Victor Von Doom
Fist of teh Internets.
In the current issue of Wizard, Bendis and Bagley look back on all the arcs they've done for this best-selling series and give their comments on the stories.
Clink the link for a small sample of the interview. You won't get the full article on the website.....just a small feel for the tone. You need to get the actual magazine to read it all. Definitely worth a look.....
BRIAN BENDIS: We've got to get rolling. Talk faster than you usually do, Grandpa.
MARK BAGLEY: Oh, shut up. [Laughs]
BENDIS: After years and years of false starts and dashed hopes, I finally found a job at Marvel. [Then-Marvel Knights Editor] Joe Quesada had read some of my graphic novels, Jinx and Torso. He goes, "Do you like Spider-Man?" I'm like, "Yeah." And he goes, "[Then-Marvel Publisher] Bill Jemas has this idea to start Spider-Man over from scratch. Is that something you're interested in?" [Laughs] It sounded insane. The basic premise was to just take [Spider-Man] and start him as if it happened today. The original premise of Spider-Man is Peter Parker gets bit by a spider, and of course, over time he's gotten older, married and all this stuff. So, this book was about getting back to the innocence of the time. I was like, "That sounds awesome." I wrote the sh-- out of the first issue. I wrote, I remember, in a weekend. I wrote and sat and grew a beard and typed and typed and typed. I handed it in and it wasn't exactly what I promised them — there wasn't any Spider-Man in it. But this is the way I'd do it and if they love it, I'll do great there, and if they don't, I'll be replaced. A lot of people don't know I was replacing someone else.
BAGLEY: I didn't know that.
BENDIS: Yeah! How about that? I think the guy did probably what I would have done if I had been given the job first, which is, handle the material so lovingly, it was almost a shot-for-shot reproduction of [Spider-Man's origin in] Amazing Fantasy #15, which is the mistake. That story's already been told perfectly. Seeing him do that made me realize we needed to go from a whole different direction, and I handed it in. They call me an hour later and go, "Loved it."
BAGLEY: And then they called me. [Laughs] Bob Harras, who was Editor-in-Chief at the time, was the one who called me. And I knew he didn't like my stuff. I was a little burned out with Spider-Man and aggravated with the company. I turned it down. It was proposed as a six-issue mini-series. I had never heard of Brian because I didn't do indie stuff that much. So, I turned it down. [Bob] called again. Finally, by about the third phone call, he sort of made it clear that if I didn't take it, I couldn't expect to get any extra work from Marvel. So I said, "Okay." They sent me the script and there was no Spider-Man in the first issue. I went, "What the f--- is up with this?"
I haven't gotten thru the article entirely yet. But I think the highlight so far is that Bagley is against mask-squinting!!!!!! :lol: So if E thinks it's wrong and the most notorious person using it thinks it's wrong.....does that make it wrong? :lol:
But seriously---this is actually pretty good. Bendis tries to justify some of the things he's done with the book.....and in some cases---it works and I buy it. So far I'm up to "Ultimate Six".....we'll see what he has to say for himself on some of the "less favored" arcs.
Clink the link for a small sample of the interview. You won't get the full article on the website.....just a small feel for the tone. You need to get the actual magazine to read it all. Definitely worth a look.....
BRIAN BENDIS: We've got to get rolling. Talk faster than you usually do, Grandpa.
MARK BAGLEY: Oh, shut up. [Laughs]
BENDIS: After years and years of false starts and dashed hopes, I finally found a job at Marvel. [Then-Marvel Knights Editor] Joe Quesada had read some of my graphic novels, Jinx and Torso. He goes, "Do you like Spider-Man?" I'm like, "Yeah." And he goes, "[Then-Marvel Publisher] Bill Jemas has this idea to start Spider-Man over from scratch. Is that something you're interested in?" [Laughs] It sounded insane. The basic premise was to just take [Spider-Man] and start him as if it happened today. The original premise of Spider-Man is Peter Parker gets bit by a spider, and of course, over time he's gotten older, married and all this stuff. So, this book was about getting back to the innocence of the time. I was like, "That sounds awesome." I wrote the sh-- out of the first issue. I wrote, I remember, in a weekend. I wrote and sat and grew a beard and typed and typed and typed. I handed it in and it wasn't exactly what I promised them — there wasn't any Spider-Man in it. But this is the way I'd do it and if they love it, I'll do great there, and if they don't, I'll be replaced. A lot of people don't know I was replacing someone else.
BAGLEY: I didn't know that.
BENDIS: Yeah! How about that? I think the guy did probably what I would have done if I had been given the job first, which is, handle the material so lovingly, it was almost a shot-for-shot reproduction of [Spider-Man's origin in] Amazing Fantasy #15, which is the mistake. That story's already been told perfectly. Seeing him do that made me realize we needed to go from a whole different direction, and I handed it in. They call me an hour later and go, "Loved it."
BAGLEY: And then they called me. [Laughs] Bob Harras, who was Editor-in-Chief at the time, was the one who called me. And I knew he didn't like my stuff. I was a little burned out with Spider-Man and aggravated with the company. I turned it down. It was proposed as a six-issue mini-series. I had never heard of Brian because I didn't do indie stuff that much. So, I turned it down. [Bob] called again. Finally, by about the third phone call, he sort of made it clear that if I didn't take it, I couldn't expect to get any extra work from Marvel. So I said, "Okay." They sent me the script and there was no Spider-Man in the first issue. I went, "What the f--- is up with this?"
I haven't gotten thru the article entirely yet. But I think the highlight so far is that Bagley is against mask-squinting!!!!!! :lol: So if E thinks it's wrong and the most notorious person using it thinks it's wrong.....does that make it wrong? :lol:
But seriously---this is actually pretty good. Bendis tries to justify some of the things he's done with the book.....and in some cases---it works and I buy it. So far I'm up to "Ultimate Six".....we'll see what he has to say for himself on some of the "less favored" arcs.
