garg and spidey fan writes...

Long time reader first time poster. Something that I found odd in season two of spectacular spider-man was how apparently Norman set up this mentor thing with Pete up in the season opener yet we hardly saw anything of it. There was the teaser for shear strength and that thing with Pete having an osberry prototype in a later episode but beyond that there wasn't really anything else we saw with this mentor thing. I wonder why was that? Did you originally intend to have more of it as a bigger lead in for Osborns reveal as the goblin and simply found there wasn't enough room for it in most episodes, or were we going to see some of this in flashbacks in a later episode where it would be relevant to the story? I ask because it really had me intrigued when i saw this in blueprints and I was slightly dissapointed with the end result not really being much of anything. Although for the record I really loved the show over all and was dissapointed it ended when it did.

Akeem M. writes...

Hey Greg,
Thank you for the two Spectacular seasons of what may be the best Spidey series ever. Unfortunately it was cut shorter than it should have been because of things that were beyond your or any of us fans’ control. I have a few questions about the show.

1) What race are Miles and Aaron Warren in the show? They are clearly tanned and a darker shade from the white characters in the show. Also, they are voiced by Brain George, who normally plays South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, etc) characters. So I’m wondering what specific race you made them. And hey I might as well throw Ox from the Enforcers as well, who is also clearly tanned and his voice actor is Latino (Mexican to be specific), so is it right to assume that Ox is Mexican?

2) You said you had plans for Emily Osborn as she is dead in the comics and has been dead since Harry’s birth. My first assumption is to have someone to run Oscorp while Norman is “out of the picture” as Harry is too young to be a CEO of a business. Is this the case, or were there other things behind her inclusion. She just seemed to be there in the scenes we’ve seen her in; she was either cutting food or walking away. Was she in on the identity and antics of her husband’s costumed criminal alter ego?

3) You have also mentioned you had long term plans for Kraven the Hunter in his beastly form. Since we won’t be seeing those plans come to the small screen at all I would like to ask what those plans were. Most people think that you were just going to make him human again, either via Calypso, or some other way. Were your plans for him about regretting his choice to become mutated in order to beat Spidey? Please let us know what your plans were, as it is an intriguing departure from the comics (and you tesased us about it).

4) Now, according to you in, your Spectacular universe it is now well known to the public that Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin after his “final” fight in Season 2. In the comics, the Green Goblin’s identity was a mystery to the general public in the comics until real recently in Spidey’s comic history. In fact, before Norman came back from the dead, Norman’s hobby was the leverage that Roderick Kingsley had on the Osborn family for blackmail during his stint as the Hobgoblin. I’m curious to know why you made this decision and how the Hobgoblin story would have been handled with the information that Roderick had just out in the open to everyone in New York like that.

5) Also, even though it's all moot now, I need to know, what were your major plans for the show had it continued...provided that what you answered above wasn't all of it. You don’t need to give any SPECIFIC details since aside from Hobgoblin and Scorpion showing up in season 3 and Peter graduating high school at the end of the series' run, nothing was ever really set in stone. However you did have some ideas about where you wanted the series to go, and I can assure you that the many other fans and I would love to hear any of your ideas about where you were headed with the show. And...the fact that I'm kinda desprate for ANYTHING Spidey related now that there is nothing on TV until next year....

Anonymous writes...

For some reason, Man-Wolf is a very cool villain to me. I loved what you were doing with John in the show. Did you have a plan to make him Man-Wolf? It seemed like Professor Warren was going to be the perfect catalyst/enabler for that transformation.

Also, you once said that even if one didn't like the transformation of Kraven, to bear with it because you had some really cool plans extending from that. Would you be able to give us an idea of what those plans were?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

one last question:
In response to my appreciative ramble on your portrayal of Flash Thompson in the cartoon you answered that you had specific ideas about when and why Flash stopped liking Peter and being friends but you were on the fence about revealing them. Similarly on when he transitioned to actually tormenting Peter and whether all this took place before or after Peter’s parents’ deaths. If you have come off the fence in whole or in part I’d love to hear more.

You also said that Flash’s well timed hauling of Peter over the coals for his bad treatment of others was the reason he was went to the hospital and not to visit Aunt May. (Though I suppose he may have visited as well.) If despite all the animosity he believes he justly holds towards Peter he still came and did that, it speaks all the more highly of him. Also kudos to the animators for giving him that annoyed look that fits very well with: ‘I have to be doing this right thing here, but you really don’t deserve it’.

