“… The Good, the Bad and the WTF?”
Well the Spider-Panel’s over at San Diego’s Comic Con. The news is out but the dust hasn’t settled yet. So let’s break down what the new details mean.
Potential & speculative spoilers ahead so if that kind of thing chaps you then don’t read on.
The great ‘Brand New Day’ experiment ends in October. Which comes as a shocker to some who kept arguing that ‘Brand New Day’ ended when they took the ‘Brand New Day’ banner off the covers. Others, however, have rightly maintained that while the ‘One More Day/Brand New Day’ continuity is still in place the book will continue to be ‘the Brandnewverse’ for all intents and purposes.
So why the need to ‘end’ the ‘Brand New Day’ if ‘Brand New Day’ was so successful? Clearly because ‘Brand New Day’ wasn’t successful. In fact anyone who has followed the direct market estimates knows the book has been hemorrhaging readers since BND #1 (ASM #546) back in 2008. But here’s the catch: so long as Peter and Mary Jane remain unmarried the Brandnewverse is still very much alive and in place. Telling people it’s “ending” is just a marketing gimmick.
“You know that thing you hated? It’s going away. Cause we’re renaming it. A lot of the stuff you didn’t like will still be there, but it’ll be okay. You know, cause we renamed it. So buy it now.”
The ‘Brain Trust’ format of having several writers trying to coherently write one ongoing character in one title failed. The end result was a confusing mishmash of characters behaving differently from writer to writer and character identity & voice (which as essential in good writing) were lost in the Spider-Man version of musical chairs. So the news that ASM is moving to just one writer is actually a good thing. But will Dan Slott be dyanmic enough of a name to bring readers back? It seems like they probably should’ve gone outside the ‘Brain Trust’ for this. Someone without any invested ties to the failed Brandnewverse stories and someone with a fresh approach or ideas.
Can Slott stop fighting potential Marvel customers & Spider-Man readers on the Internet long enough to get a book out twice a month? We’ll see!
From the live panel updates I couldn’t tell if ‘Big Time’ was the name of the first solo Slott arc or the name of the ‘new direction.’ Here’s my free advice to Marvel: stop naming ASM’s new directions. It backfires on you. If you really want people to grasp that they aren’t reading an alternate reality universe anymore than stop giving the new status quos names. (EDIT: Bertone has updated this. “Big Time” is the name of the first storyline, but Slott wanted to drive the point home that it won’t be the banner or era.”)
Unfortunately the inconsistency in the art will remain as the penciling chores will now be broken up amongst three different artists. One of those artists is someone whose work I enjoy a great deal and that’s Humberto Ramos. I absolutely love his style and could look at it all day. That being said – his style’s probably going to be out of place here and Marvel’s risking an angry mob a la Eric Canete in ASM #611.
Hobgoblin’s back? Honestly, if the ‘Brain Trust’ had actually been brainy they’d have had Hobgoblin in two years ago instead of the lame and uninteresting Menace. Unfortunately I can’t get excited about Hobby (won’t say Roddy at this point since we know so little) being back since… well since nothing gets me excited about the Brandnewverse at all. However judging by the preview art… wow, this is a wreck waiting to happen. They’re making the same mistake they made with the Gauntlet in that they’re trying to bring in classic villains… but different. Fans want the classic villains. In ASM’s first year it was a major grip from fans, even the ones who were solidly in the Brandnewverse’s corner. But that’s not what they got. They got Doctor Octopus as some emaciated, diseased skeletal thing, Electro with a starfish tattooed on his face, a different Rhino, a dreadlocked Lizard, and so on and so on.
In the discussion thread on our forums for this panel CrazyChris, a contributor to the site and one of our former ASM reviewers, said this about the Hobgoblin’s new ‘fire sword’: “I was so distracted by the ugly face and the Springfield Nuclear Plant Spidey costume that I didn’t even notice Hobgoblin’s +1 Flaming Bastard Sword until now. Did he lose his saving throw against fail, or something?”
If they were going to bring the Hobgoblin back then he needed to, you know, look like the Hobgoblin. Instead he’s been Gauntletized. The same will most likely be the case (just going on Marvel’s recent history) with the Sinister Six, who were also mentioned. It will be them… but… you know. Not really them. The same is happening with Mac Gargan, who will apparently be the Scorpion again. That’s good but yeah they’re messing it up trying too hard to Gauntletize the character. And look – he has claws now! *groan*
I’m guessing Carnage (who is coming back) will get the lightest “re-imaging” treatment.
