"Spider-Man: The Other" News and Speculation Thread

[Spider-Man]

From Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com):

Given away in Marvel’s solicitations for September, after House of M, Marvel’s next crossover event will focus on Spider-Man…and what makes him Spider-Man. The crossover is teased in the solicits, as being supported by a poster with art by Joe Quesada, placing Spider-Man in the central position of Da Vinci’s classic “Virtuvian Man,” and now, more details have surfaced.

According to sources speaking with Newsarama, and confirmed by this week’s Wizard, “The Other” traces its roots back to The Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski’s “The Book of Ezekiel” arc, which introduced the idea that not only was Peter Parker not the first spider-based hero, but that the world was filled with individuals taking their powers from various animal totems.

The story will run for 12 issues throughout the end of 2005 and into early 2006, encompassing all three major Spider-Man titles, Amazing, MK Spider-Man, and the upcoming Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Creatively, the series’ three writers will each handle a month’s worth of titles during “The Other,” beginning with Peter David, who will write all three Spider-Man titles in October, followed by Reginald Hudlin writing all three in November, and Straczynski writing all three in December. Each writer will return to their respective books in January for their own epilogue issues. Mike Deodato Jr. and Mike Wieringo will provide art for Amazing and FNSM, respectively, while the artist for the arc’s worth of Spider-Man issues is yet to be determined.

More information is avilable at Newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Spider-Man/Other/theother.html


http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Spider-Man/Other/VitruvianSpider-Man_150.jpg

[King_of_doom]

i just saw this in Marvel's previews,this sounds really interesting.

[Stu]

This all sounds a little lame. What's wrong with having a 'normal' Spider-Man book for a change. Let's break them down.

Both Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Knights Spider-Man seem to be focusing on him as an Avenger rather than well, him being Spider-Man. None of the Spidey villains are appearing, PAD doesn't start until October and the long awaited Waid Spidey book is a mini of a crossover, no less.

Spider-Man needs help. It's time like this I miss Untold Tales Of Spider-Man. I'm jonesing for an old school Spider-Man book.

[wonderfly]

While I don't neccesarily like the idea of starting the book off with a crossover, I'm not really opposed to their actually being a crossover. Especially if it brings back up the whole "Spider/Totem" storyline, (a storyline I felt JMS didn't really finish).
JMS coordinating with Peter David sounds like a good thing to me. How Reginald Hudlin fits in is beyond me, (it probably won't work).

JMS is writing the most adult in storytone of all the mainstream Spidey books. Reginald Hudlin is supposed to be writing the Marvel Knights book, (which is supposed to be the much more adult tone book) but Hudlin's tale is simple and straightforward, (more intended for the kiddies). I don't know what Peter David's book is going to be like...

This has potential to be an interesting read.

[Spider-Man]

I don't think my thread should have been merged with this one. My thread was about "The Other" crossover not solely the new Peter David title.

Now, Quesada talked bit more about Spider-Man's "The Other" crossover that does have me a bit more hopeful for it:

http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JoeFridays10.htm

JQ: We’ve been working on this story arc for a very long time.  It’s place within the Spider-Man mythos?  Man, I don't know, the fans will have to decide that.  That said, we did want to create a story that would have long lasting implications that would have fans guessing and add of course to the overall tapestry of Spidey’s world.  JMS began this with his inaugural run on Amazing and we always said that we would be dealing with the implications of that run sometime later on, Well, here we are.

NRAMA: What can you tease further on it? And just to make it challenging for you, you’re not allowed to say “It’s big,” “It’s going to alter Spider-Man’s status quo forever,” “the last page is ‘shocking,’” or that it will do any irreparable harm to the Internet.

JQ: Okay, Fair enough. It’s going to be a small, emotional, personal story that will take us across twelve issues of Spider-Man and the new status quo in his world.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry - oh yes you’ll cry, you’ll hopefully enjoy the first issue so much that you’ll want to buy all twelve.  The sole goal of this series is to tell a fun comic story, so fun and so engaging that fans will want to buy the books and be taken along for a heck of a romp through the world of Spider-Man.

Did I do okay?

