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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

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Did Spider-Man being married make finding big name writers hard (SPOILERS: no...)

One of the frequent arguments used against the Spider-Marriage was that it allegedly made high caliber writers unwilling to work on the series and/or made filling the role of writer difficult to do.

In particular Roger Stern’s unwillingness to work on the series due to Spider-Man being married and Ed Brubaker’s public frustration with how the marriage prevented him from writing a story he had in mind is cited to corroborate the above argument.

But let’s deconstruct that idea a little bit shall we.

Prior to the marriage’s introduction in 1987 there had been a total of four Spider-Man titles. Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Team Up, Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man, which had replaced the cancelled MTU series. So for 25 years (Spider-Man was created in 1962) there was between 1-3 titles per month, 1-3 writing positions that needed to be filled.

And who filled these roles? Well a lot of people and I’m not going to list them all but broadly speaking (and prioritizing people with actual runs not fill in works or who only did side projects of annuals) we had:

Stan Lee

Steve Ditko

Gerry Conway

Roy Thomas

Bill Mantlo

Al Milgrom

Tom DeFalco

Roger Stern

Denny O’Neil

Marv Wolfman

Peter David

David Michelinie

Louise Simonson

Danny Fingeroth

Len Wein

Christopher Priest/Jim Owsley

That’s a lot of people and some HUGE names there. Of course some of those names got huge later on or else got huge ON their Spider-Man runs.

What was the state of affairs during 1987-2007, during the years the marriage was around?

Well if I recall correctly among the titles published in which the 616 married Peter Parker had an at least semi-recurring starring role we had ASM, Spec, Web, No Adjective Spider-Man (later rebranded Peter Parker: Spider-Man), Spider-Man Unlimited Volume 1 and 3, Spider-Man Team-Up, Marvel Team Up Volume 2, Marvel Team-Up volume 3, Spider-Man Family, Sensational Spider-Man, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man (later rebranded as Sensational volume 2), Webspinner’s: Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Man’s: Tangled Web, New Avengers, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Bear in mind this is excluding guest appearances, one shots, mini-series, annuals, What ifs, alternate universe appearances or flashback titles like Untold Tales of Spider-Man.

As you can see that is far MORE titles than in the 25 years preceding it. Now in the interests of fairness obviously those were not all published at the same time and some of those titles were anthologies wherein stories might not be set in the present day where Spider-Man was married...but most were.

In fact at any given time during the 20 years the marriage was in place there was always a minimum of 3 titles in publication and on some months in the 90s there could be as many as 5-7.

That is a lot of writing roles that need to be filled and on occasion writers would handle the chores on multiple books. But that was not the norm the majority of the time each book would have their own individual writer.

There was never ever an instance where there was a gap in the schedule that couldn’t be filled because there was just no writer available willing to work with the marriage, that just plain never happened.

Moreover looking at the glut of titles during those 20 years Marvel apparently felt confident enough that there WOULD be writers willing to work with a married Spider-Man because they drastically increased the amount of space about a married Spider-Man that needed to be filled. In particular there were multiple anthology books during those 20 years meaning there would be even more space per book that needed to be filled.

But hey, that just tells us they found writers willing to plug those gaps. It doesn’t address the criticism that the marriage was turning away writers of high pedigree.

After all the unmarried Spider-Man had all those names I listed above work on his titles and after OMD he had the likes of Dan Slott, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Marc Guggenheim, Christos Gage, Chip Zdarksy and the guys from Jimmy Kimmel and Agent Carter!

Was the pedigree of writers during the marriage anywhere close to those guys?

Well we did have...

J.M. DeMatteis who during the marriage authored 3 all time classic Spider-Man stories, had an iconic Batman story and an iconic run on Justice League International that forever defined Blue Beetle and Booster Gold and continues to be influential to this day

Todd McFarlane co-creator of Venom, creator of Spawn, a founder of Image comics and the guy responsible for the highest selling Spider-Man comic book of all time

Acclaimed Playwright, showrunner of Riverdale and powerful editor of Archie comics Roberto Aguirre Sacasa

Gerry Conway, Co-creator of Firestorm, Killer Frost, regarded as the Goeff Johns of his day and oh yeah the guy who killed Gwen Stacy

David Michelinie co-author of the greatest Iron Man run of all time, co-creator of Scott Lang and Taskmaster and co-creator of Carnage and the most popular Spider-Man villain of all time, Venom

Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief of Marvel and one of the two people who helped introduce Spider-Man’s iconic black costume.

