News came Wednesday that Paul Dini, one of the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series, was joining Brian Michael Bendis and the Man of Action crew (Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steven Seagle and Duncan Rouleau) on the already impressive Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series creative team.
This afternoon, Marvel confirmed what the exact title for each of them will be on the show, and how the division of labor breaks down. Dini will be “Creative Consultant” and write the pilot; the Man of Action guys are “Supervising Producers,” directing the write staff, generating scripts and editing stories; Bendis, writer of each and every issue of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, will serve as “Consulting Producer,” overseeing the whole thing.
Jeph Loeb, as announced in June, has a supervisory role given his job as head of Marvel TV. Full Marvel press release after the jump.
Marvel Unveils All Star Creative Team For ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Animated Series
New York, NY—August 6, 2010—In a coup for Marvel Entertainment, Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel TV, revealed the all-star, award-winning creative team for the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, premiering on Disney XD. This team includes the most sought-after and acclaimed writers in the comic and television industries, including Eisner & Emmy award-winning scribe Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Lost); Eisner award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis (visionary behind Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man comic series); and the red-hot creative powerhouse Man of Action Studios (creators of hit series Ben 10 and Generator Rex), comprised of lauded creators Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle .
Steering Ultimate Spider-Man as the Creative Consultant, Dini will also write the series pilot; as Supervising Producers, Man of Action Studios will direct the writing staff, generate scripts and story edit; and Bendis, the man who reinvented Spider-Man for a new generation, will oversee the series as Consulting Producer.
“When we first sat down to discuss Ultimate Spider-Man, we put together a wish list of the most exciting talent working in animation who would bring the best voice and creative direction to the show — and I’m proud to say we got them all,” said Jeph Loeb. “We want Ultimate Spider-Man to be a showcase for Marvel Animation and Spider-Man is the perfect character to give fans just what they want.”
Working in the Marvel Universe for the first time, Dini explained, “As a lifelong fan of the Marvel Universe, I’m excited to tackle these characters in such a bold new series. Ultimate Spider-Man will bring fans a new take on their favorite friendly neighborhood hero- and some surprise cast members– while staying true to what’s always made Spidey so popular. We’ve got a superb creative team assembled with amazing stories to tell and I can’t wait for fans to see what we’ve cooked up.”
Bendis echoed those sentiments, exclaiming, “It’s Ultimate Spider-Man, the animated series—and it happened in my lifetime! That’s just so cool. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this and here’s to Jeph Loeb for putting it all together!”
Equally thrilled to join Ultimate Spider-Man, the Man of Action team explained, “We’re looking forward to having a lot of fun working on Spider-Man. They’ve brought us in to help provide a unique vision for the show while remaining absolutely true to the character, so that’s exactly what we’ll be doing. Should be a great ride!”
Cort Lane, Vice-President of Animation Production & Development added, “From The Super Hero Squad Show to the upcoming Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Marvel Animation is focused on making the best super hero shows for fans of all ages. Now, with this tremendous talent signed for Ultimate Spider-Man, we’re about to give fans super-powered animation like they’ve never seen before.”
August 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Good GAWD! ANOTHER Spider-Man cartoon? I liked the last one. Now we get to the same ol’ Spider-Man stories retold again. I wish they just stuck with the previous cartoon and built on it. Spider-Man has had the same stories told about 1000 times over and over. This is why x-men and Avengers make a more interesting cartoon IMO. They can go anywhere. Spider-Man will be in high school, Green Goblin will be his big bad, Mary-Jane and Gwen his love interests, Harry his BFF. We’ll spend at least the 1st year just introducing his rouges again.
August 6th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
No kidding. What was wrong with Spectacular Spider-Man? I would dare to say that it was the perfect Spidey cartoon. I almost perfer the shows continuity to the comics. It took the best parts of Spidey’s history from ALL the series years past and present and made it relivent and great for today’s fans.
So what- I have to sit through an entire season of Bendis’USM animated? Ugggg….
August 7th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Nice line up of “tremendous talent” and “the most exciting talent working in animation”, and yet no mention of any artists, just writers. I guess this show’s going to spring right off of the script and onto the screen?
August 7th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Does everyone remember not too long ago how everyone was complaining that there weren’t enough super hero cartoons on TV? How we would’ve loved a Spider-Man, Iron Man or Avengers show?
Now we’re actually complaining that there are too many.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
According to most everyone invovled, Spectacular Spider-Man wasn’t cancelled because of Ultimate. It had something to do with rights issues or something between Disney and Sony.
August 7th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Spectacular Spider-Man was produced by Sony, who no longer has rights to do television with the character any more. They only have the movie rights. Marvel now has the TV rights to the character again, but not to the shows Sony produced, so how can they continue a show they don’t own?
August 7th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Of course most everybody involved is going to say that. Bottom line, Spectacular Spider-Man got scrapped by The CW because 4Kids took over the network’s Saturday morning programming, couldn’t find a home elsewhere, Disney XD picked up the second season and chose not to renew it. Disney bought Marvel. Instead of continuing production of Spectacular Spider-Man, Disney wanted all rights to television productions of the Marvel properties, Sony relented because they didn’t want to lose the film rights, and Disney just decided to put a lot of people out of work while greenlighting a completely unnecessary series that does exactly the same thing the show they just cancelled did quite well.
Ultimate Spider-Man seems like a show-by-committee with a lot of writers calling the shots with many unique voices all stirring the pot. It’d be nice if they brought Sean “Cheeks” Calloway on this series as the visual artist behind the look of the series as he was with Spectacular Spider-Man, but I doubt it. Jeff Matsuda, who worked wonders on Jackie Chan Adventures and The Batman, would bring in a great fluid style to the series. Just hoping the show looks as good as the last show and not as wordy as any of the incarnations prior to SSM.
And seriously, people tend to credit Dini with Lost way more than they should.
August 8th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
How about a daredevil cartoon for #$% sakes!!!!!!!
August 9th, 2010 at 12:05 am
I’m not sure if I want anyone that worked on The Batman to be involved. Granted that style of art could suit Spidey better.
August 9th, 2010 at 5:28 am
Well put KaiSen.
I just hope Bendis doesnt overeach beyond “consultent”. He had his chance with that god awful MTV Spider-Man series and we all saw how well that went.
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