SPIDER-MAN II NOVELIZATION

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Although the contracts haven’t been signed yet, I have a deal with Del Rey paperbacks to write the novelization of Spider-Man II. The movie will be out in May, I believe, which puts the paperback release at sometime in April.

The novelization for the first Spider-Man film is probably one of the best selling books I’ve ever written, with somewhere around a quarter of a millioin copies sold.

PAD

37 comments on “SPIDER-MAN II NOVELIZATION”

  1. Hooray! Congrats on getting the Spidey novelization gig again.

    However, IIRC, I thought the release date for the film had been changed from May to the July 4th weekend, due to some filming delays with Tobey Maguire.

    KET

  2. …of a millioin copies sold.

    “Million”

    (All things considered, I just had to poin it out.)

    Congratulations, in all sincerity.

  4. Really enjoyed your first Spider-Man novelization, and I look forward to this one.

    Eric

  5. Well, at least the current crop of Marvel novels is being managed better than the last two sets. (pauses, glares angrily at Gamma Quest Book 3) Good show, getting tapped for book 2. Shows SOMEONE in the publishing company has a brain.

  6. Awesome, I can honestly say that PD has never written an un-entertaining word (at least published works–I’m sure his grocery list is quite boring) The Spidey franchise is only elevated every time he lays a worthy mitt on his word-cruncher with webs-on-the-brain!

    Speaking of which,(please keep in mind that I just discovered your site and I’m sure you have covered it a hundred times before) but if all your fans willfully donated $10.00 do you think Marvel would sell you the rights to Spider-Man 2099 and your era of X-Factor and you could continue your incredible run unhampered by overseers?

  7. Peter,

    I look forward to your novelization of Spider-Man II. Actually, I look forward to everything you write. I have a standing hold order at my comics shop and Amazon for anything from you. Now, I certainly don’t agree with all of your political pronouncements on your blog – but I vastly enjoy the responses you generate.

    Regards,

    Dennis

  8. I’m very glad to hear you will be doing the novel again. Now I just wish we could see you tackle the Spider-Man comic…

  9. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! Yeah, baby! I frickin’ love PAD’s novelization of the first Spider-Man movie!! YES! YEEESSSSS!! I love Mr David’s Spider-Man (and his Spider-Man 2099)! The recent Spider-Man appearance in Captain Marvel was hilarious:

    BIG RED ALIEN: Tell me your name, future dead earth creature.

    SPIDER-MAN: J. Jonah Jameson, 475 Riverside Drive, Penthouse.

    PAD is in my opinion, one of the best Spider-Man writers ever, along with Paul Jenkins and J. Michael Stracynski. Oh yeah, and even if you don’t like the Hulk movie, I recommend you pick up Mr David’s novelisation.

  10. Your best-selling novel is only at 250,000 copies? And it’s a movie novelization? Are you sure?

    I mean, yeah, that’s a lot of books, but ‘Imzadi,’ ‘Q-in-Law,’ ‘Apropos?’ Fabulous books, one and all. ‘Imazadi’ is a classic must-read Trek tale, for cryin’ out loud.

    Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the ‘Spider-Man’ book, but I guess I’m just surprised that more people haven’t read the rest of your works.

    Surprised, and disappointed, too, I think. When you have Danielle Steele and John Grisham selling, what, it’s got to be millions of copies, right? Of each book, and every book they’ve written is the same as the previous one, and then you have a writer like Peter David whose work varies greatly from one story to the next (granted, all the Trek books are, well, Trek books, but bare with me here), I just don’t understand why more people wouldn’t want something different for a change.

    Of course, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

  11. Peter, congratulations! Being a devoted Spider-Man fan, I quite enjoyed your first Spider-Man novelization, and I don’t usually enjoy novelizations.

    Just be sure to put in more extra scenes, (loved that scene with Norman and Jonah at the gentlemen’s club at the start of the first novelization! Great touch!) and comic references aplenty and I’ll be happy! 😀

  12. Are these the numbers of novels sold in the US or worldwide? Because I know that the Spider-Man novelization was a big seller here in Germany. I’m just curious.

