Spider-Man

[archangel]

ps Hulk's not fond of government intervention since the miltary chases him so much, so idve put money on him being anti.

that was my gut, too...but I think he'd appreciate the registration aspect of it. After all, before PH, he hated what the Hulk did when he lost control, and did everything he could for years to stem it. I think that aspect of him would have appealed to the Registration side.

[The NZA]

That's the classic take on it; recent years before CW, he was actually on the run from fed agencies, and would meditate to control the Hulk side of him. It was cool that at one point, he actually sorted out how to channel some of Hulk's power while he was banner!

 

That said, he's been Banner once since Planet Hulk started, and i dont think we'll see him around again for a while to come.

[archangel]

by the way....

 

anyone still reading this? Shit just hit the fan

[The NZA]

shit! i was just sitting on that issue, ill read it soon, its been crazy awesome so far.

[archangel]

less sitting, more reading

[Lycaon]

Shit. Can anyone post a list of the storyline issues? Please?

[The NZA]

it starts, continuity-wise, about the moment Civil War ends, in Amazing Spider-Man # 538. Joel can correct me here; i think the current issue is the third or so, of like 5 or 6 parts tops. Its JMS' final arc on the book, after reviving it around 2001, and along with some great work during the CW event, its some of the best ive seen from his run, really cant wait to see how it ends.

 

If i wasnt racing to finish the Sopranos before its spoiled, idve read it days ago.

[archangel]

It's a fucking Comic, not War and Peace!

 

Read it already!

[archangel]

well, today's the last installment.

 

let's see what happens

[Lycaon]

March

 

01 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #539

02 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #18

03 NEW AVENGERS #28 *

04 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #36

 

April

 

05 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #540

06 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #17 GRANOV 2ND PRINTING VARIANT

07 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #19

08 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: SPIDER-MAN

09 NEW AVENGERS #29 *

10 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #35 CRAIN 2ND PRINTING VARIANT

11 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #37

12 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 KIRK 2ND PRINTING VARIANT

13 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #2

14 SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK HANDBOOK

 

May

 

15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #541

16 FALLEN SON- THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA: SPIDER-MAN *

17 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #20

18 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1

19 NEW AVENGERS #30 *

20 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1

 

June

 

21 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #542

22 AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #3 *

23 BLADE #10 *

24 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #21

25 NEW AVENGERS #31 *

26 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #38

 

July

 

27 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #543

28 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #22

29 NEW AVENGERS #32 *

30 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #39

 

* = ISSUE NOT BRANDED AS BACK IN BLACK

[archangel]

It's the Amazing Spider Man series.

[Lycaon]

Then why were all those other titles listed when I did a search?

[The NZA]

uh, those books feature , thats it. just stick to Amazing.

 

Anyone read this week's entry? Shit! i thought it was losing steam, but uh, JMS has again taken Peter places he aint been. We'll see if shit somehow blows over, but its a helluva story either way.

 

Aunt May's out next issue, says smart money.

 

[archangel]

yea, I really like this angle.

 

 

and if that's the case, that mean Fisk is, too. I'd like to see Parker add 'Murder' to that laundry list of his.

 

[DevilsAdvoc8]

read the "last" part on the crapper this morn, thoughts?

[The NZA]

I like it. Joe Q's really going for the classic cover art, and ive missed that; took me back to the mid-90's when Amazing was at the top of my pile each month. Its a side-note, but i honestly kinda hope marvel stops shying away from this style of covers on the right books, im interested in the entire arc partly because of it.

 

I really dug "Back in Black", best JMS i think ive read since damn near when he started in like 2001 or so, i wanna say. But to be honest, im looking more forward to this current "One More Day" arc, cause it begs the question: How far can he go? Peter's fought like every marvel villian, and i thought it was cool how Bendis highlighted that in the earlier New Avengers books. He's teamed up with fucking everybody. People gotta owe him favors from every angle that i cant recall him once cashing in, with the possible execption of Reed.

But the question part is: if you live in a strange, sci-fi universe where motherfuckers die and come back all the freakin' time - dimensioal jumps, divine intervention, some odd cocoon-like thing, fuck, maybe the hand got bored and rez'd you - how much would you be refusing to let go of a loved one? Id be knocking down Strange's door and everyone else's, too, and while this desperate Pete's a side we havent often seen before, I really dig it, cause its so natural for him, and it makes sense.

