Earlier today, Marvel Comics hosted a press conference to help spread the word on the upcoming release of the new series, Scarlet Spider, spinning out of the Spider-Man family of books. Present was series writer Chris Yost and artist Ryan Stegman, along with editors Steve Wacker and Tom Brennan. As part of the conference, Marvel revealed some new variant covers for Scarlet Spider #1, including one by Mark Bagley and a Venom version by Mike Perkins, along with some interior art from the first issue from Ryan Stegman.

For those not keeping up with Spider-Man and the events that occurred during the Spider-Island story, Scarlet Spider focuses on Kaine, who readers may remember as the clone of Peter Parker who was introduced in the 1990s Clone Saga storyline. Yost explains how Spider-Island affected Kaine, “Kaine is changed after Spider-Island. He’s no longer crazy, he doesn’t have any scars. He’s a changed man.” As part of that change and as well as the fact that some of his past, bad behavior may get him in trouble in New York City, Kaine decides to hit the road and ends up in Houston, Texas. Yost revealed that while in Houston, Kaine will have a run in with a new villain, The Salamander, a killer from Mexico, as well as the Guild of Assassins, who were first introduced in the pages of X-Men, related to Gambit. Yost also hinted that future villains maybe related to Kraven, in reaction to Kaine’s involvement in the Grim Hunt storyline that took place in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.

While Kaine and the Scarlet Spider aren’t new characters or concepts, like with Venom earlier this year, this is another move by the Spider-Man editorial office to create new characters and stories from older material. Wacker elaborated, “I like that we’ve made some of the concepts that came out of the Spider-Man book in the 1990s, that have been maligned for so long, we’ve brought them back to the book in interesting ways.”

Creating new characters and villains, in a “new to the Marvel U.” city like Houston was one of the things that attracted artist Ryan Stegman to the project. “Getting to design a bunch of new characters is a dream come true to me,” said Stegman, “Nothing is off limits because we get to make it all up.” Yost added that, “With the location being in Houston, we can do whatever we want. We can create a new supporting cast, create new villains…the location really opened the world.”

So how are Yost and Stegman making the Scarlet Spider, set in Houston work? They have a trip to Houston planned for next month to do location scouting, but for the first few issues, they’ve relied on Google and the fans. Stegman explained that by using Google Image Search and Google Earth, he has been able to get 3-D views of locations, such as the Bank of America center where a scene occurs during the first issue, and get the details down. Yost also added that since the book was announced and the location was revealed to be Houston, fans have been writing in with tips and information about Houston. In terms of establishing the city, Wacker compared the book to Starman, and how it made Opal City a character, something he hopes that they’ll be able to do within Scarlet Spider.

When discussing Scarlet Spider as well as the recent Venom series, Wacker explains that what makes the characters and series stand along is the art. Much like putting Tony Moore on Venom, Wacker felt Stegman was the right fit for Scarlet Spider because the look of the character and the book “needed an artist that had a different sensibility.” Yost added that in addition to the over 30 costume designs that Stegman submitted when they started the book, Stegman draws some of the best background characters in all of comics. Wacker sung the praises of Stegman even further, “He’s so good that I’m sure Bendis and Brevoort will steal him from me.”

Scarlet Spider #1 hits comic stores in January, 2012. Here’s a sneak peek at an interior page with art by Ryan Stegman: