New Interview - Steve Wacker:

[ben_reilly_s_s]

NRAMA: Early on, Joe Q and you said that timelines would be filled in and questions would be answered. Do you think that, one year after the change, they've all been answered? What's left, in your view, to be addressed in terms of the change itself?

SW: I think using the word “timelines” is misleading here. There’s only one timeline. We still have two big questions left to answer, though: what happened the day of the Peter/MJ wedding and how did Spidey’s secret identity get put back into the box. Those are big set pieces coming up later in the year.

What about When did She Leave?
What about What Made her finally leave?
What about If she was living the entire time with Peter, how does she not know He's Spider-Man?

there are many other questions.....

Full Interview:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010909-Wacker.html

[ben_reilly_s_s]

NRAMA: Finally for this time out, we're on the cusp of a new year of Spider-Man stories, and although we'll be chatting with you and/or the creators once a week from here on, let's hit with the teases of what 2009 holds for Spider-Man - villains? Friends? Foes? Allies? Stories? Romance? Nervous breakdown of creative team and/or editorial staff?

SW: I’ve mentioned things like Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, Flash Thompson and a big wedding later in the year, but this week I’m mostly excited about the cover I just got in for #596...unfortunately it spoils the ending of “Character Assassination,” so hit me again in a few weeks.

They just gotta slap us right in the face, don't they.....
A major wedding to some character, while they just got rid of THE major wedding of the main character.....*SMASH*

[Venom 1988]

Originally Posted by ben_reilly_s_s

What about When did She Leave?
What about What Made her finally leave?

I wouldn't really count these two as separate questions(besides we know roughly when she left anyway) but yes we still need the answer to this. I wish they would release a story explaining what happened in the 100+ gap between OMD and BND. It would probably explain SO much.

What about If she was living the entire time with Peter, how does she not know
He's Spider-Man?

Uh nothing changed in the past regarding his identity, she still knew who he was then. And based on the paper doll arc, I think its a safe bet that still knows who he is.

PS. I'm digging the art in the Spidey/Wolverine story.

[The Joker]

Doc Ock's returning this year? Well, I may just be tempted to buy my first Spidey comic in nearly 2 years

[Spider-ManHero12]

Cool and interesting interview. It's good to see old Villians returning and that we are finally going to get some answers.

[CaptainStacy]

Originally Posted by Joker

Doc Ock's returning this year? Well, I may just be tempted to buy my first Spidey comic in nearly 2 years

I hope Slott writes that one!

[iloveclones]

Some really good pics by Martin and JRJR.

Wacker's a funny guy, with a great perspective.

[Spider-ManHero12]

Originally Posted by CaptainStacy

I hope Slott writes that one!

I second that.

[JerseyJoker]

I think when he mentions about the weddings, its going to cover the "when she left", what made her left and those questions too.

[imdaly]

Originally Posted by JerseyJoker

I think when he mentions about the weddings, its going to cover the "when she left", what made her left and those questions too.

I think she left during the 100 missing days before BND, but to answer the when and why before we know exactly what happened on the wedding day would spoil that reveal. There's a rhyme and reason for the order and timing for when they are answering our questions.

[Jack O Lantern]

Originally Posted by ben_reilly_s_s

What about When did She Leave?
What about What Made her finally leave?
What about If she was living the entire time with Peter, how does she not know He's Spider-Man?

there are many other questions.....

Full Interview:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010909-Wacker.html

I think it's possible/likely that those three questions will be answered in the same story as the identity one.

[ben_reilly_s_s]

Another question pops into mind:
Did everyone forget, or is it that now no-one ever knew Spider-Man's identity?

[ben_reilly_s_s]

Double post.....sorry

[Venom 1988]

Originally Posted by ben_reilly_s_s

Another question pops into mind:
Did everyone forget, or is it that now no-one ever knew Spider-Man's identity?

Everyone forgot, due to something Peter and someone else did during the 100+ day gap. People still knew in the past, they just don't know now.

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by CaptainStacy

I hope Slott writes that one!

If his interview in Wizard is anything to go by, then he will be. He said there was "Huge Doc Ock stuff" happening this year.

Yay!

[Styleshift]

I haven't had much free time to post lately, but I will comment on this.

NRAMA: Early on, Joe Q and you said that timelines would be filled in and questions would be answered. Do you think that, one year after the change, they've all been answered? What's left, in your view, to be addressed in terms of the change itself?

SW: I think using the word “timelines” is misleading here. There’s only one timeline. We still have two big questions left to answer, though: what happened the day of the Peter/MJ wedding and how did Spidey’s secret identity get put back into the box. Those are big set pieces coming up later in the year.

I like how they are still explaining to readers and interviewers that "this is the same time line and the same Spider-man you've always been reading."

