Comics Spider-man's reverted...

[CantThinkOfAName]

I just think it would of been cool to Spider-Man actually become... a man. A full grown man not young man.

What, you mean, like give him a beard?

 

[MRExposure]

I just think it would of been cool to Spider-Man actually become... a man. A full grown man not young man.

Completely agree.

Until BND, I've always thought of Peter Parker's story as a coming of age/growing up story.

We've seen Peter go through...

High school.
College.
Having employment.
Getting married.
Getting a serious job.
Having a kid.

It's the story of a child becoming a man.

BND is the story of a man becoming a child.

 

[Themanofbat]

I mean, I don't want to call you out, but didn't you once complain about Ultimate Spider-Man for the fact that Bendis said he wasn't going to age Peter Parker in his stories?

Yeah, I did want to you call you out. I wanted you to feel exposed, vulnerable. It gets me off.

You're still breathing heavy, sweet cheeks...

I don't think anyone has specifically said about current 616 Spider-Man that he was going to perpetually stay in the same situation that he's in...ie, like Peter Parker always being in High School in Ultimate... you can give a character some "progression" without necessarily making him seemingly get "old"... I believe we're going to see some character development right now during the Gaunlet... which will be a good story about Peter Parker showing his "character" as he's being pushed to the limit... I guess only time will tell.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Yes...i stayed with the books for well over a year after OMD, and then sort of just....faded away. Just not my cup of tea anymore.

On the other hand; I'm mildly stoked about the new Team-Up book with Wolverine, and curious to see If Spidey will remain an Avenger....

Sad to hear that, but I hear you, Cap. I still buy Amazing, but usually when I get home, I'm more interested in reading what's going on in the Avengers/Siege/Dark Reign stuff first. Amazing is very hit-or-miss and Pete doesn't feel like Pete all the time.

But, the latest issue "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" by Roger Stern and Len Weeks was great! Reminds me of Spidey back in day (in the good way!).

And it looks like Spidey will be on both the Avengers (drawn by JRJR!) and New Avengers. And Spder-Man: Fever sounds interesting.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

And he's supposed to be something of an anti-social/loner and he selects the most social of professions (except for sales)--teaching?

Hey, Meehaul. We've had discussions before regarding how Pete should be handled. And I understand where you come from. I know you lean heavily on Steve Ditko's original interpretation. The thing is, Pete has grown from that very awkward stage he started out in. The thing is, if Ditko stayed on the title, Pete would have really been diferent. He would have probably turned into that strange neighbor who was "always quiet & kept to himself."

 

[SpideyInATree]

I don't understand how fans of Spidey come to the conclusion that the guy is a loner.

He's always, always had a network of friends, and in social situations he's wise cracking.

In the beginning he had awkwardness and there were misunderstandings in his college years.

But c'mon, Peter definately is no loner. He LIKES to hang out with people, and sometimes the only reason he doesn't hang out with people more is being Spidey gets in the way.

His sociability has been emphasized so many times over the years.

I wouldn't call Peter Parker a "loner". However, through the decades of Spider-Man they have made SPIDER-MAN a loner hero. He never joined the Avengers or teams, etc.

That was back in the day though. Now he's in the Avengers and has been very close to many heroes through the past five to six years now. So, if you want to get technical they have progressed the character.

I just realized that the person I am responding to is a banned user but I'm posting it anyway...

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Sad to hear that, but I hear you, Cap. I still buy Amazing, but usually when I get home, I'm more interested in reading what's going on in the Avengers/Siege/Dark Reign stuff first. Amazing is very hit-or-miss and Pete doesn't feel like Pete all the time.

But, the latest issue "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" by Roger Stern and Len Weeks was great! Reminds me of Spidey back in day (in the good way!).

And it looks like Spidey will be on both the Avengers (drawn by JRJR!) and New Avengers. And Spder-Man: Fever sounds interesting.

Yeah, that's the one with Dr. Strange right? I'm getting that one too.

And Siege has been great!

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Yeah, that's the one with Dr. Strange right? I'm getting that one too.

And Siege has been great!

Yeah, I think Fever is suppose to be Ditko-esque, so Spidey & Dr. Strange makes sense.

Yeah, I've been enjoying Siege. Just wish they had gotten Spidey more involved in Dark Reign & Siege. What with Osborn involved and all. Lost opportunity...

