USM: Director's Commentary

Victor Von Doom

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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.
 
From the interview---it sounds as if Deadpool was just a throw-away arc that was pushed on him to be "big fun" like the "Annual" or "Warriors". It didn't exactly tie into anything going on except that it involved his current gf and May went on a date with Miles Warren, which served as hype/speculation for the Clone Saga.


Bendis says #100 is gonna be BANANAS!!!! The amount of cliffhangers in #100 is like "Return of the King" crazy.
 
Deadpool was a throw away arc? He messed up a character for no good reason, he can't even justify the messing it up? He just says it's like the "Superstars" nonscense. Arcs that serve no purpose at all other than making intelligent readers fill stupid for wasting their money on this crap.
 
Foolsfolly said:
Deadpool was a throw away arc? He messed up a character for no good reason, he can't even justify the messing it up? He just says it's like the "Superstars" nonscense. Arcs that serve no purpose at all other than making intelligent readers fill stupid for wasting their money on this crap.

Basically. But snakes on a plane......

He says that his "Superstars" came right after the Carnage/Gwen Death and the book was in a seriously dark place. He said they needed something to bring the feel for it "up" and back into regular territory.

He said one of his editors came up with the idea.

Later on, Bendis was watching "Freaky Friday" with his kids and Nick Lowe's idea came bouncing back in his mind. And the more he thought about it the more the idea came sounded feasible.
 
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Bendis is a father? I feel sorry for his children...
 
Any hints to where the series is going?

I started off sorta liking Clone Saga, but with Pete's dad back, and Carnage, and it looks like MJ will become Spider-Girl...I'm just not liking where this book seems to be going. And would love to have the bald one say, "Nah, no Spider-Girl, Pete's dad is a clone not the real one, and all this stuff get's neatly tied up in the end and you'll never see another clone again...besides Scorpion."
 
Yeah....they try to throw out as many hints as they can without giving anything away. Bendis has become a master at this and it's hard to predict anything with him. All that is guaranteed is chatty banter.
 
Victor Von Doom said:
Basically. But snakes on a plane......

He says that his "Superstars" came right after the Carnage/Gwen Death and the book was in a seriously dark place. He said they needed something to bring the feel for it "up" and back into regular territory.

He said one of his editors came up with the idea.

Later on, Bendis was watching "Freaky Friday" with his kids and Nick Lowe's idea came bouncing back in his mind. And the more he thought about it the more the idea came sounded feasible.

Even though Deadpool was a throwaway arc, that doesn't justify the poor quality of the story. Everyone thought that the wisecracking Deadpool would be the perfect villain to be Ultimized by Bendis.

Also, I think his apology for the Wolverine part was already included with Part 2 where there were mini-drawings of him and that other guy, he even named the title 'Jump the Shark'.
 
Damn, I may have to pick up my first Wizard in years to get this. I'm massively curious to hear Bendis deconstruct USM. Is it an interesting read?

ProjectX2 said:
Bendis is a father? I feel sorry for his children...

I kinda hope that was just a reference to the amount of work he does rather than a massive piece of personal abuse... :shock:
 
Victor Von Doom said:
But I think the highlight so far is that Bagley is against mask-squinting!!!!!! :lol:

Hahaha - Bags is my new hero. :D

Victor Von Doom said:
From the interview---it sounds as if Deadpool was just a throw-away arc

Huh...I would have never guessed.
 
Nick MB said:
Damn, I may have to pick up my first Wizard in years to get this. I'm massively curious to hear Bendis deconstruct USM. Is it an interesting read?



I kinda hope that was just a reference to the amount of work he does rather than a massive piece of personal abuse... :shock:

Possibly a bit of both. Imagine joining a forum to talk about comics, and everyone hates your dad.
 
ProjectX2 said:
Possibly a bit of both. Imagine joining a forum to talk about comics, and everyone hates your dad.
Well, there are just as many fanboys as haters.

Not enough medians.
 
ProjectX2 said:
Possibly a bit of both. Imagine joining a forum to talk about comics, and everyone hates your dad.

Exactly.


Still......the article isn't him really "deconstructing" USM as it just he and Bagley talking about some of the things that came to mind or the vibe when it came to the arcs.

For a few of the arcs he doesn't really say anything important at all.......but then again---are any of us really suprised? :wink:

Plus...despite what he says---you can tell that Bagley hates this gig. He is so burnt out on Spiderman that I think he's just on board to break the record and collect a paycheck.
 
Victor Von Doom said:
Plus...despite what he says---you can tell that Bagley hates this gig. He is so burnt out on Spiderman that I think he's just on board to break the record and collect a paycheck.
I don't blame him. 100+ issues is obscene. I like long runs of creators on books, but thats just too far.
 
Baxter said:
Well, there are just as many fanboys as haters.

Not enough medians.

But which opinion counts more? The new fanboy who is like 14 and has no prior knowledge of Spiderman other than what he saw as a 7-year old on Fox cartoon...........or.............the older fan who has prior knowledge of Spidey via old 616 stories and has read better written comics?


Baxter said:
I don't blame him. 100+ issues is obscene. I like long runs of creators on books, but thats just too far.

Plus I believe he was doing some 616 Spiderman issues before USM.

But yeah....100+ issues with little or no delays is ridiculous.
 
Think of all the webs Bagleys drawn. My hands get sore thinking about it.
 
He also did some of the pulse, so im guessing he's a bit sick of working with Bendis.
 

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