Got home to find advance copies of this massive tome sitting on my porch.
Delighted the entire run—which actually comes to a definite conclusion, a rarity in comics—has been collected. And deeply sad that Keith's not here to see it.
But wait, there's more! This just arrived—after years and years of waiting—and I couldn't be happier.
This Spectacular Spider-Man run remains one of my all-time favorite gigs and collaborating with Sal Buscema, one of the absolute Marvel greats and as masterful a storyteller as the medium has ever seen, was a joy in every way. I'm extremely proud of these stories, which dig deep into the psyches of Peter Parker and his cast, and grateful they've finally been collected.
I'm in omnibus ecstasy!
Uh.. If I remember correctly, among those in the know...the 'true believers as it were... the book was referred to as "Scoobs Apocs."
ReplyDeleteAnd now you just have to wait for a comic show with Sal Buscema so he can sign the Omnibus for you.
Jack
P.S. I was driving on the East Side last week, and I saw a Buscema's Deli. I am just going to assume the reason Buscema retired from comics is because he had a passion for delis.
Or maybe it was named in Sal's honor! : )
DeleteAlright Dematteis, I am sick of your sobriety, I am going to knock you off the wagon.
ReplyDeleteNo, NOT drinking, YOUR addiction...listing. Yes, the old days on this site when you were listing every five minutes.
1. What albums in your collection would be best used to inspire a comic run. No band repeats, and it has to be the whole album. What character, and why? For simplicity, to start, we will stick to hcaracters at the big two.
2. Pretend you live in a country that respects animation as an artform, what novels do you think would best be turned into animated films. and of course, why?
one lid is five choices, and the other seven.
Jack
I'll have to think about this some more but, off the top of my head, either Bowie's ZIGGY STARDUST or DIAMOND DOGS would be great jumping off points for comics; they're filled with science-fictional imagery. As for novels-to-animation, the first one that comes to mind is Vonnegut's SIRENS OF TITAN, which I can't imagine anyone making as a live-action film, and, perhaps weirdly, DAVID COPPERFIELD. (I'd love to see the Age of Dickens done in beautiful, realistic—perhaps slightly surrealistic—animation.)
DeleteI think animation would be a good way to show teh subtle, and not subtle, shift in perception that happen over time in David Copperfield.
DeleteAs for Bowie, I have always felt the Album Aladdin Sane felt very Englehart's Dr. Strange. The ethereal sense of the title track, with the more gritty song like Panic in Detroit, always seemed to be reflective of his work.
Any way, I will let you get back to starring at you book case and album shelf. You have lists to make, chip-chop chip.
Jack
Aladdin Sane is a great choice.
DeleteMr DeMatteis, are you going to be in the New York Comic Con of this year? Any chance for an appearance of your "Spider-Man '94" in Spider-Man's panels?
ReplyDeleteI won't be at NYCC. he only other con appearance I have this year are GalaxyCon St Louis in October and CCXP in Brazil in December. Hoping to do more next year. Thanks for asking!
DeleteDo you own your own omnibus for Spectacular Spider-Man run? If so how is the experience of re-reading your own work?
ReplyDeleteYes, I have copies of just about everything I've written. It's always strange to reread work I wrote decades ago. A part of me remembers the creative process and a part of me feels as if I'm reading someone else's story.
DeleteDon't forget about your JLA run being collected in DC Finest!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.instocktrades.com/products/apr257262/dc-finest-justice-league-of-america-the-return-tp
Didn't know about that! Thanks for the info!
DeleteNobody could kill a Vibe like you sir
DeleteThat's what they say when I go to parties.
DeleteDid you know that JLA was getting cancelled when you took over or were you just told you have four issues to wrap it up one day? From reading other histories you seemed surprised to be asked to script JLI even though you were the writer on JLA.
DeleteYes, I knew I was writing the finale of the JLA series. And I was surprised when I was asked to jump on the JLI team.
DeleteWell they're real good. The Detroit era found its feet in the later half of Gerry's run and when you came on. Have you ever done a kind of what if exercise about what if you had just gone on with those characters and JLA hadn't been cancelled? Has going back to that iteration of the team for a story ever been of any interest to you?
DeleteNever really thought about what if or returning to the characters. But it's comics, so you never know what opportunity may be waiting in the future and I'm always open to challenges!
Delete