So yeah, diggging this arc a lot so far, cant wait to see how it goes down.

[DevilsAdvoc8]

Well said IC. I with u on that.

[The NZA]

how did this event dodge a thread? did we just collectively try to suppress it?

 

Yeah, i didnt want to revisit this, either. Honestly, im a few issues behind, but Amazing Spider-Man's been pretty good in the years since, with new villains, direction and such. But Marvel's apparently sending out promos hinting that...well, let's just speculate for now.

 

​

 

Okay, honestly -- I don't know what's happening here. All I know is that 2010 is supposed to be "The year of Spider-Man," according to Marvel, and they sent out the above promo pic (in pieces) last week touting the event. A pic which includes Spidey reaching for Mary Jane in a wedding dress. After Mephisto erased their marriage two years ago. Uh-huh.

 

Is Marvel retconning their retcon? I don't know. All I know is that the only way Marvel can do this and not look stupid is to accept Starman Matt Morrison's theory from TR's Greatest Nerd Theory contest, in which it was Norman Osborn who made the deal with Mephisto to screw Spider-Man and become the most powerful man in the world. I will accept nothing else, but I don't think anything else so wonderfully explains all the nonsense which has happened in the Marvel U over the past few years, and it's actually a damned cool explanation. You have a chance, Marvel. Take it.

[Jables]

That'd explain a lot. I mean, Norman's always been my favourite SPidey Villian but rising to the top just seems way odd which is why I didn't bother with Dark Reign. He works better in the gutters.

[The NZA]

DR works a lot better if you just kinda run with it and pretend Norman's been this kinda quiet evil genius this whole time. it worked best earlier in Thunderbolts when Ellis showed he was having a bitch of a time keeping it together and coming out on top. i mean, we can split hairs about Doom taking the backseat in "The Cabal" but issues since have already kinda shown Doom's just in this to run circles around the dude.

 

still, that angle sounds fun, but how would it work? "ok mephy, so take away peter & my marriage, and in return, aunt may lives somehow. also, put norman in charge of everything, so that he'll be too busy for JMS to write-in that he gave me babies."

[Iambaytor]

Maybe they just want to pretend that Super MJ never happened.

[bishopcruz]

Having finally decided to give Amazing Spider Man a shot I have spent the last few days catching up on the whole shebang. I have mixed feelings about it.

 

First, One More Day was a fucking mistake. A hardcore fucking mistake. Quesada's editorial mandate was idiotic in the first place, but even assuming that splitting Peter and MJ up was a good idea, the way that they went about it was the most convoluted and idiotic way that pretty much anyone could think of. Spidy makes a deal with the devil to save his septuagenarian aunt who he had just recently had a spirit talk with and she told him she was OK with dying. Sigh. I know that was a few years back, but god it was stupid. Moving on tho.

 

Once the reboot got into gear it was pretty good overall, though the first year seemed to go out of its way to introduce a ton of new, crappy villains, and honestly it reminded me quite a bit of the clone saga reboot in that regard. Really, most of the new villains sucked. I mean really sucked. Still the supporting cast was pretty good, and a lot of the issues had a great sense of optimism, and its great to see Harry back.

 

The most recent issues though, hoo-boy they were mixed. The lead-up to the Grim Hunt storyline was a fairly blatant ripoff of Knightfall, the stories themselves got WAAAY too dark, Dr. Connors

 

killed his own son?

Aunt May goes evil? The new EXTREEEME Vulture? It at times felt like the worst of the 90's all over again. I like dark tales but Jesus, I've never read Spidy when I wanted to be depressed. The Rhino story was well done, the stuff with Harry has also been well done, but a lot of the rest just seemed either trite, or dark for dark's sake. Especially when

 

Mattie Franklin gets shoved into the proverbial refrigerator. If there is no reaction by Jameson, Jessica Jones, Jessica Drew, anytime soon I will be pissed.

 

 

Then we have the latest arc, One Moment in Time. Good Art, when Quesada is no where near it, but boy is is stupid, nearly up there with One More Day. I mean, Spidy misses his wedding because he was pinned under a fat man? Aunt May still gets shot the same way, but Peter just had to perform CPR? What were they smoking?

