Had lunch with the Tom Brevoort/Andy Schmidt editorial office today. Discussed the approach and general parameters for the new Spidey title which, by the way, is definitely going to be called “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.” It’s a long-standing way of referring to him, and nicely captures the sense of fun we want to try to bring to this title. Is there a danger that some people may think it’s a kid’s book? I guess. So it’ll be up to us to educate them otherwise.
PAD
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But, Fred, while there may be some question as to whether the spider bit Peter accidentally, or for some mystical higher reason, the irradiation was completely random. There was no way for this “spider totem” to make the experiment that the kids were observing go awry (or, in the movie version, for this “totem” to influence which genes the scientists chose to recombine). Even if Peter’s bite was planned, ordinarily it would have only made the poor boy extremely ill, perhaps marking him for Ezekiel and his buddies. The radiation, though, changed everything – randomly. Peter still became the Spectacular Spider-Man by sheer accident, which, as Ezekiel observed, is why he handled it the way he did – going the wrestler route first, then putting on the Spandex body suit.
All my interpretation, of course – your mileage may vary. Driver on closed course. Do not attempt. Payments are O.A.C. $2576 due at signing.
Kevin Hall,
“My God, Jerome Maida. You’re defensive if you’re nothing else.”
No. I was simply expressing my opinion and disagreeing with some of the points that you made. First Amendment, don’t you know.
“A.)I don’t care how many books you buy per month.”
Just giving some background on why I feel there is more “freshness” and diverse, quality material than you seem to think there is.
“B.) I don’t recall accusing any popular “product” as being inferior.”
No? The term “nonsense” when comparing Spider-Man to Fallen Angel and the phrase “flogging a dead horse” when talking about PAD Spider-Man stories would SEEM to imply that you do not feel any stories involving the character are worthwhile.
Also, saying it’s a “poor reflection” on the readership at large that they choose to “Lap up” such “nonsense” and chose not to support “Fallen Angel” does more than imply that one product is superior to the other. It comes out and says it.
“C.) When you have the same characters and same environment it’s impossible to avoid repeating yourself or someone else.”
First, the characters and environment have changed. That is one reason many long-time readers are uncomfortable with Straczynski’s run. Has he been an Avenger for 40 years? Been married for 40 years? Second, it is not “impossible” to avoid repeating yourself or someone else if you have talent and imagination like PAD, Hudlin, JMS and Bendis do.
Do you really think PAD would have taken the gig if he thought it was impossible to avoid repeating himself or someone else?
“D.) Spider-Man is not fresh or new in any meaningful sense of the word”
Depends on how you define meaningful.
“It’s still a kid in tights climbing up walls and battling the same enemies he did 40 years ago.”
No. It’s now a MAN, a married man in fact, in tights. He has new friends and new enemies. And JMS in particular has been careful not to fall into the trap of having him face Electro for the zillionth time. He has created new, unique, exciting villains and has been doing so for the past three years. Other writers ahve done the same. Heck, I wish they were creating new villains at this rate for Batman.
“E.) Fallen Angel was fresh and different and demonstrated a reluctance to try something new from the buying public.”
Yes. To an extent. But the fact is, the book started off with borderline sales and NEVER got better. Books from “Spider-Girl” to “Wonder Woman” to “Y The Last Man” have seen sales increase due to strong word of mouth the last couple of years. Fallen Angel was different, but it just didn’t seem to excite people to try something different and tell their friends to the extent other books do.
And I guess part of what hit me the wrong way was tearing another book/character down in order to give props to another. This happens a lot. In politics. In sports comparisons. And in comics. And I’m sick of it. Can’t they both be good?Isn’t it enough to describe why you like a book? Isn’t that more fun?
“I am also puzzled at why you made this personal when no one else did. (“And I think the statement is a poor reflection on YOU.”) That seems like poor form to me.”
Perhaps. Ijust found it extremely annoying for you to make the statement that “it’s a poor reflection on the reading public” to “lap up” more Spider-Man “nonsense”. In other words, I am puzzled as to why you would choose to denigrate the “reading public” for not liking the same book you do. And “lap up” brings to mind Pavlov’s dog. Like the readers are mindless zombies buying based on familiarity and routine than on quality. Which is pretty darn condescending, IMHO>
“You also seem to be trying to imply that because you read ’70 books’ a month your opinion is more valid or insightful.”
