Comics Peter Parker's personality

[Venomaniac]

When I first started reading Brand New Day, I was struck by how this seemed like a different Peter Parker than I had previously read. I stuck with BND until after New Ways To Die. By that time I had become u happy over the stories, and since I didn't enjoy them, I cancelled my subscription. However, it did provoke a question that I am now posing.

Let me first explain my backstory with Spider-Man. I first became a fan of the character watching the 90's cartoon. Then I purchased Tom DeFalco's guide to Spider-Man; it taught me everything I knew. I soon read some reviews of Spider-Man comics, and I was roughly all caught up into Spidey's world. The comics I acutally own and read (I'm referring to 616 Spidey in this instance) are mainly early 90's Spidey. I also have ASM 252-259, as well as a few silver age stories (the first 40 ASMs). Many other stories, including current SPidey, I read reviews of, as opposed to the issues themselves. Now the question I have is the following. It interests me as a reader, as well as someone who wants to professionally write Spider-Man comics in the future (I am currently a legal minor, and that's as close as I will get to saying my age)

Is the Peter Parker in BND a brand new "character" that ISN'T the Spider-Man we know and love? Or is it just the Peter Prker of yore, whose stories I have never read?

 

[kguillou]

Here's the thing, i'm kinda in the same boat as you man. I grew up with the 90's spiderman cartoon and the J.M. Dematteis interpretation of the character. In those iterations Peter Parker was a very mature character yet also very funny and witty at the same time. Stracynski perfected this personality during his run on Amazing Spiderman. This was the personalty i fell in love with as a kid.

However, there's a lot of people, including many of the marvel staff, who think Peter was acting a little too mature and wanted to get Peter back to his single, happy-go-lucky youth expression. Marvel figures that's what made people love the character in the 60's and that's what will make people fall in love with him again in this new millenium. Are they right? Time will tell. Its all a matter of taste in the end. Some people love the "young" Peter Parker and some love the older, wiser Peter Parker.

 

[Meehaul]

His "character" has gone through so many iterations, that's it's a nearly impossible question to answer. My suggestion is read Amazing Fantasy 15 and Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, the Lee/Ditko era, and you'll get the "original" Peter Parker, which is pretty different from today's character, although the post-OMD Pete is probably closer to the "original" character than the JMS Pete or the "married" Pete or whatever. Different people are attracted to different iterations of the character-largely determined by when they first started reading the comics. Personally, I hated the married version and the JMS version because the character seemed quite different to me. I much prefer the current post OMD version. But that's just MY preference, others will (and do) disagree. The other problems with the character, of course are whether you favor "growth" or "change" in the character--which is very hard to do with a commercial property that is now nearly 50 years old--and the fact that different writers have had their own "take" on the character-some writers care about continuity, some don't. Some need Pete to "be" a certain way because of a story they want to tell. To me, the most important feature of the character is this: Peter Parker is all about tragedy and loss. A nerdy, super genius who is a shy misfit. He is not an "everyman". He tries to do what is right, but often fails, just as we all fail. Spider-Man, on the other hand, is all about victory, success no matter what the odds. If the Sinister Six and every other super-baddie was allied against him, Spider-Man woud STILL find a way to win. Both Pete AND Spidey, however, shared one important trait: the desire to live a responsible life, to be a responsible person.

But it's the tension between those two "personalities" that made the character so interesting to me. To me, the marriage, especially to a model/actress party girl, violated the essence of "Peter Parker." Like you hating post OMD stories, I hated all the post marriage stories. I thought the marriage was a significant mistake for the character. I also hated the fact he made a "deal" with Venom, or that he joined the Avengers. But different people like different things, different writers prefer different takes on the character and his stories. There's probably no "right" way to tell stories about the character, there are just our individual preferences as to how we may see him.

 

[SpideyInATree]

I think the characters personality always has certain core elements to it. Depending on who is writing the character, and the type of story, it's always going to be a kind of mixed bag.

A couple people have mentioned reading Spider-Man in the 90's, much like myself. Anybody remember the whole "I am the Spider!!!" "I am dark and brooding and everything sucks so I AM THE SPIDER!!! RARGH!!"? I remember that. That stuff was horrid. Heh.

There are always going to be tweaks and differences in the personality of the character for certain things. I have quite enjoyed Peter Parker since Dan Slott and Steve McNiven took over after One More Day. You've got about five to six different writers switching on and off writing the character, since the book comes out every week now. There are going to be minor personality quirks that one story arc may have and another may not.

When it all comes down to it Peter Parker has always kept the same core of his personality through the entire Spider-Man series and I think that has been the key to it's success.

Some writers make him much more of a smart ass than a guy who cracks jokes in the face of danger, and yes I'm talking about Bendis.

 

[kguillou]

Sometimes the whole "dark" aspect of spiderman can be amazing though, but only when used sparingly. I always saw spiderman as an overall nice, humble down to earth guy who wouldnt hurt a fly if he didnt have to. BUT, if you mess with him, he'll show you just how formidable he really is. I dont care what anybody says but i LOVED when he kicked the Kingpin's fat ass during Back in Black. He was making a big statement there, "Yes I am the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, but do not mistake that for weakness cause i can kick anybody's ass any day of the week if i really wanted to." People often underestimate Spidey because of his light-hearted nature and its nice to see every once in a while the dark side of spiderman which reminds people not to mess with him.

