PAUL JENKINS LEAVES SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN WITH #27

**MattBrady** · 10-28-2004, 07:41 AM

Press Release

PAUL JENKINS SET TO COMPLETE HIS GREAT RUN ON SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

Long time Spider-Man and seminal Marvel writer Paul Jenkins, will be ending his run on Spectacular Spider-Man. Jenkin's last issue is slated to ship sometime in March of 2005, after a short fill in by writer Samm Barnes and penciler Scot Eaton who will be completing the "Sins Remembered" storyline.

Editor in Chief Joe Quesada announced, "Paul is a true professional but I also know that over the last year and a half he's been fighting some difficult health issues all the while giving Spectacular and the fans his best work. We at Marvel really want to thank him for his years of hard work he's put into Spider-Man and we're sorry to see him leave the title. Much like Ultimate Team-Up was a vehicle created for Brian Bendis to shine and then canceled with his departure, the same can be said about Spectacular Spider-Man. Spectacular Spidey was created for Paul and Humberto to tell their brand of Spider-Man stories. Without them attached to the series we've decided to close up shop on the title and call it a day with issue #27. But on that note, stay tuned for some new and exciting Paul Jenkins announcements!"

Jenkins, who gained fame for his ability to relate character-driven stories, has worked on Wolverine: Origin, Incredible Hulk, Sentry and many other titles.

"Some things are too good to be true." Said Jenkins. "Writing a monthly Spider-Man comic is one of them. These last four or five years have been a wonderful experience for me. I've had the opportunity to work with some of the best artists in the world on a character I truly love. Fifty-six issues, by my count; that's not a bad run at all.

When Mark Buckingham and I were given a chance with PPSM #20, I could not in my wildest dreams have foreseen that I would stay with Spidey for almost five years. Bucky was amazing, a true gentleman who understands the essence of storytelling as well as any artist working today. Without him, I might have lasted a few months at best. After a time, Bucky moved on and I was lucky enough to have been paired with Humberto Ramos. The stories went from strength to strength as Humberto and I were given a chance to revive the Spectacular title, of which I am extremely proud.

Of course, we've had a lot of help along the way. Wayne Faucher has been an incredible asset over the years with his brilliant inking. Many colorists, guests artists, letterers and editors have come and gone. I would like to thank John Miesegaes, Axel Alonso, Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and others for helping us get this title underway. Special thanks to Ralph Macchio for giving me my first shot at Spidey -- he's a good judge of horseflesh, is Ralph. And I would be remiss if I did not single out my good friend Tom Brevoort, who has been a wonderful guide as I made continuity error after continuity error, and who has helped me immensely with his solid sense of storytelling.

Unfortunately, I have had to undergo six knee and ankle surgeries in the last four years and suffered a staph infection as a result of one of them. Don't worry... my health is okay but I think I need a little time to recharge. While all good things must come to an end, this is far from the end for me. In fact, I am moving onto different projects, and I can't tell you all how energized I am as I undergo this transition. I have a couple of projects at Marvel that I hope will blow your socks off over the next couple of years -- watch the skies for more info. In addition, I am working on numerous video games, I recently directed for the first time and am looking forward to new projects with my production company, Good Cop/Bad Cop. Check out the new video for Scum of The Earth, coming soon to a music channel near you.

Most importantly of all, thanks to all the fans who've stuck with me on Spidey over the years. I thank you for your kind words at conventions and in emails, and certainly for buying our humble offering month after month. I hope we have produced a few memorable stories for you. See you in the funny pages.

Paul Jenkins
Atlanta, 2004

spider985 · 10-28-2004, 08:51 AM

Well I'm gutted, i really enjoyed his issues of Spidey, he seemed to understand what made Petey Petey.

siskods9 · 10-28-2004, 09:17 AM

Im sorry for hisd health problems and i have nothing personal against him. But this title has been lacking for years now with bland stories and boring or wierd art. This title is the lowest selling spiderman title out there. He does so much Peter that its not a spiderman book. Its just boring.

orpheus · 10-28-2004, 09:25 AM

Jenkins is a favourite writer of mine. Loved his Inhumans and Sentry, followed him to Spider-Man. He had a great grasp of the character. I'm sad to see him go.

tridon · 10-28-2004, 09:36 AM

Sorry to hear about his health and that's far more important then writing a Spider-Man book. I collected this title from the beginning which is probably why I must say I'm furious this is getting cancelled! What was the point of stopping Peter Parker: Spider-Man and relaunching it as Spectacular Spider-Man if you had plans to end it as soon as the writer left? If that was the plan from the start why didn't PPSM just continue? Now this is getting the axe for what... just so you can relaunch PPSM again?! Then cancel that and relaunch Spectacular again? And over and over again. It's annoying.

