Comics New Interview - Steve Wacker:

[moraldeficiency]

Because the LAST person you want to go to for answers about a story is the person that is writing the story.

What's funny is that's the exact mentality Joey Q had towards JMS when he was writing.

And issue 7 or Iron Man danced around the awkardness, it wasn't for the characters the awkardness comes to the readers when they bring this stuff up. There is a fundamental difference between a mystery and a problem and while cultivating a mystery can build the story up, cultivating a problem has NEVER worked to produce a good result. And since everyone on the braintrust has gone out of their way to distance themselves from OMD saying that was before them, this is a problem Joey dropped on their laps. And it's only taken three years of issues for them to start explaining one minor point to it.

 

[ben_reilly_s_s]

Ok, i'll be a lil clearer....

Why doesn't Tony acknowledge the fact that, sure he at one point knew Pete was Spider-Man, hence why he let him stay in Avengers Tower, but since he now doesn't know why not try and find out why this "normal" human being was living with the Avengers, and not someplace else?

Also, what if everyone finds out about the fact that Spider-Man made everybody forget who he is? He'd be hated way more than now, by everybody, for messing with thier minds.

 

[kguillou]

When did Tony discover Pete's identity anyway? Was it during New Avengers or was it earlier?

 

[moraldeficiency]

earlier, when that house burning thing happened tony helped pete get his buddy the research job because he knew who he was (he was shown authorizing the job while scribbling the Spider-Man logo with a smile). It wasn't mentioned exactely when but I'd say tony just figured it out over time.

 

[kguillou]

Oh ok, you know i think these days, every hero knows who everybody is more or less. I think now, Spider-man's the only hero with a secret i.d., everybody pretty much knows who daredevil is, iron fist, moon knight,etc. is there anyone else left with a secret i.d.?

 

[Ion Kenshin]

Oh ok, you know i think these days, every hero knows who everybody is more or less. I think now, Spider-man's the only hero with a secret i.d., everybody pretty much knows who daredevil is, iron fist, moon knight,etc. is there anyone else left with a secret i.d.?

Jackpot? sorry didnt mean to be an ******* i just couldnt help it....it was too easy

 

[Styleshift]

Well, all I see is a lot of feelings. I feel differenly.

And that's fine. Because it is your opinion after all. and your opinion absolutely DOES count because you are a fan.

I was just saying that we anti-fans are a little deeper than: "omg omg they took the marriage, NOOOOO FIRE JOEY Q!!!" It's just those idiots that get heard first. and sometimes people get Good posters like Farmie or kguillou confused with them.

My major problem is, I've never felt so in the dark with Spider-man before. This is the character who's head your always supposed to be in when you read the book. Lately it feels like we're lucky we know that HE still knows he's Spider-man.

I've followed the book since I was a kid, now that I'm an adult I still liked it for the same reason. I never picked anything else up besides Spidey because I knew the character and thats what always brought me back time and time again. I loved the feeling of a continuing storyline....even when it sucked big Mackie. Those were bad stories. but they didn't break the character. they didnt make me question the storyline or how much Spidey knew about what was going on around him.

I have bought a couple and read all of the BND issues up to now and I just can't get into it. But my love for the character brings me back. I remember saying I was going to quit after the other and the unmasking. I came back of course...but BND keeping me off the book money wise (while i am one of the few anti fans still giving it a chance even after a year) should say alot.

 

[Blader5489]

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.

Plot holes and questions are one thing. Suggesting alternate timelines is entirely different.

 

[iloveclones]

This is what I was trying to say a little earlier, and I ran across this quote by Dan the Man that says it much better (I mean, he does get paid for stringing words together...)

You're never going to make continuity problems bullet proof though. A lot of it lies on suspension of disbelief. If people aren't willing to make that jump and they want to look for holes there's nothing you can do. You either bought the ticket for the ride or you haven't.

 

[carnageehw]

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...

Normally, I'm with ya. Slow builds are AWESOME. Storylines that take time to develop pay off many times more that quick ones.

However, the key word in all that is BUILD. It's not really a build, and the wait isn't really that much fun, when the mystery is in the PAST. We feel like we should know what happened before moving forward, that's natural.