    Pascal

  14. This is great news. Spider-Man is one of my all time favorite characters (favorite comic book character, period) and PAD is my favorite Spider-Writer. I’m re-reading the novelization of the first one right now*, being on something of a Spidey kick thanks to the MTV cartoon.

    (*Okay…not right *now*, cause I couldn’t hold it and type at the same time, but you get the picture.)

  15. Very cool, PAD. I don’t read many novelizations, but between yours of Spider-Man and Greg Bear’s of Episode II, I’ve been pretty impressed with the whole novelization industry lately. I am looking forward to yours of SM2 and congrats!

  16. **Your best-selling novel is only at 250,000 copies? And it’s a movie novelization? Are you sure?

    I mean, yeah, that’s a lot of books, but ‘Imzadi,’ ‘Q-in-Law,’ ‘Apropos?’ Fabulous books, one and all. ‘Imazadi’ is a classic must-read Trek tale, for cryin’ out loud.

    Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the ‘Spider-Man’ book, but I guess I’m just surprised that more people haven’t read the rest of your works.

    **

    This reminds me a little of some of the frustration that some great actors feel when they realize that their entire audience for a long-running, highly regarded Broadway play will never be even close to the number of people who see a single episode of a mediocre sitcom.

    What can you do? We’re not a reading culture anymore.

  17. This reminds me of something I wanted to bring up when I saw PAD’s thoughts on the premiere of the Teen Titans cartoon:

    Is there a reason PAD hasn’t written about the MTV Spider-Man cartoon? Obviously he has an affinity for the character and it can’t be that he has anything against MTV because he did the interview there for that Hulk thing they did.

    I admit that I haven’t been on this board that long so there may have been a beef from some time back because I know the show was announced quite some time ago. So I’m sorry if it’s a sore subject but it just seems to be a curious omission (especially because it seems like a lot of other comic book related Web sites have been just as silent in regards to the show.)

  18. Tempest – I think you mean R.A. Salvatore’s Episode 2 – Greg Bear did a story called (IIRC) Rogue Planet.

  20. That is great news! And I am very happy that your first Spider-Man novelizations was such a big success.

    I enjoyed it very much and I most definitely will buy the second book as well.

  21. I just wanted to say that while I’m glad to hear you got the job, I am surprised that it didn’t go to Michael Chabon.

    I love your work and I’m all about reading all of your books, but Chabon is also one of my heroes and I figured since he was one of the people involved with the script and a Pulitzer Prize winning author that he would novelize his own script.

    I’m still far from dissapointed.

  22. I hope you do get the job, PAD. I thought you were the perfect writer for a Spider-Man adaptation, since you can balance action with humor quite well!

    Matt Hawes

    comicsunlimited@aol.com/”>COMICS UNLIMITED

    654-B E. Diamond Avenue

    Evansville, Indiana 47711

  24. I loved the first novelization. Especially the references to Tom Defalco and Jim Owsley (also known as Priest). Bring them back for round 2!

  25. I don’t really read novelizations but I finally just finished Woad to Wuin, and unlike the people I seem to remember when this was a topic, I actually liked it better than the first one. I can’t wait to read the first one.

  29. “What can you do? We’re not a reading culture anymore.”

    Too right. Even I don’t go in bookstores much any more (the prices scare me away) but when I do, there aren’t anywhere near as many people as there used to be in my big book buying days.

  30. Whether the movie is good (Spider-Man) or bad (Return of the Swamp Thing, Batman Forever) or mediocre (Hulk), Peter’s novelizations are always great reads. Maybe producers should look at him to do the screenwriting?

  31. Hi again, PAD (and fellow David devotees)!

    I meant to drop you a line earlier in regards to your Spider-Man novelization, but all kinds of things popped up at the last minute— and if this board is any indicator, you life moves ahead so fast that any comments I’ve got about the novelization have a high probability of being old news to you.

    However, while making one of my frequent visits to the NotePAD, I noticed this subject, and figured it was a good opportunity.

    (And, in the words of Laura Kightlinger, “Opportunity knocks, but it doesn’t beg.”)

