As those of you who are regular visitors of the Spider-Man Crawlspace well know, Bleeding Cool did a series of leaks regarding some of the new titles and creative teams post-Secret Wars as part of Marvel’s “All-New, All-Different” initiative. One of the series was another relaunching of Amazing Spider-Man (making this the fourth volume of the series) to written by Dan Slott and illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli. The only other thing we knew about it was the tagline which was “Your friendly neighborhood just got bigger.” And by bigger, Marvel means global.
In an exclusive interview with MTV News, Dan Slott revealed further details about his upcoming direction for Peter Parker and his world this October, which finds in the eight months after the events of Secret Wars, Parker Industries is now “one of the leading companies in the world.”
“Peter Parker has stepped up,” Slott told MTV News over the phone. “He’s grown. He’s become the Peter Parker we’ve always hoped he was going to be. This company, with Peter’s inventions and Peter’s gumption has gone to new heights.”
Furthermore, Spider-Man has also gone global in more ways than one, becoming the corporate symbol for Parker Industries.
…Just like in the real world, Spider-Man is everywhere. Now that Peter Parker is an international icon, Spider-Man has become his bodyguard — mirroring a storyline that played out with Tony Stark back when “Iron Man” first launched — and so Spider-Man’s logo is on shirts, posters, toys, games and more all over the world…
…“He’s operating with Parker industries in not just New York, but also Shanghai and San Francisco and London,” Slott said. “He’s going to be a far more global Spider-Man, and with that is going to come all new global threats. Things that will really test Spider-Man like never before.”
Peter is also getting a slightly tweaked costume designed by Alex Ross, and a new Spider-Mobile designed by Giuseppe Camuncoli, which, in the first issue he’ll be “driving around the streets of Shanghai,” according to Nick Lowe. Concept art shows the new Spider-Mobile has transforming capabilities to switch from car to an eight-legged walker. It’s also a two-seater, which according to Slott allows for “new allies” and “romantic complications.”
As for what this also means for Miles Morales, who is also getting his own series this October as well?
“What you’re going to get from Miles is you’re going to get classic Spider-Man,” Slott noted. “A teenager in high school having problems and trying to deal with things.
“And when you’re reading Peter Parker ’Amazing Spider-Man,’ you’re going to get the Spider-Man you’ve been reading about since 1962 going to all new levels. Can he do the street stuff? Sure, but he can do that times ten. It’s everything you know, everything you care about, amped up to a level you’ve never seen before.
This, according to the interview, also means Peter will be tackling new villains while abroad, while Miles and the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman “will be taking on Peter’s rogues gallery back in New York.”
So what do you Spidey fans think of the idea of Peter Parker, international playboy and hi-tech billionaire? Or is he just a mere millionaire?
SOURCES: MTV News and ComicBook.com
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@148
You’re characterizing Peter here as a nerd as though that makes it odd for him to get a “hot girl”. Thing is, he hasn’t been portrayed as a really nerdy guy since very early in the lee/ditko era, and he’s never been portrayed as unattractive himself. Its much more accurate to say “a normal guy with the hot girl” and that happens all the time. There is no cliche or unrealistic fantasy required for him to date her.
“MJ dont need to be a supermodel but she need to be a gorgeous woman.”
Only because she was originally introduced as such. The appeal of the character never had much to do with her appearance. By Marvel comics’ standards she isn’t even particularly attractive for a girlfriend.
I can’t help but notice though that you didn’t address my issue that dating MJ is nowhere near as unrealistic a fantasy as the new Parker Industries. Do we agree there?
@149
You are completely correct. I think its a pretty thin argument at that considering the kinds of people every other superhero ever tend to date.
@#146- MJ being a supermodel has nothing to do with whether or not it “affects” Spider-Man in a negative way.
It’s just something a small group of people focus on in order to make their dislike for the character, or the fact that she is in a role that they’d prefer her NOT to be in (i.e. Spider-Man’s “One True Love”) more “moral.” They don’t like MJ because she’s standing in the way of Peter hooking up with the love interest THEY would prefer him with. They don’t like MJ because “She’s a ‘supermodel'” and that is “too damaging” to Peter’s life as a whole.
