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J.J. Abrams and son Henry announce a new Spider-Man comic at Marvel
J.J. Abrams is a busy guy. His second Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, is arriving in theaters this December, he's closing in on a massive new production deal, and his name is on everything from Castle Rock to Westworld. Now, with help from his son Henry, he's adding another job to his already busy 2019: Comic book writer.
Marvel Comics has been teasing, in the form of webbed numbers counting down from four, some kind of new Spider-Man announcement since Sunday. Fans have guessed everything from a comics adaptation of Sam Raimi's unproduced Spider-Man 4 to a new Fantastic Four team-up, but editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski swore we would never guess. Now we don't have to: It's a new miniseries from J.J. and Henry Abrams, with art by Sara Pichelli (Fantastic Four).
The New York Times announced the book Thursday morning via an interview with the father and son writing team, who said this is the culmination of a decade of Marvel editor Nick Lowe asking J.J. Abrams to do a project for the publisher.
"Nick had been pressing me to do a book with him. A year or so ago, I started talking about it with Henry and it sort of happened organically," Abrams said. "And that has been the joy of this. Even though I’ve been talking to Nick for a long time, weirdly, this feels like it just sort of evolved from the conversations of Henry and I, having ideas that got us excited and Nick being open to the collaboration."
Titled simply Spider-Man, the five-part miniseries will feature Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson facing a new villain named Cadaverous. Beyond that, plot details are still being kept under wraps, but Henry Abrams has described the story as a "new and different and exciting take on Spider-Man."
"I feel like I’ve developed not just as a writer, but someone that can appreciate stories more. Spider-Man is one of those superheroes where the more you read about him, for me at least, the less I understand him," Henry Abrams said. "He’s so anti-everything that you’d expect from a hero. I think Stan Lee said something about putting the human in superhuman. That is what we’re trying to do."
You can check out Olivier Coipel's cover for the first issue, featuring the glowing red eyes of Cadaverous, below.
Spider-Man #1 from J.J. Abrams and Henry Abrams will hit comic book stores in September.
