Jim Treacher

Yuppers, here's a script review:
[www.iesb.net]

Seth L

acarr260

tetracycloide

braak

This might be a chance to prepare for the next Spiderman Movie, where he marries MJ, Auntie May is going to die and he makes a deal with the devil (so Mr. Quesada gets tons of money for the licensing).

Sigh, in any case, time will tell. And since I'm more of a "did you bought the last number? Let me see" reader i just don't care that much.

Now i can relate how fans can be really flustered about something like this, Blade Trinity??? To me Blade continues at Underworld, and ends there too.

whiskey

We're all on point here: it's a combination of issues I fear the industry just doesn't care to address.

I saw this coming when Spawn & gen13 blew up and DC/Marvel responded with variant covers and massive crossovers. And then the "Batman" movie was a success, and all money-grubbing hell broke loose. So sad.

ceejeemcbeegee

braak

What's really sad is it's the inventive stories, like Dark Knight and Red Son, that really excite new readers. By playing it safe and keeping everything status quo they appease a readership that's aging and shrinking.

The quote that matters here, when someone asked what the Jack Kirby tradition was, the answer "Jack Kirby would make a new comic". Without the new, it's just more of the same in slightly different wrapping.

shudderstep

Half-baked parlor trick? Yeah, probably, buy boy do I love to watch Gaiman wank rhapsodic. Most of those "very special episodes" are parlor tricks (i.e. marvel zombies v. army of darkness was too CrossOver-tastic!!! even for me), but they really satisfy the alterna-craving.

And a hell yeah to Dirty Bacon & MJ making a deal with the devil. I would buy that.

currerbell

Like, I can't kill off all the X-Men and replace them with new X-Men, because people are only buying the books because they like the old X-Men. Obviously, I can--especially if I'm Grant Morrison, and can just run around doing whatever insane bald Scottish shit I want to--but the system of constant monthly issues for properties-in-perpetuity doesn't suit it.

braak

@dirtybacon:
@shudderstep:

There is no 3rd act in comics because the creators/fans won't let go of whatever era they have the nostalgia for. Fans won't let characters change, evolve, grow, because we want to cling to that moment in time (childhood) when all was right with the world and that's fine. But how many times can you tell the same story and keep it fresh? You can't, if you insist that characters must stay the same.

A good creative team can help a character evolve. Frank Miller did if for Batman with "The Dark Knight Returns". Unfortunately, these moments are too few and far between.

ceejeemcbeegee

Kounji

edythemighty

I think that Joe Q. has allowed his love for a PARTICULAR TIME in Marvel era to corrupt his judgement here. He has said over and over that he hates MJ and always loved the Spidey with Gwen Stacy. And so he has pushed the title back into that mold that he loves. For me? I'm a tad bit younger, and love Spidey with MJ, so he pisses on MY spidey for his. That's fine, that's your prerogative, but I don't need to stick around for it.

I have spent a lot - A LOT - of money on comics over the past year or two (and my entire life for that matter), and have found myself disillusioned with the whole industry. Peter Parker loves his aunt may, we all know that, but he wouldn't make a deal with the devil. NO era of spidey should allow for that.

Now, MJ making a deal with the devil? I could have believed that.

dirtybacon

That all said, this was a horrid story. The choice was between his wife and making a deal with satan to save his aged aunt from death. For how long, an hour or two? Having Aunt May in a coma as even more silliness, as the character likely would have argued against saving her by means of infernal compact.

The truly creepy part of all this is the fetishistic fantasy aspect. The older male audience (who actually buy the main marvel line) want a young and single swinging bachelor spidey. Why is that? Perhaps because it's easier to draw cheesecake Frank Cho boobbots than it is to write believable female characters in domestic situations? We've gone from women in refrigerators to women in hell. Can't wait to hear Joe Q wonder why women aren't reading more Marvel comics...

shudderstep

On the other hand, I liked Sandman okay. Especially because? It ENDED.

braak

Re: the Marvel evolution/de-evolution/stagnation:
I think that maybe there is some truth to the allegation that the "re-envisioning" of the old old old characters may be alienating some old school fans, but it interested me in heroes I had long written off as snorefests, goody2shoes, or just plain outdated tech/science.

I like the Ultimates series best when they are for characters/groups I was pretty meh about previously - ie, Fan 4, Spidersnore, etc. I am still not sure how I feel about Ult X-Men. I also loved 1602, not just for the Gaiman. Or maybe. I also enjoyed Vess's Spiderman. So I am probably showing my true colors here in that I prefer Sandman/Sin City/Moore, etc type stuff. But I will say that devil-dealing Peter P is infinitely more interesting to me than old Peter. And I don't mind the total mulligan approach to new geneses for old heroes.

And zombies. More zombies please.

currerbell

Or is this Straczynski guy just being a backpedaling douche?

Inkymonkey

Poor guy, maybe his Z War script will get picked up by a good director.

Seth L

Aunt May should have died years ago. Peter Parker should have passed his torch to a suitable replacement. Reed and Sue Richards should have stayed retired. Etc., etc., etc. If Marvel wasn't so afraid of actually refreshing their lineup, as opposed to "revamping" it, they might have stories that appeal beyond the diminishing die-hard audience.

sumocat

And Powers.

Quesada thinks they're alienating potential fans but all they've done is alienate long time fans. Jag-offs.

ComicDork

braak

currerbell

TruculentandUnreliable

strider_mt2k

Pop Socket

mitchel_stevens

I don't know. I think this actually illstrates one of the problems that comics have as a medium--the never god-damn END. Spider-Man has been going for a bajillion years; his history is getting crowded, his story permutations are getting exhausted, Marvel has squeezed the last drops of vitality from the idea.

This isn't the first amazingly dumb thing that they did with Spider-Man. I haven't been able to read that shit for years.

braak

FrnkSmth

"hrmm let's see deal with the devil... how can I loose?"

DocGratis

@NefariousNewt: I haven't seen the previews for Iron Man, but I can only imagine. *sigh*

TruculentandUnreliable

Mr. Black @ Sanctuary93.com

hortense

NefariousNewt

mitchel_stevens

TruculentandUnreliable

TruculentandUnreliable

NefariousNewt

JennaW