But even more ridiculous on that same piece of art is, as Chris mentioned, Spider-Man’s new costume. Forum member BerserkFury819 quipped: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…SPIDER-LANTERN!” And he’s right. The new Spider-Man costume in that preview art looks like it’s trying to ride the coattails of the current Green Lantern popularity train.
Which brings me to another point. During one of the Spider-Man live panel feeds (I think it was the one on Marvel.com) it was revealed ASM will soon see “a lot of Avengers stuff.” And that tells us that ASM is at such a low level (both in sales and originality) that Marvel feels Spider-Man just isn’t a big draw in his own book anymore. So to boost sales? Bring in Avengers. And, apparently, Fantastic Four stuff as well. Gadzooks, ASM is running the risk of smelling like Smallville when they brought in Green Lantern to overshadow Clark at practically every level.
Kraven will apparently be getting an expanded role, not just with Spider-Man stories but we’re told “in the Marvel Universe.” I’m of the school that still thinks Kraven should be rotting in the ground.
The panel also revealed that Mary Jane would be getting more time in the book and that makes me nervous. They’re hinting that she’ll have a big role after Quesada’s latest train wreck, OMIT, and that it’ll be an important one. My guess is that they’ll create a Peter-Mary Jane-Carlie Sue love triangle, where fan favorite couple Peter and Mary Jane struggle with Peter’s conflicting feelings for the redhead who’s stuck by him and been his greatest confidant and the new girl named after Quesada’s daughter who’s just so gosh-darn perfect for Peter because everyone is always saying so.
Bottom line on Mary Jane? Quesada and the ‘Brain Trust’ have learned that Mary Jane’s important to the book. They may hate it; Quesada can continue to try to villify her and Marvel can continue to try to make fans like her less, but it will fail. Because it always fails. It failed when Bob Harras tried to kill her off and it’s now failed with Quesada’s Brandnewverse moving her off to the sidelines. And it will continue to fail while Marvel throws everything but the kitchen sink except for the marriage at ASM as they try to bring readers back.
Peter’s going back to work! Well steady work, apparently – we’re told it’s a “career” and a “dream job.” This seems antithetical to the ‘Brain Trust’ stance (and the Brevoort Manifesto) that Peter should be a loser struggling with bills all the time. Maybe Marvel’s learned that Spider-Man’s fanbase doesn’t need for the character to be a loser the way the writers & editors need him to be? Hmm. Too early too tell. I doubt it though. Slott’s one of the ‘Brain Trust’ that’s always locked on the worn out ‘Parker Luck’ gag.
Other ASM related bits? The book’s officially got a $3.99 price tag on it now – but hey, we all saw that coming. The new twice-per-month format (which Rich Johnston reported awhile back) will at least give those who stuck around and still buy ASM a wee break from their wallets being milked.
Will all of this turn sales around? While Marvel will flat-out tell us that sales were fine (cause that’s what they do!) all of this San Diego news points to quite the opposite being true. But that’s something we’ve known for a good long while now.
Finally? We already knew the real Spider-Girl was going away to make way for Araña and the panel talked about the Araña flavor of Spider-Girl. I’ve always thought the character was redundant and that hasn’t changed now. I’ll pass. Make mine Mayday. All others pale & fail in comparison.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I expect other Crawl Space contributors might have more later!
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Oh and I quite enjoyed the article, it echoes a few things on my mind. Disagree with some of it and I agree with some. I like Dan Slott so it’s good that he will be the sole writer. Still I need more MJ. Carlie (IE Mary Sue or Gwen Stacy + Debra Whitman) needs to be permanently gone. Have Spidey date Betty, Liz or Debra instead since Marvel’s currently not very good with making up new love interests for Spidey.
Not too crazy about the rotating artists. Guess we’ll see how things turn out.
DeFalco and Frenz will be doing a Thunderstrike series after Spider-Girl.
I’ve gotta say, I was surprised to find the article very negative, as I thought it was a information piece. its cool tho.
Now c’mon Georgie don’t flatter yourself…you just needed some positive vibe.
So with Spider-Girl ending, what the hell is DeFalco going to be doing? Because I’ll buy just about anything with his name on it. Even “Everyone Poops”.