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

This is touching on the type of theoretical questions you hate, but I’ll attempt it…

Are there any shows you watch that you wish you were involved in? Any shows you are glad you weren’t involved with because you wouldn’t want it any other different than it is? Any shows you didn’t enjoy, but think you could have made the concept shine? I don’t necessarily mean something you worked on and it didn’t work out, (like when you wrote the series bible to Roswell Conspiracies or the like), I mean even seeing a cartoon as an adult that you enjoyed as a child and thinking ‘if I were doing that…’. That creative itch that sometimes hits when watching a show and really wanting to play in that sandbox.

I figure either you'll hate this question or one or two examples will suddenly spring to mind.

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

I read an interesting article arguing that Ditko walked away from Spiderman because of an affront to his Objectivism principles. Specifically that he was setting up Norman Osborn to be Peter’s mentor and an exemplar of Objectivism. I was wondering what your thoughts were on the theory, and if there was ever a thought about it when working on Spectacular Spiderman?

lamberto writes...

i was wondering how your production team came to the decision on how to pronounce sha shan nguyen's last name. it is also my last name and since i was young i have always pronounced it "new-win". yet others pronounce it "new-yen". just curious. you don't see "nguyen" much in the media.

Z_n_a_k writes...

Dear Greg,please tell me,when will we see third season Spectacular Spiderman?

anonymous writes...

Hello,
I checked the archives and didn't see it asked, so if it was, sorry. I'm confused. You said that the timeline for "The Spectacular Spider-Man" is basically the 1962 era, when Spidey first meets his foes and when he first meets the early Marvel heroes, like Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, and Ant Man as examples. You mentioned Donald Blake hasn't gone to Norway yet and become Thor, but I thought Thor was from 1962 and made his debut before Spider-Man? Anyway, I wanted to ask, when does this show go into the "1963" era of your show? Season three, if there is one? Has it basically started since the January and on episodes of season two?

Thanx for reading. :)

Frederick writes...

Hi, Greg. I wanted to know if there's a website or magazine or SOMETHING that has ratings/updates for Spiderman in it? I'm sure you get a lot of questions asking for the status of the series, and I wanted to know if we can be proactive and check a source or something.

Yotam writes...

Dear Greg,

I suspect you are not permitted to give out any information regarding the matter about which I'm about to ask, but seeing as how I have nothing to lose by simply asking, I'll just go ahead and hope for the best:

What can you say regarding the current status of The Spectacular Spider-Man TV status? Has the show been officially cancelled? I've figured that might be the case considering it's been a while since the last time anything was said about the show, but I wanted to get an official word before losing hope.

Best regards,
Yotam.

AJC writes...

Hi

Sorry this isn't about the ASM comic you wrote, although I will read it soon. This is a question I was surprised no one has asked and I'm wondering if you thought about it. My question is concerned with the Spectacular Spider-man show. What's unique about your series is that well, its serialized. We're seeing Peter grow up month by month and were watching the seasons of the year change. I'm assuming you aren't going to do a time jump or anything so finally here are my questions: did you vic, or cheeks ever question how you were going to show pete age visually? Considering this is not like other tv shows where there is no strict chronological time line, did you talk about having peter's design change every year, every mid season etc. to reflect that he is getting older? What about other characters?

I hope I remember to come back and find this question in your blog many months (or years!) ahead because I am intrigued by how you will answer this.

John writes...

Love Spectacular Spider-Man, great show. Personally, I like it because it reminds me of Lee/Ditko and Lee/Romita, rather than the increasingly complex and twisting story lines of the present.

1) Will Gwen die? I have to know. You've said that you wanted to "stay true to the themes" from the comics, but I always thought Gwen's death was sort of unnecessary.

2) On imdb, I read that you wanted Venom and Spider-Man to settle their differences and become allies. That seem so completely implausible that I had to ask about it.

Rohan writes...

Okay, whether or not it actually happens, are you in support of a third season for spectacular spiderman? I know it's based on ratings (and we have a lot of signatures on the petition site), but do you want it to happen?

Matt writes...

Greg,
I noticed that almost every single villain gets an episode or two (sometimes more) to be introduced to the audience before taking on Spider-Man in Spectacular Spider-Man. Rhino, Sandman, and the Enforcers were thugs, and Hammerhead has had a few bits of his past revealed as well. So why did you choose the opposite course of action for Tombstone?

Also, excellent issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Flash Thompson seems to be a hard character to really understand, but you truly understand Flash. Thank you.

Greg Bishansky writes...

This is a question I've been sitting on for a while. But, does Mendel Stromm exist in "The Spectacular Spider-Man" Universe? Part of me would think that he does, but at the same time, the more I think about him, the more redundant he becomes.