 

[Donald Thomas]

Sometimes the whole "dark" aspect of spiderman can be amazing though, but only when used sparingly. I always saw spiderman as an overall nice, humble down to earth guy who wouldnt hurt a fly if he didnt have to. BUT, if you mess with him, he'll show you just how formidable he really is. I dont care what anybody says but i LOVED when he kicked the Kingpin's fat ass during Back in Black. He was making a big statement there, "Yes I am the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, but do not mistake that for weakness cause i can kick anybody's ass any day of the week if i really wanted to." People often underestimate Spidey because of his light-hearted nature and its nice to see every once in a while the dark side of spiderman which reminds people not to mess with him.

Aloha,
Agreed. Peter is a nice and decent guy. But he is NOT a tool for anyone.
Spidey rules

 

[ragingdemon155]

I've also struggled with Peter Parker's personality in ASM since BND started. Spider-man is not "childish". Yes we all know that he loves to tell jokes and so on...but he is a very mature character that knows when it's time to be serious about things. I haven't had this "mature" Peter Parker at all in ASM since BND. It does feel like a different character at times, but that's the angle that Marvel was going for. They wanted to "erase" and "revert" Peter back into a child in a sense. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people prefer him to act like a young teen. It's just not my thing. Why get that Spider-man in ASM when I could be reading about him in USM?

 

[Venomaniac]

I've also struggled with Peter Parker's personality in ASM since BND started. Spider-man is not "childish". Yes we all know that he loves to tell jokes and so on...but he is a very mature character that knows when it's time to be serious about things. I haven't had this "mature" Peter Parker at all in ASM since BND. It does feel like a different character at times, but that's the angle that Marvel was going for. They wanted to "erase" and "revert" Peter back into a child in a sense. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people prefer him to act like a young teen. It's just not my thing. Why get that Spider-man in ASM when I could be reading about him in USM?[/quote]

Well said.
I personally think Ultimate Spider-Man is the greatest Spidey title in comic history, because it brings Spidey to his true roots (imo).

The other thing that intrigues me about this is that it is basically impossible to write a Spider-Man story every single fan will enjoy (only on the basis of characterization), since some prefer a younger Spidey and hate a slightly older Spidey, while some are the exact opposite.

 

[kguillou]

I know Marvel is trying to experiment with the 3x ASM thing but I dunno, the whole rotation of writers just isnt doing it for me. Its like every month we get a different voice for Spiderman and there's no consistency. What's great about USM is that its one writer and one vision so it feels like you're on a journey when you're reading the book. With ASM its really "hit or miss" every month with a new writer and a new artist. I'd rather have one voice and one direction for a while.

 

[Venomaniac]

I know Marvel is trying to experiment with the 3x ASM thing but I dunno, the whole rotation of writers just isnt doing it for me. Its like every month we get a different voice for Spiderman and there's no consistency. What's great about USM is that its one writer and one vision so it feels like you're on a journey when you're reading the book. With ASM its really "hit or miss" every month with a new writer and a new artist. I'd rather have one voice and one direction for a while.

Hmm.

Good idea, though it won't affect me since I don't plan to pick it up lol

 

[Meehaul]

It's not Pete's "age" or "maturity" it's the nature of his character. I don't cae how old he is, for the most part--and it's not about "maturity," it's about what the marraige to MJ did or did not say about his character. And what MJ brought, or did not bring, to the stories. I never cared for USM (even tho I like Bendis as a writer) because Pete was a hot, cool high schooler with a great job and babes hanging on every arm. Totally different from AF 15 and early ASM. To me, that wasn't Pete. I suppose I liked the college age Spidey just because that's an interesting time of life. I do agree that one cool thing about USM has been the continuity of voice. That's just not possible when you are swapping out writers all the time. Writers bring different skills and characterizations to the table. Some like Slott, for example, while I think his work is sort of weak. I guess I prefer ASM 3x than ASM plus additional titles (Web, Spectacular, whatever), but Im less certain of that.

 

[Venomaniac]

Okay, that's your opinion.
I personally disagree about USM's portrayal of Peter.

And how did this get off-topic anyway?

But anyway, doesn't this mean that there is no way to write the "perfect"Spdier-Man story in terms of Peter's protrayal because different people have different interpretations?

EDIT: I just answered my own question with a "yes"

 

[Venomaniac]

Double Post.

After thinking about this conundrum (at leats in my opinon), I have come up with a metaphor.

Spidey's personality (and the marriage) is like politics. One political party has a realtively similar set of ideas, though everyone has their own individual take on an issue. Different parties are in power at different times.

Now you could say that the political party that is in power is the "Anti-marriage, pro-younger Spider-Man" type party.

 

[Venom 1988]

Your metaphor doesn't work because all the editorial staff and writers have been against the marriage since it happened. So technically, the party that is in power now is the same for the last 20 years.

