I Wrote Spider-Man...

By Tony Lee

...And the world will never know.

Well, okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but in essence it's true. Unless you read any of my blogs or columns or actually pick the comic up in the shop, you'll never know that I'm the second story of Spider-Man Family #9, out last week. Ten pages of Peter Parker and Spider-Man goodness that won't be seen unless you hunt it out specifically.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about the fact that it wasn't advertised, for this is the world of comics, and this sort of thing happens a lot. Books get pulled, switched at the last moment and often the solicitation that the store gets in Previews? Doesn't really mesh up with the actual product. It's just annoying that I wasn't told before the book came out, and given enough time to get some advertising out there for myself. After all, this is big news. And I am the Media Whore you know and love.

Basically, I was asked to put together a Spider-Man story a few months ago, busywhizz editors Mark Paniccia and Jordan White contacted me and asked if I wanted to put together a few pitches for the ol' web swinger and of course I jumped at the chance. This was Spider-Man, for god's sake! You don't pass up an opportunity to do that. And of course, I'm also known in the industry as the 'go to' guy for fast work. For example—at 4 p.m. UK time, I had the email from Mark asking if this was something I was interested in pitching for. By 5, 6 p.m. they had three fleshed out pitches, thanks to my childhood dreams of writing Spider-Man. By the time I'd finished reading the first email, I already knew the stories I wanted to pitch, so this was a stupidly fast turnaround.

By 7 p.m.? I had the email telling me which of the three that they liked. By 8 p.m. I was scripting it. And by midnight, the same day that I was asked if I wanted to pitch for this, I turned in the script that eventually became 'Identity'.

And so it was edited, and then edited again, finally it was drawn and coloured and I was informed that it would be in Spider-Man Family #9, out in June.

But then it was moved due to another, ongoing back up replacing it, but then with the cancellation of the title (to be relaunched soon as Amazing Spider-Man Family) it looked like my story was destined to labour in comic script limbo. And trust me; there are a lot of those around.

And then on Thursday last week, while talking with Jordan, it got mentioned that it did after all get put back in Spider-Man Family #9 – but because it was a last minute thing, I hadn't been told. Which was a shame, but at the same time – I'm a Marvel writer again. And what's more? I can say I've written X-Men and Spider-Man for Marvel. Which sounds far better than X-Men and Mark Hazzard: Merc (although Hazzard was a favourite of mine and one day I shall convince the powers that be to allow me to do the Merc / Power Pack crossover it so richly deserves.) And of course it's a triple whammy, as Midnight Kiss colourist Kieran Oats coloured Ramon Bach's incredible art, and Midnight Kiss artist Ryan Stegman is currently drawing Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, which was also out this week. One day, the three of us must do a Spider-Man story together, if only to build
up sales for the Midnight Kiss trade...

But anyway, it's nice to be back in the realms of the Super Hero. Because currently? I've not been doing it much. My 2000 A.D. stuff is all gritty war or gritty supernatural, my DFC stuff is more aimed at children's books and the Doctor Who book? Well, he's a hero, but a super-hero? I'm not sure.

Which makes me laugh because when I first got back into comics? All I wanted to write was super-heroes. I wanted to do the capes and tights; I wanted the ongoing DC or Marvel series. But this is the joy of the writer, as you can write about anything. As I've said before, my average day involves hopping across several genres, children's, adults, commercial—but if I stayed on one title? I'd most likely get bored.

It's just nice to get recognition, though. And no matter how many awards I get nominated for, or win for projects like Hope Falls or Midnight Kiss...

Well, you know—it's Spider-Man. I grew up on the guy. I think I'm one of the few people alive who'll admit that not only did he like Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider, that he enjoyed the whole 'Peter's a clone' saga. And now I've added my own piece to the Spidey canon. Now I can have that Spider-Man figure on the shelf next to the other action figures of characters that I have written.

I just need to make sure that enough people know, so that they buy it. And then Marvel can go 'Wow! We should totally give this guy more work!'...

Well, it's worth a try, isn't it!

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And so I'm racing to get ahead of the curve once more because as you read this on the Monday morning? I'm in Prague for three days, and I've promised my girlfriend that for these three days there will be no work.

Funny enough, I said exactly the same this time last year, when I went to Rome for a few days. Yeah, that didn't happen then, either.

Now of course there are situations where she understands that I may have to work, even while over there, but to make sure this time that I do the minimum I need to, I'm making the ultimate writer sacrifice and not taking my laptop. Okay, it's not really a sacrifice, because all I need's a pen and paper and of course, I am taking my HTC phone, which means that I'll have a fold out office in the palm of my hand. But, I'm making sure that unless it's totally urgent? For these three days I am totally off the grid. And with luck I might manage this for at least one, maybe two of the days.

I have a long history with writing while on holiday—and I'll put cash money on the table right now that every writer reading this will be agreeing. A holiday just isn't in our mindset. We need to write, and so write we shall. It's not work, its play! Why should we have a holiday from playing? Madness, I tell you.

