The last few days have been a real thrill– watching the comments pile up and realizing how many folks were pouring in to weigh in with their opinions. And checking my daily stats software, the individual visits have just SKYROCKETED over this whole thing. I hope people will continue to stop by and check out the blog offerings, even after all the ‘radioactivity’ over this subject has died down. This blog has become a lot of fun for me, and very special to me as well– and I enjoy the idea of sharing it with as many folks as possible. From a PERSONAL standpoint– as far as my depiction of Spider-Man goes– I’m just going to let it happen organically. I’m going to let flow from my pencil what will, and I think that’ll be the best way to handle it. I’m not going to force anything one way or another. I’ll be the most satisfied by NOT forcing it. Watching everything unfold the last few days has really shown me the power that SPIDER-MAN still holds in the hearts of his fans. I think that all the recent discussion ends up underlining that it’s not the artist, or the style that artist uses– it’s the power of the CHARACTER. SPIDER-MAN is just as much an icon now as he ever was– and maybe more so.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Peter David will be the writer of the new SPIDER-MAN comic– and the book also has a name: FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN. I think the name is a great one, implying lots of fun, and I’m sure Peter’s stories will embody that spirit. The guys at WIZARD magazine were interested in using the sketch art for Peter I did several posts back for a piece about the book in an upcoming issue, but I really didn’t like that initial take– so I did something else that would (at least in MY eyes) look better. It’s got a similar element in it with Peter jumping and changing into his SM suit– but I also added a little color to the sketch to jazz it up.

OK– that’s it for today.

Mike