So I agree with your sentiment, I just don't think it applies the same.

I mean, I don't really think the "Why'd MJ and Pete not get married" story is that important though. Whatever the reason in the comics they give, thanks to the internet, we know the reason is because editors demanded it. So the MJ story isn't nessesary.

 

[Styleshift]

This is what I was trying to say a little earlier, and I ran across this quote by Dan the Man that says it much better (I mean, he does get paid for stringing words together...)

I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with creating gaping holes within continuity. Yeah...pretty sure.

I mean that's a Great take on things but the problem is that these "continuity errors" are sticking out like a sore thumb.

Searching for continuity errors, would be like panning JMS run. He has alot but you really have to look for them.

 

[kguillou]

Its good to see that even Dan acknowledges the continuity problems. In the CBR interview he said himself that spiderman will have a different relationship with the FF4 in his new story because of the OMD changes. I'm curious to see what kind of relationship it is now.

 

[ben_reilly_s_s]

I think they are going to say that no-one even remembers that they at one point even knew who Spider-Man was.
I doubt that Pete even remembers that he even unmasked.

 

[imdaly]

My major problem is, I've never felt so in the dark with Spider-man before. This is the character who's head your always supposed to be in when you read the book. Lately it feels like we're lucky we know that HE still knows he's Spider-man.

I have: When I was new to reading Spider-Man comics!

When I was just starting out with Spidey, I jumped right in, not knowing anything to his story except the origin story. I started reading the core titles with ASM #377. Very shortly after that was "Maximum Carnage" with a TON of characters I'd never read about before. I felt like I was thrown right in to the middle of an ongoing saga, and it was exciting to read on and find out little by little the things that had happened in the past issues that have set up to the story that was sitting in my hands. This first year or two of comic collecting was easily the most exciting for me, as I had so much fun simply learning about the character and his history.

With the way that BND has been set up now it feels a bit like that again. Something happened in the 100 missing days between OMD and BND, and I'm learning little by little what it was, which helps explain everything happening now in a little better light. I can still understand everying that's happening in the comics right now just fine, but as I learn a little more here and there with those "missing days", that fleshes out these stories even more.

One thing that DID get annyoing though was during the Clone Saga, evvvveryyy issue had those two pages or so that had Peter or Ben sitting there thinking to themselves of the whole summary of the Clone Saga so far. I remember reading those each month and being taken out of the story thinking to myself "This is so obviously a way to try to catch the reader up to everything that's going on so far as if they haven't read any of the past stories yet". I mean, it was good to let people know what's going on, but man did it seem unbelievable that a person would continually sit down on the roof and think to themselves a whole conversation about what's happened lately.

The way it's happening now is realistic. Spidey's not going to be swinging around thinking to himself about the details of his relationship with every Marvel character out there, and thinking to himself of the details as to what happened back when he was going to marry MJ. Instead the topics are coming up when the story calls for that: i.e. Harry's return. It's MUCH MUCH more grounded in reality that way and makes for a much smoother transition, IMO.

 

[ben_reilly_s_s]

The way it's happening now is realistic. Spidey's not going to be swinging around thinking to himself about the details of his relationship with every Marvel character out there, and thinking to himself of the details as to what happened back when he was going to marry MJ. Instead the topics are coming up when the story calls for that: i.e. Harry's return. It's MUCH MUCH more grounded in reality that way and makes for a much smoother transition, IMO.

I would think, a more realistic order would be asking how in the BLOODY HECK are you alive would be the first thing to ask, not wait months down the road.

 

[farmernudie]

Some of the defenders of this silly reboot refuse to see and acknowledge the simplest of points on here.

 

[shinlyle]

Well, I don't mind lengthy stories that build-up to a major revelation or explanation of something, but we've had over 3 years worth(36 issues) of Spidey books to have it told. The thing is, the "it" we're waiting on is something we all knew over a year ago. It's more than a little annoying.

Now, the answer to the Peter/MJ marriage issue will be revealed in issue #600...which is how many issues since BND began? 52 issues or something like that? When the point of the reboot was to go back and undo the marriage, you'd think that would be the FIRST thing they would have covered, just to get it out of the way, and to finish a storyline that would piss people off. Instead, they're building up to it, and hoping the explanation is satisfactory for the fans.

