Comics So how's Amazing Spider-man?

[Styleshift]

Amazing is purely and only "ARCS" now...it is an "ARC" comic.

It has never purely been that before.

OUtside of spidey stuff, i am not a big fan of arcs, and feel (their over-use) has brought down comcis as a whole.

I'm a 12 issues and an annual old school type, i suppose. Same creative team, single vision....etc...

I'm currently reading Essential Wolverine vol. 2.
The stories are pretty good but the arcs are breaking up the pace for me.

I'm also reading Essential X-men vol 2. Great run by Claremont and Bryne. The book is constantly moving...the pace is excellent. That's something I feel Brand New Day is seriously lacking ATM.

It just feels like 2-3 issues and than you stop to switch writers and artists. wash rinse and repeat.

I'm not a fan of arcs because you see the "to be continued" coming before you even buy the book. It takes so much drama away.

The Brain trust hurts the book a great deal.

• Too many hands in the pot. The book never feels the same between artists and writers.
• Plots aren't moving much because the writers have their own plots they wanna touch on. (Example, it's been more than a year worth of stories since Menace was revealed. Pop question, what is he after? what makes him tick? why should I care about him as a character? why shouldn't i dismiss him as a goblin clone?)
• and to top it all off with a nice fat juicy cherry. The creative team continues to insult fans with remarks in interviews.

 

[DACrowe]

Wasn't this a consistently top 10-15 book? I wish he would intentionally sabotage all the books under his stewardship....

The spidey brand will always sell. But he used Avengers-Iron-Spidey, Civil War, The Other, Back in Black, etc. to all squeeze Spidey into a corner as a character and make it so unlike what fans are used to that they'd gladly accept OMD to be free of crap.

 

[imdaly]

Amazing is purely and only "ARCS" now...it is an "ARC" comic.

It has never purely been that before.

Aside from the Flash Thompson one-shot story last month, the last time we've seen a one-shot story in Amazing Spider-Man was #505 which came out in May 2004.

ASM #544-545: "One More Day"
ASM #539-543: "Back In Black"
ASM #532-538: "The War at Home"
ASM #529-531: "Mr. Parker Goes to Washington"
ASM #525-528: "The Other"
ASM #519-524: Hydra Arc
ASM #515-518: "Skin Deep"
ASM #509-514: "Sins Past"
ASM #506-508: "The Book of Ezekiel"
ASM #505: "Vibes"


And then before that was Happy Birthday, Digger, Ezekiel, Shathra, Morlun, Doc Ock III, Doctor Strange, Maximum Security, etc etc. I mean, we haven't really had a regular run of non-arc stories since the Mackie period post-reboot. And don't forget that the entire Clone Saga was all arc after arc after arc after arc (ones that forced you to buy the other titles, and sometimes some one-shots, if you want the whole story)!

Amazing Spider-Man has been pretty much an "arc" comic for years now.

 

[imdaly]

Dude. Ow.












Touche.

Haha. Sorry, man. But I had to call you out on that one.

 

[farmernudie]

I cannot think of a series currently that is as ARC HEAVY as Alternate Amazing Spider-Man. The arcs are constant, pretty much, based on creative team hopping in for that arc.

JMS's run wasn't arc filled the entire time...up until it became more "event heavy" (Civil War, BIB, etc..)...as it built up to Joe's destination of hitting the panic button.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

My view on it is it's stale, rehashed crap that adds nothin' to the character.

From one fan whose been with the book since #1, he feels OMD was a mistake, but there have been some gems amongst the crud.

From another semi-fan whose read some of BND fer review purposes, he said it was pure dreck.

So there's a sampling fer ya.

 

[Styleshift]

Aside from the Flash Thompson one-shot story last month, the last time we've seen a one-shot story in Amazing Spider-Man was #505 which came out in May 2004.

ASM #544-545: "One More Day"
ASM #539-543: "Back In Black"
ASM #532-538: "The War at Home"
ASM #529-531: "Mr. Parker Goes to Washington"
ASM #525-528: "The Other"
ASM #519-524: Hydra Arc
ASM #515-518: "Skin Deep"
ASM #509-514: "Sins Past"
ASM #506-508: "The Book of Ezekiel"
ASM #505: "Vibes"


And then before that was Happy Birthday, Digger, Ezekiel, Shathra, Morlun, Doc Ock III, Doctor Strange, Maximum Security, etc etc. I mean, we haven't really had a regular run of non-arc stories since the Mackie period post-reboot. And don't forget that the entire Clone Saga was all arc after arc after arc after arc (ones that forced you to buy the other titles, and sometimes some one-shots, if you want the whole story)!

