Bobby Drake has only appeared like once in USM, Peter even acknowledges that he barely knows the guy. The Human Torch has appeared here and there, not anymore than he appeared in Amazing Spider-Man when Stan Lee was writing it. You're really going to fault Bendis for having other heroes have guest appearances in the book? You difference is kind of lame. You're basically telling me that having multiple characters in a solo-character book is okay as long as it's not Bendis writing it.
And you seemed to completely ignore all of the examples I gave regarding how Peter's personal life is affected by people knowing his identity. I think its a stretch to assume that Peter's life should be completely ruined. Hell, you can say the same thing for regular Spider-Man. Why aren't Mary Jane, Aunt May, etc. dead. Enough major villains knew his identity (Chameleon, GG, Harry, Venom). Why isn't that Peter's life in tatters? You could apply this to basically any superhero. Like I said, it is kind of annoying that everyone finds out, but it's not a deal breaker.
I havent seen the second season of SSM, but the first season was amazing.
The second season of TSSM is available on YouTube if you want to be illegal, and is being released on DVD and airing on DISNEY XD if you want to be honest in viewing. It's even better than the first season, and yes, such a feat was actually possible, and accomplished.
The difference between 616 Spidey enemies knowing who he is and USM's enemies doing so are numerous. The biggest is that it took many, many years of stories in continuity for all four of those villains to not only know of his identity, but remain alive to capitalize. Osborn used to lose his knowledge of Peter's identity due to his mental instablities (he forgot whatever the Goblin knew when he wasn't Green Goblin). Maybe a cop out, but it was also a functional, story reason. Venom didn't find out until the 80's, same as Kraven. Chameleon not until the 90's, at least. Black Crow made some of Spider-Man's enemies forget they knew in the 90's, like Doc Ock. Venom once forgot he knew by the end of the 90's. And so on. This was slow and steady over a period of years, and even then, it was considered rare for a villain to know Spider-Man's identity. The ratio was at least 1 out of 10, and even that is modest.
Within under 100 issues of USM, which is less than it seems since for many months we got 2 issues, and with a 6 issue arc format for many stories, this is 7-8 years of continuity. Within that time, you'd have a harder time trying to find any villain with a name and gimmick who DOESN'T know who Spider-Man is or at least HASN'T seen him unmasked. While in 616 a relative minority of rogues know, and this status quo was built up very slowly over decades of material, in less than a single decade, virtually every USM enemy knows his identity, or knows his face and could easily deduce from there. Even Shocker, a running joke of the series, once captured and unmasked him! It takes that genre expectation, that all villains are too stupid/petty/honorable/whatever to properly exploit this knowledge jointly, and took it to an extreme. If it is merely stupid that 616's Spidey's life isn't ruined, then it is jaw droppingly ludicrous to the infinite power that USM's isn't. The onus is also on USM because the series writes itself as contemporary, as "modern", as "being more realistic than other fogey superhero titles". It is part of Bendis' body of work that also acts as a lecture, telling us why other superhero comics are dumb and why he, and only he, can write them better. Only the gag is he doesn't. The farce is in trying to one-up genre expectations or suspensions of belief, he makes stories that seem MORE absurd and LESS realistic.
If Bendis had half the stones he acts like he does, the status quo of USM would be that May is in federal protection, and Peter is forced to live like a runaway across the nation, because every single criminal, whether super villain or homeless mugger bum, knows he is Spider-Man. He wouldn't even wear a mask, because doing so merely delays the inevitable; anyone he encounters will find out anyway. Whatever allies he has on an issuely basis would be physically scarred, staying with Peter either out of love, or desperation for protection, or both. That would be the natural logical conclusion of the mess that USM became. Either that, or he could admit he is wrong and have had some psychic bolt from Xavier mind-wipe the identities from everyone.
And what makes it the MOST absurd? Bendis knows this. Bendis personally chose to complicate the life of Matt Murdock by leaking his identity to the media in DAREDEVIL. How? One man blabbed to the police. One. Man. One. Not even the Kingpin, a random goon. That was 616. It spread like wildfire and nothing Murdock did put the genie back in the bottle. Everyone loved Bendis for doing that, for taking that story to a logical conclusion and whatnot. Yet in USM, when the situation is more absurd (literally, EVERY. SINGLE. VILLAIN. KNOWS. Or will know), that never happens. After years of swallowing it, a few bad arcs culminated into ULT. CLONE SAGA, and I walked. I haven't regretted it. In fact I haven't regretted one Bendis title I left.
Brubaker, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't write like Bendis, and I commend him for it, and prefer his style. Even REBORN, which wasn't his best, was better than a lot of Bendis' recent tales.
