Spider-Man Undercover As X-Men Guidance Counselor

by Vince Brusio

What happens when you’re in the right place at the right time. In the case of Elliot Kalan, if you’re around Katie Kubert and she says you can play around in the X-Men schoolyard provided you would know how to get there, and explain why you’re there…well, who wouldn’t want to blow that opportunity, would you? And so we now have Spider-Man and The X-Men #1 (OCT140826) in which the Wallcrawler comes into the Jean Grey Academy as a guidance counselor. Yes. Seriously.

Spider-Man and The X-Men #1 (OCT140826) arrives in comic shops December 10th.

See the PREVIEWS Prevue here.

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PREVIEWSworld: Ok. Can we get the scoop on what’s going on at the Jean Grey Academy? Spider-Man as a guidance counselor? How was this idea pitched? And spare no details, you have our full attention! After all, Sauron and Stegron fit into all of this, right?

Elliott Kalan: Before Wolverine died, he had a sneaking suspicion that one of the Jean Grey Academy’s students might be working for their enemies. And since X-Men are terrible at keeping secrets, the only man he trusted was his best pal Spider-Man. Now Spider-Man’s installed as a special class guidance counselor, looking after the group of kids Logan had pegged as suspects. But you know Spider-Man, he can’t help wanting to genuinely help these tykes with their problems. Oh, and also since Wolverine didn’t tell the rest of the faculty about Spider-Man’s mission, they all resent that he’s there and want him to leave.

The idea came together pretty simply. Mike Marts (who I’d worked with on this year’s Wolverine Annual) and Katie Kubert (who I’ve wanted to work with for a long time) asked if I’d be interested in writing a series where Spider-Man joins the school. All I had to do was figure out why Spidey was there and what would happen when he got there. Piece of cake!

As for Sauron and Stegron, you can’t have Spider-Man team up with the X-Men without their respective villains getting into the act, as well. And how have both of those characters been around for forty years without ever getting together? It was time to end this massive injustice to all those readers who have a soft spot for the Marvel U’s dino-men (such as me, and…okay, maybe just me).

PREVIEWSworld: So what have friends/colleagues said to you when you explained the concept of your story? Was it, “Say what?” or more like “Now why didn’t I think of that!”

Elliott Kalan: Everyone I talk to who reads comics has been pretty uniformly excited about it, but more in a “That’s so great for you!” way than in a “At last, the story I’ve always wanted to read!” I’m still a newcomer to comics, so I don’t know too many people in the industry – but the ones I do know have been really congratulatory and seem eager to read the book. And I’ve been getting a lot of great messages from fans on Twitter who are looking forward to it. The reaction’s been almost uniformly positive, so I’m going to try and do my best not to disappoint anyone. I just hope everybody likes the same goofy characters that I do.                                                        

PREVIEWSworld: Give us the dirt on what it was like putting this book together? What were the editorial meetings like, and what hoops did you jump through to make this project get the green light?

Elliott Kalan: I wish I had something more dramatic to tell you, but so far everything’s been pretty smooth. I’ve been in near-constant contact with Katie Kubert about my plans for the book – mostly what’s okay for me to do and what might step on other storylines I don’t know about. The only real hiccup is that one or two Spidey villains I’d hoped to use are currently tied up with other plans. Everything’s got to be run by the Spider-office, which means I had the joy of reading an e-mail where Katie mentioned having to check Stegron’s availability. The vision of Stegron’s manager going over the schedule to make sure the Dinosaur Man isn’t booked up for the month with gigs will be with me until the day I die.

PREVIEWSworld: If you had to pick a Spider-Man team-up story or two from yesteryear that were your “favorites” what would they be?

Elliott Kalan: That’s a tough question. I have to admit that to me one of the beautiful things about Spidey is his solitariness – he teams up with other heroes frequently, but the stories I love best about him (his battle with the Juggernaut, “The Boy Who Collected Spider-Man”, Amazing #33 with the classic “trapped under heavy machinery” scene, most of Dan Slott’s amazing run) are about what a solo hero he is. I remember as a kid, my favorite moments of “Infinity Gauntlet” were Spidey talking to Cloak about how intimidated he is by everyone, and Spidey’s off-panel (!) death at the hands of Thanos’ girlfriend. There was something about his relative vulnerability and common guy-ness when compared to the massive heroes around him that made him more special to me. But anyway, this is all totally off-topic.

Because that being said, a few favorites that come to mind are Dan Slott’s Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series, Jason Aaron’s recent Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine book, and for sentimental reasons the first Carnage storyline where Spider-Man had to team-up with Venom. There’s a panel where they’re swinging through the sky and Venom is singing “Strangers In the Night” that made young me realize how much depth was possible in a hero/villain relationship.

And of course, for professional reasons, his classic team-up with SNL’s Not Ready For Primetime Players. I’m still sad they never did a 90’s follow-up issue where he had to ally with Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, and Chris Rock.

PREVIEWSworld: If you looked at the story as a whole, and were only allowed one snapshot that would have to speak for the “highlight” of the story, what would that picture look like?

Elliott Kalan: I don’t know if Sauron hitting on Shark Girl will be the highlight of the story for readers. But it was certainly one of the highlights of my career as a writer. Well, that and Spider-Man’s late night talk show. I cheated and picked two moments! So sue me!