Amazing Spider-Man has been pretty much an "arc" comic for years now.

I think he just means the predictable format of the arcs buddy.

I think some pro fans are misinterpreting us OMD haters as JMS fan boys.

Not totally the case. We know most of his stories in the later half of his run sucked.

but,

I just don't understand why some fans try to put the unmasking on him as well as black in black, OMD and the iron Spider. Those weren't his ideas.
As soon as civil war stated he wasn't writing the amazing spider-man anymore. He was filling points. How to get this character from Point A to Point B even though said character would never act this way or do what the story called for. Check out the first part of his run where Spidey was an indepenant hero. Even when he wrote the character while he was living with the new avengers spidey still made selfless choices, not wanting others to get hurt on his watch. Civil War broke him and made him C list. As well as BND. OMD made him an F list hero in my opinion.

Now you'll notice the later half of this post has nothing to do with your post...

but,

Just my two cents.

 

[Themanofbat]

I just don't understand why some fans try to put the unmasking on him as well as black in black, OMD and the iron Spider. Those weren't his ideas.

Yet... people will sure jump on the bandwagon as to how much HIGHER the ASM sales were on those JMS books as opposed to how they are now... must have been the "great" JMS writing that drove those numbers up...



I love how people get to "pick and choose" specific facts to ascertain their points...

And I'm generalizin' here SShift... nothing against you.

 

[farmernudie]

STYLESHIFT: As soon as civil war started he wasn't writing the amazing spider-man anymore. He was filling points. How to get this character from Point A to Point B even though said character would never act this way or do what the story called for.

So VERY well put.

It wasn't/isn't about character integrity at this/that point, but about getting Spidey to where Joe wanted him, which he has stated it was his mullti year plan to get him to that point so that this would look better.

Would Pete unmask in front of the whole world because Iron MAn asked him to? No way!

Would Pete deal with the devil? No way.

Would the devil trade marriages to make old ladies live longer? No way!

Not just Pete, but other characters as well, out of character and all forced into awkward situations.

What WOULD Aunt May do now, if she found out she owed her life to the devil??? Anyone???

 

[Styleshift]

Yet... people will sure jump on the bandwagon as to how much HIGHER the ASM sales were on those JMS books as opposed to how they are now... must have been the "great" JMS writing that drove those numbers up...



I love how people get to "pick and choose" specific facts to ascertain their points...

And I'm generalizin' here SShift... nothing against you.

I actually agree. OMD/Civil War were over hyped events.
That's the only reason they sold well. It's unfair to compare those issues sales to Brand New Day. (However I still feel that NWTD is still comparable solely because of the writer and artist on board.)

even than the stories sucked for the most part. I honestly hated Civil War. They just took the Concept of X-men and blew it up and when they were not doing that they were writing horrible characterizations.

 

[Styleshift]

So VERY well put.

It wasn't/isn't about character integrity at this/that point, but about getting Spidey to where Joe wanted him, which he has stated it was his mullti year plan to get him to that point so that this would look better.

Would Pete unmask in front of the whole world because Iron MAn asked him to? No way!

Would Pete deal with the devil? No way.

Would the devil trade marriages to make old ladies live longer? No way!

Not just Pete, but other characters as well, out of character and all forced into awkward situations.

What WOULD Aunt May do now, if she found out she owed her life to the devil??? Anyone???

Thanks Farmie.

and great points. This is the "great power, great responsibility" hero we're talking about. EVERYONE knows the quote.

Why is he risking everything by unmasking? When his girlfriend died because someone knew his secret? When his wife was stalked and kidnapped by someone who knew his secret? His very aunt whom he apparently loves much more than his wife was even kidnapped multiple times.

That was just a very poor decision and you know what makes it even worse? Peter had to register...not unmask infront of everyone. (which was hilarious because he was already in the shield database.)

To add insult to injury, He only reminded every hero that hadn't come forward why they shouldn't unmask.

