about the quality of these stories is only a small part of an editorial about them.

Let's talk about a few of those stories: "Unscheduled Stop" from "the Amazing Spider-Man" #578-#579. The Shocker is hired as a hitman and we meet J. Jonah Jameson's father! This delightful story brought me tentatively back on-board. "Red-Headed Stranger" from #601-#605. Chilling one-moment, hilarious the next. "Grim Hunt" from #634-#637. Badass. "The Last Stand of the Rhino" from #617 & #625 The Rhino finds his humanity, goes straight, starts a family, gets screwed, becomes a criminal again. "Keemia's Castle" from #615-#616. Heart-breaking, both. Those were just my favorites.

We did, unquestionably, get some great stories out of the "Brand New Day" period.

Finally, the story "One Moment in Time" (ostensibly a direct sequel to "One More Day" and essentially bookending the "Brand New" era) in issues #638 to #641 finally handled the secret identity problem, the 'global mindwipe' and did so in an emotionally satisfying, if convoluted, way. However, it also showed through flashback an almost-entirely alternate version of the story from the 1987 "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #21 wherein Peter Parker and Mary Jane got hitched. Is that wrong? No, I suppose it's not. But it's a rather unpleasant experience. Mephisto (read: the Devil) 'bought' their marriage from reality in exchange for Aunt May's continued health in "Amazing" #545, the end of "One More Day". And apparently that's the way things are going to stay. Marvel Entertainment just won't let that one go.

In the latter quarter of last year this ad began running in Marvel's comics:
That in addition to the covers (especially of issue #639, above) they released? False hopes were all Marvel gave us. Intentional little tricks to drive sales or innocently honest presentations of the story? Just because Mary Jane is in a wedding dress, it doesn't have to be a story of reunion, apparently. Who knows?

At San Diego Comic-Con in July it was announced that the tag-team style writing would be dropped, Dan Slott (@DanSlott) would be the new solo writer and that "Brand New Day" will end with a story titled "Origin of the Species" in issues #642-#646 with a single coda issue (#647) which will serve as a bridge to "Big Time", slated to arrive this Wednesday November 10th in "Amazing" #648. With "Origin of the Species", "Brand New Day" goes out as it went in: exciting, but confusing and just above average.

I felt that the Long and Shortbox Of It! should have something definitive on the record about this strange period of Spider-Man history as it passes, but "Brand New Day" makes little sense to me as a marketing idea or as a story element. If it is supposed to be a quality part of the ongoing story of Spider-Man that works in and of itself why does it need to take such pains to create a situation that doesn't naturally follow from the previous story? If it is a story existing purely to create a more 'marketable' Spider-Man, why make "The Amazing Spider-Man" less unique and more like the single teenage Spider-Man as seen in "Marvel Adventures Spider-Man", "Ultimate Spider-Man" and the Spider-Man films? Is a married Spider-Man really unrecognizable? Brand strengthening or character diluting? I don't have easy answers.

What will be the legacy of Spider-Man's "Brand New Day"? Well in one sense that stands to be seen in the choices Dan Slott and his editors will make in Spider-Man: "Big Time" but in one way it's not done yet: Mary Jane Watson still goes by her maiden name. The history of mainstream superhero comics is no different from other long-term serial fiction. The creators stretch the rubber band as far as they can and then let it come back. "Brand New Day" has epitomized this.

Whether intentional or not, much of what was so shocking in "Amazing" #545, like Harry's apparent unexplained return from the grave, have been turned into mere twists and flashbacks. The series' status change gave way to a normalizing force. Things aren't exactly as they were but they make sense.

Except for one little marriage certificate.

Oh well. Maybe next year.

~ @JonGorga

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/18/2oo9

I'm going to start including collections and graphic novels in these pull-lists because they're comics too dagnabit! You're just not going to see a review from me on one of them for SIX MONTHS. I'm slow.

