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What have I learned this year, part two: Being Thankful
2008-11-26 12:50:24

So it’s Spring of ’07 and I’ve just had two pretty above average interviews with Steve Wacker, Tom Brevoort and Joe Quesada about becoming an Assistant Editor at Marvel. Still, I’m a pretty pessimistic guy and assumed they’d just invited me back out of kindness. But then again, I'm pretty confident they've hired me, put me to work and paid me for a year and a half out of kindness. When I was called and offered the job, I was obviously pretty excited, but also a bit conflicted, as another opportunity that was equally exciting had availed itself. It was a tough call—both jobs had the same number of pros and cons. But I realized this other opportunity was something I could always come back to, while the door at Marvel might not re-open.

After keeping Marvel’s HR department on hold during the solid 30 seconds of deliberation (while balancing two giant packages in a leaky doorway in the midst of a rainstorm, no less), I accepted and returned home to an email from my new boss, Mr. Stephen G. Wacker, welcoming me to the team with an MP3 of the “Merry Marvel Marching Society” theme and, perhaps more daunting, Tom Brevoort’s now-publicized “Spider-Manifesto.” It brings me to my second “What Have I Learned This Year?” lesson: Be thankful for what you don’t know yet.

As I read over the document to help get myself up to speed on the work I’d been doing, a thought occurred to me: “I can never talk to my friends who read comic books again.” Remember, this was at the tail end of CIVIL WAR. Imagine if you’d have known months before anyone else did how "Back-In-Black" and "One More Day" ended and how "Brand New Day" began—I felt like I’d read a National Security report. But I remember wondering what many of you have wondered (sometimes in profanity laced e-mails)—how did Harry Osborn come back to life?

The answer wasn’t in the manifesto, and it wasn’t in any of the scripts I was handed to get myself up to speed. To be honest, the Braintrust wasn’t sure yet. But they did know they had to address it, they were simply going to wait until they had a story that made the most sense and that you guys deserved. That’s what made some of the early anger about "Brand New Day" so funny to me—most of the complaints were over story points we simply hadn’t revealed yet. But yeah, in some cases we weren’t sure. But that didn’t mean we weren’t working on it.

Liz Allan, Normie and the events of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #200 were all factored into the plans—we just simply hadn’t found the right story yet and didn’t want to rush such important information out. And then Dan Slott found it—the perfect way to not only bring Harry back but to explain quite a few of the changes between our current Spidey run and the JMS stuff. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #581 (which we’re pushing out the door in a short holiday week here at Spidey Sentral) is part one of a two-part Slott/McKone gem that bridges the gap, and it’s Peter Parker who asks the question we’ve all been wondering—how did Harry Osborn come back from the dead? We’ll get some answers, but you’re going to have to wait till next month to see ‘em. In the meantime, enjoy some art!

Working on this comic got me thinking about story telling in the age of internet spoilers and excessive need-to-knows. I’m as big a user of spoiler sites as anyone, but being on this side of the comic fence has reminded me how much I love the job designated to a reader—one of discovering the story for yourself. Most fans of my generation grew up after a lot of the seminal Spider-Man moments. I can appreciate the death of Gwen Stacy, but I know the story from the back of a trading card. I can’t appreciate the magnitude of that moment on the same level of older readers because to me, she’s a relic of the past, not someone I watched grow and evolve. I wish I’d have been able to feel the shock readers felt when they turned the page and saw Gwen Stacy die. Part of the fun of being in the seat I’m in now is that these stories can’t help but be new to me—I’m one of the first eyes to see ‘em after the writer finishes. I get the unfiltered shock of turning the page and it excites me. I can appreciate the frustration of some folks in the readership that the secrets are revealed 11 months later, but for myself, I’d much rather discover the answers page by page than read a brief summary with “the answers.” That’s drama. That’s excitement. It takes patience and it takes time, but it’s wroth the wait. We’ve been planning his out for a while and we want to make sure it’s the best story it can be.

Change is tough, as I’ve learned in abundance this year. So for the segment of readership that still isn’t entirely on board with this new status quo, we hear you. We’ve had you in mind from the beginning, and we’re trying to make the kind of stories that will satisfy your curiosity. We’re simply taking the time and effort to get the stories right. Be thankful for what you don’t know, it makes discovering it all the more exciting.

--Brennan

Humph.
Hey Tom. Whilst I'm most defintely not happy with the current status quo (and you all know why by now) I won't deny that having Harry back was one of the more positive things of the OMD episode. Hate nigh on everything else mind.

In answer to your 'wait and see' strategy, whilst I can see its a good philosophy for making comics, your argument is flawed on account of the fact that many people hate OMD, and every answer to the puzzle so far (MJ dating loser movie star is a slap in the face, plus the answer to Jackpot's identity - she's someone we NEVER MET!) is only fuelling the steadily increasing drive away from your comics. It things like this which make me go from 'Oh, can't wait for that explanation!' to 'Oh great, look what they're about to ruin now!' and its not helping in the slightest. I'm almost dreading the day ASM 600 comes out because I know it's not going to make me feel better about OMD at all, not if it isn't going to start the repair of the Peter-MJ marriage and Aunt May dying for good.

