Seems like only yesterday when Marvel relaunched the flagship Amazing Spider-Man title with writer Zeb Wells. It certainly wasn’t without its share of controversies to say the least. Two years later it won’t come as a surprise that the publisher is once again relaunching the Amazing Spider-Man title with new creative team that should be familiar to readers.
Announced exclusively earlier today from Polygon, the next era of the beloved series will be brought to you by celebrated Amazing-Spider-Man and Deadpool scribe Joe Kelly, legendary Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita Jr. and one of the industry’s most acclaimed contemporary artists, Pepe Larraz, fresh off his exemplary work on Blood Hunt and X-Men. The new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN will deliver classic Spidey storytelling with bold new horizons for Spider-Man; his supporting cast (including the recently redeemed Norman Osborn and Peter’s new girlfriend Shay), and the greatest supervillains in all of pop culture.
Kelly of course is no stranger to Spidey having been involved in the Brand New Day era along with Wells. In fact, he’s currently involved in the 8 Deaths of Spider-Man arc that will conclude the current volume of the title.
Here’s how the publisher describes the relaunch:
The new run finds Peter without a job and looking for gainful employment, but his job search is interrupted by a rampaging Rhino who is but the tip of a sinister iceberg. What major Spider-Villain is working behind the scenes weaponizing other Spider-Villains including one we haven’t seen in OVER SEVEN YEARS?! Also, what is that Goblin-free Norman Osborn up to these days?
As ” Kelly explained to Polygon:
“Even though this is a new #1, I don’t think of it as a ‘restart’ per se. I’m writing the next chapter of the story of one the world’s greatest characters, lucky enough to follow in the footsteps of the folks before me. After that sinks in, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I love about Spider-Man and his cast, what stories resonated with me at different times of my life, and how I can synthesize all of that into something that works with what came before but breaks new ground…. I feel a drive to take bold, unexpected swings in order to see how Spider-Man deals with Marvel-sized curve balls. Pressure makes diamonds.”
Larraz added:
“The most important part of Spider-Man that I wanted to portray accurately is Peter. Of course I can talk about drawing a believable New York, I shot hundreds of pictures of details of the city for reference, or how I’ve focused on drawing the flow of Spidey’s movement and speed in a way closer to animation than comics. But I think Spider-Man comics work because we care about Peter and his world, so that was my main focus: To draw a Peter that you instantly recognize and empathize [with].”
Editor Nick Lowe said:
“I didn’t think we could get Joe for a substantial run of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Spider-“He’s always so busy with animation and television and movies, so he usually just dips in and out of comics. That’s why we tapped him for ‘The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man.’ He was doing so great, so when he asked if we’d consider him for being the ongoing writer, I felt like I won the lottery. Add Pepe Larraz’s masterful and supersonic talent to the equation, and we knew we had the makings of an instant classic. Then John Romita Jr. agreed to stay on… fireworks went off. I better go buy some lottery tickets!”
Solicit information below:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1
Written by JOE KELLY
Art by PEPE LARRAZ & JOHN ROMITA JR.
Colors by MARTE GRACIA
Wraparound Cover by PEPE LARRAZ
On Sale 4/9
As a reader/collector since ‘86, I spent last weekend reorganizing my collection, because, well, I’ve run out of space. I got so much pleasure handling the pre-relaunch-for-no-reason era issues, as the stories and covers and creative teams were so stable and flowed so well. Then the wave of relaunch after relaunch happened, and the stress set in of what relaunch came next? What title followed which (x-men vs new X-men, etc) and then how to file them in alphabetical order while maintaining story continuity? I miss the publisher commitment to just telling great stories over the gimmicks of relaunches to sell more copies. I get it’s a business, but it’s my least favorite things about comics the past 20ish years.
Another Spidey relaunch? Double YAWN…
What a shame, I’ve heard reports that Marvel comics in general has not been selling well recently, but I didn’t realize how apparently bad it’s gotten, if they are down to rebooting their best title. One would think they would wait till later in the year after the 1000 issue as I’m sure they will get a boost from that celebration. Too bad.
I wonder how long they can continue to repeat this ( seems like about every 50 issues ) before even these tactics don’t raise sales.
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