Comics Pete's Job: the Poll

[MaxCarnage]

Anyway, I hate the "full time" photography job. It's a great thing for someone... on the side. It has always been an "on the side" job. During highschool. During college. During whatever the hell you want to be doing, it's an on the side job. Devoting his full time to such a job is not only impractical money wise, but also shuts out other possible stories.

Don't tell any of that to a photojournalist.

I voted photographer, for basically the reasons already stated.

 

[Dragon]

Peter should be a photographer. Any other occupation keeps him away from the action (It's just too convenient if say, his job as teacher leads to new adventures). Every other job is the equivalent to MJ's acting. It's JUST a job. Peter's livelihood should be something conducive to his life as Spider-Man. He should do occasional consulting or technical work utilizing his scientific knowledge, and even substitute teaching is cool. But he should mostly be a photographer.

One other thing- Peter would never be successful as a wrestler. I really don't understand why this is such a popular notion. Peter couldn't make any real use of his abilities with wrestlers or he'd kill them. And everyone knows wrestling is fake. So they wouldn't believe that Peter's power stunts were real anyway. All he'd have is his agility, which he again, couldn't fully utilize in the space of a ring. And there are hundreds of acrobats out there if wrestling promoters were really interested in those types of athletes.
Sure, Pete did it for some quick money, but not as a career.

 

[Captivated]

Peter should be a photographer. Any other occupation keeps him away from the action (It's just too convenient if say, his job as teacher leads to new adventures). Every other job is the equivalent to MJ's acting. It's JUST a job. Peter's livelihood should be something conducive to his life as Spider-Man. He should do occasional consulting or technical work utilizing his scientific knowledge, and even substitute teaching is cool. But he should mostly be a photographer.

Peter should always do photography. Agreed. But that doesn't preclude him from doing something else as well...

In reality... one day Peter should slap his forehead and say "with great power comes great responsibility... Duh. I was gifted with great intelligence, may-be I should do something with it."

 

[stillanerd]

It's a given that Peter Parker should always be a freelance photographer. The running gag is that he secretly profits off his own superhero exploits and is paid by the very guy who hates Spidey's guts. It would ruin the comic irony if you removed that aspect from Spider-Man, and it's a real shame that the current crop of writers have underplayed the banter between Spidey and J. Jonah Jameson.

Having said that, I believe that JMS did a really good move by making Peter a high school teacher. It highlights that he knows science, it's tied to his working class roots, and plus connects him to his high school beginnings. However, he really missed a golden opportunity to expand Peter's supporting cast by giving him new characters in such a setting, opting instead for brief exchanges with walk-ons and quasi "After School Specials" that attempted to invoke "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man" (and he complains in the Wizard interview how Spidey lack a supporting cast. At least PAD is attempting to recitify this by having Flash be a PE teacher at the same school.)

And while you make a good argument for Peter being a college professor, Captivated (and let's be honest, when you have a Master's in Biochemistry or BioPhysics or whatever degree Peter has, that's pretty much your career path) I believe that makes him seem older than he already is. While I don't mind him being married or having a kid (someday), Peter needs to stay a relatively young man and a public high school teacher maintains that. Besides, somehow I don't see Peter being in the same category as a gray-haired, bispectacled dirty old man who loves to lecture, or a former 60s radical who still thinks he's young and hip with his students (okay, yeah I know they're stereotypes, but come on. Most of us who went to college know that's not too far off the mark. )

 

[Captivated]

One of my good friends is a professional photographer. He lives the "Life of Riley" (meaning, an ideal life of carefree prosperity). He totally makes his own schedule, knows EVERYONE around town and makes enough money to have a downtown condo and drive a Lexus.

He's not half as smart as Peter, but he knows how to market (read, charge a lot for) his photos. If Peter doesn't want to take the time and effort to really make a career out of photography, may-be MJ, or an agent could market his photos. Might be an angle to explore for awhile.

 

[Captivated]

It's a given that Peter Parker should always be a freelance photographer. The running gag is that he secretly profits off his own superhero exploits and is paid by the very guy who hates Spidey's guts. It would ruin the comic irony if you removed that aspect from Spider-Man, and it's a real shame that the current crop of writers have underplayed the banter between Spidey and J. Jonah Jameson.

Having said that, I believe that JMS did a really good move by making Peter a high school teacher. It highlights that he knows science, it's tied to his working class roots, and plus connects him to his high school beginnings. However, he really missed a golden opportunity to expand Peter's supporting cast by giving him new characters in such a setting, opting instead for brief exchanges with walk-ons and quasi "After School Specials" that attempted to invoke "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man" (and he complains in the Wizard interview how Spidey lack a supporting cast. At least PAD is attempting to recitify this by having Flash be a PE teacher at the same school.)

And while you make a good argument for Peter being a college professor, Captivated (and let's be honest, when you have a Master's in Biochemistry or BioPhysics or whatever degree Peter has, that's pretty much your career path) I believe that makes him seem older than he already is. While I don't mind him being married or having a kid (someday), Peter needs to stay a relatively young man and a public high school teacher maintains that. Besides, somehow I don't see Peter being in the same category as a gray-haired, bispectacled dirty old man who loves to lecture, or a former 60s radical who still thinks he's young and hip with his students (okay, yeah I know they're stereotypes, but come on. Most of us who went to college know that's not too far off the mark. )

See, I thought the High School teacher thing made him look older in contrast to the ages of his students. But, of course, the kids were drawn way too young in some of those stories.

There are a lot of different things going on in universities... especially in research. Think assistant, or even lead (meaning he can delegate when he needs to "get away") on a research project.

 

[stillanerd]

See, I thought the High School teacher thing made him look older in contrast to the ages of his students. But, of course, the kids were drawn way too young in some of those stories.

Well, naturally, he is supposed to be older than his students.

There are a lot of different things going on in universities... especially in research. Think assistant, or even lead (meaning he can delegate when he needs to "get away") on a research project.

Like I said, it's certainly an avenue for him, but it's one he's been down before. He's been a TA when he was going for his Master's degree and he also ended up being a research assistant when he went back for his Master's--I think it might've been during the "Cosmic Spidey" storyline. Then again, comics are often cyclical anyway.

 

[Citizen_Kaine]

I never could get used to Peter being a teacher. Everytime I hear the word I see that annoying guy going, Bueller?, Bueller?, Bueller?

 

[MaraJanesSlave]

Like I said, it's certainly an avenue for him, but it's one he's been down before. He's been a TA when he was going for his Master's degree and he also ended up being a research assistant when he went back for his Master's--I think it might've been during the "Cosmic Spidey" storyline. Then again, comics are often cyclical anyway.

And he hasn't been down the road of being a photographer?

~Mara Jane

 

[stillanerd]

I never could get used to Peter being a teacher. Everytime I hear the word I see that annoying guy going, Bueller?, Bueller?, Bueller?

Peter: "In 1915, Albert Einstein presented a series of lectures before the... Anyone? Anyone?... Prussian Academy of Sciences, where he described his theory of... Anyone? Anyone? General relativity. And this theory involves the...Anyone? Anyone? That gravity is no longer a...Anyone? Anyone? A force, but instead is it a consequence of...is it a curvature of what? Anyone? Anyone? It is a consequence of of the curvature of space-time. And this thoery was later confirmed by ...Anyone? Anyone?

*kid sleeping on his desk is startled awake by his own drool.*

And he hasn't been down the road of being a photographer?

~Mara Jane

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.