Posted by Derek Metaltron on 2008-11-26 13:21:04

"To be honest, the Braintrust wasn’t sure yet. But they did know they had to address it, they were simply going to wait until they had a story that made the most sense and that you guys deserved."

And there is one of the reasons the BND sucks. (yes, I know, IMHO!) Something as big as Harry's retrun was put in as a whim. We are told that we should just wait, there's a reason for these things, but there really isn't. Just throw things in and hope to come up with something later. What if Dan hadn't come up with his revelation? Would we still be waiting for the explaination in another year? Two? Three . . . .
So far the revelations - Who okayed that Jackpot was a nobody and then killed her off? My God! What was the point of having a 3 part secret invasion story that established her? - have not been interesting or well-done (yes, yes, again IMHO).
You say we have been in mind from the begining but you have taken far too long for these revelations. You have given us too much filler for too long.
I am pleased for the few who have been happy with BND, its great that they have got something they are happy with, but for far too many of us it is not just something that no longer matters, but something that frustrates and angers us.
And telling us to be thankful . . . infuriating.

Posted by randin on 2008-11-26 18:17:19

this should be pretty good. I have liked everything Slott has done in BND. I have no idea what happened with Harry, but it looks like Norman was involved. As for Liz, we haven't seen her for a while, and I have thought she is Menace since that character was introduced. My other thought is that it is Normie Osborn, grown up as a result of the same effect the Goblin formula had on Normans kids Gabe and Sara.

Posted by jwemly on 2008-11-28 00:11:22

Now that I think of it...
I can just about recall the last time Marvel Writers decided that it was a good idea to throw stuff out there in Spider-Man with no awareness of what it would be explained... Think it involved clones and a chimny stack...

Posted by Derek Metaltron on 2008-11-28 03:30:41

Tom and any of the Spider-crew,
Despite what some may think from posts online, there are a lot of long time Spider-fans out there who are loving the new direction. I can't wait to see how this plays out in December, this is one of the big questions that has been in the background as I read Amazing this past year. How Harry is alive seems like a great way to end this year on amazing, can't wait to see what's in store next year.

Posted by Tremnar on 2008-11-29 01:45:43

Speaking of reading stories for the first time on the back of a trading card... they always seem so much more interesting that way, than they really are. Usually because the summaries just get straight to the point whereas when we read the comics there's a lot of other stuff going on there that doesn't relate to the plot description we'd originally understood. (And it's never as interesting as it seemed when you had to imagine the details...)

Posted by Fetsur on 2008-11-29 17:40:02

I wish I could like this.
The thing is, we knew all of these answers a year ago. Now, we've had the history rewritten,and it now we have to see what has been changed. It really fells like a cop-out. Personally, I still don't see alot of these stories that couldn't have been told without the whole "deal with the Devil" thing happening. That's my main beef.

I've read alot of the stories, some in the shop, some online, and I've just not seen any one story that made me think that this new status quo was really that neccesary.

I love the creative teams, and I am a huge Spidey-fan, but I just can't bring myself to pay for this...especially on a thrice-monthly schedule! For those that enjoy it, good for you, but I just cannot.

Posted by shinlyle on 2008-12-01 12:46:25

:)
:)

Posted by Celestial on 2008-12-01 14:44:41

So when will the real Peter Parker finally re
Not interested. As I won't be interested until the real Peter Parker returns. The one who isn't a total moronic failure and loser.

Peter Parker used to be an underdog, that's what made him loveable, he was never ever a loser. Until Slott gets the difference between those, he has no right whatsoever to call himself a Spider-Man writer.

Right now as far as I'm concerned ASM was cancelled a year ago and the only true issue with the real Peter Parker in it in the entire past year was Invincible Iron Man 7.

That pretense at ASM should just be renamed into the irredeemable loserman, cause that's what that attempt at bad fanfic is really about.

To think that they've actually made me lose all interest in Harry Osborn, turned aunt May into a waste of paper and made Betty a spineless wimp.

Utter fail, as much of a failure as the Skrull currently pretending to be Spider-Man since Brand New Day.

Posted by liliaeth on 2008-12-01 16:59:53

I watched the most cr*piest movie ever.
To whom it may concern-

For fair warning to other's, I watched the movie "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" and it is horrendous, it is depressing and will cause you paranoia even if no need for the fear is present.

It is a glamourized attempt at a "metallica", "tool", "slayer" and/or "perfect circle" video, mantage or entertainment industry production that if not most defiling is definately most "Fonda".

The zone is french and it holds light to WW2 tactics of regression and hostage holding of a stroke victim whom they refuse to rehabilitate in basic dialect, thus attempting to used a mixed alphabet and not the international A-Z.

The movie is shot from the victims view and you have no clue why the victim is being held until the end when they regress to the origin of a basic and non-accidental human health problem.

Be warned, if you choose not to be depressed, do not watch it.

It is drab, but not in the brown sense of the word.

Sincerely-
Danielle Rene' Crow

Posted by Celestial on 2008-12-04 19:49:56

Array

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About this blog:
Freshly spun news and previews from the office of the Amazing Spider-Man

About the author:
Editor "Simperin" Steve Wacker and assistant editor "Typin" Tom Brennan take time out from bringing you Amazing Spider-Man thrice monthly and indulge your need to know everything now!!!