“The Supermodel he knew LONG before she had a real career, never mind that Mary Jane doesn’t need to be a supermodel in her stories (that was never a fan demand, and I think MJ fans would be just as happy without it) and when they aren’t dating Peter has never had any shortage of gorgeous women throwing themselves at him”
MJ always was a hot girl. The nerd with the hot girl is a juvenile fantasy. That´s the truth.
MJ dont need to be a supermodel but she need to be a gorgeous woman. For example, she can´t be a fat woman.
@137 and @143 – But remember that Otto also created the Goblin King, who turned New York into his playground, and then essentially handed Peter’s body back over to him to clean up the mess. Again, I’m not saying it was done very well (Slott failed miserably in showing exactly why Peter is superior, except that Peter will “react” on instinct to save someone while Otto hesitates, refuses to kill, wouldn’t give even more power to his arch nemesis, etc), but I think his point was to show that Peter is best suited for Spider-Man, while Otto is not. But it’s awfully hard to make that point when you’ve been working hard to knock Peter down and show that he’s not a white knight (i.e. being momentarily willing to put a child’s life in danger in order to save himself).
I’m fine without MJ being a supermodel, but I don’t see what’s so bad or inherently wrong about it either…anymore so than, say, Janet Van Dyne AKA The Wasp being a fashion designer. Then again, despite being a founding Avenger, she gets the least push of any female character, so maybe Marvel just isn’t big on awesome female characters who work in feminine professions rather than just being super-powerful bruisers like She-Hulk and Carol Danvers?
@#141 – Oh Quesada…
@142
The Supermodel he knew LONG before she had a real career, never mind that Mary Jane doesn’t need to be a supermodel in her stories (that was never a fan demand, and I think MJ fans would be just as happy without it) and when they aren’t dating Peter has never had any shortage of gorgeous women throwing themselves at him. The relationship the MJ was one of the most organic and realistic stories in the comic’s entire run. If we’re putting her under “juvenile fantasy” just because she’s attractive, there are numerous normal guys I’ve known throughout my life who need to seriously reexamine their lives, because they live in a juvenile fantasy.
But are you really suggesting that a guy having a girlfriend who’s better looking than him is exactly as believable as turning the colossal failure that Parker industries was at the end of Vol. 3 to the MASSIVE success it is just 16 months (in continuity) later? One is uncommon, but happens all the time in the real world. The other is laughably absurd. It would take 16 months easily just to do the prep work to release a product globally, much less have already become rich and famous from its success. Not that they even had a product ready to ship. Never mind that Slott’s Peter couldn’t handle a handful employees in one building, it makes perfect sense that he’s seamlessly made the transition to full time CEO in less time than than it takes to go to community college.
sorry, he spent 30 issues proving the exact opposite – Ock was the better Spidey. Then at the end he just says Peter is a better Spidey without showing it in any way. Then Slott spends 17 issues of Vol 3 showing that Peter can’t run a company in an way and is inferior to the way Ock ran Parker industries. He couldn’t run a corner liquor store let alone a tech company
Great post Al. As much as I enjoyed the irreverence of the Superior run, it did bother me that they repeatedly showed that Ock did an excellent job of balancing Spidey, work and life which pointed out that Peters life balance difficulties were due to being immature. And Slott never did anything to prove that Peter was the Superior spidey. He went out of his way for 40 issues to prove
“Being a billionaire entrepeuner with fast cars and even faster women isn’t adult. It is a juvenile fantasy or a midlife crisis”
Well, Peter Parker married with a Supermodel is a Juvenile fantasy too. The nerd with a hot redheaded always was a juvenile fantasy.
@Frontier and Al — The quote attributed to Joe Quesada that J.A. Morris was one he supposedly made during the “Mondo Marvel” panel at Wizard World Chicago in 2007 a couple of months before One More Day. As reported by Comics Beat, a liverjournal blogger going by the handle “digital-eraser” was in attendance, saying that there were things Quesada said during the panel which were not being covered by either Newsarama and Comic Book Resources.
http://www.comicsbeat.com/yet-more-chicago-scuttlebutt/
@#139 Al — You’re welcome, Al. 🙂
cheers to whoever got my post out there
Sigh. Apologies but…I got spam filtered again. Could someone kindly help me out please?
