Well something crawled up TMoB's butt
I'd really like to know how ANYBODY felt like a fool after reading ASM #700 & SSM #1...
This I am not a part of but I've read plenty of replies like such on various forums and all that. Now, most of them were people who over reacted and Alonzo or whoever (forget off hand) bad mouthed those sort of people on some inverviews (likely Newsarama but possibly CBR... I forget where exactly I read it). And now those people see that the promise of Peter being dead forever was not true and they feel foolish for how they acted.
I'm not saying they were justified in their reaction to #700, but Marvel played #700 one way and then switched it in Superior #1 while ridiculing people's reactions. Heck, Dan Slott was posting them on his Twitter feed to the laugh of other people. So yeah, they bated people and then ridiculed their reactions (knowing where the story was going), making them feel foolish.
And what lies?
That Peter Parker died? He did die.
I never said he didn't. The lie is that he was going to be dead and that this was going to be an ongoing thing. It isn't... at all. I've been around long enough to know that it wouldn't happen and when people like me made those comments about this not lasting then Wacker or whoever, again, criticised those people calling them wrong in interviews at CBR and Newsarama. One issue later people like me were proven right. They said it was forever, it lasted 1 issue, they lied.
I wasn't fooled, as weren't many other experienced readers, but non-readers, gullible readers, and new readers were, and they felt lied to. I know my shop said quite a few new customers came in to buy Amazing #700 due to the death with the intent to hold onto it and save it since it's such a monumentous occassion. We knew they were wrong but they bought the issues (multiple copies at times) and now we know that the issue will be worth squat because nothing that happened in it matters in any long run scenerio. Those people were fooled.
That the new status quo was going to last forever? While it hasn't changed back, so technically, that's not a lie (yet), but as a long time reader of comics, you know that "death" means little in comics, and nothing lasts forever in comics... and when it was announced that this new "status" was forever... PEOPLE GOT MAD!!!! and now that we know it'll only be for a few months/years... PEOPLE ARE MAD!!!!
First off, I know that death means nothing in comics which is why I was so annoyed that they played that angle up so much as if it meant something (and ultimately, it didn't). The people who are mad are angry because of story not equating to the promotion. The people who were mad initially due to the death are either relieved at his return or angrier because they felt all of this jumping through the hoops for higher sales business was unnecessary (and I agree with that to an extent).
I mean, shouldn't we still be seeing that AWESOME storyline playing out with Peter taking on his young sidekick?! They played that up like it was going to be some humungous life-changing deal for Peter and it lasted one arc. The frustration I get from Marvel's promotions is that they play everything up bigger than it is to the point where I'm burnt out. I just assume that nothing is as big a deal as they make it. Amazing/Superior was just the next thing on the long list of let downs (well, not for me since I was never interested to begin with, but I'm sure for people like me).
So in regards to all the pissy little babies out there... Marvel is damned if they do, and damned if they don't...
Actually I think they'd be better off if they didn't. They build themselves up and then let the fans down. If they didn't build it up to begin with then they'd have to just rely on the strength of the story and people's reaction to it's plot. In this scenerio, I guarentee you people would have loved this direction if it wasn't made such a big deal with all the gimmicks and talk. Slott's a good enough writer that his stories can stand on their own. Why befuddle that with gimmicks and relaunches and misinformation and rude editors or whoever? Just tell the story.
Sure... and we all know how well that works... we got all kinds of ads for the new Defenders book last year as well as LOTS of build up... and we all know where that book ended.
When it started it was actually doing pretty well. It ranked decently, better than I'd have expected anyway. It was Fraction's boring plot that bled readers like mad. I'd say the normal promotion did fine... as did the idea of giving fans what they want (crazy idea, I know). People wanted Iron Fist, people wanted a Defenders similar to the original (this had almost all of the originals plus a guest stint by Hulk), and people wanted a good team. People got that, they showed up, they were let down by the bad storyline on Fraction's part.
Not to mention that ads in comics and solits will only attract the PEOPLE who are already reading comics... isn't it a good thing if Marvel goes off the grid to try and grab some new readers...
So they tell new readers, who aren't familiar with comic books, that Spider-Man is going to die (the second time in a couple years mind you with Ultimate Spidey) to bring in new people. They come and realize one issue later that the hype that brought them in was a lie and that he's back.
Is that a way to keep that customer? I'd rather play up a story straight than pull the wool over someone's eye for a month or two until you show them you weren't really playing ball like you were promoting.
even if most "new" people that bought the book never buy another issue... think of that one reader that will continue to buy....
Now compare that one person who continues to buy with all of those other "new" people who were burnt and won't buy into the gimmick again? I doubt that math would work in Marvel's favor. Not to mention anyone else already reading the book that they've annoyed and sent packing.