Posco · 10-28-2004, 10:15 AM

I pity all collectors who will try in the future to collect and differentiate between all those Spectacular and Peter Parker books. To have Spider-Man books started and than just canceled after a few years is nerving. Why do all relaunches have to be done with a new number 1. (yeah, I know it helps sales in shortterm).

Christian

IanZL · 10-28-2004, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Posco
I pity all collectors who will try in the future to collect and differentiate between all those Spectacular and Peter Parker books. To have Spider-Man books started and than just canceled after a few years is nerving. Why do all relaunches have to be done with a new number 1. (yeah, I know it helps sales in shortterm).

Christian

With Wizard lists, publication dates, story progression, and internet sites I don't think it will be THAT hard.

Part of me is sorry to see Paul go. When he came on PP:SM, he renewed my faith in Spider-man. After the GATHERING of FIVE and that totally directionless relaunch (that tied into Chapter One too) I was so happy to have a really good Spider-man book. AND it was really good, the man did some outstanding stuff (the baseball issue, the goblin stories, Typeface) that really made me like his writing and like Spider-man again.

I haven't been digging his work as of late as much as I used to so part of me is glad the book is ending. Give Paul some time to rest up and give us greatness again (I think his Cobra:Reborn was incredible). He has it in him, I can't wait to see it shine again.

Drew Reiber · 10-28-2004, 10:34 AM

Paul Jenkins is a true professional and a great person too. Among the many top quality projects he's done in recent years, his work on Spider-Man has truly shown through. He was the first to make the books readable again after the 90's and paved the way for current visionaries on the character, like J. Michael Straczynski. I'm sad to hear about his health issues and wish him good luck in recovery and his new endeavors.

Keven@TheRide · 10-28-2004, 10:51 AM

Paul is a great guy, and I hope he enjoys some well deserved rest. Spiderman will miss him!

skiteman · 10-28-2004, 11:11 AM

I think in the case of Paul leaving this title.....it's good to take a step back and let the series come to an end.
Aren't there enough SPIDER-TITLES out there a month?
It would disappoint EVERYONE if they just started throwing random creators on the title in order to meet the monthly deadline!

matthewstarnes · 10-28-2004, 11:15 AM

I met Paul in San Diego back in 2000. He was very kind and offered advice on writing to my friend.
I can't wait to see what his new project(s) will be in the future.

ZakK · 10-28-2004, 11:58 AM

Someone called this piece boring?

Man hell naw, this ain't no Batman book. Peter Parker is Spider-Man and it NEEDS to focus on Peter. There's plenty of Spidey in these books. Jenkins has made some great strides in showing what a REAL Spidey book should be. We've gotten some of the best storylines in the past 10 years, and man if you can't dig Ramos' work than that sucks. The man has got a nice handle on perspective.

Anyways, that sucks. I really enjoy this book, and it's going to be sad to see him go... but I'm glad he's not killing himself and getting some rest. More power to ya in recovering, Paul.

rmgebhardt · 10-28-2004, 12:14 PM

Ummm.... has anyone been reading the last arc of spectacular spidey? You know, the story about him turning into a spider? Can anyone explain to me how this story even approaches average? There's so much that doesn't make sense that I throw up my hands each issue and scream to the comic gods, "What.... the..... hell?!?!" Really, what's been happening in spectacular spidey lately has just been atrocious. Jenkins needs to get back to writing grittier titles like Inhumans and Sentry, two of his best works imho.

twistandshout · 10-28-2004, 12:18 PM

Paul Jenkins will always be the saving grace of Spidey to me. When he started up on PP:SM, it was going through one of its slumps, so much that I didn't enjoy reading Spidey all that much anymore. Then Jenkins came in and suddenly PP:SM was reinvigorated and was telling amazing character stories with trademark humor and everything that really made Spidey what he is.

The baseball issue will probably always be my favorite issue of Spider-man. It seriously just floored me, so much that I read and re-read it in the days following after, and have occasionally gone through my collection and re-read it as well. It's one of the best character pieces for any character in the past few years, and it will be a highlight in my collection.

Paul, glad to hear that you're not leaving us, just recuperating. But make it fast man.

MatthewSmith · 10-28-2004, 12:27 PM

I was actually thinking of dropping this title just a few weeks ago, but now I am quite glad that I hung on. I can stick around until the end now.

Jenkins has never been my favorite Spider-man writer, but he has done some good work on the title. So I wish him all the best in the future and a speedy recovery.

siskods9 · 10-28-2004, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZakK
Someone called this piece boring?

Man hell naw, this ain't no Batman book. Peter Parker is Spider-Man and it NEEDS to focus on Peter. There's plenty of Spidey in these books. Jenkins has made some great strides in showing what a REAL Spidey book should be. We've gotten some of the best storylines in the past 10 years, and man if you can't dig Ramos' work than that sucks. The man has got a nice handle on perspective.

