[BlackKusanagi]

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/story/_a/comic-fans-fume-over-spidey-split/20080110084909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

I'm actually rather surprised about this…how about others opinions…?

[TC2]

I already knew about this from reading what the comic geeks were saying.  I personally don't care since I don't read much comic books, both sides of the fence have valid arguments but the editor's argument is mainly that if he stays married, Spidey will eventually drift into a stable life somehow.  If his life goes stable, people get bored reading and next thing you know it's the end of the Spidey stories.

It's valid, but the way they executed the split was terrible and very not well thought out, using the old "it's magic" excuse.  I'm personally on the boat if I was an avid reader, that I would prefer them to stay together.  Oh well, whatever them's the breaks.

[Muscle Growth Nut]

I frequent a couple of comic boards (and Scans_Daily), and we're all praying the backlash from this insane excuse for horrible storytelling finally puts an end to Joe Quesada's reign of terror.

[fasola]

I frequent a couple of comic boards (and Scans_Daily), and we're all praying the backlash from this insane excuse for horrible storytelling finally puts an end to Joe Quesada's reign of terror.

but he is still editor in chief, right?

I'm not too pleased with how they pulled it. I read Back in Black, and it was very good for me. I liked him going all bad ass, kicking the kingping's  ass and all that, and also liked how they started one more day, and they fight with iron man. But making MJ desappear is too bad, I believe that Aunt May shouyld have died, she was too old any way, but it would have given more pain to Peter, and more guilt on him. I think that he should have lived with the concecuences of going public. ANd he would still be an outlaw, and very Angry.

That's my 2 cents

On a side note, I just read the Loeb/Mcguinness Hulk #1 and for me, it ROCKS!

[randy guillotte]

Ah, the lives of comic book heroes… Who's to say that once something is done, it can't be undone? (and vice-versa)

[Delmo Walters Jr.]

Dumb idea. Why bring Harry back? I can understand having everyone forget his identity, but Harry? Why? Now that both my mother & grandmother are gone, I think it was time for May Parker to go.

[Muscle Growth Nut]

Dumb idea. Why bring Harry back? I can understand having everyone forget his identity, but Harry? Why? Now that both my mother & grandmother are gone, I think it was time for May Parker to go.

I disagree. Ever since May found out Peter's secret, she's been awesome.

For example…

[Delmo Walters Jr.]

Yes, that was very cool but, I think it was time for her to go, and MJ to stay. Plus, now that no one knows Pete's identity, she won't be doing things like that anymore.

[Muscle Growth Nut]

Yes, that was very cool but, I think it was time for her to go, and MJ to stay. Plus, now that no one knows Pete's identity, she won't be doing things like that anymore.

Except she would if they hadn't done this in the first place.

[manic41]

I'm deeply ambivalent about the way Spidey's been handled in the past 8 years or so. For a start, JMS: When his first issues came out I was spellbound, I thought they were some of the best comics I'd ever read. With John Romita Jr, JMS had forged a very credible creative collaboration that the book had not seen since the seventies. Then, I don't know, I just got fed up with it. JMS has a line in corny know-it-all philosophising that makes my skin crawl, he keeps injecting dreadful syrupy sentences like 'hours pass, its what they do' into his writing. The Spider Totem stuff was pretty much universally reviled too. At first I found it intriguing to have the notion that Spider Man's powers were more than just a simple accident, but I kind of thought that the whole plot line would be revealed as a scam by some villain trying to mess with Spidey's head. When it became clear that JMS was going to take that idea and run I kind of drifted away. I dodn't even want to know about that Gwen Stacy/Norman Osborn kids stuff. Also,  I didn't like the way that many of JMS's stories were occult themed, or featured Dr Strange, or Asguardian gods.  Spider Man is weird science, not supernatural gumshoe.
That said I think it was brilliant the way he handled Aunt May and turned her into an interesting character instead of a fairly stereotypical figure. I like that he made Peter into a high school teacher too, and the way he brought Peter and Mary Jane back together. For all his faults, it felt like he was taking Spider man somewhere new and interesting! I started buying the mag again during the Civil War stuff because with all this nightmarish stuff happening in Peter's life– revealing his identity, being a fugitive from justice and so on, I was sure that there was going to be an awesome resolution to it all.
Now Joe Q comes along and just undoes all that character development and…sigh. I really don't want to bash the man too hard. He is part of the reason we still even have Marvel comics around today and I dont think people should ignore that in the face of one bad decision. But pulling retcons really just tarnishes the image of comics and sets back the cause of turning them into the respected medium us fans know it should be.  Imagine if J.K. Rowling wrote an eighth Harry Potter book in which a dark wizard casts a spell that erases what happened in every book after 'Prisoner of Azkahban'. That sounds pretty stupid right? Now imagine that the literary world, already writing her professional obituary, comes an asks JK what on earth possesed her to do it and she says 'I wanted to take Harry back to being thirteen and less complicated. I know the fans will hate it, but if they hang in there they'll see its all for the best'. That wouldn't really be a very good reason would it?
The worst thing about OMD is that I didn't entirely hate it, the artwork was lovely even if the story didn't ring true.  And the new Dan Slott/Steve McNiven stuf is…actually pretty damn good. Still,  I feel like a bit of a sucker for hanging on,and Marvel shouldn't be making their flagship title a guilty pleasure at best.

[Author]

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