Obviously, in the comics, he was the creator of the formula that transformed Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin. Although, in this series, Norman claims that he invented the globulin green... and, while he's not exactly trustworthy, I haven't been given a reason to doubt him.

Yeah, he could fill the role of the scientist partner that Norman screwed over, but we've got that in Adrian Toomes... sort of. Granted they weren't business partners, but Norman screwed him over and stole his invention. Otto also fills a role as a scientist in Osborn's employ who Norman stabbed in the back.

And, as a supervillain, Stromm was the self titled, Robot Master. Which would feel redundant if the much more interesting Spencer Smythe and his Spider-Slayers ever pop up.

Like you, I try to think of the core truth of who these characters are, and Stromm's role seems to be filled by other, more interesting characters.

So, I'm curious, does he exist? Or has he gone the way of Herman Schultz?

Mo writes...

Hi. No questions this time, just had some quick comments:

1) I read your issue of ASM. Fun stuff. I liked the use of the framing device; it was a nice story to go along with the Morbius feature. I hope you write some more issues in the future.
2) I read on Wikipedia that Boomerang will appear in the 4th season of Spidey as a new member of the Enforcers. I'm not asking if it's true, I just thought you might find it funny.
3) If the show's renewed by the time you get this, congrats. If not, i'm pulling for ya.

Thanks again!

David B. Jacobs writes...

Hey Greg! I was just rewatching a couple of episodes of TSSM and a few more questions came to mind.

1. In Opening Night, why didn't they confiscate Spidey's webbing when they locked him in the Vault? If he was a real prisoner, they surely would have....
2. Also, I noticed that in the end of said episode, Hobie says "Goblin shall restore amends" instead of "Robin shall restore amends." Obviously this was intentional, but what was DEVERAUX's motivation for changing the line?
3. Had Nick Bottom not been cast before Flash got the part?
4. In Subtext, Hobie is seen at the rehearsal with MJ and Liz. Though I don't Midsummer's by heart, I assuming that meant that he already had a part (he at least had lines - he was cut off by Deveraux again). What was his original part and who replaced him when he became Puck?

Anonymous writes...

Hey Greg, The Gargoyles/Spectacular Spider-Man Crossover You Wrote For The Radio Play At The Gathering is Canon Right? Or it will be once Disney approves to make it right? i mean since Disney now bought marvel comics and that's what you intended for it?

PPL writes...

Hi Greg,

This isn't about Amazing Spider-Man #622, but is sort of related, and something I was wondering about for a while.

How did it come about that Tricia Helfer was cast as the voice of Black Cat on TSSM? I think most people would have known her from Battlestar Galactica, in which she plays a somewhat similar role*.

I noticed that she also voiced Black Cat in a Spider-Man game from 2008. Do you know whether she first did recordings for TSSM or for that game?

I ask because it doesn't seem like she's best known for her voice acting, but also that I wouldn't expect you to allow the casting of voice actors on one of your show solely based only on their reputation as a live-action actor.

*Or multiple roles, if one wants to get into that kind of discussion, but that hardly seems like the right thing to bring up here.

Alex writes...

This is a question about Spectacular Spider-Man, have you guys actually started on season 3 and beyond or are you waiting for the ok from the network executives?

David B. Jacobs writes...

I recall that you've only seen a couple of episodes of Spider-Man TAS, and from your descriptions, I believe they were Season 3 episodes. But the curious thing is that in Alien Costume Part One, a Season 1 episode, the symbiote came to earth via John Jameson's space shuttle, much in the way as in TSSM. So my question is: Is this a simple case of great minds think alike, or was the idea of bringing the symbiote in that way proposed by someone else on the crew who may have seen more of TAS?

Merc with a Mouth writes...

1. In an episode of SSM Spidey says this side of Vlad the Impaler what does that mean? Did Vlad have split personalities or something?

David B. Jacobs writes...

Hey Greg!
Don't know if you'll know this, but when Sony relinquished Spider-Man TV rights, did that include the theme song? In other words, assuming TSSM comes back (and I'm also assuming that it will have already been renewed by the time you get this), then will you be able to use the same theme song, or will you have to make a new one? 'Cause I LOVE that theme song!!!!!!! (Although I'm sure you could another one just as good....)

Merc with a Mouth writes...

1. What's Season 3's status as of the end of Season 2?

2. Will you be able to use any Spidey/Punisher team up arcs?

3. If you use Human Torch will you be able use the rest of the FF?

4. Also will you have Sandman and Electro join the Frightful Four and use the arc where they ambush Spidey on the Statue of Liberty?

5. Also will Sandman reform?

6. Will we see Daredevil? I doubt it but just wondering.

7. Sorry about all these questions