Comics Best Spider-Man Writer?

[JJJ's Ulcer]

This has probably been done before, but since there's no recent poll I can find, I thought it was a good time to ask this question

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

For me personally, always DeMatteis. 'Kraven's Last Hunt' is awesome and widely regarded as one of the best Spider-Man stories ever, but that's not even my favorite. 'Spectacular Spider-Man' #200, Amazing Spider-Man #400 and to a lesser degree, 'The Child Within', 'Lost Years', 'Redemption' and Spectacular Spider-Man#250 all hold a special place in my heart.


EDIT: And yes, I realized I forgot some writers such as David Michelinie, Ross Andru and Tom Defalco to name just a few, but that's what "Other" is for. :-P

 

[ragingdemon155]

DeMattheis and Michelinie for me.

I've always felt that Michelinie had the best characterization for Peter/Spider-man ever. His Spider-man was funny and witty without being immature. That's a stark contrast with the Spider-man of today which I find to be completely annoying at times. I could read Michelinie's take on the character over and over. The humor never felt forced.

I'm getting so tired of this mentality that Peter Parker is some type of "child", because he isn't. Stop writing him as one.

DeMatteis is up here cause he wrote some of the best Spider stories, period. Nothing more needs to be said.

 

[kguillou]

Either DeMatteis or Stracynski for me personally. I know JMS was a very controversial writer on spider-man but to me, he was one of the few writers that absolutely nailed Peter Parker's voice. He was funny and mature at the same time instead of the man-child he is today. DeMatteis was just incredible, he wrote Spider-man at the lowest parts of his life and absolutely nailed the anxst and anxiety that he was going through at the time.

 

[Themanofbat]

Marv Wolfman...

Read his ASM books... 'nuff said.

 

[Venom 1988]

Yeah I'm surprised Marv Wolfman isn't on the poll. He arguably has one the best runs on Spider-Man ever.

For me its a tie between him and DeMatteis.

 

[moraldeficiency]

DeMatteis, JMS, David and Larsen have written my favorite Spider-Man stories.

 

[shinlyle]

I will always give the nod to Stan Lee. He started it, and his runs with Ditko and Romita Sr. are superior to everything that has come since.

After that, it's Wolfman, Stern, Dematties, Michelinie, and David.

 

[Themanofbat]

Yeah... you can't have a poll with Stan Lee in it... he wins automatically...

 

[JayTee]

"I ate paint chips as a kid" for John Byrne? Fine. If that's how it's gonna be, go ahead and add "I eat paint chips currently as an adult" for JMS.

 

[JayTee]

Michelinie is my vote other than Stan Lee. His fun loving stories added to the terrible trio of McFarlane, Larsen then Bagley wins over any of the post-Quesada/Direct Sales Market only/shunken fanbase/ 6 part story arc/ decompressed utter nonsense.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

"I ate paint chips as a kid" for John Byrne? Fine. If that's how it's gonna be, go ahead and add "I eat paint chips currently as an adult" for JMS.

Um... 'Chapter One', 'The Final Chapter', the ridiculous return of Aunt May, the "Mattie" Franklin Spider-Woman, the pain goes on and on. I meant the paint-chips thing as a joke, but in retrospect after remembering all his trauma-inducing stories I should have been waaaaay harsher.

And I'm not a fan of JMS either. I thought his later stories like 'The Other' and 'Sins Past' sucked and his stories had too much of a mystical bent; however even with all the flaws I can see how people might pick him as their personal best, because he did tell compelling stories sometimes(even if I thought they were better suited for Dr Strange). Comparing his Spidey work to Byrne's Spidey work is like comparing filet mignon to a hotdog.

 

[Themanofbat]

Comparing his Spidey work to Byrne's Spidey work is like comparing filet mignon to a hotdog.

I'd say it would be more like comparing a well-cooked pork chop with a chicken weiner....

 

[The Bruce]

The action in some of Bill Mantlo's Spectacular was just....Spectacular! t: Can I please get them in a decent trade instead of the Essential I have to work with?

 

[moraldeficiency]

You're insane. The aunt may reveal issue, the silent issue, the 911 issue easily the best ASM individual issues in the last 20 years. Now I don't like everything he did but that said, he did a few things we don't see in BND.

One Peter Parker won his fights. It's a fresh concept they should bring back. Someone like screwball on menance would be taken down in a few panels if he was writing. This was a guy that had a strategy to take down the hulk now look at him.

Two Peter Parker was smart. Lots of times he won his fights using science and evaluating his opponent's weaknesses. This isn't a guy that after catching a thief would let her go cause he forgets what his webbing does.