I just have to wonder....were ASM still monthly, would everyone be so patient? Also, if there were two side-books, couldn't they have just covered these plotholes and such in those books for awhile, and let ASM move forward?

Oh well.

 

[kguillou]

Exactly shinlyle, i would much much rather just move forward with these new stories rather than having to constantly look back and wonder what exactly happened in OMD, a story that i think we ALL would rather forget. It would've been nice to fully explain the new status quo first that way we can move on to the new stuff right?

 

[Blader5489]

I would think, a more realistic order would be asking how in the BLOODY HECK are you alive would be the first thing to ask, not wait months down the road.

Pete did ask him the first time Harry came back (off-panel, during that 100 day gap), Harry just kept refusing to give him a straight answer until he needed his help with Liz.

 

[Themanofbat]

I would think, a more realistic order would be asking how in the BLOODY HECK are you alive would be the first thing to ask, not wait months down the road.

In the issue where Harry tells Peter everything, there's a couple of panels where Peter says to Harry "We've talked about it... we've skirted it, skimmed it, skipped around it, and on the whole, skated over it. You've shown me the "paperwork", sent me postcards from your time in "Europe"... But" and then Harry responds... "But you want the nitty-gritty? Fine... let's do this".

So obviously, "months" down the road did not happen... brevity was given when Peter and Harry met again, and Peter had probably figured on his own that it was a Goblin Formula thing, so decided to wait until Harry was ready...

Pretty simple to grasp, especially when you consider what Peter experienced with Norman.

Some of the defenders of this silly reboot refuse to see and acknowledge the simplest of points on here.

See above.

 

[Themanofbat]

Well, I don't mind lengthy stories that build-up to a major revelation or explanation of something, but we've had over 3 years worth(36 issues) of Spidey books to have it told. The thing is, the "it" we're waiting on is something we all knew over a year ago. It's more than a little annoying.

Now, the answer to the Peter/MJ marriage issue will be revealed in issue #600...which is how many issues since BND began? 52 issues or something like that? When the point of the reboot was to go back and undo the marriage, you'd think that would be the FIRST thing they would have covered, just to get it out of the way, and to finish a storyline that would piss people off. Instead, they're building up to it, and hoping the explanation is satisfactory for the fans.

I just have to wonder....were ASM still monthly, would everyone be so patient? Also, if there were two side-books, couldn't they have just covered these plotholes and such in those books for awhile, and let ASM move forward?

Oh well.

36 issues...

 

[Styleshift]

I have: When I was new to reading Spider-Man comics!

When I was just starting out with Spidey, I jumped right in, not knowing anything to his story except the origin story. I started reading the core titles with ASM #377. Very shortly after that was "Maximum Carnage" with a TON of characters I'd never read about before. I felt like I was thrown right in to the middle of an ongoing saga, and it was exciting to read on and find out little by little the things that had happened in the past issues that have set up to the story that was sitting in my hands. This first year or two of comic collecting was easily the most exciting for me, as I had so much fun simply learning about the character and his history.

So tell me...after 10 plus years of reading this on going comic. Is it really fair that I be treated like a new reader?

I understand your point as I started around the same time as you. my first current on going title book was during the trial of Peter Parker....but you need to be more thorough with how you analyze things. Here is where I'm about to blow your mind. Read this carefully.

Does it make any difference to a BRAND NEW READER. where they start? Because when they answer all of these missing questions...like the return of Harry. The reason why Spider-man is no longer married...wait? he was married? Why Mj left him. I really think it will do more to confuse the new reader than make the book accessible to them. They will eventually still have to look back...as most of us that are too young to have read anything past the early 90s did.

The way it's happening now is realistic. Spidey's not going to be swinging around thinking to himself about the details of his relationship with every Marvel character out there, and thinking to himself of the details as to what happened back when he was going to marry MJ. Instead the topics are coming up when the story calls for that: i.e. Harry's return. It's MUCH MUCH more grounded in reality that way and makes for a much smoother transition, IMO.

