Spidey-Fans, you have got to admit, these two have been on quite a role. They took a hyped up, way too powerful for his own good A-lister and return him to the foolish, amateur ability, B-lister we all know he truly is. I mean for the most part, you hear about all the bad these two have done to the character. They supposedly took an every-man character and disenfranchised him from most of his comic book base. Then you hear how they ignored decades of continuity and basically sold out to the countless number of new fans who aren't familiar with the character except for his movie persona. Peter Parker's intelligence has been extremely played down and that Spidey is the whipping boy of the Marvel Universe. My response is "who cares?!!!" He's still one of the most recognizable comic book characters in the world with two successful hit movies. Maybe all that Quesada and Straczynski have done is transformed the character to what he was always meant to be.....a spastic, overly emotional, idiotic dolt of a twenty-something with the ability to receive a beat-down from a girl scout troop on any given day. Everyone knows that Spidey is the Chandler Bing of the comic world (were talking early Friends, before Chandler became cook). My feeling is, if it ain't broke, why fix it? With the sales numbers the comic is receiving nowadays, it's obvious that this is the direction that fans truly want. I mean, not since the days of Doc Samson in the late seventies/early eighties have I seen a character get his butt handed to him on so many occasions. Obviously the recent transformations that Spidey has undergone were actually meant to weaken the character, not make him more powerful (As demonstrated by the butt-kicking he received from Cap in ASM #534). Let's face it folks, possibly Class 20-25 strength, reflexes that are anywhere from 15 to 40 times faster than a normal man (possibly even faster since "The Other"), an enhanced precognitive spider-sense, a costume that provides protection against small arms fire, and ten plus years of fighting experience doesn't mean beans against the pinnacle of human perfection who is a Master of multiple forms of hand-to-hand combat (I wonder who Cap's Sensei was?)
I for one think that these two have finally put Spider-man in the right direction. Well done fellas......Spidey, stay in the B-list crowd where you belong.
