Dan Slott: From THWIP! to Timey Wimey, and Everything in Between
This audio interview was conducted by Chris Doucher, Editor-in-Chief, Writer and Comic Panel Moderator for GeekNerdNet. (Image credits to: Dan Slott and GeekNerdNet)
Writer Dan Slott at Calgary Expo 2024. (image credit: Chris Doucher/GeekNerdNet)
I got to sit down with one of my favourite comic book writers, Dan Slott, at Calgary Expo 2024. Forgive my fan moment off the top here, I simply had to mention it. Okay, back to Dan Slott. Many of you know him from his epic previous—and current—runs on Spidey titles, including The Amazing Spider-Man, the first Superior Spider-Man series, Edge of Spider-Verse, the current Superior Spider-Man series, and also the new Spider-Boy series. Other awesome comics work include Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, She-Hulk and so many incredible titles which make for a list way too long to write out here.
What you may not know, is Slott is a huge DOCTOR WHO fan! He mentioned the Doctor as we started our chat, when he emphatically told me about his top four licensed characters to write for. They are: Spider-Man, Batman, Doctor Who and Indiana Jones. That’s quite the Mount Rushmore of iconic characters. So we started off talking about comics, specifically, DOCTOR WHO: ONCE UPON A TIME LORD. Slott’s first WHO story with Titan Comics, released in November 2023. Slott goes into fun detail about how he got into Doctor Who as a kid, living in England watching back-to-back-to-back episodes late into the night. Recently, while getting set to sign yet another exclusivity contract with Marvel, he was able to get Marvel to (finally) let him have a “carve out” (aka have permission) in his contract to write one Doctor Who story per year. So stay tuned, more WHO stories to come from Slott. Talk about fixed moments in time to look forward to.
The first comic Slott ever read was an issue his cousin gave him, and it was a doozy: The Galactus trilogy—the beginning of Silver Surfer and Galactus. What a way to get into comics and the Marvel universe. Slott also gives insight on how he manages to push the limits of a character that has very set rules, like Spider-Man. The goal is to not always give fans what they expect, but rather, what they need from a character. Also, we talked about a very young Dan Slott, the boy who met Spider-Man at his neighbourhood 7-11, which got him into reading comics. This is just tip of the iceberg stuff here. You must really listen to the full interview. You will not be disappointed. Hit play below, and smile as Slott tells his story. Thanks, Dan!