Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: dan slott, Word Balloon

Dan Slott On How Spectacular Spider-Man Can Reach Issue #5… And #10

Dan Slott on how Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day can reach issue #5, #10 and beyond, and a promise not to write Doctor Octopus again

Bleeding Cool has covered Marvel Comics' tendency to announce ongoing series and then cancel them after four, five, or six issues. At one point, Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley stated that this had been raised to ten issues, but of late, we have seen that cut back to the old cut-offs for Weapon X-Men, Planet She-Hulk, Black Panther Intergalactic and more. The ten-issue cut-off still seems to be a big thing, and it seemed a miracle when Black Cat solicited an issue #11. And when Dan Slott went on John Siuntres' Word Balloon video podcast last week, he confirmed that the five-issue cut-off was back, just as he was launching the new series Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day. An all-new ongoing monthly series launching in May, reuniting key creators from the original 2008-2010 Brand New Day era, with Dan Slott, Marcus To, Phil Jimenez and Marcos Martin. And a continuing title, with Dan Slott emphasising its potential to become a long-running satellite Spider-book, akin to Detective Comics in the Batman line. But something has to happen first. Dan Slott stressed the importance of strong pre-orders during the podcast, noting that the final order cutoff (FOC) for issue #1 is this coming Monday. And he encouraged fans to boost orders for #1 and early follow-ups, issues 2 and 3, to help secure the book's monthly status and longevity. "This is the kind of book that needs your support at the store level," he urged, highlighting how solid numbers could lead to specials, tie-ins, and even celebrations around milestones like a potential 50th anniversary nod if the run hits key issues.

Naturally, a few of the usual grifters have taken the opportunity to mock Dan Slott for this, caricaturing this as him begging for people to order the comic book. But in the current Absolute and Ultimate world, and given Marvel's policy, he clearly has to do something, with the only thing that convinces the bean counters. DC Comics sees Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn getting decent numbers, but Marvel has different demands. So Dan Slott addressed his audience directly.

"If you are a reader and you loved reading, you know, you had fun reading my Run as Spider-Man and you want more of it, please put this on your pull list now. The final order for our first issue is March 30th. Please put this on your pull list now. If you are a retailer, we know you're going to order issue number one. This is me talking to you. I need you on issue two. You know, when it's time to put in your orders for issue two, I need you to order this like you're ordering your Dan Slott's Spider-Man comic for issue two instead of like, hey, there's like 12 other books with blind bags, and I'm going to put all my money into that. We're at a point now where Marvel books come out, no matter what they are, they're lined up for five issues at a time. And what that means is if you don't support the issue twos and threes, these books will go away by issue five. If you, as a retailer, want a book on that stand to be perennial, you've got to help me out. Um, you got to get me past issue five. Uh, and the way to do that is to order well on two and order well on three. Um, this is even though it's called Spectacular Spider-Man Brand New Day, um, and the first arc is set in the Brand New Day era, the next arc will pop it into the present, and this will be your Spectacular Spider-Man book. And you know, you would like to have more books on the rack. You would like there to be a Detective Comics with your Batman."

So that's five issues now, rather than ten, and Dan Slott just laying out the current Marvel Comics economy. And making a promise to retailers.

"My pledge to you is our first arc, there's going to be a movie called Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it's going to be huge and people are going to come into your shop and maybe they've never bought a comic before. This is an easy book to hand sell them. It is a Spider-Man number one. Even though it's set in a Brand New Day era, I can promise you we're doing things in this book to make it very reader-friendly. Anyone can jump on to this book and read it. And it will feature in its main story Spider-Man and a very cool take on the Punisher who will be one of the main characters."

"So, it's a book that's gonna have a number one on it. It's a Spider-Man book. It'll have an easy sell to people who've just seen the movie. But its heart, it's me doing Spider-Man again. And I would like to do this book for the rest of my life. Please let me write Spider-Man for the rest of my life. I will be there on this book as long as you support it."

"I have a really good record that if you throw every monthly Spider-Man book I've done into a bag, and you pull out a copy, you have a one in three chance that that was a book that sold out, went back to press, that's a pretty good statistic. That's a pretty nice bet. And that spun out the Spider Boy book, which would made it to issue 20 and would still be going if I hadn't left to go do Superman."

And if retailers back him, he knows where he is taking the book. But has another promise to make.

"And where I need you to support it is at issue two and at issue three. So we can alter that trajectory and get us past five. And if you get us past five, if we make it to issue eight, which will be the December issue, that will be the 50th anniversary of Spectacular Spider-Man, and we will do something awesome for you. I guarantee you the first arc we're doing will have one or two elements in it which will resonate and have effects on the world of Spider-Man in the present. And we will introduce at least one new superhero character to the Marvel universe, honouring the legacy of Spectacular Spider-Man, which introduced characters like Cloak and Dagger and was a home to characters like the White Tiger. You will have that kind of character in it, an all-new character who will not be a character with spider in their name or spider in their powers. It will be an all-new street-level, Spider-Man universe, all-new character…. The one thing I could promise you is, if I get to do this book, and we get to keep going, I am never writing Doctor Octopus again."

"Mr. Negative is a is a key character in the first arc of Spec. Whether it's Paper Doll or Screwball or the version of the Wraith that's Yuri Watonavi, there are all these different characters I would love to do that wouldn't take away from the greater mythos. There was a time when I was reading comics and Amazing wasn't the book I wanted to follow and it was Peter David's Spectacular Spider-Man,  and you were having stuff like the original Sin-Eater story and all these really random and offbeat tales. And I would love to be that book that's over there. Kind of like doing what we're doing in Superman Unlimited, but doing it in the world of Spider-Man.

Dan Slott also teased that he has more, different Spider-Man to come as well.

"I've got this one Spider-Man story I've never told, this miniseries, and it's far too violent. And whenever I've talked to Steven Wacker or or Nick Lowe about it they're like, you can't do that in the main series. And I don't usually go for violence,  I wouldn't want an eight-year-old kid picking up an issue of Amazing and getting this story. I would want it very clear on the cover… "

But before that comes Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1, which arrives on the 13th of May, 2026. FOC is this Monday. Dan Slott may have mentioned that…

• Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) #1 (of 5) by Dan Slott, Marcus To, Marcos Martin
  Revisit one of the most transformative periods of Spider-Man history with some of the creators who made it happen! Spider-Man discovers one of the most valuable items the Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk possesses – THE LEXICON. This directory of the Kingpin's criminal enterprise could destroy the criminal landscape of New York City, and that's Spider-Man's goal when he takes it. But Fisk isn't the only person who wants the Lexicon… Mr. Negative would love his competitor's secret information, but so would Frank Castle, A.K.A. THE PUNISHER. Taking the Lexicon sure seemed like a good idea to make the city safer, but it's painted the biggest target ever on Spider-Man's back! DO NOT MISS THIS IN-CONTINUITY ADVENTURE THAT WILL ECHO FROM SPIDER-MAN'S PAST INTO SPIDER-MAN'S PRESENT AND FUTURE!
• Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) #2 (of 5) by Dan Slott, Marcus To
  The adventure into one of Spidey's most important periods with some of the creators who made it happen – continues! Spider-Man paints a giant target on his back by stealing the Kingpin's LEXICON, Fisk's directory detailing his entire criminal enterprise. PUNISHER steps in to "help" Spidey, but Mr. Negative and his army of unkillable Inner Demons put them both through their paces and do something truly horrific to our favorite hero and our favorite anti-hero!

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