J.J. Abrams is writing a Spider-Man comic. Kind of.

It was announced on Thursday that director J.J. Abrams is going to be working on a new Spider-Man comic book miniseries later this year.

All last week Marvel Comics had been releasing teasers counting down to… something. The look of the teasers assured it had something to do with Spider-Man, but that was about it.

Speculation ran the gamut, including everything from a Spider-Man/Fantastic Four crossover to a comic book adaption of what would have been the fourth Sam Raimi Spider-Man feature film.

Turns out, it was something just about no one expected.

As revealed by the New York Times, the project is Spider-Man, a five-issue miniseries co-written by director J.J. Abrams and his son Henry with interior art by Sara Pichelli, colors by Dave Stewart and covers by Olivier Coipel. Marvel also released a short video featuring the father and son on their official Twitter account.

The duo promises a different look at Peter Parker and the introduction of a brand new villain called Cadaverous whose identity remains a mystery at this time.

According to the Star trek director, Marvel has been wanting to work with Abrams for years but the Spider-Man project happened almost by accident.

"Nick (Lowe, Spider-Man editor) had been pressing me to do a book with him. A year or so ago, I started talking about it with Henry and it sort of happened organically. And that has been the joy of this. Even though I’ve been talking to Nick for a long time, weirdly, this feels like it just sort of evolved from the conversations of Henry and I, having ideas that got us excited and Nick being open to the collaboration."

Cover to Spider-Man No. 1 by J.J. Abrams

As for Henry Abrams, he seems to have a definite idea of what he wants his Spider-Man to be.

"Spider-Man is one of those superheroes where the more you read about him, for me at least, the less I understand him. He’s so anti-everything that you’d expect from a hero. I think Stan Lee said something about putting the human in superhuman. That is what we’re trying to do."

Despite J.J. Abrams being listed as co-writer, the general impression is that the bulk of the actual writing will be done by Henry with input from the elder Abrams. And that has ruffled the feathers of some creators in the comic book community. It is something that Henry Abrams seems acutely aware of.

"Obviously, there is an undeniable privilege here, and I’m not ignorant of that. I think part of creating is creating on your own. My hope and my goal is to do that after this."

We’ll have to wait and see if that happens once fans have a chance to read the book. Spider-Man No. 1 goes on sale this September at comic shops and on digital devices everywhere.