Mark Millar co-creator of the Ultimate Marvel Universe specifically the Ultimates who became a major influence on the 2012 Avengers movie and MCU, such as the decision to cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Paul Jenkins, generally speaking acclaimed writer in particular on his work on Hellblazer/Constantine

President of Entertainment for Black Entertainment Television (BET) Reginald Hudlin

Acclaimed novel and comic book writer and author of the greatest run of the Incredible Hulk of all time, Peter David

Acclaimed science fiction writer and creator of Babylon 5 J. Michael Straczynski

Oh and by the way, among the people who did small projects or fill-ins were:

Ann Nocenti, acclaimed X-Men and Daredevil writer.

Roger Stern acclaimed Marvel writer, author of what many regard as THE greatest Doctor Doom story of all time and one of the greatest Spider-Man runs of all time where he created the Hobgoblin.

Acclaimed (for some reason beyond me) author and co-creator of The Boys Garth Ennis.

Once upon a time acclaimed and former Geek God Kevin Smith who was poised to be the main writer of Amazing Spider-Man once upon a time.

But that’s not all because want to know who ALMOST wrote for a married Spider-Man?

Acclaimed comic book writer on countless works and (for some reason) fan favourite Grant Morrisson, credited as authoring one of the best Batman runs and Superman stories of all time along with THE best Justice League run of all time.

But he isn’t even the biggest name who almost wrote Spider-Man. Because in the mid-1990s the then editors almost convinced a very big name creator to return to working on Spider-Man. Unfortunately he was turned off of the job when he saw Untold Tales of Spider-Man, a series about a teenage single Peter Parker.

His name is Steve Ditko.

You might remember his work as the creator of the Question, the second Blue Beetle, Doctor Strange and THE CO-CREATOR OF SPIDER-MAN HIMSELF!

Now I’m not saying every one of those marriage era writers did great jobs. I’m not even saying they were all necessarily great writers.

However all of them had a lot of prestige to them and either support from fan adoration or critical acclaim.

And most of them probably could’ve turned the job of writing a married Spider-Man down if they wanted.

J. Michael Straczynski in particular did not need the job and had more than enough credibility to pick many of his projects.

He is without a shadow of a doubt the single most high profile writer to ever write for Spider-Man exempting Stan Lee himself.

And he not only accepted the job of writing a married adult Spider-Man he actively embraced both facts of the character’s existence.

As did the author of the greatest Hulk run of all time, the co-author of the greatest Iron Man run of all time and the author of maybe the greatest Spider-Man story of all time.

So...it seems that being married didn’t make it particularly difficult to attract high profile ones.

But please, tell me again how Spider-Man being married was bad because we were turning away big name writers like the guy primarily known for resurrecting a long dead character, killing and resurrecting the hero and replacing the hero because screw originality I guess

P.S. Wanna know another big name writer who didn’t agree with making Spider-Man unmarried?

This guy...

Who happened to create...this...

#Ed brubaker #is awesome but overrated #Spider-Man #mjwatsonedit #Mary Jane Watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #mj watson #Stan lee #Steve Ditko #Gerry Conway #peter dalglish #j. michael straczynski #Dan Slott #Peter David #J.M. DeMatteis #Mark Waid #game of thrones #george r.r. martin

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lesliewofford83-blog · 7 years

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BOF NEVER GABRIEL AND NEVER WAS MADE A BIRD A NEWBEC OR ANYTHING SHORTER THAN LESLIE AT 5′5 AND 3 QUARTERS INCHES TALL! AND FOR PEOPLE TRYIN TO BE ME AND INVADE ME THESE PEOPLE DIED, EVERY YEAR MORE AND MORE WILL DIE FOR TRYING TO STEAL MY STUFF OR HURT MY FAMILY OR KIDNAP MY KID(S) EVER OR HAVE ME LIVING MORE THAN ONE LIFE.

March 2002[edit source]

1 – David Mann, 85, American songwriter.

1 – Roger Plumpton Wilson, 96, British Anglican prelate.

3 – G. M. C. Balayogi, 61, Indian lawyer and politician.

3 – Calvin Carrière, 80, American fiddler.

3 – Harlan Howard, 74, American country music songwriter.

3 – Al Pollard, 73, NFL player and broadcaster, lymphoma. [1]

3 – Roy Porter, 55, British historian.