    Thusly, I wanted to echo the words of Mr. Sparling—the gentleman’s club scene (and especially the discussion on heroes)— with particular emphasis on the one from twenty centuries ago—I’ve always had a soft spot for that one.)

    But my absolute favorite instance has to be Uncle Ben and Aunt May’s MST3K-style comments on Spidey’s first wrestling appearance.

    [NOTE: As much as I try to quote directly, there may be some errors in my transcription (owing mostly to memory). Any such errors are my own, and no disrespect toward PAD is intended.

    You have been warned.]

    “You know, that Bacalava looks like the one we bought for Peter.”

    “There’s a tag line for a wrestler, ‘My mother dressed me funny.’ That‘ll scare the opposition. ” muses Ben.

    Some time passes, and May refuses to watch further.

    “I don’t know. The costume, the fights with opponents he has no prayer against— you really have to wonder what kind of a home life produced such a person. It’s got to be a cry for help.”

    And I thought—Perfect. That is the type of irony that I postively *love* about PAD. Aunt May insulting her own nephew— and to top that, her own parenting skills (unknowingly).

    This, and many other reasons, is why—even if you’ve seen the movie, read the book!

    And, if the next one is even a tenth as good as this one–though knowing PAD, it’ll probably be much more superlative—it’s undeniably worth your time to read it.

    Regards,

    Charlie

  32. A quarter mill!!?!?!?

    Maybe the Comic Book Industry should dump Diamond and go with Del Rey, or whoever distributes them.

  33. That is great news PAD. Do you have any idea what the basic story line is yet? Not that you would tell LOL. I just hope that they don’t use the 2 villian formula that killed the Batman franchise. 1 villian vs. 1 hero and please tell the origin in a flashback sequence and just get to the action.

    Regards:

    WSJ3

  34. Posted by red Ricky:

    A quarter mill!!?!?!?

    Maybe the Comic Book Industry should dump Diamond and go with Del Rey, or whoever distributes them.

    I suspect that you’re being a bit facetious here, but just to be didactic, I’ll point out that Del Rey is an imprint of Random House, the largest English-language book publisher in the country, and perhaps the world. As such, you’d expect them to be pretty good at selling copies of a mass-market novelization of one of the biggest movies to hit cineplexes in recent history.

    Of course, though, there’s no reason to think that Random House’s skill at selling conventional books to conventional bookselling venues would be at all effective if they were brought to bear on behalf of the typical few-dozen-page-flimsy-staple-bound products that are much of what the comics industry produces, and which are not intrinsically popular products to most of the bookselling venues to which Random House sells.

    And, just as a reality check, I’ll opine that a mass-market novelization of a hugely popular movie will, of course, sell scads of copies. But it’s worth realizing that there are plenty of books published–even by Random House–that sell far, far fewer units. Some, less than 10,000 units. Some, far, far less…

    Not to diminish Mr. David’s skills as a writer, or Random House/Del Rey’s skills as a publiser (or even Del Rey’s interest in comics; they’ve just announced a manga line in partnership with Kodansha, after all…) But it’s worth keeping in mind that the achievements of one company in one industry aren’t automatically likely to translate to that of another industry…

  35. I enjoyed the first “Spider-Man” novelization, and I thought it was better than the subsequent “Hulk” novelization. Partly that’s because I couldn’t really get excited about the Hulk screenplay, since I didn’t think it really had much to do with the way Mr. David (or most comic authors) have seen the character.

    However, since sequels rarely do as much business as their original films, don’t expect to make such a killing on the “Spider-Man 2” novelization. Still, getting known in Hollywood for writing good novelizations of scripts is a good career move; being the next Alan Dean Foster might help you buy your first Maserati.

  36. Hey Pete , since you mentioned the movie was going to be made in MAy and the novelization would be around April, A slight correction is in order. Due to Tobey’s strains of doing Spidey1 and Seabiscuit the shoot got delayed a few weeks and because of that, Spidey was moved from the traditional May Summer Starter to July 2, 2004. (Van Helsing , in turn, jumped at the vacated date and that wil be out in May instead.)So I guess that means the novelization would show up early June instead.

    Arne

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