Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is the Latest Chapter in a Legacy These 7 Writers Helped Build
Spider-Man is Marvel’s biggest character by a country mile. While most superheroes’ popularity drops off hard outside of comic book circles, Spider-Man is one of the most profitable franchises in the entire world. The only superhero who has made more money than him is Batman, and even that’s such a tight race that they trade the number one spot back and forth. There’s hardly a person alive who hasn’t at least heard of the Web-Head. Suffice to say, people love Spider-Man, and there’s no better time to celebrate our Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man than now, with his newest movie setting cinemas on fire.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is an incredible movie picturing the Web-Head at his best, bringing in elements from countless eras of his beloved comic adventures. Of course, this amazing showcase of Spider-Man’s character wouldn’t exist without the spectacular comics that inspired it. Spider-Man was built by dozens of writers across decades, each adding something of their own to his storied mythos. Today, we’re giving those writers their due by looking at the seven writers who impacted Spider-Man the most and talking about exactly what they added to the Web-Slinger’s amazing arc.
7) J. M. DeMatteis
Let’s start off with the writer who defined Spider-Man in the late ’80s and ’90s. DeMatteis has some of Spider-Man’s most mature, human stories under his belt. His best-known work is “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” which many consider to be one of Spider-Man’s greatest stories. Of course, he has told so many more fantastic stories. Amazing Spider-Man #400 features one of the most heart-wrenching death scenes in any comic book, tackling what was meant to be Aunt May’s final goodbye with grace and infinite care. A personal favorite of mine will always be Spectacular Spider-Man #200, which still stands as the greatest Green Goblin story to date. Heck, even his sections of the “Clone Saga” are the best of that dumpster fire.
DeMatteis is still putting out great Spider-Man stories today. His writing was top-notch at, if nothing else, humanizing Peter and his extended cast like they never had been before. Almost all of DeMatteis’s best runs were meditations on the complex nature of these characters’ lives and deep, powerful emotions. Entire issues would focus on fear, loss, or uncertainty in a way that grounded them, even as they faced supernatural, fantastic threats. He made these characters face the darker aspects of their lives with a maturity that’s rare, even in the best comics.
6) Peter David
Another legendary writer to earn a spot on this list is none other than Peter David. He’s famous for his magnum opus, “The Death of Jean DeWolff.” This story isn’t as well-known as Spider-Man’s other great hits, but it’s genuinely one of his best, focusing on the rage and grief caused by Spider-Man losing another person he cared about. It introduced Sin-Eater, who is still one of Spider-Man’s most underrated villains. David also penned some of the funniest Spider-stories of all time. “”Jump For My Love” or “Spring Is in the Air”” is fantastic, but “The Commuter Cometh” is the funniest Spider-Man story ever, and I will stand by that. Spider-Man in the suburbs is such a novel, hilarious concept.
That’s exactly the type of story David excelled at. His run could be hilarious enough to burst your lung one issue, then dark and serious enough to make you rethink how you look at comics the next. He balanced comedy and drama, seriousness and superheroic silliness perfectly. Nobody else has quite the mixed array as he does, or does it half as well. He’s also famous for leaving a serious impact on Spider-Man’s character with Jean DeWolff’s death. Almost nobody stays dead in these stories, but DeWolff has, and that makes this story even greater than ever before.
5) Brian Michael Bendis
While every other writer earned a spot on this list because of their work with the mainline Spider-Man, Bendis is here because he wrote the single most influential Spider-Man comic of the 21st Century. The original Ultimate Spider-Man changed the game. This reimagined Spider-Man from the ground up, taking him back to high school and modernizing his origins in a way they never had been before. This new Peter fought crime in a new, grounded way for over a decade, finally dying in what many consider the greatest death in all of comics. Of course, Bendis didn’t even stop there, ushering in an entire new era with Miles Morales, changing Spider-Man’s world forever.
Like it or not, Bendis has left an impact that nobody can ignore. His run popularized and cemented the idea of Spider-Man as a teenage hero in the public’s perception, which is still what most non-comic book fans think of when they imagine Spider-Man. Of course, Miles has become iconic in his own right, firmly standing as one of, if not the single greatest, legacy characters in Marvel. Bendis brought Spider-Man’s past into the modern day, and that high school persona is not anywhere near ready to leave.
