Yesterday at the New York Comic Con Marvel announced the three-issue
Spider-Man: Secret Invasion miniseries, penned by Brian Reed. Following the announcement, Comics Bulletin’s Dave Wallace spoke to writer Brian Reed about Spidey, Skrulls, and Secret Invasion.
Dave Wallace: First things first: Why a Spider-Man: Secret Invasion miniseries? Is this a no-brainer in terms of Spider-Man being the flagship company character and Secret Invasion being the big 2008 crossover event, or is there a more organic story reason for Spidey to be given his own miniseries to explore his role in the larger story of Secret Invasion?
Brian Reed: This is our big chance to see the Brand New Day cast interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe, and that was the biggest impetus. Also, the opportunity to type the phrase “Sinister Six Super Skrull” and know someone would draw it was just too much fun to pass up.
DW: How careful to you have to be with Spider-Man’s involvement in this story after all the changes that the character has gone through in recent months? Is there a risk of confusing the audience by suggesting even the possibility that he could be a Skrull impostor, given that readers are still getting used to his new status quo?
BR: Well, we not only risk confusing people, we actively try to do it.
There’s a splash page that pretty much says “hey, Spidey’s a Skrull!” And then things get really crazy from there. As for being careful with the new continuity, the story for this, we’ve kept Dan Slott in the loop and had him suggest little tweaks and nudges to keep this story in line with the rest of the Amazing series. We’ve got hooks into most all of the big Amazing plots.
DW: Is this book set squarely in “Brand New Day” continuity? Are elements of the ongoing story of Amazing Spider-Man going to be referenced, or is this more of a stand-alone story?
BR: Yeah, the goal was to get a big bunch of the Brand New Day cast to get involved with the big Marvel Event, and really show folks that everything in Amazing was for real, and not just some Mysterio prank waiting to be revealed. There hasn’t been enough time yet for the rest of the Marvel writers to really get on base with their stories crossing over with the Amazing stories, so we haven’t seen a lot of outside evidence of the Brand New Day events. This is the series (three issues) that makes that happen.
DW: What makes Spider-Man a good character to use to explore the impact of Secret Invasion on the MU? Does Peter Parker’s grounded perspective make for a good contrast to the bigger-picture-approach of Brian Bendis’ core series?
BR: This series is more about seeing what’s going on with everyone in Spidey’s life at the time of the invasion. Spidey does show up in the
book, but it’s really more about his supporting cast and their surviving the Battle of Manhattan than it is about him. With the Avengers all out of town, and the Fantastic Four and X-Men all out of commission, we get to see Jackpot really take on the hero role as she tries to keep the staff of The DB! alive long enough to report on the day’s events.
DW: Who’s going to be handling the art for this series?
BR: Marco Santucci. He’s got exactly the fun, crazy sense of action the book needs, and I’m excited to see more of his pages come in.
DW: Is Aunt May going to be upset when she realises that Jarvis was replaced by a Skrull (if she even remembers Jarvis any more)?
BR: Aunt May is going to have a lot of things to tell her therapist some day.