Got to agree that claiming they are dropping the BrandNewVerse as a marketing gimmick to try to bring back lost readers. Bring Hobgoblin back is just another tactic to bring back readers too, though from the looks of the preview art his costume is hideous. It looks like it should be on the cover of a Warhammer 40K comic, not a Spidey comic. And speaking of horrible, what is with the new costume? Glowing green spider and toes? WTF?!? This is the worst Spidey costume to date. I agree that it seems to have been inspired by a green lantern costume. Was the artist that uninspired? Why the costume change?
And Pete’s getting a job? Seems the Brain Trust was way off the mark with Pete needing to be an unemployed loser.
Yeah, not seeing me reading this Slott arc if this is the direction they’re going.
@Berryman – Well, we are already getting the hit-or-miss back-up stories at 22 pages, unless the back-ups actually get longer…
Thanks for your thoughts!
The lack of civility in these ‘debates’ is quite distressing.
And FWIW, I’m not a numbers person…but when comparing pre-BND ASM sales to post-BND ASM sales, where do Spidey’s former ancillary books (“Friendly Neighborhood”, etc) come in? What about the numerous post-BND minis and the short-lived post-BND ancillary “Web of Spider-Man?”
Last thing…the “Spider-Lantern” costume looks vaguely like the Iron Spider in different colors, at least to my eyes.
I agree with themanofbat, only because I have it on good authority that he listens to good music! *Two thumbs up*
George! What the heck did they do to our Hobgoblin, man?!?!?!? Anyone see the classic movie Brazil? Dude has wings now!
Thanks George after reading your editorial I renewed my subscription to Amazine Spidey. I can’t wait for all the new changes that are coming, not mention the new suits. And their finally bring Carnage back; I hope he kills Betty Cooper (Oops I mean Carlie). It also looks like Parker and Stark are going to be working togeter outside of the Avengers, maybe we’ll see some bad blood left over from Civl War. Sipder-Girl what can I say. I love how pepole make a huge deal about giving that to another charter as if thats something new or wrong. I mean how many Supergirls and Superboys and Robins and Flash(s) and Green Lanterns and Batmen and… well you get the idea. Look my point is that Spidey is the best, and while the stoires haven’t been the best that they could be there far better then alot of haters would have us belive. So until you have 22 pages of Spider-Man walking across the country… (yhea that’s a great story) make mine MARVEL! Nuff Said.
@George Berryman re: artists on book
I would have picked Marcos Martin, Javier Pulido and someone else…Ramos is good but his style is more suited for kiddies books, IMO…Caselli…not all that great…
Marco Checchetto is another one whose Spider-Man work I liked….With Ramos, I think they’re gonna have problems with deadlines…remember how he was supposed to be the regular artist on Peter Parker Spider-Man with Paul Jenkins and, after six issues, he only did the artwork here and there…and we all know that when there are deadlines, they tend to put in fill in artists or do rush jobs that look like crap….
I meant Green Arrow – I’d already said Green Lantern and just wound up repeating it. Too much Green! 😉
First, Smallville brought in Green ARROW, not Green LANTERN! I hope someone got fired for that blunder. 😛
Second, Peter gets his “dream job”? Hmm, I’m flashing back to Mackie and Byrne’s reboot and Peter’s “dream job” at Tri-Corp. Anyone else remember Tri-Corp? Anyone? Hello, is this thing on? They made such a BIG DEAL about Tri-Corp in #1 of the reboot, then Peter NEVER WENT THERE. Wait, I think they used it for the Doc Ock/Captain Power story, but that was it. When Peter got fired for never showing up to work in issue 15 (?) most readers were like “Peter had a job at this place? Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Ah, who cares.” So I am skeptical about a new “dream job”. Hopefully it lasts longer than his “dream job” of working at Tri-Corp, or being a teacher, or …
Why does it feel like I just gained a stalker? Huh. Creepy.
Oh Georgie. We could argue all night about everything BND. That would be fun. I mean if you ever want to do a live “editorial” let me know. My fingers get tired of typing.
BUT I want to leave with you something positive cause I think that is what was missing in your editorial.
<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3
That's much better…
Heya Two-Bit. I’m actually fine with Peter working (i.e. for money) for Reed as some sort of assistant or something. Hell, I was fine with Peter being a teacher for that matter. When I brought it up in the editorial it was just to point out that Marvel was backing off the original ‘he has to be a loser’ angle they once claimed was such a vital part of the character.