In the last 12 months, we've seen about 80 books (between Marvel & DC) get new #1's... many of them were from cancelled titles with long numbered runs... let's face it... whether you agree with it or not, a shiny #1 gets new readers... do I like it? Of course not. But can you blame a company for relaunching a title when they know they can get a sales boost?
It's a short term boost that gets old and will eventually stop working. They need to come up with something better instead of doing this year after year after year. Heck, they've gotten so addicted to it that they've rebooted titles that were selling decently only to hurt the book and make it worse (New X-Men is an example of that... and another one recently that I can't remember off hand)
And were you mad at the promotion of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7? Superman #75? Batman #428? (that last one had a 1-900 phone number that encouraged readers to kill or save Jason Todd (Robin) from being killed by the Joker... he didn't make it), Captain America #25? Final Crisis #6 (I think that's the one where bruce is killed)?
I wasn't around for most of those DC ones (or just didn't read at the time). Captain America #25... no, I thought it was cheap, but at least the death lasted a while and had potential to last with how Bucky was played up. Final Crisis #6 also bugged me but it wasn't so bad because by the end of the storyline they did exactly what I say Marvel should have done with Spidey. They showed the reader that he's not really dead. They didn't insult the readers' intelligence by stating he was dead forever and all that jazz only to flip it an issue later. They killed him and an issue later (in the same story) they showed that he was trapped in the past. That was handled much better. It wasn't the promotion of Peter's death that bothered me, it was the insistence that it was forever in the face of everyone knowing better... and then not even having the balls to follow up with it. If that's not where your story was going, then why argue it?
All of those comics (just to name a few) were ALL promoted based on the death of a character... Superman #75 made headlines all over the world... how is ASM #700 any different? It's all part of an on-going story that started before we were born and will go on long after we're dead... it's nothing new, so I'm really stunned at why you're so mad about this one in particular...
Because they promoted it differently. And with Superman, it lasted a while. I don't care when someone dies and it's promoted as their death. Fine. But make it mean something, make it last. This stupid one or two issue death crap being promoted as the be all end all is what gets me. The marketing for Bucky, Thor, and Spider-Man's deaths were cheap promotional stunts and nothing more.
I'd like to know who bad-mouthed who... because that point doesn't make any sense to me... perhaps you could shed some light...
Read more interviews. They weren't exactly hidden. Nor were they hidden on various Twitter feeds. I'm not the first to bring this up.
And as best as I can tell, you DID NOT BUY THE PRODUCT... so why are you so-hell-bent at Marvel for doing the SAME GOD-DAMN THING that EVERY OTHER company in America does...
Because I've bought "this product" the first 2 or 3 times they did the exact same thing. Fortunately, I'm smart enough to know better now. It doesn't make the practice somehow better.
And to the best of my knowledge... that McDonalds commercial doesn't promise to make their quarter pounders into half pounders, but then when you come in and have already spent your irrefundable money, they just laugh about how it was a slight of hand and that it was a quarter pounder all along and how you should just enjoy the burger you did get and keep buying them.
At the end of the day, Marvel is out to make money... pure and simple.
I know this, I've never had a problem with this. How a business goes about making that money... that's what I have a problem with. Marvel has horrible business practices.
To claim that they have no respect for fans... well, as a company, who knows... but to all the creators, writers, artists... they respect the fans... they understand that the fans give them their paycheques... and as painful as this might be for you to hear... while you may feel disrespected over certain storylines involving your favourite characters, other fans love what's been done...
And I've never said they shouldn't be able to. I'm not smacking around fans who enjoy buying into false-hype or calling them sheep or Marvel zombies or fanboys. I just criticise the hype itself. If someone takes that personally then that's their own insecurities.
And again, I don't criticize the creative teams. It's the promotions.
That last statement of yours is just a dumb blanket statement because YOU don't like certain things that have happened to certain characters.
Okay... let me say this one more time, listen... I'm tired of saying it... here it goes... are you listening?
I AM NOT CRITICISING THE STORIES!!!!! I'M NOT CRITICIZING THE CHARACTERS!!!! I'M CRITICIZING THE PROMOTIONS & PRACTICES!!!!
Okay, did you hear me that time? The last time I heavily criticized a story for the story was AvX and I certainly wasn't alone. I never raised my voice about it and I honestly didn't think anything of it after posting my initial thoughts. Before that was OMD and that was years ago.
If you're frustrated over people complaining about Spider-Man's plot... take that to them. I don't care a lick about that plot.
Will you teach your kids that in order to vent your frustrations about things in life, you have to go on line and cry like a baby and make dumb blanket statements?
I doubt it.
Nah, they do that on their own. They're kids
So get some perspective... and maybe some personal growth.
Thanks for listening.
Says the man who just used my children to insult me.
Have a nice day.