It's been a year now. That's really sad.

Nothing against you fellas that dig the reboot if you dig it, thats cool...but ignoring this and saying "IT NEEDED TO BE DONE" is totally disingenuous. Even Steve Wacker hasn't made a comment like that. He's just working with what he was handed out of his love of the character...and I can really respect that.

[iloveclones]

I don't understand what you think is disingenuous. I've held the position for many years that I thought the marriage was a mistake and should be undone. Now, personally, I would have gone the more realistic divorce route, but I understand why they didn't. What do you think we're not being honest with ourselves about?

Most of us (as if I suddenly became "our" spokesperson) agree that OMD was poorly done, and not the way we would have done it. A lot of us are split as to whether bringing Harry back was necessary, but seing that these are comics, isn't really that big of a stretch. I mean, they could have said he was a mutant, and his return would be almost mandatory. If you're talking about whether it's a separate timeline, that's just a matter of a future explanation and suspension of disbelief.

[kguillou]

^^So you mean to tell me that throughout the whole 20+ years of peter and mj being together you never once warmed up to their marriage? You dont think that despite the fact that marriage was rushed at first, peter and mj had great chemistry together and became an iconic comicbook couple?

[Themanofbat]

Batman & Robin are an iconic comic book couple, yet there have been times when Robin's not around... or even Batman for that matter...

[Blader5489]

Originally Posted by Styleshift

I like how they are still explaining to readers and interviewers that "this is the same time line and the same Spider-man you've always been reading."

It's been a year now. That's really sad.

They wouldn't have to keep explaining it if some people still weren't being such idiots about it.

[kguillou]

Um, dont you think that the fact that so many ARE asking questions about it suggests that something's wrong with it in the first place? If it was so straight forward, then nobody would be asking questions about how this new continuity fits with the old one. They keep saying "Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed!!" but they're not explaining how things haven't changed because they're obviously stalling and trying to figure it out themselves. There's a bunch of plot holes that dont fit with past events.

[Jack O Lantern]

Originally Posted by kguillou

Um, dont you think that the fact that so many ARE asking questions about it suggests that something's wrong with it in the first place? If it was so straight forward, then nobody would be asking questions about how this new continuity fits with the old one. They keep saying "Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed!!" but they're not explaining how things haven't changed because they're obviously stalling and trying to figure it out themselves. There's a bunch of plot holes that dont fit with past events.

No, because they know they're questions and they know it's not straight forward either, That's why they're now explaining stuff.

I've said it before and i'll say it again, the reason it's taking so long is because they had to plan waaaay ahead, to keep the scheldule of three monthly going, because of this they were planned way into this summer before JMS had even finished the script fro OMD. And then when you consider that OMG was delayed and there were disagreements over the end result, the Braintrust were probably going into a lot of this blind.

Not to mention it's rare that one creative team makes a bunch of changes and the leaves another to answer them.

[Themanofbat]

Also, it's nice to see some "mysteries" in comics linguer on a bit... it's been a while since we had to wait it out over a year to get answers to certain mysteries as opposed to the now all-too-common geneeric "six issue story arc" where things begin and end with no linguering effects...

When BND began, I gave it 12 to 18 months to satiate my need to know answers, and so far, I've been happy with the progess... but then again, I'm old school, and I remember storylines that took over TWO YEARS to develop, so I don't have these "need to know NOW" feelings...

[Themanofbat]

Originally Posted by kguillou

Um, dont you think that the fact that so many ARE asking questions about it suggests that something's wrong with it in the first place? If it was so straight forward, then nobody would be asking questions about how this new continuity fits with the old one. They keep saying "Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed!!" but they're not explaining how things haven't changed because they're obviously stalling and trying to figure it out themselves. There's a bunch of plot holes that dont fit with past events.

No... all that tells me is that people are impatient and need to be spoon-fed their answers NOW!!!

It's the current unfortunate state of comic book reader mind...

[kguillou]

I guess the problem is i feel like these aren't really "mysteries", they're more like plot holes that should be filled. I mean, i'm a little annoyed that we know very little about this "new world" of peter's, heck we don't even really know what Peter himself knows, since he seems to not acknowledge anything thats been goin on in his life recently. I just feel like we should at least be privy to everything that our protagonist knows, otherwise we the readers are going into this kinda blind, no? I dont mind waiting 1-2 years for mysteries at all, i'm not complaining about menace's identity, the spider-tracer killer or even why peter and mj broke up, but I DO feel important plotholes like "what does peter remember?" or "what does everyone else remember about peter/ spider-man?" should be addressed rather quickly. Everytime Spidey interacts with another marvel character now, it feels awkward because we really dont know what his relationship is with everybody now that nobody knows his identity anymore.