Valid? No. An opinion is an opinion. You can say “U.S. 1” is the best comic of all time and that is just as valid as someone who loves “Maus” or “Dark Knight Returns” or “Watchmen”.
Insightful? Yes. I do think so. I know people who, no matter the writer, won’t read a “Fantastic Four” book if you paid them.
Or refused to get the last issue of “Tomb Raider” despite the fact that it was written by Dan Slott. Or Captain America or Superman because they’re “corny”, even though they have not read them in years.
To me, these people are only cheating themselves. Why not give a book the benefit of the doubt? “which seems particularly ridiculous when (you are) talking about such a narrow range of literature.”
See. There you go. You are dismissive of the entire genre being a “narrow range of literature”. It is no more narrow than TV or movies or music or any other art form. There is a lot of fun stuff out there, and a new creative energy, especially at the Big Two. Not to mention the smaller companies and the guy selling his self-published comic out of the back seat of his car.
Why not enjoy as much of it as you can?
Fred,
“I’d always considered the sheer randomness of the irradiated spider bite to be an integral part of the origin. When there is any glimmer of doubt as to whether it was some pre-ordained destiny it (loses) much of what makes the character and the origin story special, imo.”
I see your point..to a point. But I remember back in an early issue of the original “What If?” series, they did a story where three different people were bitten by the spider instead of Peter. Yet in every case, he became Spider-Man eventually.
To be honest, I think that kind of “this person was so special he was destined to be Spider-Man works a lot better than the sci-fi equivalent of hitting the lottery, of being lucky. This makes Peter…special, I think.
Also, remember, it was never “revealed” what was the truth. I think the fresh breat of air of mystery served a 40 year old character quite well. Because if we already know everything there is to know about Spidey and can predict everything that’s going to happen….well, that would be pretty boring.
Well, looks like I will be picking up my first Spidey book since…..10 years or something!
I do hope this doesn’t mean that there won’t be another book (X-something ^_^) that was hinted at in the letters page of the last Madrox issue….
Marty
Marty,
Yes, I do think PAD doing an “X-Factor” book would be cool, especially now that he’s reintroducing himself to people with higher-profile projects and because the “Madrox” series was a bigger success than many thought it would be, which is a credit to PAD’s writing.
Mr. David:
I was all for Peter and MJ’s marriage when it took place all those years ago. One of the things that convinced me was your excellent issue of THE MARVEL SAGA put out around the same time of the wedding (circa 1987).
(By the way, I STILL have that issue but I can’t remember the number).
Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve been thrilled with the Parker marriage. There have been a few bright moments but for the most part it’s been sorely lacking in terms of drama. I think a large part of this is due to the way MJ has been charactrized. No one seems to have a good grasp on her character. As a result, the her character has become one note and bit of a drag.
A fan once said that the reason MJ is so dull is b/c she was created by 2 men (Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.) who like(d) her a lot more than the creative personel that followed them. Consequently, the character bores little resemblence to the original incarnation.
Stan Lee’s MJ was an airhead; But at least she was fun to have around and provided a sense of humor to the strip. Stan has commented on how MJ was just as popular as Gwen, maybe even more so when he wrote the series despite the fact she wasn’t the female lead.
The witty/sexy/flirtatious side of MJ’s character has all but vanished. I realize she can’t go around calling Peter “daddy-O” and saying “far out”. She’s matured quite a bit since the Silver Age. Still, that doesn’t mean she can’t be fun again. The Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale take on MJ in Spider-Man Blue a couple of years back was one of the best I’ve seen since the Silver Age.
When I read the yet to be finished Spider-Man/Black Cat mini awhile back I really dug Kevin Smith’s take on Felicia Hardy. Her dialogue and chemistry with Peter IS EXACTLY the type of chemistry Pete and MJ should have with one another…in my opinion of course. I can’t help but think the marriage would be far more accepted if MJ was more interesting and appealing.
I said all of that to ask this you this. What’s your take on Mary Jane as a character and the Parker marriage in general? Is my take on MJ off in your opinion? I don’t expect you to give away any story details this early but I know I’m not the only one who would like to hear your thoughts on this matter.
CBP
Peter,
Please, please, please bring back Frog-Man and the Steel Spider with a new group of Misfits. Maybe Slapstick could be on the team.
At least bring back Frog-Man!! (And the Steel Spider, and the Misfits!)