 

[kguillou]

As much as i admire what they're doing with the 3x a month, i really wish they'd scale back and just get one writer (preferably dan slott or mark waid) to write the book for a while and give a singular narrative vision for the character for a while like JMS did. This constant switching of writers and artists feels so disjointed and the characterizations are all over the place every month. Thats part of the reason I'm turned off the book. I think the best books are the ones that have one writer with a specific vision for the character like Green Lantern, Captain America, Ironman, Daredevil etc etc. Give me a Dan Slott and Marcos Martin monthly book and I will give this book another chance.

 

[Themanofbat]

But how it is different than 3 years ago when we were reading a JMS version, a PAD version, and a Hudlin version in ONE month...

... least with this method, we're getting writers to write arcs that have sub-plots that lead into other writers' stories and while you can tell some of the writers' strengths/weaknesses versus others, it's not as apparant as what we had 3 years ago...

... and I much prefer stories that flow from one issue to the next as opposed to decompressed arcs that have little to no significant value to the overall story, as well as three separate arcs per month that you cannot place within a Spidey timeline (you know what I mean... PAD had Spidey fighting someone in one month while JMS had Peter Parker in South America a week later)...

If anything that is currently negative with the book, I would say it's the sub-par artists that have been on the book for the last 3 or 4 months... but they're Vertigo style artists, which is ok with me, just not for Spidey, and it's only once in a while...

And I've heard lots of my younger comic reading friends that have never read Spidey before JMS loving the book now and wished that the Bat books and the X-books all followed this type of format rather than multiple titles...

Just my two cents...

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

You're still breathing heavy, sweet cheeks...

I don't think anyone has specifically said about current 616 Spider-Man that he was going to perpetually stay in the same situation that he's in...ie, like Peter Parker always being in High School in Ultimate... you can give a character some "progression" without necessarily making him seemingly get "old"... I believe we're going to see some character development right now during the Gaunlet... which will be a good story about Peter Parker showing his "character" as he's being pushed to the limit... I guess only time will tell.

You know I've been enjoying the Gauntlet, it's quite awesome. I'm just saying that I don't think there's a big difference between Ultimate Peter perpetually being in high school and Peter perpetually being a part-time photographer. Both are just settings, and both characters have shown to progress in character despite not physically aging.

My point is you hate on USM for no reason

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

But how it is different than 3 years ago when we were reading a JMS version, a PAD version, and a Hudlin version in ONE month...

... least with this method, we're getting writers to write arcs that have sub-plots that lead into other writers' stories and while you can tell some of the writers' strengths/weaknesses versus others, it's not as apparant as what we had 3 years ago...

... and I much prefer stories that flow from one issue to the next as opposed to decompressed arcs that have little to no significant value to the overall story, as well as three separate arcs per month that you cannot place within a Spidey timeline (you know what I mean... PAD had Spidey fighting someone in one month while JMS had Peter Parker in South America a week later)...

If anything that is currently negative with the book, I would say it's the sub-par artists that have been on the book for the last 3 or 4 months... but they're Vertigo style artists, which is ok with me, just not for Spidey, and it's only once in a while...

And I've heard lots of my younger comic reading friends that have never read Spidey before JMS loving the book now and wished that the Bat books and the X-books all followed this type of format rather than multiple titles...

Just my two cents...

I think the difference is that you didn't have to read all three books back then, you could just read one, the writer that you liked. Although I'll admit around the time of Civil War it became kind of hard to read the other two books without reading ASM.

I think both formats have their ups and downs. One is more streamlined while the other has more variety.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

As much as i admire what they're doing with the 3x a month, i really wish they'd scale back and just get one writer (preferably dan slott or mark waid) to write the book for a while and give a singular narrative vision for the character for a while like JMS did. This constant switching of writers and artists feels so disjointed and the characterizations are all over the place every month. Thats part of the reason I'm turned off the book. I think the best books are the ones that have one writer with a specific vision for the character like Green Lantern, Captain America, Ironman, Daredevil etc etc. Give me a Dan Slott and Marcos Martin monthly book and I will give this book another chance.

While the quality is bound to change with each writers, I think they've done a pretty good job of having an ongoing story, moreso than even a lot of books with one writer. A lot of JMS stories seems pretty self-contained and didn't flow into the next as much as they do now.