Finally Peter Parker was a hero. He did heroic stuff even as Peter Parker. I liked him as a school teacher trying to help kids a lot more than the same job he took to make ends meet at 15.

JMS had some stinkers but to compare his stuff to Bryne means you're just actively blocking some great stories. Not to mention forgetting that he took ASM from one of it's lowest points to one of it's highest.

 

[Venom 1988]

The Other wasn't even his story, it was an editorial move. If anything, it was Peter David's baby.

 

[mre]

Yeah I agree. JMS rocked.

I think that most of the stuff that people didn't like were because of him not having complete control over the series.

 

[Themanofbat]

JMS had some stinkers but to compare his stuff to Bryne means you're just actively blocking some great stories. Not to mention forgetting that he took ASM from one of it's lowest points to one of it's highest.

He took over from Mackie... it never got any lower than that...



.... though I would argue with you that he brought the book to one of it's highest. His run, while having "some" great stories and really terrific characterization, was really "bleh" to me when I look at the history of ASM.

I took a hard look at the 11 writers that have graced the pages of ASM (not including the BND guys), and he usually ranks around 8th or 9th place to me... depending on my feelings that day towards Michelinie... but in NO way does his run even come close to the works of 1) Stan Lee 2) Marv Wolfman 3) Roger Stern 4) Len Wein 5) JM DeMatheiss 6) Gerry Conway 7) Tom DeFalco...

Only Denis O'Neil & Howard Mackie had worse runs... in MY opinion.

 

[JayTee]

JMS's run was horrible. If you think the 911 thing and Aunt May's discovery were the greatest Spider-Man stories in 20 years, you're a faux-intellectual fanboy who, instead of satiating his growing needs for stimulation elsewhere in the world of adults, needs to break the legs of an adolescent icon like Spider-Man and drag him through boring stories to satisfy.... what? What do you get from this? You get to brag to the same 7 people who visit all these comic websites and those 3 people you know in the real world who might give a crap about Peter and May talking on a bench for 22 pages.

Less than 100,000 people have been buying this crap for a decade now, and you're all still tricked into thinking JMS "saved" Spider-Man too. Give me a frikkin break. The guy took Spider-Man, turned it into whatever the heck he wanted, and is applauded for doing so?

By the way, Sins Past, then Skin Deep in a row took 10 months to tell. TWO STORIES in almost a year. Compare that to any 10 months of Brand New Day and tell me it's a superior way to get a Spider-Man comic book fix.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

JMS's run was horrible. If you think the 911 thing and Aunt May's discovery were the greatest Spider-Man stories in 20 years, you're a faux-intellectual fanboy who, instead of satiating his growing needs for stimulation elsewhere in the world of adults, needs to break the legs of an adolescent icon like Spider-Man and drag him through boring stories to satisfy.... what? What do you get from this? You get to brag to the same 7 people who visit all these comic websites and those 3 people you know in the real world who might give a crap about Peter and May talking on a bench for 22 pages.

You seem like you have a few... unresolved anger issues yourself.

Chill. Out. It's just a comic. Like I said I'm not even a fan of JMS. I think he was overrated. All I allowed was that I could understand how people could enjoy at least some of his Spider-Man work.

John Byrne's Spider-Man work on the other hand? The 'Chapter One' catastrophe and all the terrible retcons that it accompanied (anyone remember Peter's origin being rewritten as him being caught in an explosion that gave him his powers and killed half his school? And it was caused by Doc Ock!) was enough to seal his fate as worst Spider-Man writer ever... but for good measure he also co-plotted or wrote some of the worst current-day issues as well. I already mentioned Aunt May's return and the 'Final Chapter'... but we had the relaunch with a 15 year old girl pretending to be Spider-Man and Peter living in a penthouse. And then we had TriCorp. And MJ's stalker. And Peter making out with said 15 year old girl. And Peter being a homeless dishwasher. And the Goblin who melted. And the most cliched, derivative, cringe-worthy dialogue this side of 'Plan-9 from Outer Space'. Honestly some of the worst Spider-Man stories I've ever read. I think time has helped people forget how bad these stories were. Go. TRY to re-read them (if you have the '40 years of Spidey' DVD). I'll wait.

As for you? You need an internet time-out.

 

[mre]

By the way, Sins Past, then Skin Deep in a row took 10 months to tell. TWO STORIES in almost a year. Compare that to any 10 months of Brand New Day and tell me it's a superior way to get a Spider-Man comic book fix.

They were two 6-part stories. One issue sold per month.
Compared to 3 issues per month being sold now by a whole team of writers.

What is your point here?

