Spider-Man Crawl Space Interview: Howard Mackie

Spider-Man Crawl Space: What is it like coordinating a storyline with other writers on the other Spider-Titles? Back when you were writing "Web of Spider-Man" there were three or more other titles to deal with.
Howard Mackie: Some of the best times I had working for Marvel were spent locked in rooms with Danny Fingeroth, Tom DeFalco, Marc DeMatteis, Terry Kavanagh, Tom Lyle, Todd DeZago and the rest of the Spider-Crew. I LOVE those guys. We had more fun than anybody shouyld be allowed to have while still drawing a salary.
They were also the toughest writing times. Coordinating storylines with three other writers, no matter how much you respect and love them, is a royal pain in the butt. You sit in a room... flesh out the details of a storyline that is going to play out across all the titles ... everyone throws ideas in ... you KNOW you've got it all planned out and then, inevitably someone starts writing stuff that you thought YOU were going to write. It was a pain ... and it was a blast. I still miss working with all of those guys.

Spider-Man Crawl Space: Ok, here is the question everyone seems to ask about day in and day out. The Clone Saga, looking back what would you have done differently,and what were some high points and low points of the storyline?
Howard Mackie: I do get a little tired answering this one, but I'll do it one last time. The Clone Saga was created by a group of writers who had it totally planned out to play out over the course of the 4 months (6 months max). We had the beginning, middle and end all worked out. WE pitched to the editor ... he had major reservations. He brought in the Editor in Chief ... he had major reservations
WE(the writers) convinced them that we had a good story planned out. We pitched it with conviction and with passion.They agreed to let the story happen.     We went to work.     THAT story never saw print.
Instead... the powers that be... Marketing and sales GENIUSES ... got involved. They saw that, at a time when every other title's sales were sinking like a stone, Spider-Man sales were holding steady.     "Must be the CLONES! Fan's love clones! Let's give them MORE clones! Stretch that story out for a while. Keep Ben Reilly around. What about that Kaine guy?"     And we did.     Time passed.     Administrations changed.     Sales were doing okay, but suddenly it became... "Who came up with his Clone thing? And Mary Jane... PREGNANT!!!! What is THAT all about? Clones are KILLING this franchise!"
The story played out over two and half years while the various "Powers that be" tried to figure out how they could "fix" the "clone thing." Editors changed ... editors in chief changed ... again and again!     These new geniuses had to have their own marks on the story. They had their OWN reservations. We spun in place while countless solutions to what should have been a very clean story were worked out.     The end result is the Clone Saga.     I'm sorry. There I said it!     Don't blame the creators.     Okay ... blame us a LITTLE.     Maybe we should have launched a bloody revolt.. taken no prisoners ... we didn't.     Oh well.

Spider-Man Crawl Space: Once the re-launch happened you were given the exclusive duty of writing both of the mainstream Spider-Man titles. I think Stan Lee was the last to do this. What was that like? Was it daunting to be in control of the character that is Marvel's flagship character?
Howard Mackie: Duh! Yeah! Of course it was daunting. This is SPIDER-MAN! A writers dream! Or NIGHTMARE, because you are NEVER going to be able to handle the character as well as Stan did. Stan gave us the best stories...the best villains... and ever since then everyone has been trying to retell those stories.
Unfortunately a lot of what I had to do was try and clean things up. I was given the task of setting a number of things straight. I was to make the supporting cast, which had been kept to the background of the series, a more integral part of the Spider-Man saga once more. I was to bring back Aunt May... Norman Osborn... the Green Goblin... never mention the C word, or the baby again. With some of these decisions I agreed wholeheartedly. Others...?

Spider-Man Crawl Space: One of the differences through the years is the birth of the Internet. It seems that there are a ton of Spider-Man fans out there that I've been introduced to by the Internet. What are your thoughts on the Internet and comics in general?
Howard Mackie: It's a wonderful and terrible thing. Back when I first got into comics we had to read through piles and piles of hand written fan mail. Some of it was silly. But a lot of it was very well thought out. There is something about actually going through the trouble of taking pen to paper, folding it, putting it in an envelope, addressing the envelope, investing in a stamp and mailing it that makes you take TIME to THINK. Now all you have to do is sign on line and SPEW. It's too easy. The thought process has been lost.

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