6 – Bryan Fogarty, 32, Canadian ice hockey player.

6 – David Jenkins, 89, Welsh librarian.

6 – Donald Wilson, 91, British television writer and producer.

7 – Franziska Rochat-Moser, 35, Swiss marathon runner.

8 – Bill Johnson, 85, American football player.

8 – Ellert Sölvason, 84, Icelandic football player.

9 – Jack Baer, 87, American baseball coach.

9 – Irene Worth, 85, American actress.

11 – Al Cowens, 50, American baseball player.

11 – Rudolf Hell, 100, German inventor and manufacturer.

12 – Steve Gromek, 82, American baseball player.

13 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, 102, German philosopher.

14 – Cherry Wilder, 71, New Zealand writer.

14 – Tan Yu, 75, Filipino entrepreneur.

15 – Sylvester Weaver, 93, American advertising executive, father of Sigourney Weaver.

16 – Sir Marcus Fox, 74, British politician.

17 – Rosetta LeNoire, 90, African-American stage and television actress.

17 – Bill Davis, 60, American football coach.

18 – Reginald Covill, 96, British cricketer.

18 – Maude Farris-Luse, 115, supercentenarian and one-time "Oldest Recognized Person in the World".

18 – Gösta Winbergh, 58, Swedish operatic tenor.

20 – John E. Gray, 95, American educational administrator, President of Lamar University.

20 – Ivan Novikoff, 102, Russian premier ballet master.

20 – Richard Robinson, 51, English cricketer.

21 – James F. Blake, 89, American bus driver, antagonist for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

21 – Thomas Flanagan, 78, American novelist and academic.

22 – Sir Kingsford Dibela, 70, Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.

22 – Hugh R. Stephen, 88, Canadian politician.

23 – Ben Hollioake, 24, English cricketer.

24 – Dorothy DeLay, 84, American violin instructor.

24 – César Milstein, 74, Argentinian biochemist.

24 – Frank G. White, 92, American army general.

25 – Ken Traill, 75, British rugby league player.

25 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, 81, British football commentator.

26 – Roy Calvert, 88, New Zealand World War II air force officer.

27 – Milton Berle, 93, American comedian dubbed "Mr. Television".

27 – Sir Louis Matheson, 90, British university administrator, Vice Chancellor of Monash University.

27 – Dudley Moore, 66, British actor and writer.

27 – Billy Wilder, 95, Austrian-born American film director (Double Indemnity).

28 – Tikka Khan, 86, Pakistani army general.

29 – Rico Yan, 27, Filipino movie & TV actor.

30 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 101, British consort of King George VI.

31 – Lady Anne Brewis, 91, English botanist.

31 – Barry Took, 73, British comedian and writer.

April 2002[edit source]

1 – Umer Rashid, 26, English cricketer, drowning.

1 – John S. Samuel, 88, American Air Force general.

2 – John R. Pierce, 92, American engineer and author.

2 – Robert Lawson Vaught, 75, American mathematician.

3 – Frank Tovey, aka Fad Gadget, 45, English singer-songwriter.

4 – Don Allard, 66, American football player (New York Titans, New England Patriots) and coach.

5 – Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough, 89, British aristocrat.

5 – Layne Staley, 34, former Alice in Chains lead singer.

6 – Nobu McCarthy, 67, Canadian actress.

6 – William Patterson, 71, British Anglican priest, Dean of Ely.

6 – Margaret Wingfield, 90, British political activist.

7 – John Agar, 82, American actor.

8 – Sir Nigel Bagnell, 75, British field marshal.

8 – María Félix, 88, Mexican film star.

8 – Helen Gilbert, 80 American artist.

8 – Giacomo Mancini, 85, Italian politician.

9 – Leopold Vietoris, 110, Austrian mathematician.

10 – Géza Hofi, 75 Hungarian humorist.

11 – J. William Stanton, 78, American politician.

14 – Buck Baker, 83, American member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame

14 – John Boda, 79, American composer and music professor.

14 – Sir Michael Kerr, 81, British jurist.

15 – Will Reed, 91, British composer.

15 – Byron White, 84, United States Supreme Court justice.

16 – Billy Ayre, 49, English footballer.

16 – Franz Krienbühl, 73, Swiss speed skater.

16 – Robert Urich, 55, American TV actor.

18 – Thor Heyerdahl, 87, Norwegian anthropologist.

18 – Cy Laurie, 75, British musician.

