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DAN SLOTT Amazing Spider-Man and Avengers: The Initiative writer ALL WEEKEND

In the early 1990s Slott's broke into the comics industry as a college intern at Marvel Comics for (then) editor Fabian Nicieza. What Marvel didn't know was that Slott had recently graduated from college and had taken the non-paying position as a way to make contacts and learn the ropes. After a few months at Marvel, Slott was told that Marvel wanted to hire him for a staff position, but wanted him to finish his college education first. At this point in time, Slott dropped the ruse, and was put on staff full-time. In the following years Slott served as Marvel's art returnist, an assistant editor, and gave the guided tours of the offices. During this time, he also worked as both a freelance writer and colorist.

Slott's big break came when he became the regular writer for Marvel’s Ren and Stimpy comic. He also wrote many issues of DC’s Looney Tunes series. Along with writing assignments for titles such as Mighty Mouse, Scooby Doo and Batman Adventures, Slott came to be known as a “funny animals” or children’s writer. While he enjoyed the work, Slott bristled at being pigeon-holed, and took the chance to show his darker side in 2003 with the Arkham Asylum: Living Hell miniseries. The book's twisted humor was widely appreciated, as were Slott's imaginative additions to the Batman universe.

This success led to Slott's return to Marvel in 2004 in order to launch a new She-Hulk series. The title is humorously filled with Dan’s love for (and deep knowledge of) the trivia of the Marvel Universe. The series was well-received by critics and reviewers, developed a cult following, and led to further writing assignments at Marvel. Though well-regarded, Marvel felt that the book would perform better if it were placed on hiatus and re-released it with a greater marketing push. Since relaunching in October 2005 the second series has been met with higher sales and recently, with its Civil War cross-over issue, has reached its highest numbers to date, and its first second printing.

While She-Hulk was on hiatus, Dan penned the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries, which chronicled the friendship of the two characters over the years, with each issue reproducing the styles of the various Spider-Man runs throughout the decades.

Slott also gave the team the Great Lakes Avengers their first ever solo miniseries. Great Lakes Avengers: Misassembled satirized comic book deaths by killing off a character in each issue. He also made the first roster changes to the team since its inception by originating a new character, Grasshopper, and reviving an obscure one, Squirrel Girl. During this creative period, Slott signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.

In October 2005, he first appeared on Wizard magazine’s "Top 10 Hot Writers" list.

At the end of 2005 Slott was assigned to write the Thing's first solo series in 20 years, and wrote the GLX-Mas Special, a Christmas one-shot. While well-received by the critics, the Thing series was not a sales success and was cancelled with issue 8. This cancellation occurred in spite of Slott's earnest attempts to rally readers to get others to buy the book through a campaign he called "Pull My Thing." Although Marvel announced that the title's final issue would be #8, the publisher promised to release the book's trade paperback collection under the subtitle Idol of Millions. It is possible that, like She-Hulk, the The Thing may return if sales of the trade paperback are strong.

In summer 2006 Slott scripted The Two Gun Kid Marvel Western Special, one of several books designed to highlight Marvel's seldom-used western characters.

Slott is currently the writer for Marvel's Avengers: The Initiative title, which commenced after the events of the 2006-7 Civil War storyline and strongly ties into this summer's major crossover Secret Invasion. In January 2008 Slott became one of the team of rotating writers working on the "Brand New Day" Amazing Spider-Man re-launch. In August he teams with classic Spider-Man artist John Romita Jr.