Marvel Comics was at C2E2 this past weekend and held several Spider-Man panels celebrating the character’s 60th anniversary. On Saturday, Mike Del Mundo And Skottie Young held court to celebrate 60 years of Amazing, Spectacular, and Sensational Spider-Man.
Play-by-play of the panel:
Everyone is welcomed to the Amazing, Spectacular, Sensational Spider-Man panel. It’s joked that fans of the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” however, won’t be accommodated today.
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Mike Del Mundo and Skottie Young are introduced. Young jokes that it’s funny that the two guys who showed up are cover guys.
They’re asked what their first exposure to Spider-Man was.
Del Mundo says his was the “Double Trouble” safety PSA comic.
Young says his was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the cartoon.
“To me, it’s funny now that I understand all the stuff of Spider-Man, but my version had a fireplace that you pull a statue and it turns around to a computer lab.”
It also provided an inroad to every other part of the Marvel Universe because there was a guest star every other episode.
He also remembers watching the Nicholas Hammond live-action show, but it’s probably for the best he doesn’t remember it — no offense to Nicholas Hammond.
They’re asked what the point was where they really knew they dug the character.
Del Mundo says Todd McFarlane and then Erik Larsen.
Young says Todd was sick, but Erik gets overlooked. Hypes his Sinister Six arc.
Young also cites a Doc Ock book that told his origin and framed him as more of a tragic/sympathetic figure.
“Spider-Man’s the one figure that we feel like we can all connect.” – Young
He says a lot of comics are about middle-aged dudes, and you think, “You should be old enough to maybe deal with these issues a little bit better.”
He says a lot of comics are about middle-aged dudes, and you think, “You should be old enough to maybe deal with these issues a little bit better.”
Favorite Spider-Man villain?
Young says he loves Doc Ock because he thinks he looks ridicuuuuuuulous. Sandman looks dope, but the original Doc Ock with the triangle/hexagon glasses and the arms is wild.
Young jokes that even in Spider-Man 2, he’s a guy who wants to give free energy to the world. And then he accidentally grafts arms to his back and wants to EVILLY give free energy to the world.
Vulture is also ridiculous — an old man dressed as a bird? But there’s something classic and simple about the ridiculous villains.
Superior Spider-Man is also praised because you got a true rise and fall, redemption storyline.
Young says the Superior Spider-Man stuff was really cool to watch unfold in real-time in planning meetings, with Dan presenting ideas and then there’s “No, you can’t do that.”
Del Mundo says the best part of that series is Ock realizing Peter was holding back his punches all those years. (Reference to him accidentally punching Scorpion’s jaw off.)
Del Mundo says he also loves Doc Ock because he’s really fun to draw. He loves his bowl cut.
A fan is asked who his fav villain is. He says Green Goblin, because he’s the opposite of everything Peter Parker is.
Another fan is asked. He got into Spider-Man from the ‘90s cartoon, and he loves Kingpin and all the schemes he hatched around Spider-Man. It was also weird seeing this “big fat guy” give Spider-Man so many problems, but it’s also all muscle.
Young adds that everyone also underestimates Kingpin’s intellect and determination.
Another fan: Green Goblin is his favorite because he started reading comics when Norman was brought back, and he learned how personal the vendetta between Spider-Man and Norman was over time.
A final fan is asked: He loves Ben Reilly. He’s been good, bad, good again, and then bad again. Fan says he’s underrated.
Young adds, “Also, sleeveless blue hoodies are amazing.”
Who’s the best Spidey girl? (Everyone Peter’s had a relationship with who’s a nudge above friendship.)
Del Mundo and Young both say Mary Jane.
Young says he loves the relationship in the new Spider-Man movies with that version of MJ.
The panelists note that Gwen was crucial and easy to take for granted at times, but her death was the first to really matter long-term.
A fan is asked: He says Silk is his favorite, though she’s often overlooked.
Spider-Gwen came out around the same time and sort of lapped her. Young chimes in, “Spider-Gwen had a hoodie!”
Next fan says he loves Black Cat/Felicia Hardy.
“No other Black Cat/Felicia fans? You guys must be here with your girlfriends.”
Best supporting cast member?
Del Mundo and Young both think… “Who do I draw on covers?” – Young
Young liked the dynamics of the period during Paul Jenkins’ time writing Spider-Man where he had a couple roommates and was in college. “I feel like for that brief period, I got to look through the window of him as a young person and not always fighting bad guys.”
Del Mundo has to give it up to Aunt May.
J. Jonah Jameson also gets love. He works as a foil but is a very 3-dimensional character who deep down believes in social justice.
A fan is asked and says Curt Connors. In the 90s animated series, Curt is one of the most reliable people in Peter’s life…but he also kind of unintentionally creates most of Peter’s bad guys.
Another fan says Robbie Robertson because of how he plays off of Peter and JJJ.
Another fan says Flash Thompson, who eventually gets redemption after being a total jerk.
One last fan is asked and says Miles Morales is his favorite supporting character. (A couple people groan at the idea of Miles being a supporting character.)
What’s been the best thing about working on Spider-Man projects and what’s the secret to his longevity?
Young says it’s two artists up there, so all their answers are gonna be going back to art.
Young says part of it is because the design is so classic and it works. Every time you try to mess with it, “it’s like putting TNT in your mouth.” Trying to change the costume is often like trying to reinvent fire. We already have fire, and fire works.
Young also says his first series at Marvel was a Spider-Man series. He had done a fill-in series for Ice Man. He went from that to Legends of Spider-Clan mini-series. Now 21 years later, he’s on panels talking about Spider-Man.
“That’s the power of things that people make up is that it can change real people’s lives forever, you know what I mean?” – Young
Del Mundo says it comes back to art for him, too. Spider-Man is able to transition through different art styles across different eras. Not many characters work as well with that.
“He’s also very easy to draw. All those webs hide everything.” – Del Mundo
Young says his go-to for Spider-Man is he has to be spindly, like how McFarlane brought him back to being visually.
Bulky Spider-Man doesn’t look as right.
Young also loves that Spider-Man puts the mask on and feels the confidence to be like, “I’m gonna clown you right now.”
A fan asks the panel what their favorite Spider-Man team-up is. Young loves Spider-Man and Wolverine. Del Mundo says he’s always loved Spider-Man and Deadpool. “I drew some of those covers.” Everyone laughs.
Young says he also loves the Spider-Verse team-up. He says he’s seen it like a trillion times, and he puts it on in the background a lot and never gets tired of it.
Steve Wacker is called to the panel.
Wacker says the best team-up Spider-Man has had was Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Everyone laughs.
But his favorite team-up has got to be… “I can’t think of any!”
“That’s how you edit.” – Wacker
(Wacker edited Spider-Man from 2007 to 2013)
What’s everyone’s favorite costume?
Young says Manga Spider-Man.
Wacker says Bombastic Bag-Man.
A figure of that suit is finally coming out this year as a Target exclusive.
“Nice plug for Target.” – Wacker
Best friend for Spidey?
Wacker says the person he thinks he could best connect with and who they haven’t done enough team-ups with is Ben Grimm.
Beyond that, Aunt May.
Wacker also says Human Torch. He recalls a time that Stan Lee called him and pitched a Sunday comic style short to run in the back of Spider-Man for several months. The premise: The first time Spider-Man met the Fantastic Four. He jokes that he told Stan he thought that was Amazing Spider-Man 1, and then he had to put Stan on speaker phone because he was yelling at him at that point — and as a Catholic, the guilt kicked in and he felt it was all his own fault. But they ended up doing the shorts anyway!
The panel wraps up.
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