Earlier this year I went skiing, and I wrote pretty much every day. Every convention I've been to? I've been writing. I've flown to Moscow writing a Marvel script in a notepad. I've spent a week in Peru checking the internet every day, planning a meeting in NYC on an eight hour break between flights back to London. I've written script additions in Gmail in internet cafes in Jordan, France, Italy, Austria, Mexico, Lapland, China and Iceland, to name but a few. I'm always working, always writing.

But this week? All I'll be doing is bits of my novel. And maybe a bit of a script.

Oh, and a pitch. And maybe a plot synopsis.

But I will be spending time relaxing, because God knows I need it at the moment. And I'm going to class the miles of walking I'll be doing around Prague as spring training for San Diego, where if you don't walk at least five miles of distance a day? You're not doing it right.

So while you read this, sitting in your dull grey cubicles*, think of me, jetting off on a break again.

God, I love this life, sometimes...

*Because all of my readers read this in the toilet. I know this.

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Talking of novels, I finished my second one this week. The first one, Rahbin Hood didn't seem to get anywhere—the subject matter was a bit iffy and we knew it was a tough sell from the start, but the bulk of replies did go 'the boy can sure write' so we're happy with the response - but this one is a story that I've been talking about for years. Hell, in an interview I did for Starlog Magazine in January 2005, one that was conducted in late 2004 I even mention that I was writing it.

King Bill – And the Spirit Of Albion has been one of those books. You know, the type of book that just won't leave the head, that sits in the background muttering and whispering, occasionally giggling to itself as it waits for you to stop whatever the hell it is you're doing and get you arse back onto it. I wrote a chunk of it in 2004 / 05 and then moved away from it as other, more pressing projects hit my sights. The problem with a novel is that you can write it anytime. There's no deadline to it, unless your agent's already sold it – and when they haven't? You can become incredibly lax.

In December 2006 I hit a major chunk of it in about three weeks, almost finishing it in fact. On one week in particular I wrote thirty thousand words. I was on fire. And then, as if by magic – nothing. Nada. Ziparoonee. I don't know why it happened; only that it did. When it came to this book? Writer's block.

I started to write other books, in particular The Stage Magician's Nephew, but there was something about this bloody thing that wouldn't go away, that wouldn't lay down and die – and it wasn't that I'd already written eighty five thousand words and didn't want to see them go to waste. So, a couple of weeks back I took King Bill out of the spiritual mothballs that it had been in, and I went through every page, ever word with a fine editing tooth comb. And, with these changes made, I added a final chapter, making the final wordcount an extra ten thousand words heavier. And now it's finished. And I'm already considering the sequel, King Bill – And The Forgotten Champion. But in between that, I'm back on The Stage Magician's Nephew, having regained my love for writing books again. Two thousand words a day isn't that much, and I can situate it between other jobs. That said, currently? If I've been able to do two thousand words a week around the comic stuff, I'll be impressed...

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So in but a couple of months now we have August and that seems to be 'the month' for me, with my "Stalag #666" story starting in 2000 A.D. the same week that "The Prince Of Baghdad" starts in the DFC, while in America my Doctor Who: The Forgotten mini with Pia hits the shelves. And there's been a bit of a buzz about The Forgotten already, with it being 'the first comic that puts all Ten Doctors into one story.'

Well, that's a bit of a lie, actually, this is the first canon tale, but there is a nifty little webcomic that's been going just over a year now called "The Ten Doctors", where Doctor Who fans can bask in fanboy glee at a variety of situations, characters and settings where new readers can read and enjoy and that only the strongest of Doctor Who fans will guess all the 'Easter eggs'. It's a tale where all ten Doctors meet, companions long gone return, baddies believed dead return and even one off supporting characters pop by as once more the universe is in peril, and all of them in such a believable way and in such a wonderful art style that you can't help but to sit and read through.

I'd never head of this or the creator, Rich Morris before I started The Forgotten, and it was only a reply on a LiveJournal post that pointed me to him and, worried that I might find myself doing similar plots, I decided not to read it until after I'd finished. But, due to the joys of the Internet, I found myself talking to Rich by email and discovered that he's not a Brit (which, due to the amount of obscure old Who references I believed he had to be) but is in fact living happily in Canada. And, surprisingly nice, friendly and not at all like I envisioned. When I realised that his story was nothing like mine, I read it. It's about a hundred odd pages now—but I found that I read every single one of them on that sitting. It's not often that happens. From such a simple start it just spirals out of control like the best Who episode, and I was converted there and then.

Seriously, read it. It'll unfortunately never reach print, but for a fan produced piece of immense magnitude, you really should go and look. Tell Rich I sent you. And marvel at his disneyesque interpretations of the Doctors, every one spot on. I'll be honest, down the line? I'd work with him as artist in a heartbeart.

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And this baby is done, put a fork in it, turn it over and baste it. Next week we'll be returning to an old topic, how awesome I am. Because I'm pretty damned marvellous, all's said and done. No, really.

I did write Spider-Man, after all...

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© 2008, Tony Lee

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