Dan Slott

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Slott on October 25, 2007.
Slott on October 25, 2007.

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer best known for Avengers: The Initiative and She-Hulk. He is also one of the four writers of Amazing Spider-Man. He is renowned for injecting humor into typically serious superhero books.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Slott in April 2006.
Slott in April 2006.

[edit] Breaking into comics

In the early 1990s Slott's entered the comics industry as a college intern at Marvel Comics for (then) editor Fabian Nicieza. Slott had recently graduated from college and had taken the non-paying position, posing as an undergrad, as a way to make contacts and to learn the business of comics. After a few months, Slott was told that Marvel wanted to hire him for a staff position, but only after he finished his college education. Slott admitted he had already graduated and was put on staff full-time. In the following years Slott served as Marvel's art returnist, an assistant editor, and gave guided tours of the offices. During this time, he also worked as both a freelance writer and last-minute colorist.[citation needed]

[edit] Early writing

Slott's break came when he became the regular writer for Marvel’s Ren and Stimpy comic. Following its success (it consistently placed in the top 50 best-selling comics) he found himself in high demand to write more children's comics, including DC’s Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes and Powerpuff Girls, but was eager to show a more serious side in superhero comics. After work on Batman Adventures and Justice League Adventures, Slott was given the chance to pitch a series for DC. The resulting miniseries was Arkham Asylum: Living Hell with artist Ryan Sook in 2003. In 2004 he wrote the 4th Parallel storyline for the Justice League which introduced the Red King; this story was published in 2007 in JLA Classified #32-36.

[edit] Marvel Comics work

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
Slott with writer Peter David at a book signing at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan, October 25, 2007. The signing marked the "passing of the torch" from Slott to David, as David's first issue of She-Hulk following Slott's departure was published the previous day.
Slott with writer Peter David at a book signing at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan, October 25, 2007. The signing marked the "passing of the torch" from Slott to David,[1] as David's first issue of She-Hulk following Slott's departure was published the previous day.

Arkham Asylum's success led to Slott's return to Marvel in 2004 to launch a new She-Hulk series. The title focused on She-Hulk as a "superhuman lawyer" in the Marvel Universe. The series was well received by online critics and developed a cult following,[citation needed] leading to further writing assignments at Marvel. Though well regarded, Marvel felt that the book would perform better if it were placed on hiatus and relaunched with a new first issue.[citation needed] After relaunching in October 2005 the second series met with higher sales, and after tie-ins with crossover events Civil War and World War Hulk, reached its highest numbers yet. In 2007 Slott left the title as of (volume 2) #21, to become one of the writers on Amazing Spider-Man.[2]

While She-Hulk was on hiatus in 2005, Slott penned the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries, which chronicled the friendship of the two characters over the years, with each issue paying tribute to a different era of Marvel Comics.

Slott also gave the team the Great Lakes Avengers their first ever solo miniseries in GLA: Misassembled. The story satirized comic book deaths and "grim'n'gritty" crossover events such as Avengers Disassembled and Identity Crisis[citation needed] by killing off a character in each issue. He also made the first roster changes to the team since its inception by creating a new character, Grasshopper, and reviving an obscure one, Squirrel Girl. During this creative period, Slott signed an exclusive contract with Marvel. He has since returned to the GLA twice, first with the GLX-mas Special over Christmas 2005, following a name change to the Great Lakes X-Men, and then again in the Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular in summer 2007 with co-writer Fabian Nicieza, to coincide with Marvel's Initiative crossover.

At the end of 2005, Slott was assigned to write The Thing's first solo series in 20 years. While well-received by critics,[citation needed] The Thing was not a sales success and was canceled with issue #8, despite Slott's attempts to rally readers in a campaign he called "Pull My Thing." The eight issues have been released in a trade paperback entitled Idol of Millions.

Currently, Slott is the writer of Marvel's Avengers: The Initiative, which launched following the conclusion of the 2006-7 Civil War storyline and debuted as Slott's first top ten book.[citation needed] He is also one of the four writers of the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man, a schedule which began in January 2008 following the controversial storyline One More Day. His first three issues placed in the top ten highest selling comics for January, with the first issue taking the number two spot that month, selling around 128,000 copies, a 3% jump from the previous month.[3]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ David, Peter; "Store appearance today" Peter David announces the signing on his blog; October 25, 2007.
  2. ^ "SDCC '07: STEVE WACKER NAMES THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN TEAMS" newsarama.com
  3. ^ "'Hulk' Tops January Charts, Corrected Totals Change #1 Title"; icv2.com; March 4, 2008.
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