Crawl Space #6 Discussion Thread

[Spideydude]

We wanted to gouge out the eyes of William Parker.

[Kevin Cushing]

We wanted to gouge out the eyes of William Parker.

Who's William Parker?

[insaneJonny]

Final thoughts: Firstly before I begin I feel I should clarify- I know nothing about the red skull not established in the first 25 issues of Brubaker's captain america and I know even less about Peters parents (never even read life-theft)

Don't read Life-Theft. I mean, weird Cameleony robots? Really? That story has no bearing on Peter's actual parents whatsoever, so don't give it a second thought.

As for Malik and the elder Parkers, was there anything in the story you didn't understand from not having prior knowledge of them? I tried to put as much as was necessary into the issue for people to understand the story being told without just going into a history lesson for the sake of it. But I know I can always improve, so if I missed the mark on that first goal let me know so I can do better next time.

Na man you did a good job of making everything seem crystal clear, I just wasn't aware of the red skulls background and the fact he had an impostor like Malik at one stage and (with all due respect) was curious whether this had actually happened in continuity or it was just something that you came up with for the story, those impressions where literally on the fly after all.

[Kevin Cushing]

Na man you did a good job of making everything seem crystal clear, I just wasn't aware of the red skulls background and the fact he had an impostor like Malik at one stage and (with all due respect) was curious whether this had actually happened in continuity or it was just something that you came up with for the story, those impressions where literally on the fly after all.

Oh yeah, cheers, I understand. With Malik, I'm honestly not sure but I wonder if that whole thing may have been a retcon like they did with the 50s Cap saying he wasn't the "real" Steve so they could bring him back later. I could be totally wrong on this, but in my research it appeared that, while the Red Skull Spidey fought in ASM Annual #5 when he went to Algeria was actually Schmidt, they hadn't defined that there was a difference when it was written. Which is why, even though it should be a different Red Skull altogether, he talks to Spider-Man like he's the one that killed the Parkers. Though I think that's explained away a bit in the "Return of" storyline with Schmidt taking credit for these actions of Malik. But see, I'm confusing myself even typing all this, so it's best not to worry too much about the specifics that aren't totally necessary to this story.

[Kevin Cushing]

Just one question, wasn't Albert Malik assassinated by one of the "Scourge of the Underworld" guys dressed as a pilot?

I did all the research I could through looking at comics and reading a lot of character articles on different websites and I couldn't find anything specific about how he died. This may very well be the case, but I've found no mention of it anywhere. I do my best, but unfortunately I don't have all the research resources of a Marvel writer.

Well damn. This was bugging me so I've been poking around even more, and by some odd coincidence the wikipedia article on the Red Skull has been updated quite a bit just since I put out this issue. It did not mention this before:

However, Malik was eventually shot and killed by the mysterious Scourge of the Underworld at the original Red Skull's orders.

So, Hambone, you were quite correct. Sorry for the factual error, guys. I do my best on research but sometimes something like this just gets by me.

[Kevin Cushing]

Prepage 1 Impressions- I'd hate to start on a negative note Kev and this has absolutely nothing to do with the writing but I can't help but notice there's no previously on CS recap for the very first time, arguably when those of use who are following it regularly need it most, so I'm gonna breeze through no 5 to get my bearings first.

Just FYI, I went ahead and added a recap to the beginning. Whether it's necessary or not, it certainly can't hurt.

[tschamp]

Prepage 1 Impressions- I'd hate to start on a negative note Kev and this has absolutely nothing to do with the writing but I can't help but notice there's no previously on CS recap for the very first time, arguably when those of use who are following it regularly need it most, so I'm gonna breeze through no 5 to get my bearings first.

Just FYI, I went ahead and added a recap to the beginning. Whether it's necessary or not, it certainly can't hurt.

[font=Comic Sans MS]If I can throw my two cents here, I think recap serve a real good purpose. I didn't start with the 1st issue, but the recaps made me want read those other issues once I finished. That is just my unhumble opinion:twisted:.[/font]

[DMaynor]

Originally, I wasn't crazy about the brother idea but I like where you went with Simon. Good job!!

[BtmxComedy]

Time for a BTMX review...


Spider-man: Crawl Space #6 (A BTMX Review)


PLOT: read it for free on the site

LIKES

-Carlie references from the get-go. MJ and Carlie are BFF, this guarantees that Carlie is not forgotten and will continue to appear.