And Mark Waid is like the worst of the bunch of writers. Kelly, Slott, and Van Lente are all way better

 

[Themanofbat]

My point is you hate on USM for no reason

I hated it because I failed to see its raison d'être...

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

English, mother ****er

 

[SpideyInATree]

As much as i admire what they're doing with the 3x a month, i really wish they'd scale back and just get one writer (preferably dan slott or mark waid) to write the book for a while and give a singular narrative vision for the character for a while like JMS did. This constant switching of writers and artists feels so disjointed and the characterizations are all over the place every month. Thats part of the reason I'm turned off the book. I think the best books are the ones that have one writer with a specific vision for the character like Green Lantern, Captain America, Ironman, Daredevil etc etc. Give me a Dan Slott and Marcos Martin monthly book and I will give this book another chance.

Wow. I was just thinking about this the other night. It's been about 2 years + with the three times a week book. I really enjoyed it for a while but ever since # 600 I've really been missing a once a month Amazing Spider-Man with a static creative team.

I very much agree with a Dan Slott/Marcos Martin run. Slott has been really on fire whenever he writes the title. Whenever he's taking the reigns you just can feel the quality of the writing go up a whole notch. As for Marcos Martin, what else can you say? This guy was meant to be doing Spider-Man and I really wish we could get more of it.

It was very annoying going through that Marcos Martin art and then you go with some no name guy who just couldn't even clean Marcos Martin's boots, you know.

I really think that this three times a month thing has really run it's course. You've got the Web of Spider-Man title back and, from the word of mouth in the shop I go to, there seems to be a lot of Spider-Man miniseries coming out. I mean there are plenty of Spider-Man goodness out there.

Early on it worked. Lately I've just been noticing that one month you're like "Oh snap, this book is freakin' amazing!". Then the next month of issues your like, "Oh my god this is not NEARLY as good! What the hell happened?!". It's just become so inconsistent anymore and if they are going to be taking this book to a 3.99 price tag on a permanent basis...well, I will have to pick and choose each week I buy Spider-Man, even if it means missing certain plot points.

 

[kguillou]

I feel the exact same way SpideyInAtree. I jumped off the book after #600 (which i really enjoyed btw) because afterwards it became a jumble of different creators on the book and was just way too inconsistent for me. Do they even have a solid braintrust anymore because it seems like there's seven different writers and 15 different artists in rotation on the book these days. Plus we have all these new books popping up like "Web of" and "Peter Parker" and all these random one-shots, its just a little much. Get a set creative team, stick with them and let them do what they want on the book for a while so that we get a consistent narrative story for the character. Like i said, i wouldnt mind a Dan Slott/ Marcos Martin book, even though Slott's writing can be kind of hokey sometimes, he really gets the character's voice and can balance the mature with the funny. I know alot of people like Joe Kelly but to me it seems like he tries to hard to make his Spidey funny sometimes and it comes off a little too manic for me.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

I am the exact opposite, #600 and the Gauntlet have really got me on board, I've really been enjoying these stories and I like that it's building up to something. Before, I would say the stories were definitely moving forward and flowing into each other, but to no real end (which is not the worst for an ongoing book). And I think the book has improved since Gale and Guggenheim were replaced by Waid and Kelly. And there were plenty of miniseries back when this thing started too (the ASM Extras, that Secret Invasion mini, etc.)

Plus, as much as you guys complain about the art, I really don't see the problem. Clearly people have a problem with that Azaceta guy (which I dont as much), but Fuimara is a completely artist. Plus, we just got Michael Gaydos and Michael Lark (who will be doing the Kraven story arc), so yeah, **** you if you think those are no no-names.

The 3.99 price tag worries me, if that is a permanent thing I guess I'll be dropping Web of and some other Marvel title. They need to cut that **** out.

 

[kguillou]

Marvel's kidding themselves if they think people are gonna pay 3.99 for 3 issues a month. Get outta here.

As for the art, I gotta admit some of the artists have been great. Michael Lark did an awesome job in that one issue he did, i wouldnt mind seeing him draw spiderman monthly. But there have been alot of artists that are plain misses and every month it seems like they add a new artist to the book. I think they need to stick with the great artists they got and keep those guys in rotation. There's no excuse why we shouldn't be seeing Marcos Martin on this book every other month.

All I'm saying is I think they should try to condense the teams they got on this book a little and get a consistent writing and art team to work on the book. Get two writers and two maybe three artists tops to draw the character in constant rotation. They dont need to add a new artist every month.

