Check out Dan Slott’s massive Silk related rant

If you were a comic book writer who retconned Spider-Man’s origin to include a second Spider-bite victim and that character starting getting criticism you’d probably leap to their defense too. However, this Silk related rant from Dan Slott is fairly hilarious.

But first some background. Silk has received criticism for being seemingly forced down our throats, The character, whom many people have described as a Mary Sue, has received her own solo series, has saved Peter Parker on numerous occasion and is better than Spider-Man in almost every single way with apparent magic webbing that can do whatever she wants such as insulate her from electricity, form clothing and protect he from radiation, all at the expense of any defining character aspects or personality.

That’s what’s being said, but Dan Slott sees things a little differently.

"Too many fans online pick at interviews, tweets, videos– what have you– and desperately try to fill in the gaps. And that’s fine and dandy. But then comes the screwy part……a lot of you take those personal guesses as FACT. And then start arguing those fictions as if they were real.And they’re not. They NEVER are.Let me give you an example:“Marvel is ramming this new Silk character down our throats.”Nope.Want to know who chose to put out a new SILK book?The fans.No. Not the small, angry, vocal subsection that likes to rant on message boards.The tens of thousands of fans who voted in comic book shops across America and the world.Marvel had no advance plans of putting out a Silk book. None whatsoever.But then ASM #1 was the best selling comic of the 21st century. Fan mail came in and– universally– wanted to know more about Silk. And then the book had to go back to press.And then ASM #2 performed better than anyone expected. More Silk fan mail came in. And the book had to go back to press.And then ASM #3 performed better than anyone expected. Again. More Silk fan mail came in. Again. And the book had to go back to press. Again.And then ASM #4 REALLY performed better than anyone expected. Even MORE Silk fan mail came in. And the book had to be RUSHED back to press.And it all happened again with ASM #5.And again with ASM #6.In the middle of all of THAT, and based off of fan reaction, is when one of the big wigs said, “We should do a Silk book.”Fans made it happen.It’s THAT simple.That is the REALITY of the situation plain as day.Sometimes it happens lightning fast– like with the near instantaneous reaction to Jason, Robbi, and Rico’s phenomenal Spider-Gwen EOSV #2 issue.That was fan reaction that was easy for everyone to immediately see and grasp.But that rapid response to Spider-Gwen in no means invalidated the steady, sustained, and strong reaction to Silk– just because there are those on message boards & tumblr who loudly and repeatedly want it to be that way. Much in the same way that one of the regular CBR posters here repeatedly makes the case that Spider-Man should be dating She-Hulk. The frequency and intensity of a message board post– from the same corner over-and-over again– doesn’t make the argument or desire behind it any more real. It’s all just a fiction.Not a purposeful or planned lie.It’s a fiction based on what that one fan (or small sampling of fans) really, really, really WANTS to be true.Doesn’t make it true.Just makes it something that’s passionately believed in.In the same way that some people passionately believe that the moon landings were staged.Two main kinds of posts have, this past year, brought me back on these message boards.1) A fan’s heartfelt FEAR of a story/outcome that they BELIEVED might happen.and2) A regular hater of the book who– through things I’ve said in interviews, online, or just how they (inaccurately) have interpreted things I’ve written in the comics– have taken the position that they KNOW what I’m thinking, believing, or intending.And that’s patently insane."

I’m no Slott detractor but I want to suggest that maybe Amazing Spider-Man sold well because PETER PARKER WAS BACK. The main character of the entire franchise who had been ‘dead’ for a long time had returned. That’s why Amazing Spider-Man #1 broke records isn’t it? Not Silk. But sure, your passionate defense of the character is fine!

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