Joe Quesada Dishes on Miles Morales

With the announcement of Marvel's new Ultimate Spider-Man hot on the minds of every fanboy and industry commentator, Joe Quesada voices his thoughts on the subject.

On the Death of Peter Parker and the Introduction of an ethnic Spider-Man:

Now, the idea to kill off Ultimate Spider-Man happened, you could say, simultaneously across two continents. Over in Scotland, a rascally mad-genius named Mark Millar had this idea for a death of Spider-Man story. About the same time, back in NYC, a small group of Marvel folk -- which included the Ultimate Editorial office, as well as Axel, Tom Brevoort and myself -- was trying to come up with some cool ideas to shake up the Ultimate Universe. That's when I mentioned the concept of Ultimate Spider-Man's death. Heck, if we wanted a shake-up, let's get ballsy and start with the title that has been there through thick and thin. The question was, was there a compelling enough story to tell; not just for the death, but for what was to come after, which ultimately was much more important? I was expecting everyone to look at me as if I'd lost my mind, but the room embraced it immediately. Once the conversation started down that road, it gathered momentum and suddenly had no brakes. As we talked about it, the next obvious question came up: if the aftermath to the death of Peter was the most important part of all of this, who should take over the mantle of Spider-Man? Remember that idea of an ethnic Spidey that was in the wind waiting for plucking? Well...

It suddenly seemed obvious to all of us, and the room lit up. There was only one question left, what would Brian think of it? Remember, Brian up until this point had been writing "Ultimate Spider-Man" for nearly a decade and well over a hundred issues, and we were about to ask him if he was open to killing off his lead character. Truth be told, if Brian hadn't been open to it, we would have abandoned the concept because, let's face it, the success of Ultimate Spidey has so much to do with Brian and his personal investment in the title that there would be no sense moving forward if he wasn't on board. So, with some trepidation I called Brian and was floored as he embraced the idea on the spot. We were off and running!

Let me add, this is what makes Brian one of the very best creators in the industry. Regardless of how much success he's had, he's always open to new ideas and ready to embrace them if they make for a great story.

A few weeks later, Mark comes to town for the big Ultimate Universe creative summit, and he stops by my place to visit with my family. Over dinner he tells me that he's going to pitch editorial on this big idea, "The Death of Spider-Man." Talk about serendipity! I explained to Mark that we had a similar idea going on in the Ultimate U. What followed was just an amazing summit where suddenly we didn't just have a Death of Spider-Man story that would run in one title, but an event that would run through the Ultimate Universe. Much like Brian, Mark has this ability to take new ideas, embrace them and make them even bigger. Now, thanks to the mad Scotsman, we had something epic!

The weeks following the Ultimate Summit, Miles was just about the only thing Brian and I could talk about when we got on the phone. So, between many a late night call and a couple of late night meetings over coffee and junk food in LA, while we didn't have a name for him yet, Miles was starting to take shape. We discussed his family and upbringing at length and slowly you could see how he was becoming his own person and not just a copy of Peter. Now while I don't want to give too much away, over the years I've been really intrigued by the revolutionary work being done by educator Geoffrey Canada, and as we looked deeper into Miles' character, I suggested to Brian that he watch the documentary, "Waiting For Superman" (ironic, I know!). Bri loved it, and the wheels started turning. Pretty soon he was building a world and cast that would support Miles in some fantastically intriguing ways that were relatable but also different from Peter Parker's world. I have a sneaky suspicion that Brian is going to make people fall in love with Miles very quickly.

And, for those wondering, yes Miles Morales was chosen as a name because of the alliteration and as a tip of the hat to Peter Parker. Let me add that we threw out a long list of pretty horrible names, some of them my suggestions. Let me also add that Ultimate Universe Senior Editor Mark Paniccia and Assistant Editor Sana Amanat were absolutely brilliant in helping with the formation and ideas behind the whole story and event, none of this would have happened without their amazing input, ideas and attention to detail.

Back in the '60s, my family was one of the first Latino families in our neighborhood. By the time I was old enough to play with the kids on my block, our neighborhood had grown into the proverbial melting pot. On any given summer day, you could find us, a ragtag crew composed of Asian, Black, Indian, Italian, Irish and Latino kids, playing stickball or hanging out on each other's stoops. I was very lucky as a young reader. My father exposed me to Marvel comics when I was 8 years old, and the reason I gravitated to them was because of characters like T'Challa and Luke Cage. While I'm not African American, as a Latino I could sense very early on that the guys at Marvel were writing stories about my world, about my friends and about my neighborhood. So in some ways I feel I did get characters like that from Marvel -- maybe not to the level of diversity we have today, but it was there nevertheless and significantly important to me.