 

[SpideyInATree]

I am the exact opposite, #600 and the Gauntlet have really got me on board, I've really been enjoying these stories and I like that it's building up to something. Before, I would say the stories were definitely moving forward and flowing into each other, but to no real end (which is not the worst for an ongoing book). And I think the book has improved since Gale and Guggenheim were replaced by Waid and Kelly. And there were plenty of miniseries back when this thing started too (the ASM Extras, that Secret Invasion mini, etc.)

Plus, as much as you guys complain about the art, I really don't see the problem. Clearly people have a problem with that Azaceta guy (which I dont as much), but Fuimara is a completely artist. Plus, we just got Michael Gaydos and Michael Lark (who will be doing the Kraven story arc), so yeah, **** you if you think those are no no-names.

The 3.99 price tag worries me, if that is a permanent thing I guess I'll be dropping Web of and some other Marvel title. They need to cut that **** out.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am still very much enjoying the stories. I mean ASM has been on fire since # 600 and I am really enjoying where the Gauntlet is going.

Right when you start getting into a writers style and an artists style it's like, "BAM!", we're gonna change it up on you now. Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta are a pretty good team. I like that team-up and enjoyed the Electro issues they have done. Then it quickly changes up to something else and it kind of takes me out of the story sometimes. It depends on who the team is that does the next issue or two if it does or not.

It's just got me missing the once a month book and a set creative team.

Then with the talks of ASM going to a set 3.99 price tag definitely has me worried. And if they do that I would really like to see the book go back to once a month.

There is a flow to it at times but other times there is a big difference how certain writers write the characters. Not just Peter Parker but his supporting cast gets different personality traits sometimes depending on which writer is taking the reigns.

From what I've heard of the upcoming creative teams in the coming months I see a lot of great stuff. Just worried that I will be dropping 12 to 15 bucks a month on Spider-Man.

 

[Themanofbat]

But at least at $3.99, you're currently getting 40 pages instead of the regular 23...

 

[SpideyInATree]

I did not know that they were adding pages to it. Well, that's a different story then. If we are getting more pages and story with the price tag then I won't really have too much of a problem with that.

 

[kguillou]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am still very much enjoying the stories. I mean ASM has been on fire since # 600 and I am really enjoying where the Gauntlet is going.

Right when you start getting into a writers style and an artists style it's like, "BAM!", we're gonna change it up on you now. Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta are a pretty good team. I like that team-up and enjoyed the Electro issues they have done. Then it quickly changes up to something else and it kind of takes me out of the story sometimes. It depends on who the team is that does the next issue or two if it does or not.

It's just got me missing the once a month book and a set creative team.

Then with the talks of ASM going to a set 3.99 price tag definitely has me worried. And if they do that I would really like to see the book go back to once a month.

There is a flow to it at times but other times there is a big difference how certain writers write the characters. Not just Peter Parker but his supporting cast gets different personality traits sometimes depending on which writer is taking the reigns.

From what I've heard of the upcoming creative teams in the coming months I see a lot of great stuff. Just worried that I will be dropping 12 to 15 bucks a month on Spider-Man.

Thats what I'm saying. Its nice to have a consistent team on a book because you almost know the quality your expecting. Again, I know that they're trying something different with the different creative teams on this book, but after two years, i think its time to settle on a set creative team and let them work on the character for a while. I think having too many cooks in the kitchen is never a good thing.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

But at least at $3.99, you're currently getting 40 pages instead of the regular 23...

It's actually from 32 to 40. The ads are included in that 40-page count, so we're only getting 8 more pages, which I don't think is worth an extra dollar.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Thats what I'm saying. Its nice to have a consistent team on a book because you almost know the quality your expecting. Again, I know that they're trying something different with the different creative teams on this book, but after two years, i think its time to settle on a set creative team and let them work on the character for a while. I think having too many cooks in the kitchen is never a good thing.

I can understand that, but like I said, I feel both approaches have their pros and cons. With one writer, if you don't like it, then you're really just stuck, and it also gives that one writer a lot more power than with a while creative team to filter out bad ideas, like, say, having Gwen Stacy have Norman Osborn's illegitimate children. A single writer doesn't get to decide everything that happens to the character.

So yeah, there are some things that aren't so great about multiple writers and artists, but there are some things that work out really well.