The weeklies:

The usual Spideys!
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #612 (definitely)
I'm not too keen on any experimental re-envisioning of classic characters. So... apprehension is the word.

"Dark Reign: The List - Amazing Spider-Man" one-shot (definitely)
Dan Slott himself told me in person how excited he was to write this. I can't NOT buy it!

"Dr. Horrible" one-shot (probably)
I loved the web-video (or IPTV series) to which this is a prequel. Who doesn't right!?

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #2 of 4 (probably)
This got pushed back. STILL haven't read issue #1...

"Drone" #1 of 4 (maybe)
This sounds smart and disturbing. A good combination.

"Tiny Titans" #22 (maybe)
Clare's editorial of last month made a big impression on me about this series.

The books:

"Pictures That Tick" (maybe)
I'm really fascinated by experimental comics, although I've rarely been able to handle a whole collection of them. I usually end up trying to take it slow to absorb each piece because they can and will be SO different. As a result... I never finish the damn things.

Strange week. We'll see...

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 10/28/2oo9

It's another light week for me as well. Clare is hardcore. But more money for food for me! yay!

The usual Spider-Man related item:
"the New Avengers" #58

And I do want to see how Tony Daniel handles writing and drawing "Batman":
"Batman" #692

And I gotta at least peek at:
"Superman: Secret Origin" #2 of 6


UPDATE: 10/28/2oo9
I wasn't sure I was going to make it, so I didn't mention it... but I did, so now I will!

(From left to right: the enthusiastic writer Dan Slott, the contemplative writer Chris Claremont, and the gentlemanly artist Neal Adams signing and sketching at Forbidden Planet in NYC.)

Forbidden Planet was having a small signing event as part of Marvel's strange little MarvelFest NYC 2009 party-type thing. This magical thing we call the Internet told me that current on and off writer of "the Amazing Spider-Man" Dan Slott, classic writer of "the Uncanny X-Men" and fellow graduate of my alma mater Chris Claremont, and epically old-school realistic artist Neal Adams were going to be there.

So I made my way south to Union Square to pick up my comics and talk with some awesome comics writers and one excellent artist today. I really had NO time to devote to what turned out to be, essentially, a really wonderful tiny (but FREE!) comics-CON. If something like this goes down again, I will try to be there. Despite the fact that I was rushed, despite the fact that quarters were cramped and despite the fact that all three of these gentlemen had been there a full HOUR before I showed up, they were each wonderful and generous with their time.

Seeing Slott and Claremont was very nice and relaxed because I'd met each of them previously, albeit very quickly, but I was absurdly jittery around Adams suddenly at the moment I got to talk to him. He is an immensely talented individual. I was actually very surprised that all three of them had the time to talk to me! I was just one fan of hundreds they had to see for the day.

(Oh my god. I completely forgot in all the rush and my usual gushing excitement for all things Spider-Man that Slott also co-writes "the Mighty Avengers"! The first two pages of the latest issue of that series are among my favorite that have seen print this year. Should have complemented him on that.)

Then I was even more happily surprised that they had no problem with me taking a quick photo. "Quick" being the operative word about that photo above. See Mr. Slott! Fastest writin' hand in the West!

So: funny story. All this wonderful camaraderie is happening and I finish talking with the bouncing ball of comics glee that is Dan Slott and take my phtoto and then I remembered that I had my job at the bakery to get to! And I hadn't picked up my comics! I rushed and grabbed a copy of "the New Avengers" #58 and bolted to the thankfully short cashier line. While in line I looked at my phone to discover that it was 6:01 PM. I was already a minute late! Long story short, I made it to work in fair time because it's inside Grand Central Station, 10 minutes from Union Square. No flack on my back. They are surprisingly chill there. Now if only they sold comics...

UPDATE: 10/29/2oo9
So after a second quick comic shop trip today (this time to a shop closer to my work, during my break) I have decided to remain steadfastly sitting on my one purchase for the week. So help me god.

Sure couldn't hurt that backlog of books that need reviewing...