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How long has Dan Slott been writing Spider-Man stories?
In the immortal words of Staind: Its been a while.
However, the time has come to say,Spider-Man no more.
But fear not, Slott-heads hes got another big project on the way.
I never thought Id see you walking away from Spider-Man.
Was this a hard decision to make?This was a decision that was made way long ago.
Very much in the same way I was saying, Peter Parker is never coming back.
I killed him [duringThe Superior Spider-Man].
But thats what us storytellers do, we spin lies.
At least youre open about it.Oh, totally.
This was a long time coming.
I had all these benchmarks I really wanted to hit.
And he was going like, Youre running a marathon.
Im like, Yeah, were running a marathon ofsprints.
And I was like, But, its Spider-Man!
And theyre like, Dan, do you want to go too?
Like, you know, you get four new writers.
Im like, No.
I could always see the next furlong, I could always see what was ahead.
So I kept having these benchmarks to hit.
So I always knew that was the zone.
I wanted to lock that in so I could prove I wasnt lying.
It was the research you had to do, reading all the different Spider-Men of all the different iterations.
There were no two issues that were plotted in a row.
Yikes.[Laughs.]
And in the middle of all of that I was like,Aaaaaah.
I was very much aware of, like,Okay, I think something inside me broke.
But I am going to make this, man.
If Spider-Man canlift that heavy thing off his back, I can do this.
And Brian left and I was like,Nooooo.That put it within reach!
Let me do a new version ofUntold Tales of Spider-Man.
I just gotta hit that for 18 or 20 issues and were good.
Its hard to imagine you not writing Spider-Man at this point.
I mean, whats that gonna be like?
Is it like losing a limb?There are days where everything gets seen through the Spider-Man filter first.
Or you read a news story.
Something happens and you go,How would Spider-Man deal with that?
And all I would be writing morning, noon, and night would be Spider-Man.
And I had all of, like, 40 minutes of indecision about that.
It was over a lunch and I told him I was going to need time to think about it.
Im like, Oh my God.
Dad, youre right.
And hung up on my dad and I called up Wacker.
He hadnt even made it back to Marvel.
AndSurferis over, too, so youre really entering uncharted territory now.
Its all new.Its not uncharted, Abraham.
Its not?We know where were going.
It was like I had a different flavor withSurferand that just kinda cinched it.
Its fun to have the different flavor, its fun to do the different thing.
A good one, not one of those creepy Skull and Bones ones, but this fraternity of Spider-writers.
[David] Michelinie, [Tom] DeFalco.
If you get a chance, you ride that as long as you’re able to.
It made me go, Wow, okay.
I am taking this to heart.
Im gonna go as long as its fun and just enjoy it.
What have you learned about the character over the course of your ten years of writing him?
Spider-Man is a curse.
They have so many different flavors, they have so many different facets.
There is no one way.
When I grew up, one of my favorite books wasMarvel Team-Up.
And in that book, Spider-Man would be with Adam Warlock on the moon.
And then the next month hed be with Doctor Strange in a mystic dimension.
You know, Spider-Man can do anything.
Spider-Man can go anywhere.
What it is, is he brings that street-level sensibility and that sense of humor with him.
That if you make him the fish out of water, hes still Spider-Man.
Its how he deals with that weirdness.
And to me, the fun of it is, what if it did?
How would Peter Parker react to that?
And the one advantage I had was, I knew it wasnt going to last forever.
I knew what was coming up.
So that gives you the freedom to do weird things.
That you cant fundamentally change the character?
I think you do have to, every now and then, refresh and restart.
Hes one of the greatest characters of all time, of all of fiction.
And then he should grow old and then he should die.
No, its important that everyone has a shot to have Spider-Man be their Spider-Man.
Well, no, we can come back to Spider-Man.Good.
Im gonna feel like a dick if I dont go, Thank you, Steve Wacker.
Thank you, [editor] Nick Lowe.
Thank you, all these writers and artists.
Can we save the whats next until the very end?
All right, all right.
I love all my children.
But, yeah, of course, youre gonna have favorites.
The artwork on that was so gorgeous.
If I leave, I will come back for that.
Ooh, enticing.Yeah, but theres so many I loved doing.
I loved the whole Dying Wish arc and how much it freaked everyone out.
And just the labor of love that Humberto Ramos put into that, especially the giant-size 700.
The finalSuperiorarc with Giuseppe Camuncoli, the Domination.
Some of the nicest people, too.
So much of the entirety of what Ive done has been with Humberto.
That mans amazing how much he does and how well he does it.
He could do two issues a month on his head.
People do not realize the amount of not just talent but dedication and drive that he has.
He will hit that deadline, damn it.
Giuseppe Camuncoli is in the same boat … he will break himself.
He will be bent over that art board.
Hell be, like, breaking his wrists.
Hell be doing whatever he can to get everything in.
That takes peoples candle and burns it down to the wick.
You have no idea how much blood goes into this book.
How do you not let that pressure get to you?Oh, you do.
You do let it get to you, and you do let it drive you crazy.
How do you think youve grown as a writer over the course of those ten years?Waistline.
This is how Ive grown.
Yeah, its really been an honor.
This is the best job Ive ever had, doing something I very much love.
Whether its [former editors-in-chief] Joe Quesada or Axel Alonso, or just … yeah.
And when [new editor-in-chief] C.B.
And he was like, So, you know, Ive talked with everyone.
I heard youre now going to be on this.
I think that will be a great book for you.
And I was like, Okay, cool.
And he was okay with me going to that book.
Speaking of which:Now, can we talk about whats coming next?Sure.
I am going to Iron Man.
Hey, now!Yeah!
Tony Stark: He makes you feel; hes a cool exec with a heart of steel.
Like,Oh, man.
I really do want to do Iron Man.
This would be fun.
And when that came around again, it was like,Okay, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I want Iron Man.
and they could go, Superman.
And that was about it.
And now, we live in a world where people know Tony Stark is Iron Man.
This is Tony Stark, Iron Man.
What makes Tony an interesting character to you?Reed Richards explores the universe.
He wants to know everything and go everywhere.
Its not that hes not out to discover the next big thing.
He looks at a challenge and goes, How do I machine my way out of this?
You could dedicate your life, you could train and train and train, and you could be Batman.
Youd be that guy, youd be Peter Parker.
Peter Parker is the guy like you.
But more than any character in the Marvel universe, he is the self-made man.
You take him out of that suit?
Hes a normal man.
He makes himself the superhero.
He makes himself into the thing he wants.
Buthisabilities came from his own two hands.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
