New ‘Avenging Spider-Man’ Series to be ‘Action Movie in Every Issue’ [Preview]

Marvel Comics announced this week The Avenging Spider-Man, a new ongoing series starring the legendary superhero and a rotating cast of guest-stars from the Avengers. Created by writer Zeb Wells and artist Joe Madureira and launching in November, Avenging Spider-Man is meant to be "a summer action movie in every issue," as opposed to the more character-based stories written by Dan Slott in The Amazing Spider-Man. The news was made via a press conference call with Wells, Maduereira and editor Stephen Wacker, and you can read the highlights and see early artwork below.

As always, the conference call was moderated by Marvel Junior Sales Administrator James Viscardi with a concurrent live blog managed by Marvel.com editors Ryan Penagoes, Ben Morse and Marc Storm. On the line were Avenging Spider-Man creators Zeb Wells, Joe Madureira and editor Stephen Wacker, all of whom stressed that the series is designed to be an action-heavy alternative to the traditional "soap opera" style of Spidey stories created by Dan Slott and his collaborators in Amazing Spider-Man.

"With Dan Slott nailing all the Peter Parker soap opera stuff in Amazing Spider-Man, we wanted to a book about Spider-Man as a super hero, out there in the Marvel Universe with the Avengers. This is the big super action movie of Spider-Man every month, with Joe Mad on art." -Zeb Wells

Beginning in November, the series' first arc will feature the Red Hulk but feature the majority of Avengers in guest-starring roles. Wells said even though the Avengers will be a starting point for who Spider-Man teams up with in Avenging, the series will include the broader Marvel Universe as it progresses. "A lot of the fun is finding a third character who can interact with both Spidey and the Avenger in that issue."

Spider-Man has been Maduereira's favorite character since he was a kid. Viscardi said that now that the artist's own children are Spidey fans, he doesn't think they'll realize how cool it is that he's drawing this book until they're holding it in their hands.

"I loved Spider-Man because he was funny. Over the years, depending on the writer, sometimes he's funny, sometimes he's not. Zeb is very very funny. I hope I can pull it off, but we're going to have some good comedy in there with serious big action." -Joe Madureira
"I don't like working on stuff unless it's going to make an impact. I want people to talk about this and remember it. If I finally get my crack at Spider-Man and then blow it, ugh. I will happily walk in front of a bus to sell more copies after I finish." -Joe Madureira

Morse was emphatic that Avenging Spider-Man will be a monthly title.