Starting this December, the Amazing Spider-Man will be a radically different character. Writer Dan Slott knows all the Spider-Man secrets as he will be co-writing the thrice-weekly Amazing Spider-Man starting this December. Slott has been the critically acclaimed writer of She-Hulk and the recent Avengers: The Initiative.

Slott spoke with me about his upcoming Spider-Man run and what it’s like at those Marvel Retreats.

Prodigeek - How is it writing Spider-Man?

Dan Slott - It’s scary. I’ve written Spidey before. Spider-Man shows up in the first ever story I got to write for Marvel, the first super hero story. I’ve tried to stick him in every, damn place I could. And if you haven’t read it, my Spider-Man/Human Torch five- issue mini is just one, big, sloppy kiss to all Spider-Man continuity. I just love Spidey.

And to be honest, it’s intimidating. Working on the Free Comic Book Day comic was very hard because that comic had to do a lot of things. It had to. It wasn’t just sitting down and write a fun Spider-Man story. That comic had to serve a purpose and it had to be an all ages read. It had to set up certain pieces. It had to do a lot of things.

And my first issue is the first issue out of the gate which starts the whole new run for me and Marc Guggenheim and Bob Gale and Zeb Wells. That [issue] was hard because it had to set up a lot of pieces for where we’re all going. And it was extra intimidating knowing it was going to be the first one out of the gate. It’s going to be the first interior art by Steve McNiven after Civil War. That was intimidating at first.

But once you get going, it’s Spider-Man and how’s that not fun. Just yesterday I turned in the final revision on the first John Romita Jr. plot which is going to be my third story. My first one with Steve McNiven is a three parter. My next one with an artist who I dearly, dearly love - who I’m not allowed to mention. And then there’s this John Romita Jr. story is really big. It’s going to be the biggest story we’ve done to date. I started freezing up a little on that cause it’s John Romita Jr. returning to Spider-Man. That’s big. That’s huge. But once you break through the first wall and you start writing it’s the greatest feeling in the world knowing that you’re writing the story and Steve McNiven is going to be drawing it or this artist or John Romita Jr. It’s all so exciting.

Prodigeek - What’s been the biggest challenge in taking on Amazing Spider-Man weekly?

Dan Slott - The biggest challenge about this thrice monthly Amazing Spider-Man is that it’s really a big effort from everyone involved. There’s so much work and energy and there’s so much teamwork involved. It would be so much easier for Marvel to put out Amazing Spider-Man and Spectacular and Web or Friendly, and to have one person be the alpha dog and the other guys telling their own stories within the cracks. Like here’s the guy on Amazing and they said “For the next six months [Spider-Man’s] wearing the Ben Reilly costume cause I feel like it. And he’s grown two extra arms.” And then the guys writing Spectacular and Web would go “Oooookay.” And then they’d follow suit. This isn’t like that at all!

This is four guys working together telling stories in their own voices but making sure everything fits like a nice tight puzzle, and that the story of Amazing Spider-Man keeps going on. To make this all work, all four of us are writing multiple stories at different points in time to keep the artists fed and to make sure there are issues in the drawer. Everybody is reading everybody else’s scripts and throwing out suggestions or being there to spitball ideas. It’s amazing. And we’re all keeping track of everything on giant spreadsheets and we’re all making sure it all fits right. I’ve working in the industry coming on 15 years and I’ve never felt like a part of something so big or felt so much positive energy.

It’s so weird when I’m online and I see someone comment about how Marvel’s made this choice because it’s easy. We’ll just slap an “Amazing” on an extra two books and that’ll increase sales on the other books. It’s purely mercenary. Please! This is far from easy!

This is a big creative gamble and challenge and it’s such a big risk. It’s such a big enterprise. I can’t wait to see how it all plays together. The only thing I know that is going to freak me is how fast it’s going to go by. We’ve been working on this stuff for months and months and months. I think about how much time and how much energy I’ve put into the first three issues with Steve McNiven and how much work has come out. God, this Steve McNiven art is gorgeous. And this is going to ship on time. I’m seeing art from the last third issue coming in and its gorgeous all the way through and it’s really scary to me to think that when that comes out its going to go bang bang bang and then it’s gone. Laugh. It’s going to go week one, two, three, and then there’s three months of your life out in weeks. That’s what scares me the most; it’s how much how much time is going to gobble this up. You know time itself it’s just going to [sound of gobbling up]. One month is going to go by and there goes three months worth of your life working on this. At some point it’s exciting and on the other point it’s like oh my god. Where’s my next story?

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