crivelliman
Civilian
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2002
- Messages
- 544
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 11
SpideyInATree said:Considering it was JMS that got me excited the be a Spider-Man reader again, it's definitely a good thing.
I dropped the Spider-Man titles back in the late 90's after they "resurrected" Aunt May. It was too much for me and not only did I drop Spider-Man titles but I completely dropped out of comic books altogether for about 4 to 5 years.
The first Spidey movie came out and I was interested to see what the comics were like. I remember picking up the issue with Doc Ock and the spaz who stole Ock's arms technology. And that Romita Jr. was artist.I decided to jump back on board.
JMS did something that many writers haven't been able to do since the Clone Saga. And that's introduce new and interesting rogues to the Spider-world instead of Spider-Man fighting some second stringer for the one millionth time. Morlun. Shathra. Digger. Ezekiel. You rarely saw rehashed villains and everything was fresh. The totem aspect is something that really captured me into the comics. Was it fate that Peter became Spider-Man or was it purely what it was...an accident. And at the end of The Book of Ezekiel, it basically left it up to the reader. Fantastic ending, in my opinion.
Also the little things JMS did. The Doctor Doom issue was really fun. How he had Peter take all the money he got and put it into a library named after Gwen Stacy. The issues with Loki, and how he still owes Spidey one.He stayed true to Peter and Mary Jane and made their marriage a BIT interesting. Instead of the borefest it always was. Aunt May was written very well, though everytime I see the character I wince sometimes knowing she should be DEAD!
Sins Past confused the hell out of me. The original idea was that it would be Peter's children, which would have made a LITTLE more sense. Still wouldn't have worked in continuity, in my view...but whatever. I think JMS jumped the shark BIG TIME, and obviously, with this story arc. He should have quickly left the book after that if he knew what was good for him.
Skin Deep I wasn't too much of a fan of. Mostly because you had these realistic-like pencils of Deodato and then you had the flashbacks done by Mark Brooks and it...did...not...mesh...at...ALL! And the villain was like Molten Man on crack anyway. But at least he STILL tried something new.
The Hydra, New Avengers, arc was fantastic. It had that flair that the beginning of his run had and into the Book of Ezekiel.
The Other...well, JMS did a fine job of crapping all over his own story, heh. The totem arc was fine the way it was left, but he had to add more to it and make it dumb. This is EASILY forgettable. But it wasn't ALL JMS. Reginald Hudlin's part was horrid, and Pat Lee's artwork was just about as horrid as the writing. The only thing JMS did was crap on himself here.
And the unmasking build up was pretty good. And, so far, post unmasking, JMS has been handling things rather well, with that flair that he had when he started on the title. Honestly, I think what JMS needs back is John F'N Romita Jr. Because once John left JMS fell off his horse.
But JMS did do a lot of great things. The number one was getting me back into Spider-Man comics, and comic books in general. DC should be thanking him because if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be reading as many DC titles...I wouldn't even be reading comics at all. And I wouldn't even be posting here. I'd be a non-comic book reader still if it weren't for JMS.
These are my feelings to a T. The Doctor Doom / Captain America story was what got me reading Spider-Man again after the 90's (though it was the "realization" that Pete was the clone that killed it for me). I also really enjoyed the Digger arc.