USM after years read like a story that was determined to always have a status quo that was inflexiable, yet always run stories that sought to single handedly destroy it every time, only they didn't. There would be no explanation or "cop out" for why this never happened, it just would never happen. Sure, a bad guy would kidnap a loved one now and again, but that is standard superhero fare. And then Bendis would have the nerve, the absolute nerve, to call fans idiots in so many words for accepting genre conventions in books written by others, in between the lines of some of his character monologues in some comics - during the whole Ronin identity speculation I recall him outright calling speculators some sort of name in a NEW AVENGERS issue.
It's like how Mark Millar created a character to lambaste Dr. Doom for being an absurdly over-educated loser of a villain in his FF run, yet writes an absurdly over the top story with him in it, with said character losing in an equally absurd manner. You can't write a story where you promise to reinvent the wheel, then merely construct it out of feces. At least not without looking a bit stinky.
To be honest, around when I left USM, I was also irritated that Bendis chose to kill Gwen Stacy in a manner that better represented what is called "Gwen Stacy Syndrome" than the actual death of her in the 70's. That and by then, some of his dialogue tics were getting to me.
Now, I'll comment to others, while also commenting on solicits I didn't comment on! "Comment" is today's Magic Word!
I'm glad Marvel's putting out more handbooks do the people buying them know that they can find all the info online for free
Yeah, an AVENGERS handbook seems timely. With a return of the A-Z plus themed handbooks, it should be a good year for them. I know the info is online, but until it is in a Handbook it isn't "official". Plus, it saves a google search and it is fun to have something in your hands to read, y'know? While people complain about a $3-$4 comic being read in under ten minutes, I always get hours of reading enjoyment from a Handbook, especially as they improved in quality after by 2006.
Yeah, I was surprised to see something like "GALACTA: DAUGHTER OF GALACTUS" written by Adam Warren. I think the last thing I saw of him with Marvel was either some of their last MARVEL MANGAVERSE jibberish, or that "Marvel Next" mini series, LIVEWIRES, that no one read and have never been used again. It looks like a reprinting of Digital Exclusive material, though, so it just is trying to get some extra cash from online only material, so while $4 is still steep, it has some logic. From the cover, it looks sillier than PET AVENGERS, and those are pets who can beat Thanos.
It would be funny if someone brought that up during THANOS IMPERATIVE, like Peter Quill.
"Behold, mortals, Thanos has returned!"
"Oh, gee, we're in trouble now. Didn't you lose to a dog?"
"He had a power gem!"
"So, you're saying you did lose to an animal?"
"He had a power gem! He and his caped pet friends!"
"You saying the animals ganged up on an Eternal who can cheat death and destroy the universe?"
"They had Power gems! Cats and a frog!"
"Dude, they're animals! They think licking their 'nards is intelligent! They chase their own tails! How the hell could they possibly use Power Gems?"
"I don't know how."
"You couldn't just give them a treat or roll up a newspaper?"
"Look...look...it was a Thanosi."
"It SO wasn't."
"Ugh, fine, I'll go talk to Death, she understands me."
"Obviously not, since you're alive again and all."
"Dr. Doom lost to squirrels, I don't see how this is any worse."
"No, Dr. Doom lost to Squirrel Girl. She was mentally controlling and inciting the squirrels to act under her will, during a team up with Iron Man. That is different to losing to an animal that is barely house trained just because it found a power gem to chew on, and used it with more skill than you. That's like losing to a hamster that happened to find a revolver in a gun fight."
"Fine, I'll go destroy Malibu. Now
there is a universe that knows how to take things seriously!"
Maybe that could be a sprite comic...
Whelp, I guess that confirms that Spider-Man and Wolverine are on the Avengers still.
No Secret Avengers picture
Still nothing on Nova or GotG...this worries me.
Also that picture of Astonishing X-Men has the ape Beast on it...is that an indication or a mistake?
Well, Spider-Man was confirmed to be on the AVENGERS, so Wolverine there is obvious. They were the two that Joe Q mandated to be Avengers in 2004 to Bendis, from what I've seen of interviews between the lines.
I am surprised to not see anything about AVENGERS ACADEMY or a SECRET AVENGERS picture, but give it time. The one shot ENTER THE HEROIC AGE #1 might be a prelude to some more series like AVENGERS ACADEMY, since Gage is one writer.
I also see that Marvel is aware that Amadeus Cho alone can't sell a book, so they are relying on the HEROIC AGE imprint line to call attention. Now, I know it will be of good quality, and it furthers a logical plot point, just the facts are Cho has struggled to sell without tagging alongside Hulk or Hercules. Maybe this time will be the charm?