And JMS' run was not terrible. He told a lot of great stories, and made Aunt May, and MJ pretty interesting characters. When was the last time you saw Peter using his gifts as a scientist? This is a core of who Peter Parker is.
A lot of what we have been reading in BND is Peter working his high school job as a freelance photographer, dirt poor, and women falling for him at every turn.

 

[moraldeficiency]

He took over from Mackie... it never got any lower than that...



.... though I would argue with you that he brought the book to one of it's highest. His run, while having "some" great stories and really terrific characterization, was really "bleh" to me when I look at the history of ASM.

I took a hard look at the 11 writers that have graced the pages of ASM (not including the BND guys), and he usually ranks around 8th or 9th place to me... depending on my feelings that day towards Michelinie... but in NO way does his run even come close to the works of 1) Stan Lee 2) Marv Wolfman 3) Roger Stern 4) Len Wein 5) JM DeMatheiss 6) Gerry Conway 7) Tom DeFalco...

Only Denis O'Neil & Howard Mackie had worse runs... in MY opinion.

In terms of sales it was definatly one of it's highest. He got back to the core of the character. Now you might find actually winning fights or using his brains bleh, but not this guy.

 

[moraldeficiency]

JMS's run was horrible. If you think the 911 thing and Aunt May's discovery were the greatest Spider-Man stories in 20 years, you're a faux-intellectual fanboy who, instead of satiating his growing needs for stimulation elsewhere in the world of adults, needs to break the legs of an adolescent icon like Spider-Man and drag him through boring stories to satisfy.... what? What do you get from this? You get to brag to the same 7 people who visit all these comic websites and those 3 people you know in the real world who might give a crap about Peter and May talking on a bench for 22 pages.

Less than 100,000 people have been buying this crap for a decade now, and you're all still tricked into thinking JMS "saved" Spider-Man too. Give me a frikkin break. The guy took Spider-Man, turned it into whatever the heck he wanted, and is applauded for doing so?

By the way, Sins Past, then Skin Deep in a row took 10 months to tell. TWO STORIES in almost a year. Compare that to any 10 months of Brand New Day and tell me it's a superior way to get a Spider-Man comic book fix.

I'll assume this is targetted at me, and I'm gonna respond by not actually calling you names, cause I'm classy and you're a ****.

First the 911 issue was great. It wasn't a spider-man story, it was about NY and what people were feeling. They used Peter because he symbolizes NY better than pretty much any other character. The characters weren't placed in terms of who they are but what emotions they could convey. Doctor Doom crying wasn't in character, but it wasn't about character it was about showing even the worst in people still felt what was happening. Maybe you saw this as destroying a cultural icon, but then if you did you completely missed the point.

The Aunt May reveal. Really, don't you think that was incredibly over due? But no you're right, Peter should never progress past his state at 15, any progress or realistic writing of any character around peter parker must equal breaking the legs of an adolescent icon like Spider-Man and drag him through boring stories to satisfy something. It can't just be a good story by a great writer.

It's funny hearing how condescending you are about people that post on comic boards through posting on a comic board. Did you realize that as you were ranting, or do you see what you're doing as something different? If you do, can I buy drugs from you cause you obviously get better **** than I do.

He took ASM from being complete crap with low sales to a consistently selling good book. Yeah considering where it was at, he should be applauded for his work. (not to mention Thor).

Compare things to BND? Ok don't mind if I do. Now I agree sins past and the other were not good stories, that said you did see something you don't see in this BND. Peter won his fights. He came out on top. Now I know that's not nearly as good as watching pete get outsmarted by a fun runner, outmaneuvered by some drug addict or beat down by goblin version 8.3. You show me anything in BND that's shown Peter Parker be more heroic or smarter than the NA arc. Go ahead, I dare you.

So to wrap up you might see character progression and well written heroes that do heroic things some way for people to escape being adults or whatever funny theory has your panties holed up in box canyon and that's adorable but I kinda prefer it to just seeing old villians remade, watching Peter Parker forget how to do stuff he figured out at 15, and weird memory holes. All and all, these are just opinions, we get to disagree. Please get over yourself, your thoughts are no more valid than anyone else's.

 

[Themanofbat]

In terms of sales it was definatly one of it's highest. He got back to the core of the character. Now you might find actually winning fights or using his brains bleh, but not this guy.

I never said that... Spidey typically wins his fights, as he won many of them with the 7 or 8 writers who had BETTER runs on ASM than JMS did...

That's all...

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

I will always give the nod to Stan Lee. He started it, and his runs with Ditko and Romita Sr. are superior to everything that has come since.

After that, it's Wolfman, Stern, Dematties, Michelinie, and David.

Agreed all the way!