Thats another reason added to the list of why I don't read Marvel much these days. Granted, I do feel that they are trying really hard to make things work in Brand New Day....but there trying hard for all the wrong reasons....

 

[Spec Spider-Man]

I'm really liking it!!!

 

[jediab]

It has sucked such royal donkey d**k!

Even though I gave the book a try after they f*ed things up with the RetDevilCon, I still ended up dropping the title after NWTD.

 

[SpideyInATree]

I've enjoyed the book very much since it moved to a three times a month format. There are some inconsistencies that kind of bug me but I am getting some solid Spidey stories just about every week now, that is some pretty awesome stuff.

The one main thing that bugs me is the constant rotating creative teams. I thought that I might like that when it was first announced but it kind of puts a rut into the pacing, at least to me. For three issues we had Dan Slott and Steve McNiven. That was a very awesome pairing but that was IT..haha. No more Slott/McNiven Spidey. While some of the other teams have been pretty sweet it still just bugs me. Slott/Martin team up on the Paper Doll storyline was a really good team up. I loved Martin's artwork back from the Doctor Strange miniseries he did a few years back. And, of course, getting to see Dan Slott, one of my favorite comic writers, team with John Romita Jr., one of my favorite superhero comics artists.

The other thing that bugs me are the continuity stuff. It's not that they erased things its that they CHANGED things. I mean...since Peter Parker never married Mary Jane there are a lot of things in the Spider-Man mythos that are going to be slightly to severely adjusted to have to work around that. The ressurrection of Harry Osborn has never really been dealt with and we are pretty deep in BND now. However, I did just read somewhere that there is going to be a storyline dealing with that. I would just really like a run down of some of the changes and what not that have been made through the years. I wish that is something they would have worked out first before putting out Brand New Day.

But those are my gripes with it. Other than that it's been pretty decent Spidey stories week in and week out. A nice handful of new and interesting villains that have, very nicely, worked their way into the Spidey mythos. Also the added members of the supporting cast. Pete's new roommate has already gotten himself tied up into Spidey's web. They are just great modern Spidey stories that take things back to the basics. If that's what you are looking for then this is the book for you.

 

[imdaly]

The ressurrection of Harry Osborn has never really been dealt with and we are pretty deep in BND now. However, I did just read somewhere that there is going to be a storyline dealing with that.

3 short issues/weeks from now

 

[so-tite]

I don't know, I actually enjoy Avengers Spidey. The Mephisto thing still hasn't sat well with me though.

 

[kguillou]

I dont mind Spidey in the avengers either, he actually works quite well in a team, i just dont like it when he's portrayed as a silly kid when compared to the other avengers, cause let's face it, spidey could whoop all of their butts any day of the week anytime.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Yet... people will sure jump on the bandwagon as to how much HIGHER the ASM sales were on those JMS books as opposed to how they are now... must have been the "great" JMS writing that drove those numbers up...



I love how people get to "pick and choose" specific facts to ascertain their points...

And I'm generalizin' here SShift... nothing against you.

To be fair look at the numbers before JMS and you have a pretty good idea of what he did. From crap to good then to ok (during the time he was forced to make Pete go through those fun changes to prep for OMD/BND) to after where they've been steadily dropping below numbers the braintrust said they would never fall to.

I'm not his biggest fan, but he was a damn good writer (look at thor, the twelve or requiem for further evidence) but he made ASM a major book again from a crap start.

 

[Blader5489]

LOL @ all of the "arc" complaints

Virtually every comic book put out by DC and Marvel nowadays are broken down into arcs. It's hardly a Spider-Man thing.

 

[shinlyle]

LOL @ all of the "arc" complaints

Virtually every comic book put out by DC and Marvel nowadays are broken down into arcs. It's hardly a Spider-Man thing.

Invincible doesn't do "arcs", per se, and it's better than any book from DC or Marvel.

As for me, I think the 3X schedule just makes it harder for the detractors (me) to even consider getting into the book. It's just too expensive, and it would force me to drop books that actually DON'T make me cringe because of a horrible decision the hero has made regarding the prince of darkness.

I may have actually given BND more of a shot than I did, if it hadn't meant buying 3-6 books to do so, as I don't get to the comic shop every week.