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'MIGHTY AVENGERS' Q&A WITH DAN SLOTT
The 'Amazing' scribe talks about taking over Brain Bendis' 'Mighty Avengers' post 'Secret Invasion' and what's coming up in the world of Spider-Man
By Kevin Mahadeo
Posted 10/4/2008
Dan Slott plans on giving up the Initiative and to get Mighty this December.
With Mighty Avengers issue #20, current writer Brian Michael Bendis makes his departure from the book to work on another super-secret Avengers project. In his stead, Slott grasps the Mighty reigns.
"Brian is going off to do Dark Avengers and, pssh, like he was going to leave New Avengers," laughs Slott. "So, the book was open and luckily everyone else in front of me was disposable."
Between swinging shifts on Amazing Spider-Man and his upcoming gig on Mighty, Slott relinquishes his Avengers: Initiative book to current co-writer Christos Gage. Considering the onslaught of work coming his way, we grabbed Slott to chat about his project—while we still had the chance. WIZARD UNIVERSE: What can you say about what we'll be seeing with the book?
SLOTT: My goal with this book is to make it the Avenger-iest Avengers book ever.
What does that even mean?
SLOTT: [Laughs] Well, when you think about it, all the classic runs of the Avengers would have characters like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man leading the way, leading the charge and kicking lots of butt. But when you thought about it, you knew that nothing could happen to these guys in Avengers. They couldn't be killed, lose a limb, get married, have a baby or whatever in the pages of Avengers because if any of that was going to happen, it'd happen in their own titles. So, you started getting this Avenger-y line of Avengers. Guys who you knew that stuff were going to happen to them inside the pages of Avengers. Guys like Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye—a lot of the coolest moments that happen in Avengers continuity happen to these guys. My goal is doing this book is that we're not going to get Cap, Thor or Iron Man. So, we're going for those guys. A whole team where stuff can happen to them and you better hold on.
Dude, we have Jarvis. We're the Avengers book. We have no Spider-Man. No Wolverine. We have Jarvis. With New Avengers, Bendis charts the course of the Marvel Universe. He sets the tone of where the Marvel Universe is going. In Mighty we're going to set the tone for where the Avengers are going. In the world of Dark Reign, here's hoping these guys can shine a little light.
You mentioned something interesting. You said a couple of names. Is that a hint of the lineup we'll be seeing?
SLOTT: I am giving away nothing! We got Jocasta. So, there you go. [Laughs] We're going to have at least one founding Avenger. We're going to have characters that have strict ties to the Avengers and Avengers history. No disrespect to these characters, but you're not going to get Gilgameshs or Silverclaws. I've just spent 20 issues on Avengers: Initiative having lots of fun with new characters and C- and B-listers, and I'm more than ready to jump up to B-listers.
You should make Cloud 9 a B-lister.
SLOTT: Well, there's no saying that down the road stuff like that isn't going to happen. I've already talked to Chris Gage about graduating someone up from the Initiative. The Initiative is in great hands with Chris, and I don't want to take all the best characters away.
What about villains? Who causes the Avengers to assemble?
SLOTT: You're going to see some Avenger-y bad guys. And early on, we're going to see a throw down with another major Marvel superhero team. We're also going to see within the first six issues their HQ.
Which may or may not be Avengers Tower?
SLOTT: Their HQ is kind of freaky. It's kind of weird. [Laughs] So, I don't want to give too much away, but I'm really happy with what their HQ is going to be. It's a new thing, but it's also an old thing. I like it. Our first three issues are going to feature a triptych cover, and right from the first cover you'll be surprised.
Switching gears, let's talk about Amazing Spider-Man. Lots of stuff going on there. "New Ways to Die" is wrapping up next week.
SLOTT: Yup! It'll be out on time complete with a [Stephen] Colbert backup.
Yeah. What's up with that?
SLOTT: It's going to be awesome. Mark Waid and Pat Olliffe are doing Spidey meets Colbert with a Joe Quesada original cover.
Well, what's coming up down the line?
SLOTT: Right after we finish "New Ways to Die," we have an amazing story. I think it's one of my favorite single-issue Spider-Man stories that I've read in the past decade. It's by Marc Guggenheim and Barry Kitson. It's the story of what's happened to Flash Thompson. I'm so impressed with this issue.
So, right out of "New Ways to Die" we're coming out strong. Then we're going to have a two-part story by Joe Kelly with Hammerhead, which is sweet. That story is brutal. It's a great way to reintroduce everybody to Hammerhead. It's really going to make you look at Hammerhead in a new way. Then there's a two-part story by Mark Waid—Yay!—and one of my favorite artists in the Spidey stable, Marcos Martin. Every page of this Mark Waid story is beautiful. That's going to have another Spidey villain coming back and it's going to feature the introduction of a new supporting cast character that's going to have MAJOR ramifications to the world of Spider-Man. The minute you meet him you'll immediately fall in love with the character. He's got ties to the Spider-Man world—very important ties. Then we have a Roger Stern story with Lee Weeks art, and Roger is the master of all things Spider-Man. Then we have my two-part Harry story coming up, which is the completely logical, totally plausible, non-magical way that Harry Osborn came back from the dead.
You're really emphasizing that point: "completely logical, totally plausible, non-magical." If magic happens, we're going to find you.
SLOTT: No magic. No magic. It's a Spider-Man Universe solution to all your problems. From day one when I was told Harry Osborn was back, I was like, "Okay. This is the way it happens."
Obviously this is the answer to one of the questions people have had from the ending of "One More Day" into the beginning of "Brand New Day" about how certain things are going on. I guess this is the beginning of the explanations?
SLOTT: We plotted out these stories for a good year, which is going to culminate in the end of the election and the end of the Spider-Tracer killer mystery and some major things with some of the characters you've gotten to meet and know. That's going to be in a giant story by Marc Guggenheim with beautiful, beautiful art by John Romita Jr. This is coming right after the two-part Harry story. As we work on this stuff, we hear what the fans are saying. But the most important thing for us is to tell good stories and live up the promise of the thrice monthly Spider-Man. I'm very proud of all the work we've all done. But we have been hearing what fans have been saying, and as we've been gearing up to year two now there's time to start letting you in on some secrets.
Like who is Jackpot?
SLOTT: Yeah. That will be in a Marc Guggenheim-written annual coming soon.
The eternal mystery of Mary Jane?
SLOTT: Ummm... Next! [Laughs]
Well played.
SLOTT: I've already learned that there are certain words you can say that will tick people off, like, "Keep reading." I'm not going to say that. But we do have plans with a certain redhead.
Oh! I'm also doing a two-part story with Barry Kitson where you see Spidey team-up with the FF. You will see a lot of Spider-Man/Torch interaction. And the end of that story—I know you've heard it a million times—it will change Spider-Man's world forever. [Laughs] You know what? The end of that story isn't going to just change Spider-Man's world forever, it's going to change a lot of the Marvel Universe forever. Not all of the Marvel Universe because I'm sure there's some backwater worlds and galaxies that won't be affected by this.