I agree with the ridiculous recaps...but they've been long gone buddy.
Being inside Spidey's head while he thinks is something thats instrumental to the mythos in my opinion. Check this show out. (just watch the first few seconds.) They do soooooooo much right. Sam Raimi and crew need to pay attention to this show.

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This is what I mean about being in Spidey's head. He's a character that frantically worries about his problems by nature. That's something thats been going on since stan's days...even ULTIMATE Spidey does it. During New Ways to die they started off REALLY good. Than they went back to the little hints in Peter's head.

Your right we DON'T need a recap that takes away the length of the story...but we DO need to know what Spidey feels.

 

[moraldeficiency]

bit of a problem with the last issue, the main point being:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19527

The other big revelation in &#8220;Mind of Fire&#8221; concerned Promethan X-90, something Harry was shown to be trying out on human test subjects in the recent &#8220;New Ways to Die&#8221; arc. At the end of &#8220;Mind on Fire,&#8221; Harry revealed that X-90 was actually a serum he was working on to cure Mark Raxton of his deteriorating condition. He also told Peter the only human test subject was Charlie Wiederman, the second Molten Man, who volunteered. However, the flood of Chinese illegal immigrants that escaped Harry's labs in &#8220;New Ways to Die&#8221; seemed to suggest that Harry was being less than truthful about his test subjects.

&#8220;Harry only tested it on Charlie Wiederman, but you did see all those test subjects in 'New Ways to Die?' And they're all going to show up for the Anti-Venom story in 'Amazing Spider-Man: Extra&#8217; #2,&#8221; Slott teased.

^now we're retconning things not even affected by OMD (but not the first time, see the venom symbiote now as something that gives cancer rather than prevents it).

For what really happened with charlie:

http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/charlie_wiederman.html

Charlie had become a military scientist, and was working on an indestructable metal "suit" that would be applied directly to a soldier's skin. He had run out of research money and needed Peter as a reference to get a grant from Tony Stark. Peter agreed, and Charlie got his grant, but only because he lied and said Peter was part of the research team. Peter was called by Stark's secretary and was shocked to hear that they believed he was working on Charlie's experiment.

He confronted Weiderman, and found that he was making dangerous shortcuts while working on the metal. Peter refused to let his research continue, because if something went wrong, everyone thought he was part of the team. After he left, Charlie rushed production of the metal, which caused an explosion and leveled the building he was in. It also coated him with the indestructable metal.



Now I'll agree it's not the biggest deal in the world, but in no way did charlie's experiment tie into the molten man in anyway. With all the retconned issues popping up from the OMD explanations, why are they also retconning other things not effected?

 

[Styleshift]

Some of the defenders of this silly reboot refuse to see and acknowledge the simplest of points on here.

Amen. TMOB keeps it pretty real though.

Well, I don't mind lengthy stories that build-up to a major revelation or explanation of something, but we've had over 3 years worth(36 issues) of Spidey books to have it told. The thing is, the "it" we're waiting on is something we all knew over a year ago. It's more than a little annoying.

Now, the answer to the Peter/MJ marriage issue will be revealed in issue #600...which is how many issues since BND began? 52 issues or something like that? When the point of the reboot was to go back and undo the marriage, you'd think that would be the FIRST thing they would have covered, just to get it out of the way, and to finish a storyline that would piss people off. Instead, they're building up to it, and hoping the explanation is satisfactory for the fans.

I just have to wonder....were ASM still monthly, would everyone be so patient? Also, if there were two side-books, couldn't they have just covered these plotholes and such in those books for awhile, and let ASM move forward?

Oh well.

Wow you said it better. Great job Shinlyle.

 

[Themanofbat]

Now I'll agree it's not the biggest deal in the world, but in no way did charlie's experiment tie into the molten man in anyway. With all the retconned issues popping up from the OMD explanations, why are they also retconning other things not effected?

As mentioned many times here after Sins Past, when Skin Deep began, the jokes on this site alone was that he was merely Molten Man 2, so while his powers may be on a different scale, maybe there was some similarities between the two that Harry was able to tweak his experiments on Charlie to make them work on Mark...