 

Am I alone on this one? I mean it isn't a horrible run, in fact there have been some great stories, but overall it feels like its missing something.

[Panch]

Ok, I can agree with most stuff (haven't read the Gauntlet stuff, but did read Grim Hunt). While I didn't like all the new villains that you're talking about, too, I did like the direction they were going. It did feel like the 90s again and that was fine with me. Spidey has needed that breath of fresh air for a while now. As for what's currently happening? I don't know. I'm with ya and I'm also not. I wanna see where they go with this. I'm crossing my fingers that they redeem themselves.

[The NZA]

 

 

preface: this man thinks cassandra nova is "a dumb villain" and his taste is questionable at best. fuckin' DC fans.

 

 

yeah, One More Day sucked, welcome to 2007....some of the new villains were throwaway, but i started to dig Mr Negative, especially after his mini & Anti-Venom's one.

you do realize this is what made May nasty for a while, yes?

i'm forgiving of new villains, because like bats, many writers are daunted to try new ones.

 

you're the first to point out the "blatant Knightfall ripoff" so you're gonna have to elaborate a bit there. i liked the ultimizing of some of the old villains: Bourne as Chameleon was fun, new Vulture (also featured in the sequel to the clone saga, learned more about him there) wasnt bad. Dr Connors finally sucumbing to the Lizard was actually kinda interesting, i thought - if you felt that was dark, did you read spidey in the 90s much? McFarlane did a really dark take reintroducing that character many years back...as a matter of fact, Spidey tales for a long time now have been about down-on-his-luck peter & cast but but juxtaposed with the occasional really dark tale - things like the death of Gwen Stacy were crazy dark for their time - this has kinda been a part of the character/books almost since the start, i think.

even the Shocker & other classics got fun stories. again, if things feel uneven, that's because the writing cast switches every month or so...and i think it's been a really fun experiment, personally, admittedly with hits & misses. that's been cool for me since i skipped on arcs that i didnt dig the direction, just to come back a few weeks later.

 

OMIT...man, Joe touching that shit again is ballsy. the CPR/heart-thump thing isnt what's going to bother me at all; its how people are made to forget, which should be next issue or so. we'll see. as for Spidey missing the wedding, how was that awful? shit like this happens to parker, and the meat of it was the discussion after that - why MJ thought she was cool with this, but really wasnt, and how he coudln't quit it, etc. that was the kinda thing that needed to happen to make the split in One More Day, but fans got treated like simply breaking up cant happen (cue the usual women-in-fridges meme you adore, etc). why you'd take umbrage with one of the more mature things to happen here is beyond me, though.

[bishopcruz]

 

 

preface: this man thinks cassandra nova is "a dumb villain" and his taste is questionable at best. fuckin' DC fans.

 

I think the fact that the previous posters stands by such a horrible villain shows that he is not only devoid of even questionable taste, but may have suffered some head trauma.

 

 

yeah, One More Day sucked, welcome to 2007....some of the new villains were throwaway, but i started to dig Mr Negative, especially after his mini & Anti-Venom's one.

you do realize this is what made May nasty for a while, yes?

i'm forgiving of new villains, because like bats, many writers are daunted to try new ones.

 

Yes, I know why Aunt May went all bitchy, but it was pointless, pointless as all hell, and was not explored in the least. What happened to her marriage as a result? Outside of kicking Harry out, nothing of substance. And when you're running 3-5 issues a month, don't tell me there wasn't space.

As for the minis, haven't read them, and when again, there are so many issues, why are they even necessary? Mr. Negative is probably the most tolerable of the newbies but we know nothing of his goals, powers, or personality honestly, he's a fairly standard mobster outside of his look and wacky abilities.

 

you're the first to point out the "blatant Knightfall ripoff" so you're gonna have to elaborate a bit there. i liked the ultimizing of some of the old villains: Bourne as Chameleon was fun, new Vulture (also featured in the sequel to the clone saga, learned more about him there) wasnt bad. Dr Connors finally sucumbing to the Lizard was actually kinda interesting, i thought - if you felt that was dark, did you read spidey in the 90s much?