- The dialogue between the Parker parents is well written and I cared for their welfare the short number of pages they were alive

- The symbolism of the Black Spider. I don't know if its been said before anywhere and it probably has and I missed it but after reading the issue I realized that WE the readers are the Black Spider. We were in hysterics as the Spider-man world forgot that Peter and MJ are married. We wanted One More Day to be undone. Many of us wanted the poorly used old bat Aunt May to kick the bucket. Most of all like the Black Spider we watched and lived Peter's life through pictures. Now one of us is in the book and the result is havoc upon Peter's life. The hardcore Spider-man comic book fan might be Spider-man's greatest enemy. This is an interesting path to explore and I hope its done more fully in issues to come.


DISLIKES
- The splash page doesn't sit with me. Its just something that seems to just sit there on top of the issue rather than being a part of it. In the "Likes" section I did say that I liked the splash page and I do, however I feel like the issue needed to be structured differently for the splash page...or the splash page needed to be saved for a different issue. My bias is of the former because...

- In previous issues there were a lot of subplots and storylines going on at the same time, and those are my favorite sort of issues. My least favorite issues are ones that are wholly flashback and serve primarily for exposition, and unfortunately that's the sort of story I got for issue #6.

- What's more, the purpose of such issues including this one is to give us more background on a character we don't know much about and I still feel like I don't know enough. His motives and complexities are still unexplained and I don't know if I got enough bang for my non-existent buck. I'm not even sure if even a bit of what I read is actually true because he was confiding it to Peter, the story certainly has holes that Simon left out but I wonder if any of the details are just completely made up. So after reading an issue of Black Spider story time I'm not exactly sure what I can be sure of. I can't help but feel that we could have gotten more information this issue or that the flashbacks could have been spread throughout the arc rather than take place in a single issue.

- I'm also curious about the Red Skull's motives in keeping Simon and training him/giving him pictures. I can almost be certain that we'll find out about the Black Spider's motives in later issues but I worry that we won't understand the Red Skull any better than we do in this issue. Hopefully it all ties in at the end.


RATING:

On a neutral point I still don't know how I feel about the Black Spider being Peter's brother. The Black Spider and his origin have enough going on without relying on a sibling relationship to be interesting or relevant. So far it seems unnecessary for Peter to have a brother for this story but I'm holding out until the end to assess whether the sibling relationship was needed.

The story was certainly well written but the issue format, a whole issue origin story not wholly uncommon in comic books these days is not my favorite. There were definitely some good moments in there but most were incomplete as though saving the best for later. That's all fine and well, but I'm going to have to save my best rating for later if that's the case.

3.5 out of 5 webs

[FSUSpiderFan]

That's an interesting point about the Black Spider being a proxy for the reader. Your analysis makes sense. Normally I would wonder if that is what the writer intended but the beauty of Crawlspace is that I can get that kind of answer easily. Kevin, did you intend for the Black Spider to mirror us readers or yourself?

[BtmxComedy]

Yes, I'd also like to know if I'm reading way too much into things.

[Kevin Cushing]

I'm so sorry. I read your comments at work and then got busy and totally forgot about replying to it.

I conceived Simon a bit differently than that, but the fact that he resembles a comic book reader is most certainly not lost on me. The real revelation I had at one point that solidified the character and his motivations for me was actually this - he's a celebrity stalker. He's seeing Peter's life through what are basically paparazzi photos, and in this way he begins to think he knows this person well, like they're a part of each other's lives. He laughs and cries with Peter and feels his triumphs and tragedies with him as if they are good friends. After convincing himself of this relationship, finding out that they are really brothers threw him off the deep end with his obsession. You'll see a lot more of this kind of motivation in part 5 when you find out his plans. But yes, after conceiving it that way and defining that story, I did see an interesting similarity to a comic book reader, and to me that's a bonus. It won't be what defines his motivations for me, but really almost all of it can work both ways. And that's kind of a beautiful accident in my eyes.

[CrazyChris]

Celeb stalker? Sounds like he should have a team-up with Paper Doll. She is part of your canon, after all.

[Kevin Cushing]

Celeb stalker? Sounds like he should have a team-up with Paper Doll. She is part of your canon, after all.

As with every concept, there's a good way to do it and a bad way to do it. But (probably for my own mental health) I had completely forgotten about Paper Doll's existance.

[FSUSpiderFan]

She could be Black Spider's girlfriend. Then they could be obsessed with eachother and leave Spidey alone.