4) Dan Slott
If there were any one figure who influenced modern Spider-Man the most, including this movie, then it would be the man who wrote the comic it took its name from. Dan Slott picked up Spider-Man after the disastrous “One More Day” storyline, and then spearheaded the title for the next decade. He told countless incredible stories which still define Spider-Man to this day. From the titular “Brand New Day” event to “Big Time” and Superior Spider-Man, Slott told some of the greatest Spider-Man stories of the era.
Not only did Slott define the modern Spider-Man story, but his comics were the most inventive since the early days of Stan Lee. Slott was never afraid to take the story in new directions or introduce a litany of new characters. Sure, not all of them were winners, but he debuted more new villains and allies than writers before him had in forever. Heck, he’s still doing it with awesome additions like Spider-Boy. From taking Spider-Man to the big time with Parker Industries to marrying Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson Sr., Slott charged forward with infinite creativity, and that has steered Spider-Man for years.
3) J. Michael Straczynski
Few writers can truly write a perfect Spider-Man comic, but one of them is J. M. Straczynski. His acclaimed run featured countless new directions and ideas for Spider-Man that, until many were wiped away in “One More Day,” painted an adult, mature Peter better than anyone else had before. Some of his most influential stories include “The Other,” “The Conversation,” “Back in Black,” and even, at least partially, “One More Day.” He wrote the best story of Aunt May finding out Peter’s secret, hands down, and the way he evolved her as a character to fit into Spider-Man’s world was downright incredible. He introduced magical elements that would one day blossom into the legendary Spider-Verse.
JMS still writes some Spider-Man comics to this day, each time giving Peter one of the strongest voices he’s ever had, and diving into the connections that drive him. JMS is famous for perfectly balancing new ideas with emotional weight. His run advanced Peter’s life into a truly unique, modern maturity. He got a job as a teacher, which is still one of Peter’s most underrated careers. The best part, of course, is his relationship with Mary Jane, which was never more nuanced and true than in this run. JMS perfected Spider-Man’s inner voice, and crafted the biological spider origins that were essential to the newest movie.
2) Stan Lee
Of course, no list of Spider-Man’s most influential and important writers could possibly be complete without Stan the Man himself. He was half of the team that created Spider-Man from nothing more than a random idea. Not only did Stan help breathe life into Spider-Man, but he penned his first hundred or so issues, along with the occasional issue after. From the very first Amazing Fantasy #15, to “The Final Chapter” and “Spider-Man No More!” stories, Stan was the architect of some of Spider-Man’s greatest and most foundational stories. Even today, Stan’s run is considered one of Spider-Man’s best, and that’s not just reverence talking.
Without Stan, there is no Spider-Man. From his iconic origin to lifting an impossible weight, almost all of Spider-Man’s most-referenced moments come from this initial run. He introduced the vast majority of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, even including the Sinister Six as a team, and built the foundation from which all future Spider-Man writers have derived their stories. Stan Lee’s run, alongside the legendary Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr., defined not just a generation, but the comic book genre itself.
1) Gerry Conway
Let’s end our list with another infinitely important Spider-writer, Gerry Conway. Conway was the main writer to pick up the torch after Stan, and he made sure that Spider-Man continued to prosper and grow like it was nobody’s business. He’s the master who penned what is undeniably one of Spider-Man’s most important stories, “The Night Gwen Stacy Died.” This was the end of the Silver Age of comics, and impacted Spider-Man more than anything else outside of Uncle Ben’s death. He introduced iconic villains like the Jackal, Harry as the Green Goblin, and even the Punisher. Of course, Conway’s biggest contribution was building Peter and MJ’s relationship.
Before Conway’s run, Peter was totally with Gwen, but her death pushed Peter and MJ closer. MJ had been a carefree party girl, but she chose to become more and opened her heart to Peter, comforting him when they both needed it. Under Conway’s pen, they developed into one of Marvel’s best, most human romances. He’s the one who brought them together, and so we all have Conway to thank for making sure that comics’ greatest couple exists in the first place. Peter and MJ truly evolved during this period, just as they’ll keep doing far into the future.
All of these writers have given something important and powerful to Spider-Man’s mythos, each adding a new brick to this amazing house. Without them, Spider-Man wouldn’t be the character we know and love. Which Spider-Man writer do you think has helped grow the Web-Slinger’s legacy the most?
