Today in a press conference online, Marvel announced Avenging Spider-Man, written by Zeb Wells and illustrated by Joe Madureira, which is being hyped as their “Next Big Thing.”
Zeb Wells explains his concept as this: “With Dan Slott nailing all the Peter Parker soap opera stuff in Amazing Spider-Man, we wanted to a book about Spider-Man as a super hero, out there in the Marvel Universe with the Avengers. This is the big super action movie of Spider-Man every month, with Joe Mad on art.” Madureira continues on to explain that he relates to Spider-Man, and is incredibly excited for his kids to be able to read a Spidey book that he’s drawing.
As an aside, Associate Editor Ben Morse notes to a fan that they will be very happy after the fan asks if it will be a team-up style book. This element is then confirmed as Morse explains first arc, which will see “Spider-Man and the Red Hulk headed deep underground to deal with the Mole Man and encountering a brand new threat.”
Steve Wacker joins the call and begins to explain a bit about where the book came from, saying back when Zeb was working on Amazing Spider-Man he kicked around the idea of bringing Marvel Team-Up back. Steve didn’t go for it because he never liked those stories that didn’t feel important to the main series. As such, Avenging Spider-Man is Marvel Team-Up but “where the stories have a major impact on Spider-Man and the Avengers.” Zeb Wells also adds that the book will line-up with both Slott’s Amazing Spidey and Bendis’ Avengers, but it will tell its own stories. The Avengers will be the initial jumping off point for team-up purposes, but as time goes the book will branch out to other places in the Marvel U. The book will also focus primarily on the action stories, with all of the personal life/character stuff being left to Slott in Amazing.
Right now the first arc is planned as three issues, with future arcs ranging from two to five issues in length, and seeing Spidey placed all around the Marvel U with a bevvy of characters. The book is slated for release come November.
Check after the cut for some preview art!