 

[Venomaniac]

Your metaphor doesn't work because all the editorial staff and writers have been against the marriage since it happened. So technically, the party that is in power now is the same for the last 20 years.

Ahhh, ok.

I still never undertsood why they didn't do a OMD-type thing immidetely if they didn't like the marriage. Why did they even agree to the marriage in the forst place, then?

 

[Themanofbat]

Because Stan Lee was doing it in his newspaper strip, and it caught media attention, so Marvel played up on that...

They even had a guy dressed up in a Spider-Man suit with a redhead in a wedding gown get "married" at Shae Stadium before a Mets game in the summer of 1987.

It was a marketing ploy that they took advantage of at the time...

 

[Themanofbat]

I've also struggled with Peter Parker's personality in ASM since BND started. Spider-man is not "childish". Yes we all know that he loves to tell jokes and so on...but he is a very mature character that knows when it's time to be serious about things. I haven't had this "mature" Peter Parker at all in ASM since BND. It does feel like a different character at times, but that's the angle that Marvel was going for. They wanted to "erase" and "revert" Peter back into a child in a sense. There's nothing wrong with that. Some people prefer him to act like a young teen. It's just not my thing. Why get that Spider-man in ASM when I could be reading about him in USM?

I still see that... I'm not sure why you don't... age doesn't necessarily equate to "maturity"... I can be as goofy as Peter Parker and I'm going to be 42 in 2 months...

And there is a diferrence between "comical" Spider-Man and "stupid teen" Spider-Man... and in my opinion, I haven't seen "stupid teen" Spider-Man since BND began, though I've seen a lot more "comical" Spider-Man...

But that's just my opinion...

 

[Venomaniac]

I still see that... I'm not sure why you don't... age doesn't necessarily equate to "maturity"... I can be as goofy as Peter Parker and I'm going to be 42 in 2 months...

And there is a diferrence between "comical" Spider-Man and "stupid teen" Spider-Man... and in my opinion, I haven't seen "stupid teen" Spider-Man since BND began, though I've seen a lot more "comical" Spider-Man...

But that's just my opinion...

I felt I didn't see "stupid teen Spidey", but I did see a younger Spidey that seemed to be making mistakes he made decades ago, and that he had learned from.

 

[Venomaniac]

There is now officially a poll!

Btw, someone correct me if I'm wrong on the era's and the personality of Peter in those eras.

 

[Themanofbat]

I can't answer the poll, because my favorite Spider-Man era is a mix between the 70's & 80's... still learning, though still making mistakes...

 

[farmernudie]

Yeh...i am not sure how to answer that poll either...so i didn't.

I am not for either, pers say.

I mean, the current spidey...i don't even know what he is!!!?

He is sorta an amalgram of young de-aged Petey boy with no experiences combined with a hip sexy swinging groovy man. Not sure how to describe him. They wanted him de-aged, but he is also acting more..."mature" themed, and makes weird decisions.

I mean, I liked Pete pre-reboot....just normal...but not sure how to describe that...let me scratch that...pre-Civil War and the Unmasking, preferably...since giving his identity out was very out of character, but it was an event driven story, and a broader part of what Joe knew he was going to do with his reboot panic button coming downt he stretch for us via OMD/BND. I'm not even sure if the writers or the fans know who this new Pete is, since people on other forums are actually talking about who he is now, and about his decisions/morals being different than before possibly, how he makes them and such.

 

[Venomaniac]

I can't answer the poll, because my favorite Spider-Man era is a mix between the 70's & 80's... still learning, though still making mistakes...

Sorry...

I should have had a both option or something like it

 

[Themanofbat]

He is sorta an amalgram of young de-aged Petey boy with no experiences combined with a hip sexy swinging groovy man. Not sure how to describe him. They wanted him de-aged, but he is also acting more..."mature" themed, and makes weird decisions.

I found that the American Son storyline showed a very mature and wise Spider-Man... one that we would expect with his dozen years of experience...

In fact, as time goes on and the Spider-Writers are getting a better grip with the plots and characters, I'm seeing a more natural flow in how the stories are coming... far better than the first 6 or 8 months of last year...

I know we don't see eye to eye on all things currently, but as time goes on, things read more "natural" to me than the "forced" way it was in the begining... probably because a LOT has been explained since then...

Just me two cents...

 

[Meehaul]

Pete wasn't happy go lucky in the 60's and 70's. Much of that period of time was filled with some of the hardest hitting stories ASM ever had: Gwen's death, drug abuse, nervous breakdowns, etc. He certainly was never really any more "happy go lucky" in the 60's and 70s than the 80's and 90's. So, the premise of the poll is muddled. And, its hard for people to even vote unless they've actually read ASM from AF 15 in 1962 to, presumably, 1999. There's just too much built into the stories in each of those decades.

 

[Themanofbat]

All I know is that the 70's were the best times for me to read Spider-Man, but it was also a time when I was a much younger man, and I enjoyed most of the 80's stuff, but again, I was turning 20 in the 80's... but barring a few exceptions since then, I am currently enjoying Spider-Man moreso NOW than I have in the last 20 years...