NYCC 08: DAMN DIRTY SKRULLS: SPIDER-MAN

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

As announced by Marvel Comics at New York Comic Con this weekend, Brian Reed will be writing Secret Invasion: Spider-Man, a three-issue mini-series starting in August that focuses on how the cast of Amazing Spider-Man's "Brand New Day" is dealing with the onslaught of Skrulls.

Reed isn't new to Skrull stories, having just wrapped up the Skrull-filled Captain Marvel mini-series and writing tie-ins for his Ms. Marvel ongoing, as well as being named as the writer of the upcoming Secret Invasion: Front Line mini-series.

Newsarama talked to Reed to get the scoop on the new Spider-Man-centered mini-series.

Newsarama: First off Brian, how did you get on this project? And why did you want to do it?

Brian Reed: Well, I wanted to do it because, you know, it's Spider-Man! But I've been working with Steve Wacker, who is the editor of the Spider-Man books, because he's the editor on Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel. And I had actually written an inventory story for Spider-Man late last year -- something they can have on the shelf if Amazing goes off schedule a little bit. And he really liked that. And the more we were working on Captain Marvel together, we kept talking about how I wanted to work on Spider-Man and he wanted me to work on Spider-Man. But the Spidey brain trust is locked up at the moment. And he said, you know what? We've got this Secret Invasion thing coming up, so let's cook up something to do with it.

NRAMA: And you're so good with Skrulls anyway, right?

BR: [laughs] We've been known to hang out.

NRAMA: Did you come up with the story for this? Or was it something that editorial had in mind and you just have to follow the beats in your story?

BR: The gist of what Steve brought to me was, "Let's focus on the cast of “Brand New Day.” Let's let Jackpot be the big superhero in this because Spidey is off in the Savage Land. And let's really take this as a chance to integrate all of them into the rest of the Marvel Universe, because we just haven't had that yet. We haven't seen it yet.

And from there, I wrote a treatment completely in the dark of what they were doing in Amazing. And then once that treatment was together, it came back and had notes from Dan Slott saying, "Hey, you can elaborate on this, but you can leave this alone." And by the end of it, I knew everything that was going on in Amazing and I changed the treatment to make it work.

NRAMA: You've written Spider-Man before in video games, so you know this character pretty well, right?

BR: Yep. Ultimate Spider-Man games, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe -- I've got a few Spider-Man games under my belt.

NRAMA: But it sounds like he's not playing as big of a role in this if he's off in the Savage Land.

BR: Well, he's in it, and it was a lot of fun figuring out how to get him in it and make him relevant to what's going on while not screwing up continuity, because he is off in the Savage Land with the Avengers. And getting those two things to synch up and make sense and work was a big part of the plot.

NRAMA: Tell us about Jackpot.

BR: She's the one that everybody thinks is Mary Jane. So a big part of it is getting to explore how she behaves as a superhero, because in the Spider-Man books, she's always been second fiddle, so now we get to see her front and center for a little bit. We get to see her and the staff of the DB as they deal with Skrulls falling out of the sky.

NRAMA: So it's going to involve quite a few characters?

BR: It's going to involve absolutely as many of the Brand New Day characters as I can fit in my 66 pages. [laughs]

NRAMA: Well, what is their reaction to the Skrulls?

BR: For quite a few of them, it's: "Let's run now!" But for Jackpot, it's this chance to shine. It's here's the big superhero moment and I have these people I have to protect. It's grabbing hold of that big action-adventure Spider-Man vibe and running with it.

It's hilarious because I'm writing Front Line, which is this deadly serious, "Oh no we're all going to die. How will we survive?" And yet Jackpot is, "Woo woo! Skrulls!"

NRAMA: So you're looking at the Skrulls from the point of view of just about everyone in all the different comics you're writing.

BR: I'm covering pretty much every corner, yeah.

NRAMA: To finish up, any hints about something big that is revealed in this story?

BR: In issue #1, we reveal that Spider-Man is a Skrull.

NRAMA: [laughs] Yeah.

BR: You laugh... but there's a full-page splash!

Return to the New York Comic Con 2008 mini-site...

[Dallas Bar]

I don't know why but it just doesn't sound appealing to me all of this...

[beetle1million]

Originally Posted by Dallas Bar

I don't know why but it just doesn't sound appealing to me all of this...

Cause it's written by a guy who got his job based off of who his friends are versus merit?

Seriously, so far the only SI tie-ins I have no interest in are the Brian Reed ones and New Warriors.

[lobocomics]

Oh my god!!!!

They really killed spidey..... Quesada really killed spider-man.... 26 years of buying spider-man comics and they finally did it.... I no longer care about spider-man


And yes... free wildstorm

[Spot]

More Jackpot! Sweet!

[Ben543250]

Originally Posted by beetle1million

Cause it's written by a guy who got his job based off of who his friends are versus merit?

Seriously, so far the only SI tie-ins I have no interest in are the Brian Reed ones and New Warriors.

You must be a child because, if not, you should know how important networking is to finding job opportunities. Yeah, knowing Bendis might've helped him get a foot in the door, but he was only given the opportunity after demonstrating his storytelling ability through his other jobs in the video game world. And they wouldn't continue giving him assignments if they didn't like the work he's doing and his books didn't sell. DURRRRRRRRRR

[ronnieramone]

On the outside I'm merely yawning.

on the inside, however...

Ronald Scissorhands is itching to get hold of this book (He'll cut it to shreds)

Ronald Von Doom could care less and is shouting "You mean nothing to me!"