NRAMA: Surprisingly, not much on the hyperbole, unless you count the “laugh/cry” stuff…although you did leave the “fall in love” off…

JQ: How about some more!  Interlaced with all this emotional stuff will come a questioning of Spider-Man’s role in the Avengers, his awkwardness living amongst these heroes as well as how his family adapts to it, oh and of course one of the greatest Spider-Man battles of all time, it’ll be the greate... Whoops.  Darn, I couldn’t do it!

[Stu]

I like Joe Quesada.

But I swear, everytime I read an interview with the guy, I can't help but feel that everytime he opens his mouth, he comes across as an idiot.

I still don't think we need to go back to the Ezkizel stuff... it was odd then, and it'll be weird now.

[Zero-V]

JQ: Okay, Fair enough. It’s going to be a small, emotional, personal story that will take us across twelve issues of Spider-Man

...How does that make sense exactly?:sad:

A year long story is "small?"

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,


I don't think my thread should have been merged with this one. My thread was about "The Other" crossover not solely the new Peter David title. Sorry, my mistake...I merged the threads after we posted more or less the same Newsarama article in 2 different places and separate discussion started on both. However, you're right -- PAD is only 1 of 3 writers for the new title, and discussion about the crossover doesn't necessarily center on him.

I've split the thread into a separate one, and gave it a more descriptive title.

-- Ed/Ace

[Bruce Kent]

...How does that make sense exactly?:sad:

A year long story is "small?"
It's a 4 month story over 3 titles.

[InfinityBlade]

Interlaced with all this emotional stuff will come a questioning of Spider-Man’s role in the Avengers

...I swear, if Spidey being an Avenger just becomes some one-year gimmick, I'm going to be freakin' pissed...

[Spider-Man]

...I swear, if Spidey being an Avenger just becomes some one-year gimmick, I'm going to be freakin' pissed...
I'm worried about this myself. I actually really like him on the team comic and hope he stays. While Bendis hasn't done a really deep portrayal of him in the book he's made him some great comic relief. That scene between him and Luke Cage was hilarious. This is a great new situation for Spider-Man and it's actually working. Maybe he'll just get nervous about staying in Stark Towers but remain on the team.

[Spider-Man]

A small update from this weekend's Comic-Con. There's a bit of news and some great artwork from the storyline over at Newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=38391


http://www.newsarama.com/SDCC05/Marvel/spiderman/other2.jpg

[Xurk]

I like what I'm seeing with that artwork :) The covers seem tied together tightly, with the same right border and the red glow over them. I'm really hoping that the story is also tightly tied together!
I liked the original 'Totem' / Ezekiel storyline, so this could turn out to be a good cross-over [it's been a long time since one of those have been in the Spider-books, hasn't it?].
It's interesting having each of the core Spider-writers writing all three titles per month, and I'm very interested in FNSM, after reading PADs blog every now and then. I'm going to have to figure out when you can start subscribing to that..

[Cogliostro]

I don't know, to me 'The Other' sounds like it has a good chance of not being good. The whole 'losing a major organ' sounds really lame, it sounds like it's something that is unneccesary yet they are making it a 'OMG look what we are doing, we have to shake up a character and change something "important" to make a mini-series/cross-over'. :yawn:

[Xurk]

At work today, I began speculating on this "loss of major organ" plot. It seems it could use some speculating done on it, as I haven't seen much yet ;)

In case I'm on to something here, I'll spoilertagerize it:
Organic webshooters. I mean, they are major at least to Spider-Man, as they're one of his most important attributes. I could just not come up with anything else, as having him lose a leg or an arm or something like that would just be so "sigh". The more I think about it, the more it makes sense, as a) the majority of the readers have shared their disagreement of the organics, and b) after only two months of having the organics, no new stories were told highlighting them [which I was quite interested in.. alas] and the writers just seemed to ignore them. So why wouldn't they just give us back the Peter-made webshooters, as the result of the same way we attained them: hyping a 'major change' which turns out to be somewhat minor?

Interested in what the rest think :)

[Spider-Man]

That is a good theory on the "lose an organ" comment made. I know alot of fans were really upset about it. I was indifferent on it really. I didn't mind that they brought in the organics. They haven't made a big deal about the webshooters for quite awhile and there's been no focus on them besides the terrible Spectacular Spider-Man: Dissassembled arc. I just can't see it being somethng like an arm or a leg. If I was I'm sure we'd have that problem fixed magically by the end of part 12.

