Amid the swirling mountain of hype being generated for the highly anticipated debut of the Spider-Man film next week, it came as no surprise that the webslinger dominated nearly every discussion at today's Marvel press conference. Case in point -- Marvel's recent signing of high profile writers J. Michael Straczynski and Kevin Smith to two-year exclusive contracts; both Smith and Straczynski will be writing Spider-Man titles. Straczynski, who has had a remarkable run on Amazing Spider-Man, will get a new Spider-Man book, while Smith will take over the writing chores on Amazing. Smith, who has done a superb job of revitalizing obscure and overlooked characters (Green Arrow), had previously signed to do a Black Cat mini-series for Marvel, but Marvel Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada left no doubt that Smith's main focus at Marvel would now be concentrated on Amazing Spider-Man, saying 'It's not just great for Marvel Comics, but for comics in general that these two guys are going to be working on the number one [comic book] icon in the world at this point.'
When queried as to whether or not these two authors, who are heavily involved in other media projects, would be able to meet their Marvel deadlines, Marvel CEO Bill Jemas replied, 'Kevin and Joe have both had soul-searching thoughts about this and have given us a serious commitment to get the books out on a very timely basis. These are two people who are real comic book lovers and they understand the turmoil it creates among readers to not have a book come out during a particular month, and they are going to do everything they can to keep things on time.'
More Venues for Comics?
When asked if the interest in Spider-Man had enabled Marvel to find more venues in which to sell comics, Jemas' reply indicated that Marvel's focus has shifted from the newsstand to the bookstore as the primary entry point for new readers. According to Jemas the important change since the advent of the Spider-Man movie 'is the expansion within the high traffic, big profile bookstore chains.' Jemas noted that Barnes & Noble had doubled the area given over to graphic novels, while 'the most aggressive distribution move that has happened very recently is that Wal-Mart has taken the Spider-Man graphic novels, and they have been doing very well in that chain.'
Target Ultimate Spider-Man #1
When asked about a special edition Ultimate Spider-Man #1 at Target stores that actually contains issues #14 and #15 of the comic series, Jemas explained that Marvel had already done a program with Wal-Mart (see 'At Least Six Million Ultimate Spider-Man #1s In Print') in which the publisher reprinted Ultimate Spider-Man #1. Target wanted something similar, but they wanted different content and a new story arc so they got issues #14 and #15. Knowing a little something about how comic books are valued, Target also wanted its promotional book labeled a #1.
Spider-Man Trade Paperbacks
When asked if Marvel had succeeded in reprinting all the Spider-Man trades in time for the opening of the film, Marvel's Bill Rosemann stated that all the books have been reprinted and should be available from Diamond.
MTV Spider-Man Special
Marvel announced that MTV will broadcast a Spider-Man Movie Special, which in addition to hyping the movie will spend a considerable amount of time examining Spidey's comic book origins. The comic book section of the show will include interview segments with Quesada, Spidey-Editor Axel Alonso, as well as artists John Romita Jr. and Sr. The show will air on Sunday, April 28 at 9pm (Eastern and Pacific), and will be rebroadcast on April 29 at 5:30 pm (E &P), May 1 at noon (E&P), and May 3 at 3:00pm (E&P).
MTV Spider-Man Cartoon
The Spider-Man cartoon series that Mainframe Entertainment is creating for MTV (see 'MTV Orders Spider-Man Series') will tie-in to the continuity created by the Spider-Man film, which is essentially an 'origin' story. According to Quesada, the action in the cartoon series will take place in the period directly after the events depicted in the film.
Free Comic Book Day
Joe Quesada noted that the timing of 'Free Comic Book Day' was perfect, coming as it does in the wake of the opening of a film 'that is so reverent toward its comic book source material.' Jemas noted that the retail community 'really stepped up to the plate for this promotion by ordering 750,000 copies of Ultimate Spider-Man #1, a really spectacular number.'
Licensing and Promotion
Jemas announced that for all future Spider-Man films, Sony will handle the licensing for video games and apparel and Marvel will handle everything else. When asked about the current film's promotional tie-in with second-tier fast food chain Hardees (see 'Spider-Man Events Continue Until Memorial Day'), Jemas stated that Sony was responsible for all 'promotional' tie-ins (which are far different from licenses), and that the studio was very happy with the job done by its current promotional partners. This year the top fast food chains decided to cut back on promotional outlays for blockbuster films, a decision that probably kept Spider-Man out of McDonalds and Burger King -- but if Sam Raimi's film performs as well as it has tested, Spidey will definitely be eating a better grade of junk food on his second go-round.