Ron Dorian, M.D. (aka R.D.) is just happy that there are no skrulls on Glorinax 7.

[Nukeboy]

Originally Posted by Ben543250

You must be a child because, if not, you should know how important networking is to finding job opportunities. Yeah, knowing Bendis might've helped him get a foot in the door, but he was only given the opportunity after demonstrating his storytelling ability through his other jobs in the video game world. And they wouldn't continue giving him assignments if they didn't like the work he's doing and his books didn't sell. DURRRRRRRRRR

I agree. Maybe because Brian Reed can actually write is why they put him on this. I love Ms. Marvel and I think he stepped up his game with the Captain Marvel mini.

[Corpulent1]

Passing on it. No interest in Jackpot or even much in Spider-Man these days.

[Blind Assassin]

I look forward to Jackpot being the focus (as well as the rest of the spidey supporting cast)

count me in.

[beetle1million]

Originally Posted by Ben543250

You must be a child because, if not, you should know how important networking is to finding job opportunities. Yeah, knowing Bendis might've helped him get a foot in the door, but he was only given the opportunity after demonstrating his storytelling ability through his other jobs in the video game world. And they wouldn't continue giving him assignments if they didn't like the work he's doing and his books didn't sell. DURRRRRRRRRR

Ooooh. Name calling. You showed me.

He got most of his writing jobs, period, through Bendis. And please, look at the sales on his books, and look at how much of them are generated because they spin out of things done by, gasp, Bendis.

Oh, and 'DURRRR'? Your maturity astounds me. I'm the child? Hardly. Sorry you're threatened by someone with a different opinion. You might have been able to debate the point if you weren't such a baby in your tactics.

[johnstumbo]

To many tie-ins and minis have to pass on this.

[Magnus P.I.]

The only way I would have bought this is if they had revealed that the Spider-man of OMD and BND was a Skrull all along. Looks like it ain't happening, so yeah, complete pass.

[defjoe]

Is MJ and Pete married again yet?

No?

forget it...this is crap.

[Guy_Gardner]

Originally Posted by johnstumbo

To many tie-ins and minis have to pass on this.

seriously!...doesn't help that I really don't care enough about "Not-Mary Jane"

hell..we don't even know all of the tie-in for the whole event yet....that's one of the reasons I just can't get into this event....

[ZeoVGM]

Originally Posted by beetle1million

Cause it's written by a guy who got his job based off of who his friends are versus merit?

Seriously, so far the only SI tie-ins I have no interest in are the Brian Reed ones and New Warriors.

Sucks for you then I guess.

Ms. Marvel is an awesome book. Captain Marvel was very good.

Reed is one of the big up and comers right now. It doesn't matter how he "got the job".

Originally Posted by defjoe

Is MJ and Pete married again yet?

No?

forget it...this is crap.

Is you good at grammar?

No?

Originally Posted by Guy_Gardner

seriously!...doesn't help that I really don't care enough about "Not-Mary Jane"

hell..we don't even know all of the tie-in for the whole event yet....that's one of the reasons I just can't get into this event....

The only ones that really you need are SI itself, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. No need to be dramatic about it.

[JLAJRC]

Originally Posted by Dallas Bar

I don't know why but it just doesn't sound appealing to me all of this...

Likewise. In fact, the only SI minis I'm interested in is the Inhumans and Frontline ones. If it's just gonna be Spidey, or Thor, or whoever just kicking Skrull butt for a few issues, there's no reason to not put it in the regular titles. (Especially the Spidey one with it's three issue structure now. You mean you can't slide this one in somewhere?)

[Zabardast]

Not really interested. I'm impressed by how DC has limited the tie-ins while this is just Marvel trying to milk us. Nope, sorry.

[ZeoVGM]

Originally Posted by ajk1988

Not really interested. I'm impressed by how DC has limited the tie-ins while this is just Marvel trying to milk us. Nope, sorry.

Why does it matter if they're good books?

[JacktheKnife]

I might check this one out. Sounds cool to get Jackpot pleshed out some more.

[Guy_Gardner]

Originally Posted by ZeoVGM

The only ones that really you need are SI itself, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. No need to be dramatic about it.

I'm not being dramatic...me dramatic involves things being in caps

but really...I'm just worried about my budget...

[Mundungus]

Brian Reed is a pretty sweet writer. That being said, the only Spider-Man I'm into at the moment is Ultimate Spider-Man (speaking of which, killer preview pages shown of the Omega Red issue).

I'm still digging Secret Invasion, so maybe some of Reed's beats flow into the main title (which is the only one I'm thinking of sticking to, though other tie-ins seem promising).

[Liliaeth]

To be honest, the only way they could get me to buy this, is if it turns out that the Peter Parker shown in Amazing for the past few months is a Skrull.

[joecool207]

I'd like to know how this might be collected in trade. 3 issues seems a little light for a trade, so I wonder what might it be paired with?

[Ben543250]

Originally Posted by beetle1million

Ooooh. Name calling. You showed me.

He got most of his writing jobs, period, through Bendis. And please, look at the sales on his books, and look at how much of them are generated because they spin out of things done by, gasp, Bendis.

Oh, and 'DURRRR'? Your maturity astounds me. I'm the child? Hardly. Sorry you're threatened by someone with a different opinion. You might have been able to debate the point if you weren't such a baby in your tactics.

Thanks for proving my point. Half of your response was "You called me names!" The other half was just a repeat of your previous idiotic point.