[RAINMAN]

Moulin is coming back?:eek:

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Newsarama just talked to Mike Wieringo about Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man:


Mike Wieringo: I think Spider-Man is one of the few characters that I wouldn't mind drawing at any time. He's almost flawless as far as being an interesting character to draw. His costume design is timeless and beautiful in its simplicity. I don't know who actually designed him (I've heard it was either Steve Ditko or Jack Kirby)-- but whomever did the job, it's sheer genius.
Read the rest at Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39547).

-- Ed/Ace

[Spider-Man]

There are a few updates on this crossover:

-The 12-part crossover now seems to be a 9-part crossover.

-The title has been changed to Spider-Man: The Other: Evolve or Die.

New cover art for the crossover is also online and it looks to the confirm the return of Morlun. www.newsarama.com and www.comicbookresources.com have some updates on this light news day at the Wizard World Convention.

[wonderfly]

I thought it always was a 9 part crossover...I thought the 4th month, (I guess what you were thinking was parts 10-12) were epilogue issues, dealing with the fallout from "The Other" crossover...

[Matt Hazuda]

Gonna suck missing the start of PAD's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but I'm not buying a book just to be trapped in a line-wide crossover with it. I'll wait for ye olde trade.

[Xurk]

@ MDawg957: I read a long bit on PAD's blog about people planning on doing this. It comes down to killing his run / book by doing that. When the sales figures come in for the first issue[s] of his title, retailers are likely to order less issues of FNSM due to disappointing sales, leading to Marvel seeing the demand for FNSM dropping which could ultimately lead to the title being cancelled if the situation doesn't improve. Then it could be a long time until Marvel offers PAD another title. This is the story in short, it goes on forever in his blog, check it out if you feel like it. So if you'd like to read PAD's Spider-Man, just stick through the story, it could turn out to be great... judging stories before they're out is a bit prejudiced, isn't it? ;)

@ wonderfly: Maybe that's exactly what they're planning on doing now :) Officially calling it a nine-parter all of the sudden, to make it sound easier to digest, while leaving the original three "part four's" as epilogues.

Anyway, I'm liking the two bluish covers on the page on CBR that the link brings us to, especially the following one:
(Click to enlarge)
http://upload.talk2.nl/files/216792ASM526_COV_COLOR.jpg (http://upload.talk2.nl/files/635623ASM526_COV_COLOR_BIG.jpg)

The third one seems a bit out of taste for Spidey though, sitting in space with MJ?? Or something...

I also have a question for some wiser members than me here:
If I continued my Spectacular Spider-Man subscription [which now all of a sudden is a Spider-Man: House of M subscription], do you think Marvel will start sending me FNSM issues?
It seems possible to me, as they've done so in the past. When PP:SM ended, my subscription was automatically changed into a SSM subscription, and to my great astonishment, I recently started receiving the Spider-Man: House of M mini, since Spectacular has ended!
I received my "reminder" a few days ago for my Marvel subscriptions and it actually features SM:HoM on it, for renewal... foreshadowing to FNSM I think?

It would be nice to know what you guys think, as it would save me the trouble of having to actually have to distinctly subscribe to the new title. Maybe I should send them an e-mail asking to confirm my suspicions? :)

[Matt Hazuda]

@ MDawg957: I read a long bit on PAD's blog about people planning on doing this. It comes down to killing his run / book by doing that. When the sales figures come in for the first issue[s] of his title, retailers are likely to order less issues of FNSM due to disappointing sales, leading to Marvel seeing the demand for FNSM dropping which could ultimately lead to the title being cancelled if the situation doesn't improve. Then it could be a long time until Marvel offers PAD another title. This is the story in short, it goes on forever in his blog, check it out if you feel like it. So if you'd like to read PAD's Spider-Man, just stick through the story, it could turn out to be great... judging stories before they're out is a bit prejudiced, isn't it? ;)He's doing X-Factor, which means I'll get my PAD book without any strings attached. FNSM will be a new #1, and it's a Spidey book, so I don't think losing me will matter that much. If it happens to still be a good title when #4 comes out, I'll be happy to start reading it. I just don't want to be bound to a story written by Hudlin and JMS, two writers I really don't care for, just so I can get a few PAD issues.