 

To be fair it has probably been done elsewhere as well, but the whole villain pulling the strings behind the scenes in order to send a constant stream of villains the heroes way in order to break him, I mean, that is Knightfall condensed into one phrase. I know Spidey was dark in the 90s and it felt out of place back then too. The Lizard one was just a little odd to me, there had been few hints in previous appearances that he was THAT unhinged, and I felt that

Killing the son

was just too damn harsh and kinda a cheap dramatic device.

 

Spidey tales for a long time now have been about down-on-his-luck peter & cast but but juxtaposed with the occasional really dark tale - things like the death of Gwen Stacy were crazy dark for their time - this has kinda been a part of the character/books almost since the start, i think.

even the Shocker & other classics got fun stories. again, if things feel uneven, that's because the writing cast switches every month or so...and i think it's been a really fun experiment, personally, admittedly with hits & misses. that's been cool for me since i skipped on arcs that i didnt dig the direction, just to come back a few weeks later.

 

And that's all well and good, that Spidey has been dark in the past. But this whole new direction was supposed to be a return to the good old days right, that golden late 70s early 80s era that Joe Q pines for. With the beginning stories though the villains were hit and miss, I felt they got that down fairly well, after 600 it seemed to just be relentless in its darkness. Spider Man to me has always had an underlying optimism to it, even when Peter was down on his luck, there was a feeling that things would get better, and that it was the little things that mattered. I loved the arc with the Shocker, I loved the Osborn arcs, some of the romantic entanglements have also been fun, and the supporting cast has overall been strong. It however took a major dark turn, and it just didn't feel right. I mean ritual sacrifice, a mutated hitman that spits acid and looks like an early 90s Image comic reject, the return of Kaine? Eating your own kid? Frank Miller-esque in costume fucking? I mean hell, that's a lot of dark. I don't mind dark as a rule, but in Spidey it just feels a bit over the top. I think part of it is the sheer number of innocents who have horrible, horrible shit happen to them. Even

Mattie Franklin, who yeah was a crappy hero, and constantly gets shat on was played as nothing more than a pure victim who was murdered in cold blood without ever even putting up a fight. Something also tells me that JJ's relationship to her as a foster father is going to be completely ignored. Hell, she was missing for weeks and no one noticed. I thought no one noticing in Alias was a little odd, but it was worse than ever in ASM.

 

 

OMIT...man, Joe touching that shit again is ballsy. the CPR/heart-thump thing isnt what's going to bother me at all; its how people are made to forget, which should be next issue or so. we'll see. as for Spidey missing the wedding, how was that awful? shit like this happens to parker, and the meat of it was the discussion after that - why MJ thought she was cool with this, but really wasnt, and how he coudln't quit it, etc. that was the kinda thing that needed to happen to make the split in One More Day, but fans got treated like simply breaking up cant happen (cue the usual women-in-fridges meme you adore, etc). why you'd take umbrage with one of the more mature things to happen here is beyond me, though.

 

Issue 2 was better than issue one, but they were both pretty lame. The idea of Peter missing the wedding is one thing, the execution was dumb as all hell. Which was the same problem as One More Day, finding a way to retcon the marriage was one thing, Joe Q just picked the stupidest way possible to do it. In OMD it was Mephisto, in OMIT it was Peter Parker, the man who takes punches to the head from the Hulk, get crushed by a fat guy. It's like they weren't even trying. The conversations in OMIT 2 weren't that bad, but they weren't all that great either. A break-up at that point I would have bought, or maybe an off and on thing. But instead it was a cop out, and where it had seemed that Peter and MJ hadn't seen each other in quite some time at the start of BND, instead it seems that the break up was very recent, just seems dumb as hell. And again, the manner Aunt May's survival was just plain dumb.

 

Ok' date=' I can agree with most stuff (haven't read the Gauntlet stuff, but did read Grim Hunt). While I didn't like all the new villains that you're talking about, too, I did like the direction they were going. It did feel like the 90s again and that was fine with me. Spidey has needed that breath of fresh air for a while now. As for what's currently happening? I don't know. I'm with ya and I'm also not. I wanna see where they go with this. I'm crossing my fingers that they redeem themselves.[/quote']

 

If they can get some of the revamped villains with the feel of the early issues, I think the book could be great, and if they never speak of the retcons again it will be too soon.