The $3.99 is for 30-page issues, that’s correct. In fact I think I saw Wacker say somewhere it broke down, per month, to $1 less for six pages less of content compared to regular Brandnewverse issues. Thing is – that’s what, six pages of hit-or-miss back-up stories?
I’ve got no opinion on Ben Reilly in Shattered Dimensions (and that was a different panel, yes), Carnage or Impact Webbing. 🙂
George, I normally enjoy your editorials but today you almost managed to kill all my enthusiasm about the Spidey-Panel. Not that all of it is your fault. I heard that the Hobgoblin was back and thought, “Yay.” Then I saw that pic here…
And I’m also a Carnage fan (I knew being killed by the Sentry wouldn’t stick. Funny that now that the Sentry IS dead, Carnage is back…) and I look forward to his mini.
I’m not holding my hopes up for the marriage to be back any time soon, but if Marvel is taking “baby steps” to put things back in place, I say let them. More Mary-Jane? Good! Peter as lab assistant to Reed Richards? I can’t believe that hasn’t been done before! It puts him back in his scientific element, and it prompts the introduction of him using “impact webbing” (as I heard it).
Also, didn’t they also say that the $3.99 price point would be for 30-page issues?
I didn’t know if this was at the same panel, but Ben Reilly being in Shattered Dimensions???
@Josh – Ramos *is* talented, even if you don’t like his style. I don’t particularly care for Frank Quitely’s art (that’s putting it mildly) but I do admit he’s at least talented at what he does.
@hermann22 – I haven’t thought all of the Brandnewverse has been a “steam pile of crap” as you say. In my BND retrospect reviews I do point out the stuff I think works. There’s just not a lot of it.
The sales on Brandnewverse weren’t right where Marvel figured they’d be. Hell, Slott bet someone at CBR once that the books would be at 80K at a specific point (I want to say March, April or May of 2008) and he lost that bet.
Are you saying they did BND in the first place to match up to the old movies or that they ended BND to match up to the new movies? Because if they were wanting to match ASM up to the new movies Peter would be de-aged and back in high school.
“I thought the rant was laughable because I don’t think Marvel thinks the way you wrote about them at all. After 2 years its time to move on to the next chapter. Seems obvious to me.”
You’d have bought any excuse or explanation they gave to change the direction.
I am not always a cheerleader for BND. It had/has its problems for sure. I don’t think it was a steam pile of a crap either.
My view is it wasn’t a huge sales success and it wasn’t a failure either. It was right in the middle. Right where they figured to be given how strongly the fan base reacted with information that I have gathered. Of course the reason they made the BND decision was to line up Spidey with the movies. I don’t think they really care if its not in the top 10 right now. They hope for a big pay off down the road. Obviously time will tell if it will…
I thought the rant was laughable because I don’t think Marvel thinks the way you wrote about them at all. After 2 years its time to move on to the next chapter. Seems obvious to me.
This editorial stuff is pretty fun Georgie!!!!!!
I can’t believe with all the talented artists out there that want in that a hack like Ramos keep getting put on Spidey. You’d think Marvel’s icon could have art that looks better than a blind two year old. >=(
I’m not too sure about a triumphant gleeful run through the fields… howza’bout I just take a pee in the woods.
🙂
Oh my God… you’re right! 🙂
But even if I* did* actually like the current direction I’d still be able to admit it wasn’t performing well – especially up to Marvel’s original expectations. I’ve loved lots of books before that I felt were on the right track yet were performing badly and ended up being changed or canceled. I wasn’t such a cheerleader that I couldn’t face the truth about how they were doing. Peter David’s Captain Marvel, for instance.
Gearoge…You hate BND…nothing I say will change your mind. Thus your view on everything Marvel does with it will always have a negative (or wrong) view. Just saying…
@cbasfrench: “Humberto Ramos, Marcos Martin and Nick Dragotta…three artists with very distinctive styles…I would have prefered if they had chosen artists whose styles are similar, so the change is not so glaring from issue to issue…”
Doing so would’ve cut down on the inconsistency in the art, yep. And again I say that despite me loving Ramos’s work I think there’s going to be a backlash on it in ASM, the same way we saw at times against Bachalo and the same as we saw with Eric Canete.