18 – Sir Peter Proby, 90, British landowner, Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.

20 – Vlastimil Brodský, 81, Czech actor.

21 – Sebastian Menke, 91, American Roman Catholic priest.

21 – Red O'Quinn, 76, American football player.

21 – Terry Walsh, 62, British stuntman.

22 – Albrecht Becker, 95, German production designer and actor.

22 – Allen Morris, 92, American historian.

23 – Linda Lovelace, 53, former porn star turned political activist, car crash.

23 – Ted Kroll, 82, American golfer.

25 – Michael Bryant, 74, British actor.

25 – Indra Devi, 102, Russian "yoga teacher to the stars".

25 – Lisa Lopes, 30, American singer, car crash.

26 – Alton Coleman, 46, convicted spree killer, execution by lethal injection.

27 – Ruth Handler, 85, inventor of the Barbie doll.

27 – Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, 81, German Industrialist and art collector.

28 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician.

28 – Sir Peter Parker, 77, British businessman.

28 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler.

28 – John Wilkinson, 82, American sound engineer.

29 – Liam O'Sullivan, Scottish footballer, drugs overdose. [2]

29 – Lor Tok, 88, Thai, comedian and actor Thailand National Artist.

May 2002[edit source]

1 – John Nathan-Turner, 54, British television producer.

2 – William Thomas Tutte, 84, Bletchley Park cryptographer and British, later Canadian, mathematician.

3 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, 91, British Labour politician and female life peer.

3 – Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, 73, president of Somaliland and formerly prime minister of Somalia and British Somaliland.

3 – Mohan Singh Oberoi, 103, Indian hotelier and retailer.

4 – Abu Turab al-Zahiri, 79, Saudi Arabian writer of Arab Indian descent

5 – Sir Clarence Seignoret 83, president of Dominica (1983–1993).

5 – Hugo Banzer Suárez, 75, president of Bolivia, as dictator 1971–1978 and democratic president 1997–2001.

5 – Mike Todd, Jr., 72, American film producer.

6 – Otis Blackwell, 71, American singer-songwriter and pianist.

6 – Harry George Drickamer, 83, American chemical engineer.

6 – Pim Fortuyn, 54, assassinated Dutch politician.

7 – Sir Bernard Burrows, 91, British diplomat.

7 – Sir Ewart Jones, 91, Welsh chemist.

7 – Seattle Slew, 28, last living triple crown winner on 25th anniversary of winning Kentucky Derby.

8 – Sir Edward Jackson, 76, English diplomat.

9 – Robert Layton, 76, Canadian politician.

9 – James Simpson, 90, British explorer.

10 – Lynda Lyon Block, 54, convicted murderer, executed by electric chair in Alabama.

10 – John Cunniff, 57, American hockey player and coach.

10 – Henry W. Hofstetter, 87, American optometrist.

10 – Leslie Dale Martin, 35, convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in Louisiana.

10 – Tom Moore, 88, American athletics promoter.

11 – Joseph Bonanno, 97, Sicilian former Mafia boss.

12 – Richard Chorley, 74, English geographer.

13 – Morihiro Saito, 74, a teacher of the Japanese martial art of aikido.

13 – Ruth Cracknell, 76, redoubtable Australian actress most famous for the long-running role of Maggie Beare in the series "Mother and Son".

13 – Valery Lobanovsky, 63, former Ukrainian coach.

14 – Sir Derek Birley, 75, British educationist and writer.

15 – Bernard Benjamin, 92, British statistician.

15 – Bryan Pringle, 67, British actor.

15 – Nellie Shabalala, 49, South African singer and wife of leader/founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Joseph Shabalala.

15 – Esko Tie, 73, Finnish ice hockey player.

16 – Edwin Alonzo Boyd, 88, Canadian bank-robber and prison escapee of the 1950s.

16 – Alec Campbell, 103, Australia's last surviving ANZAC died in a nursing home.

16 – Dorothy Van, 74, American actress.

17 – Peter Beck, 92, British schoolmaster.

17 – Joe Black, 78, American first Black baseball pitcher to win a World Series game.

17 – Earl Hammond, 80, American voice actor best known for voicing Mumm Ra and Jaga in the television series Thundercats.

17 – Bobby Robinson, 98, American baseball player.

17 – Little Johnny Taylor, 59, American singer.

18 – Davey Boy Smith, 39, 'British Bulldog' professional wrestler.

