COMICS: Dan Slott Says, "I'm Going Into Hiding After AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700 Comes Out"

In a lengthy interview with Comic Book Resources, writer Dan Slott has talked about the major upcoming story arcs which are leading up to this December's landmark Amazing Spider-Man #700. While he's careful not to give too much away, it sounds as if VERY big changes are afoot for Spidey as Doctor Octopus learns Peter Parker's biggest secret (presumably that he's Spider-Man) with just hours left to live. After the unpopular "One More Day" fiasco, surely they aren't preparing to once again reveal his identity to the citizens of the Marvel Universe?! Well, only time will tell! Here's hoping Slott won't kill off the popular hero...

On Bringing Back Roderick Kingsley And The Initial Reaction From The Fans:

Oh my God, has this been a long time in the making! You'll notice when we first introduce Roderick Kingsley in "Big Time," he was fighting drug kingpins in Delvadia and moving in on their territory. He's down there with a plan. What we saw at the end of "No Turning Back" is that he's done this exact same schtick before -- trading of the Green Goblin's legacy to become the Hobgoblin. Now he's done something similar with the most fearsome and renowned character in Delvadia, the Tarantula. This plays right into his M.O. When we chopped off the "original" Hobgoblin's head in "Amazing" #649, the reaction we got from hardcore Hobgoblin fans was crazy. People wanted to boycott the book. They felt we were teasing them by bringing back Roderick Kingsley and then immediately chopping off his head the very next issue. There were YouTube videos, nasty message board comments and mean things said on Twitter. I had supposedly killed their favorite character. But c'mon! I chopped off the head of a guy wearing a mask. Not only that, but a guy who had a machine called the Winkler Device that was specifically built to hypnotize people into thinking that they were the Hobgoblin. And on top of that, he's a guy with an identical twin brother who he'd often send in his place to pretend to be the Hobgoblin! C'mon! [Laughs]

There have been odd times where there have been characters who wanted to be his sidekick. There's always been a twist, though. There was Bluebird from Kurt Busiek's "Untold Tales of Spider-Man," who Spidey quickly shut down. There was a a Superman-like character when Reggie Hudlin was doing some Spider-Man stories, but the twist was that character was really a Skrull. There was also a character who was really Moon Knight's sidekick, but who was cheating to suddenly make it feel like he was Spidey's sidekick. This is straight down the middle -- and on some levels that's never been done before in 50 years of Spider-Man continuity. Peter does not want a sidekick. He's worked with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, but since "Ends of the Earth," he really just wants to be responsible for himself. There's a moment in "No Turning Back" where Uatu Jackson -- who has built all this vampire hunting equipment and he really wants to go with Spidey and help him track down Morbius -- Spider-Man tells him, "No. I work alone!" That's directly tied towards his feelings of guilt and, "Oh my God, I went on all these missions with Black Widow and Silver Sable and Sable is gone." Even though Madame Web has told him that she's still alive, Spidey thinks she might be lying.

They're very different on some levels. Phil is very much a lucky amateur and Roderick Kingsley is the old, seasoned pro. Phil does things on whims and Roderick plans things out meticulously. One thing they very much have in common is raw ambition. Something snapped in Phil during "The Loners" miniseries, while Roderick Kingsley has very much been playing a long game. I don't think you can do that if you're loopy. I don't want to give too much away, but you are going to see a war of the Goblins. There are some other gobliny elements that will pop up. [Laughs] Plus, there are some things that we've been seeding ever since the end of "Spider-Island." Like Tiberius Stone, an unscrupulous member of Horizon Labs who will be seeing more of later, has stolen the plans for the Spider Jammers. The Jammers are the devices Horizon eventually used to spark Spider-Man's spider-sense back after he lost it. These things were used like a giant, electric dog collar to keep all the people with spider powers in Manhattan during "Spider-Island." So now you have all this tech in the hands of Phil's employer, the Kingpin, and that's going to be very important.

A heck of a big one. In "Amazing Spider-Man" #600, we established that Doc Ock had months to live. Thanks to the compression of "Marvel Time," it's down to weeks in "Ends of the Earth." Then, in issue #700, he's down to hours. This is it. This is the end game. "Ends of the Earth" was his one last big master plan. In issue #700, he's got nothing left to lose. And big SPOILERS if you have not read the solicits for #698, Doc Ock with nothing left to lose and hours left to live knows Peter Parker's secret. Everything he's ever tried to accomplish in his life has ended in misery and failure and it's all been because of one man. Now, he's got hours left to live and he knows exactly the name to put with that face. I'm really happy with our 1-2-3 punch of #698, #699 and #700. I think people are not going to forget this one. This story will raise some really strong emotions in Spider-Man fans. It will probably be one of the biggest things I ever do to a Marvel Comics character in my career. I don't know if people will start making little dart boards of me or not for this one. I've said it before, but I'm going into hiding after issue #700 comes out. I'm not looking at message boards. I'm not poking my head up out of that hole, because what happens in issue #700 is big! The lead story will be 50 pages, then there will be extra material by guest stars.