@Themanbat – I wasn’t thinking averages. I was thinking of the 54K and under issues from Feb. to April. But I cede your 55K average point. Run proudly through the fields in triumphant glee.
Also the gimmicky variants used to be more spread out and sporadic. Now they’re damn near every issue (in fact I think at this point it’s every issue though I may be remembering that wrong).
But you’re right – the numbers have “spoken.” And they’ve told us that with BND, ASM was selling more copies to far fewer readers because of the three times per month format. And that’s why that formula’s changing now. Because it hasn’t worked.
@herman22 – If the current direction wasn’t working it wouldn’t be changed. They wouldn’t make a massive point of saying ‘Brand New Day’s over’ if it weren’t so unpopular. But they are because it is.
I have to comment on what George was saying when he said “If it weren’t a failure they wouldn’t be at San Diego saying “Brand New Day is ending.”
Marvel wants to keep things fresh as much as possible and of course they want to announce to the world that it’s ending so they can focus and share about new stuff that is going to happen. Its called marketing. We all know the BND logo was gone awhile ago but they wanted people to know that all the plot points made from the last two years are wrapping up and new stuff is on the horizon. Seems like a no brainer to me.
I think Marvel has done a great job lately of finding ways to balance making sure they don’t just settle and beat a dead horse and pushing things forward. They could be DC and just keep doing the SAME SIMILAR HEADLINE Brightest/darkest/lamest or insert your crisis hear.
That was my editorial.
Oh yeah… the gimmicky covers have been around for quite a while… not just recently…
Hey George…
I wrote… ” and the numbers have been hovering between 55k to 60k for about 9 months now… in light of this bad economy… and it’s still a Top 20 book…”
You wrote “I wouldn’t bash you for being wrong Themanofbat… Nine months ago (November 2009) the books were selling over 60K. We’re now at the low end of the 50K’s, and that’s with gimmick variants. The point of wrecking the marriage and everything else with OMD/BND was to bring in new readers and preserve the character’s “long term history.” In that regard it’s failed. For a long while it was selling more issues to fewer readers due to the 3 issue/month format. But that number has continued to fall.”
So looking at the numbers… as I have been for 10 years… I guess I was a little wrong… because it was just over 60k twice in that 9 month span, but you would be wrong to with your low end 50k number (see? I can argue semantics as well)
Average Number of copies sold per month (direct sales only)
Nov.’09 – 64 680 copies (it drops to 58 160 copies if I include Web, but let’s just talk ASM copies)
Dec.’09 – 60 763 copies
Jan.’10 – 65 088 copies
Feb.’10 – 56 380 copies
Mar.’10 – 57 705 copies
Apr.’10 – 55 679 copies
May.’10 – 57 310 copies
June’10 – 58 517 copies….
I don’t have July’s numbers yet…
In 2007, Spider-Man comics sold 2 085 539 copies (again, direct sales only), in 2006, 2 218 500 copies sold… good numbers.
First year of BND, Spider-Man comics sold 2 854 013 copies (the best of the decade), and 2009 had 2 643 573 Spider-Man comics sold (the second best of the decade)… so where are the BAD numbers?
I’m afraid that your biased rant… err, I mean “editorial” was just another hate bashing comment of Spider-Man, and it’s flogging a dead horse. You can twist everything that was said at the SDCC today to bend YOUR thoughts, but the numbers have spoken.
Look them up.
I have.
Cheers…
🙂
Oops..meant to say Stefano Caselli, not Dragotta…
Humberto Ramos, Marcos Martin and Nick Dragotta…three artists with very distinctive styles…I would have prefered if they had chosen artists whose styles are similar, so the change is not so glaring from issue to issue…
Sorry. Guess I should have read the fine print. I will avoid future rants that say editorial by you then. Thanks for the heads up.
It’s an editorial, hermann22. They’re meant to be one-sided and opinionated. It’s the point of an editorial.
I love how incredibly one sided this post was. Haters gotta hate.
What did they do to Doc Ock? Sounds really bad. Doc Ock was already a great character, why mess with him and make him sickly, he’s already sick in the head. I don’t they have a clue of what they want on that book. They want it old, but then they mess up the classic villians. I always wanted to see a big Doc Ock story, b ut this is a complete mess.