Anyways, that sucks. I really enjoy this book, and it's going to be sad to see him go... but I'm glad he's not killing himself and getting some rest. More power to ya in recovering, Paul.

Yes i said it and so have alot of others with there wallets because the readership went down on this book. Ramos exaggerated art is just not my cup of tea for this book. It was just a mess. This became the spiderman book that not many people even noticed anymore.

pmpknface · 10-28-2004, 12:53 PM

Thanks for everything Paul! I look forward to your next project!

WVC · 10-28-2004, 01:03 PM

Am I the only one who thought this book was pretty terrible at the end? I've liked Mr. Jenkins' work in the past, especially some of his stuff on Peter Parker, which got me excited about this Spectacular relaunch, but it went downhill so fast I got dizzy. Aside from trying to force a whole new crew of uninteresting supporting characters (the fat New Zealander not the least among them), the main characters have completely rung false, especially of late.

Specific examples:
-Spider-Man respects Captain America. He always has. It's documented in numerous back issues. He doesn't give Cap a lot of guff, call him a "jarhead", then waltz into an unknown situation that Cap just tried to warn him about. Spider-Man is not a jerk-idiot. Smart-alec, yes, but not a jerk-idiot.

-Peter Parker is not an insensitive husband. When Mary Jane was miffed about him kissing a super-villain vixen on a rooftop, he does not ask her if she's angry because it's her period. That is a thousand times more Homer Simpson than Peter Parker. The reason Mary Jane always liked Peter over Flash is that Peter's not a typical, insensitive guy.

-Mary Jane is not a selfish witch. If Peter Parker were TRANSFORMING INTO A GIANT SPIDER, I'd think she'd be a little more concerned about his welfare. I DO NOT think she'd force him to go to a Klingon Wedding.

But those are just a few examples to highlight a pretty lackluster run (no mention of the *groan* Organic Webshooting or *double groan* new bug-talking power) I will continue to check out Mr. Jenkins' work on other titles, but I'm happy he's finished with Spider-Man because he seems to have either been burned out or beset with questionable editorial mandates.

And, of course, I wish him the best of health.

jmarshall · 10-28-2004, 01:09 PM

The bad news is that this means Humberto Ramos is free to go to another book....

Velvet Glove · 10-28-2004, 01:17 PM

Hope Paul gets well soon. The book definitely hasn't been as good since the relaunch, and has been pretty awful lately (more of that to me is due to Ramos art, which I just can't stand). Probably good to retire it for a while and see if a better "second" Spidey book can be relaunched.

Strike · 10-28-2004, 01:26 PM

I don't think Paul was actually suited to Spidey.

I loved his Darkness and Witchblade stories for Top Cow. Those were fantastic. But I didn't like his Spider-man.

He's more suited to darker, grittier titles. I don't think he was able to adapt his style for Spidey.

But I hope he gets better soon. Like I said, on the right title, he's fantastic.

Kolimar · 10-28-2004, 02:05 PM

Six surgeries! What happened, Paul? Anyway, get some rest and come back soon

swol · 10-28-2004, 02:11 PM

Mixed feelings here.

I was in the process of dropping the title when this news broke.

The art has never appealed to me.
Personal tastes I know, but still it never seemed suited to Spidey in my mind.

The stories have been erratic.
When they were good, they were really good.
But when they were bad... MAN were they bad. (Kiwi-Kid? WTF?)

Personally, I think they're over-exposing Spider-Man in this many titles. (Not as bad as Wolverine, but still bad.)

Of course I'm back from a time when there was AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, and MARVEL TEAM-UP, and that's all. That actually seemed like the right amount to me at the time. An occasional guest shot here or there, but pretty much just the three titles. Typically, the MTU stories were stand-alone compared to the two main Spider titles. (Although, they were still in MU continuity ... something frowned on in recent years. But that's another rant.)

I expect a re-launch within a year. (with a new #1 of course)
That's just how things work these days.
Hopefully they'll get a good writer and a good artist.
If they do, I'll be back.
If not, I just wait for the next incarnation.
I'm here for the long haul...so is Spidey.
We'll synch up again eventually.

Tom Daylight · 10-28-2004, 02:34 PM

What about Humberto Ramos... what becomes of him? I've been waiting for him to return to Spectacular...

skeletorjr · 10-28-2004, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by siskods9
Im sorry for hisd health problems and i have nothing personal against him. But this title has been lacking for years now with bland stories and boring or wierd art. This title is the lowest selling spiderman title out there. He does so much Peter that its not a spiderman book. Its just boring.

Very tactful and polite. Why don't you show some manners?