18 – Gordon Wharmby, 68, British actor (Last of the Summer Wine)

19 – John Gorton, 90, 19th Prime Minister of Australia.

19 – Otar Lordkipanidze, 72, Georgian archaeologist.

20 – Stephen Jay Gould, 60, paleontologist and popular science author.

21 – Niki de Saint Phalle, 71, French artist.

21 – Roy Paul, 82, Welsh footballer.

22 – Paul Giel, 69, American football player.

22 – Dick Hern, 81, British racehorse trainer.

22 – (remains discovered; actual death probably took place on or around May 1, 2001), Chandra Levy, 24, U.S. Congressional intern.

22 – Creighton Miller, 79, American football player and attorney.

23 – Sam Snead, 89, golfer.

25 – Pat Coombs, 75, English actress.

25 – Jack Pollard, 75, Australian sports journalist.

26 – John Alexander Moore, 86, American biologist.

26 – Mamo Wolde, 69, Ethiopian marathon runner.

28 – Napoleon Beazley, 25, convicted juvenile offender, executed by lethal injection in Texas.

28 – Mildred Benson, 96, American children's author.

June 2002[edit source]

1 – Hansie Cronje, 32, South African cricketer, air crash.

4 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, 89, democratic president of Peru, 1963–1968 and 1980–1985.

4 – John W. Cunningham, 86, American author.

4 – Caroline Knapp, 42, author of Drinking: A Love Story.

5 – Dee Dee Ramone, 50, founding member of The Ramones.

5 – Alex Watson, 70, Australian rugby league player.

6 – Peter Cowan, 87, Australian writer.

6 – Hans Janmaat, 67, controversial far-right politician in the Netherlands.

7 – Rodney Hilton, 85, British historian.

7 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy, 85, British-born Belgian royal.

8 – George Mudie, 86, Jamaican cricketer.

9 – Paul Chubb, 53, Australian actor.

9 – Bryan Martyn, 71, Australian rules footballer.

10 – John Gotti, 61, imprisoned mobster.

11 – Robbin Crosby, 42, American guitarist of rock band Ratt.

11 – Margaret E. Lynn, 78, American theater director.

11 – Robert Roswell Palmer, 93, American historian and writer.

11 – Peter John Stephens, 89, British children's author.

12 – Bill Blass, 79, American fashion designer.

12 – George Shevelov, 93, Ukrainian scholar.

13 – John Hope, 83, American meteorologist.

14 – Jose Bonilla, 34, boxing former world champion, of asthma.

14 – June Jordan, 65, American writer and teacher, of breast cancer.

15 – Said Belqola, 45, Moroccan referee of the 1998 FIFA World Cup final.

17 – Willie Davenport, 59, American gold medal-winning Olympic hurdler.

17 – John C. Davies II, 82, American politician.

17 – Fritz Walter, 81, German football player, captain of 1954 World Cup winners.

18 – Nancy Addison, 54, soap actress, cancer.

18 – Jack Buck, 77, Major League Baseball announcer.

18 – Michael Coulson, 74, British lawyer and politician.

19 – Count Flemming Valdemar of Rosenborg, 80, Danish prince.

20 – Enrique Regüeiferos, 53, Cuban Olympic boxer.

21 – Henry Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel, 80, British jurist.

21 – Patrick Kelly, 73, English cricketer.

22 – David O. Cooke, 81, American Department of Defense official.

22 – Darryl Kile, 33, Major League Baseball player.

22 – Ann Landers, 83, author & syndicated newspaper columnist.

23 – Pedro "El Rockero" Alcazar, 26, Panamanian boxer; died after losing his world Flyweight championship to Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas the night before.

23 – Arnold Weinstock, 77, British businessman.

24 – Lorna Lloyd-Green, 92, Australian gynaecologist.

24 – Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 86, 17th Duke of Norfolk.

24 – Pierre Werner, 88, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, "father of the Euro".

25 – Gordon Park Baker, 64, Anglo-American philosopher.

25 – Jean Corbeil, 68, Canadian politician.

26 – Barbara G. Adams, 57, British Egyptologist.

26 – Clarence D. Bell, 88, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

26 – Jay Berwanger, 88, college football player, first winner of the Heisman Trophy.

26 – Arnold Brown, 88, British General of the Salvation Army.

26 – James Morgan, 63, British journalist.

27 – Sir Charles Carter, 82, British economist and academic administrator.