Thanks for the clarification! 🙂
Just to clarify what was said at the panel…
“Big Time” is the name of the first storyline, but Slott wanted to drive the point home that it won’t be the banner or era.
I shall not bash thee, Themanof bat. Rather I would like to say Joe Queasada failed. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH. Joe was wrong! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. I’m so happy I might cry. But I am a man and I will suck it up. *sniff*
I wouldn’t bash you for being wrong Themanofbat 🙂
Nine months ago (November 2009) the books were selling over 60K. We’re now at the low end of the 50K’s, and that’s with gimmick variants. The point of wrecking the marriage and everything else with OMD/BND was to bring in new readers and preserve the character’s “long term history.” In that regard it’s failed. For a long while it was selling more issues to fewer readers due to the 3 issue/month format. But that number has continued to fall.
If it weren’t a failure they wouldn’t be at San Diego saying “Brand New Day is ending.” So I guess I point to that as the most obvious clue that the Brandnewverse is a bust.
Chris and I got mentioned. Thanks George. And speaking as a Kraven fan and apologist, the only place Kraven should be is six feet under ground. Lastly, I think all the villifying Quesada and Co. have done of MJ has only heightened her popularity.
Well, it appears that I may be one of the relative few that will enjoy what’s coming… and the numbers have been hovering between 55k to 60k for about 9 months now… in light of this bad economy… and it’s still a Top 20 book… people can say that BND has failed, but when a 10th place book sells at approximately 60k, those ASM numebrs don’t ring failure to me… but the haters will see it the way they want to see it… though tunnel-visioned glasses that will only be turned around with a “return of a marriage”… I’m glad the internet wasn’t around during all of Spidey’s big changes during the 70’s & 80’s… he would have never lasted beyond 1984… these are comics about a fictional character that had a never ending story… if you thought the marriage would last back in 1987, then I have a bridge in Brooklin to sell…lol… the book has been in fine hands and will continue to do so…
I look forward to Slott’s run…
Bash me if you must…
🙂
I’m thinking weird glowie Spider-man has the symbiote again.
IF BND is such a big success like Slott and Wacker and Joe Quesada are always arguing that it is, why would they want to announce that it is ENDING???? Especially with the numbers dropping constantly each month, practically, why would you want to take away the one thing that is “supposedly” helping the book be so successful?!! Everything is smoke and mirros with spider-man stuff now. They portray things one way, despite the obvious, and then tell you the opposite, and then go the opposite of what they told you once again, while maintaining that the fans don’t understand what is “really” going on or what they saw or read isn’t what they read or saw! There is no logic to it at all. Eventually they are going to run out of gimmicks and ways to tweak BND, regardless of what they want to call OMD/BND material that continues to come out. A turnip is still a turnip, even if it lights up like a glow worm and has a flaming voltron sword!
Everything is a swerve. Everythis is a gimmick at Joe Quesada’s Marvel. Just look at Civil War. 7 issues of ‘This is our big event and it has little plot and no ending’. They promise big things that they don’t intend to do anything with. Imagine a story where Spider-man is burried alive by Kraven and shoots himself then he shows up the next issue after Spider-man digs himself out of the grave. Then a clone of Spider-man shows up they fight but then he goes aways for a while why they keep hyping up big things like Spider-man’s identity is revealed to the world, then the next issue he gets new powers, then the next issue he is fighting Cap and all this time Peter Parker has become unrecognizable becuase they keep changing his character, then bam! It’s all retconned. You see, it happened, but it didn’t happen. We get a hundred issues ‘stuff’, then another slap in the face.
It’s all about distraction. What’s bigger than SPider-man getting his identity revealed to the world? O.K., what’s larger than not doing that story about it and then carrying what you saw over to a time when it is whiped away somehow? What’s supposed to happen when they promise readers all these big things one after another and not doing anything with it?
Oh, Dan Slott is writing now.
Big deal.
So I like that they are ending the Brand New Day, hopefully they will return everything to the spirit of the origional continuity, though some skepticisim should be exercised. I like that Mac will no longer be Venom (hopefully the costume goes where it belongs and I like Carnage getting back into the mix (go ahead flame the symbiot fan). I hate the price going up but like you said who didnt see it a mile away. And I totally called the twice a month with one writter and multiple artists (i think I origionally said 3 artists) so overall besides the Spider-Lantern suit I think this is mostly a win for fans…Mostly