Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos take over a brand-new Spider-Man title this month.

With certified hits such as Origin, Inhumans and The Sentry, writer Paul Jenkins has also turned Peter Parker Spider-Man back into a high-action, adventure series, but this month he gets a brand new series, The Spectacular Spider-Man with artist Humberto Ramos. And the writer couldn't be happier.

MIKE COTTON: You and Humberto were already working on Peter Parker Spider-Man together, why launch a new book?
PAUL JENKINS: In some ways this is a new take on Spider-Man for me. If you look at what the books are right now, we're trying to be separate and that's something that is not being done by anyone else. And trying to say, 'What's the reason for having this Spider-Man book and all the others.' I'll tell you what we're doing. We're continuing in a similar vein to Peter Parker, in the sense it's my writing style. But Spider-Man's a metaphor, he represents that time when you get up and you have to go to work but you've got the flue and you don't want to go to work and you bang the clock three or four times. Finally you say, 'Aw, sh*t," and you get into traffic and it takes you an hour and a half to drive to work. It's that sense of duty that we can all relate to.

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 - SIGNED BY PAUL JENKINS

COTTON: So, how's Spectacular Spider-Man different? JENKINS: Well, I started thinking, "If that's what Spider-Man represents, what do all these people surround him, specifically the villains-what do they represent." We've had a pretty good run with that [Green] Goblin story that was really well received. And people seemed to think we got to the heart of the matter-what kind of people they were, what kind or relationship do they have? COTTON: Is the focus of the book going to be villains?

JENKINS: I said, "Why can't we go and get all of these old villains and I'm not going to recreate them but in some ways do that because in Joe's [Straczynski] got his take on doing it." It does a kind of ongoing saga of new stuff. And it's not a matter of rehashing over old stuff, I never do that-we're not even going to really use old continuity. We're going to take these old villains and see if we can show how each villain represents a feeling. A great example is the Rhino, he's a metaphor for that type of criminal, or the kind of person who you might meet, who can't live inside his own skin. He's unsatisfied with himself.

COTTON: Who else will you focus on?
JENKINS: We know what's happened with a lot of these Spider-Man characters, now I think fans want to know why they do these things. That's what I'm setting out to do. The question is: who are these people and why do they do what they do? That's what I've set out to do-here's my story with Venom or Rhino. We're starting with a pretty cool five-issue Venom arc I think the fans will be excited about because it's turned out even better than the Goblin story.

COTTON: What about the supporting cast?
JENKINS: We have a ongoing subplot with Flash [Thompson], who in the Spider-Man story with the Goblin has been paralyzed and basically lost his mind and he's confined to a wheelchair not because he can't walk but much more because he's lost the ability to make himself walk with his mind. We've got May and I'll use the people at the Daily Bugle sometimes. I kind of feel like the keeper of the flame sometimes, I really like using some of the older characters like Jonah, Robbie, all the people there.

THE DARKNESS PRELUDE #1 - SIGNED BY PAUL JENKINS

COTTON: Venom's crazy popular again. What do you want to do with him? JENKINS: The first thing for me to do with Venom is to sit down and figure out what is Venom? What is the point of Venom? What does he represent? Why does he appeal to readers? When I make that decision, that's when I can write a good Venom story. What I think Venom represents is this infernal triangle. There's this triangle between this suit, Eddie Brock and Peter Parker. The suit in a way needs and wants Peter Parker and has always kind of rejected Eddie Brock, Eddie Brock hates Peter Parker and wants the suit to stay with him and Peter Parker wants to save Eddie Brock and would reject the suit. It's all about addiction. It's a metaphor for addiction.

COTTON: I see.
JENKINS: I feel like Venom is, when you get to the bottom of it, he's the person, Eddie Brock and the creature, the suit. It's kind of a duality to the character. He even talks about himself in the fourth person. Eddie Brock is a prick; the suit is just taking on his person. But the interesting thing is, even though he's a complete prick and blaming Spider-Man for his own failings, which is a very typical human failing. But you kind of feel bad for him. And that's what I'm trying to get in there. He can't just be one person; he has to be rounded out. It's kind of tragic.

COTTON: Any other villains you want to use?
JENKINS: We're definitely doing Elektro, Vulture, Hypno-Hustler's going to be in one of them. I have a great Hypno-Hustler story. Someone finds the only remaining Hypno-Hustler album and they start using it in raves, to get the kids f---ed up even if they're not on acid. And Hypno-Hustler shows up looking for his royalties. Mindworm will show up too in one. But the Mindworm story will be very sad.

COTTON: Is it tough to work on a book and character with so much continuity?
JENKINS: My trick to not messing up continuity is that I kind of have to be familiar with it but I never refer to it. I try not to make any reference to old continuity.

Mike Cotton is a staff writer for Wizard Magazine. For all the comic book news fit to print, check out Wizard on sale every month at comic book specialty shops and newsstands everywhere.

The Cotton Club Archive

August 7 , 2003 - HOLLYWOOD RUN DOWN July 31, 2003 - SPIDER-MAN 2 July 24, 2003 - BAG MAN July 17, 2003 - Moore or Less July 10, 2003 - Ink Test July 2, 2003 - HURRICANE WARNING June 25, 2003 - BANNER BANTER June 10, 2003 - PETER DAVID June 3 , 2003 - PAUL JENKINS May 28 , 2003 - GEOFF JOHNS May 21 , 2003 - BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS May 14 , 2003 - PHIL JIMENEZ May 9 , 2003 - Don't F[l]inch April 29 , 2003 - The X-Factors April 17 , 2003 - X2 Reviewed January 13, 2003 - Game Boy - WizKid’s HeroClix January 3, 2003- 2003 Bigger than 2002? December 20 , 2002 - Ring Bearer - A two-bit tour for ‘Two Towers’ novices December 13 , 2002 - ‘Sine of the Times December 6 , 2002 - Killer Read November 30, 2002 - Lex's World November 23, 2002 - Truth and Consequences November 15, 2002 - Triple X November 8 , 2002 - Giving the Devil his Due October 31, 2002 - Superhero DVD Preview October 25, 2002 - Mad Cow October 18 , 2002 - 80's a Go-GO October 11 , 2002 - Best Bets on Bats October 4, 2002 - Hunters & Pray September 27 , 2002 - The War Within September 19 , 2002 - Lee-Der of the pack. September 13 , 2002 - The Next Generation. September 6 , 2002 - Marvel Melee. August 30, 2002 - Breaking In. Joe Quesada reveals the ins and outs of getting work at Marvel. August 23, 2002 - Painted Into a Corner. An Interview with Greg Hildebrandt. August 16, 2002 - X-citing News on X-Men 2!