[InfinityBlade]

I also have a question for some wiser members than me here:
If I continued my Spectacular Spider-Man subscription [which now all of a sudden is a Spider-Man: House of M subscription], do you think Marvel will start sending me FNSM issues?
It seems possible to me, as they've done so in the past. When PP:SM ended, my subscription was automatically changed into a SSM subscription, and to my great astonishment, I recently started receiving the Spider-Man: House of M mini, since Spectacular has ended!
I received my "reminder" a few days ago for my Marvel subscriptions and it actually features SM:HoM on it, for renewal... foreshadowing to FNSM I think?

It would be nice to know what you guys think, as it would save me the trouble of having to actually have to distinctly subscribe to the new title. Maybe I should send them an e-mail asking to confirm my suspicions? :)
Well, it's worth noting that FNSM was originally supposed to be written by Mark Waid, who's written SM:HoM. I always figured SM:HoM was supposed to be Waid's warm up before FNSM, sort of similar to what they're doing for Bendis on his new Spider-Woman projects (5-issue mini for he origins, then an ongoing directly afterwards.)

Since FNSM was originally supposed to be Waid's book and it starts right after SM:HoM ends, I think, I'd say that's probably a good bet.

But then, I could always be wrong.

[wonderfly]

I don't see why people are so opposed to the idea of a crossover...this is relatively small all things considered. It's not going to be like Infinite Crisis-an issue of Astonishing Xmen isn't going to have on the cover "'THE OTHER' TIE IN!" In my mind, this type of crossover is more to my liking: it's bringing all of the Spiderman books together, (but only for 3 months...I can handle 3 months...)

And besides, I thought I read that each chapter, (or each set of 3 issues written by a different author) was going to feel like a self contained story. So buy the Peter David issues that are coming out in October, then just don't buy any issues for the next two months. BUY FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDERMAN ISSUE #1 OR DIE!!!

:p

[Xurk]

I couldn't have said it better, wonderfly :)

[Spider-Man]

@ MDawg957: I read a long bit on PAD's blog about people planning on doing this. It comes down to killing his run / book by doing that. When the sales figures come in for the first issue[s] of his title, retailers are likely to order less issues of FNSM due to disappointing sales, leading to Marvel seeing the demand for FNSM dropping which could ultimately lead to the title being cancelled if the situation doesn't improve. Then it could be a long time until Marvel offers PAD another title.
I plan to read the crossover myself but I don't think Peter David has anything to worry about for the first few issues. I'm sure Marvel knows that starting his comic off with a crossover is risky for the sales and perhaps won't start taking a real look at the comic numbers until after the crossover is done from the comic. I can see why Peter David would be worried but I think he should wait until after the crossover is done before taking the sales numbers seriously.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Apparently, there was a news conference about The Other, and Comicon.com's PULSE News seems to have the best coverage of it (http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=004137).

Meanwhile, Peter David reports on his blog that he was roped into it under odd circumstances and made it up as he went (http://peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/003303.html). Also reports that the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is auctioning a lunch with him and Jewel Staite of Firefly, which makes me wish I was at DragonCon and in a position to spend a lot of money to buy time with PAD and Jewel Staite.

-- Ed/Ace

[Spider-Man]

Six pages from Amazing Spider-Man #526 are now online. This issue is part 3 of the 12 part crossover.

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Oct_previews/oct26thpreviews.htm


http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Oct_previews/amazing525_cvr.jpg

Also you can see the cover art for parts 7 - 9 in the December solicitation info for Marvel.

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Dec_05/MarvelDec05.html

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Boy, Peter David is really on the PR tour this time around, isn't he?

PAD talks briefly to the Comics Foundry (http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=168). Knowing what I do of him, I suspect tongue is firmly in cheek for most of his comments.

He also spoke to Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/images/interviews/2005/david/PAD_General.htm) about "The Other" and lots of other stuff as well, like his latest stint on Hulk, the new X-Factor title, and Fallen Angel's resurrection.

Hmmm...maybe I should keep that last one around for today's Big Pile of Links post.

EDIT: And there he goes AGAIN at Comicon.com's PULSE News (http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=004270)! Dude is EVERYWHERE!! However, that article contains a few more pages from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1. Normally, I'm not one to point out unlettered previews, but Mike Wieringo's stuff "reads" without words so very, very well.

-- Ed/Ace