Ice
Teh Sexy Monkey Queen
[IMGL]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/icycleman/BMB.bmp[/IMGL] In an interview with ComiXtreme.com, Brian Michael Bendis explains the death of Gwen Stacey, as well as who will be returning, and who he will be ultimizing soon.
cX: Why did you specifically kill Gwen Stacy in Ultimate Spider-Man? Is she destined to die in any universe?
Bendis: We were very flattered by the anger that came after Gwen died. Gwen was so different from her original incarnation in Amazing Spider-Man, that she was almost a new character. She was nothing like the way she was in Amazing Spider-Man. So when people were angry that we killed her, it was kind of flattering, because me and Bagley had invented her, and for people to be attached to her was nice, but the story was always about Peter. It’s Peter Parker’s book, and Gwen’s death affects Peter’s life, as we’ve already seen the downward spiral that happens. And when you say well why didn’t you kill Mary Jane instead, or why didn’t you kill Aunt May, the point of Ultimate isn’t to spin anew the old stories, Spider-Man isn’t broken. We’re not trying to fix Spider-Man. It’s to present the material a la when they put on a Shakespeare play, and they take Hamlet and they put it in a new setting, they’re not fixing Hamlet, they’re just presenting Hamlet. Does that make sense? So to rewrite Hamlet would be arrogant, there’s nothing wrong with it. There’s nothing wrong with the Spider-Man stories. In Ultimate, we do make changes. When Gwen Stacy died the first time, it had a profound effect and our job was to create a situation where it would again have a profound effect, and that was the challenge, more than to make a twist. We could even argue that if you needed a twist, maybe the twist was that we killed her again.
cX: Will Spider-Man confront Dr. Connors about his role in creating Ultimate Carnage?
Bendis: Doc Connors will be reappearing, so that’s a yes. (Laughs)
cX: How was it writing Ultimate Moon Knight, and what characters do you plan to Ultimatize in the near future?
Bendis: It was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun for Bagley as well. He really enjoyed that, more than I thought he was going to. I hope people like it, we really loved doing that storyline. Now that Moon Knight is done, Deadpool is next on the list, sometime this year, and Silver Sable.
cX: Do you have plans for any more original Ultimate Spider-Man villains?
Bendis: Yes, definitely, and in New Avengers we’ll have new villains as well.
cX: Will Ultimate Spider-Man continue after your run on the book?
Bendis: I’m sure it will. As long as the book is doing well Marvel will continue to publish it, that’s just how it goes. We’re not done yet though, we’re not even near done. Bagley and I are close to having the longest run in the history of Marvel Comics unbroken by the same creative team. 103 is the record on Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Will we break it? I hope so.
cX: Why did you specifically kill Gwen Stacy in Ultimate Spider-Man? Is she destined to die in any universe?
Bendis: We were very flattered by the anger that came after Gwen died. Gwen was so different from her original incarnation in Amazing Spider-Man, that she was almost a new character. She was nothing like the way she was in Amazing Spider-Man. So when people were angry that we killed her, it was kind of flattering, because me and Bagley had invented her, and for people to be attached to her was nice, but the story was always about Peter. It’s Peter Parker’s book, and Gwen’s death affects Peter’s life, as we’ve already seen the downward spiral that happens. And when you say well why didn’t you kill Mary Jane instead, or why didn’t you kill Aunt May, the point of Ultimate isn’t to spin anew the old stories, Spider-Man isn’t broken. We’re not trying to fix Spider-Man. It’s to present the material a la when they put on a Shakespeare play, and they take Hamlet and they put it in a new setting, they’re not fixing Hamlet, they’re just presenting Hamlet. Does that make sense? So to rewrite Hamlet would be arrogant, there’s nothing wrong with it. There’s nothing wrong with the Spider-Man stories. In Ultimate, we do make changes. When Gwen Stacy died the first time, it had a profound effect and our job was to create a situation where it would again have a profound effect, and that was the challenge, more than to make a twist. We could even argue that if you needed a twist, maybe the twist was that we killed her again.
cX: Will Spider-Man confront Dr. Connors about his role in creating Ultimate Carnage?
Bendis: Doc Connors will be reappearing, so that’s a yes. (Laughs)
cX: How was it writing Ultimate Moon Knight, and what characters do you plan to Ultimatize in the near future?
Bendis: It was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun for Bagley as well. He really enjoyed that, more than I thought he was going to. I hope people like it, we really loved doing that storyline. Now that Moon Knight is done, Deadpool is next on the list, sometime this year, and Silver Sable.
cX: Do you have plans for any more original Ultimate Spider-Man villains?
Bendis: Yes, definitely, and in New Avengers we’ll have new villains as well.
cX: Will Ultimate Spider-Man continue after your run on the book?
Bendis: I’m sure it will. As long as the book is doing well Marvel will continue to publish it, that’s just how it goes. We’re not done yet though, we’re not even near done. Bagley and I are close to having the longest run in the history of Marvel Comics unbroken by the same creative team. 103 is the record on Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Will we break it? I hope so.