@#129-130: That was the point officially but that’s like saying the point of OMD was doing the lesser evil for the greater good. It pays lip service to the idea but when you actually look at what happened that is not true at all. Otto just uncharacteristically gave up Peter’s body claiming him to be the Superior Spider-Man without the story/series adequantely SHOWING us why that was the case. it’d torn down Peter so much without building him back up. How many times did Superior point out how sloppy, inefficient Peter was and how he should be more practical and ruthless? It was taking the Spider-Man status operating methodology we’d had (that inevitably we were going to get back and would WANT to get back because it works great creatively) and pointed out to why it was wrong without then proving the counter true. Again, post Superior Anna Maria is saying to Peter he needs to be more practical like Otto and not sweat the small stuff (you know like common burglars who might kill people’s uncles). And Peter even says maybe she is right and Otto had a good point. Equally we are never shown why Otto killing Massacre WAS a bad thing which makes the argument that Peter has been wrong all those times he’s shown mercy. Not to mention how Otto was able to easily balance his life better than Peter which then changes the fact that Peter’s lack of balance is due to being Spider-Man to it then just being HIM being a fuck up. which undermines him as a person and makes him a manchild. Either Otto needed to eventually run into the exact same problems and not cope as well as Peter or only manage to avoid them by doing things (or not doing things) which then had further negative ramifications. E.g. Otto doesn’t sweat small crime and instead goes to spend time with Aunt May. Real responsible and nice, except by deliberately neglecting small crime this gets innocent people just like it did to Uncle Ben.
I think the story was trying to claim to make Peter the true Superior Spider-Man but frankly Slott has been running counter to that idea ever since Peter Parker Paparazzi. He LOVES ‘teaching Peter a lesson’ and pointing to things wrong with him. He’s done more to deconstruct Peter Parker than any writer before or since. I don’t mean someone just writing Peter badly, I mean like deliberately pointing to ‘problems’ with him.
@#13—Well obviously it is going to be short lives. That isn’t the problem. the primary problem is that you can in no way shape or form go back on this without a massive contrivance. You either need something asinine like another mindwipe, need to sweep things under the rug and ignore the elephant in the room or else reboot continuity.
@#131-Marriage is a step towards and part of adulthood. It is also a responsibility. As is parenthood. Spider-Man is ABOUT responsibility. Ergo marriage/children is a storyline many people understandably want for him.
Being a billionaire entrepeuner with fast cars and even faster women isn’t adult. It is a juvenile fantasy or a midlife crisis, which is understandable since it’s coming from a writer nearing his 50s who has demonstrated in his work an immense lack of understanding for human nature.
Additionally being rich and famous isn’t adult. It’s just being rich and famous. Peter could own a company and work as a scientist as part of growing up. that’s fine. It just can’t be the fan fiction idealisation this and Parker Industries and HORIZON labs was. He needs to be down to Earth which this is utterly not.
And for the record he was a scientist with a steady job in Spider-Girl where he was also in his early 40s and clearly more level headed, mature, cautious and living up to the inherently adult responsibility of parenthood.
Bingo.
@#134-What was the quote about Wuesada wanting him to download porn?
@#134 – Wait, what!?
Since he’s now a corporate jet-setting playboy, will we finally get to see Parker “download porn and have sex” like Quesada promised back in 2008?
I was reading the Byrne vs Slott social media fights. I have to say that Slott came up more professional than Bryne did but at the same time, Slott has come off similar in the past. “My stories were different, yours are going in the wrong direction.” The problem is, Bryne has become extremely bitter in the industry over the last fifteen years and I can understand. Guy who was a go to has become a: “Don’t let him touch it, he’ll ruin it.” Slott is: “I voice my opinion and you either like it or not but if you don’t, I’ll make sure I beat it into the ground why I’m right and you are wrong.” Difference is, Slott is more “polite” to others in the industry because he loves their work. However, when a fan disagrees he is: “Why can’t you like me like others do?” One thing that Bryne has argued correctly is that Peter is now taken far away from who he is. Big Time was a good step in the right direction, Peter was being successful but he wasn’t swimming in riches and he dealt with the failures of his actions like with Marla Jameson or letting people walk all over him like Sanaji or ignoring his responsibility or dealing with emotional fallout after Superior. Now he’s: “Hey Miles, mind the store, I have to go be the Tony people remember from the 70s and be more RDJ from the MCU. Because being a teacher was so not me and being a guy who sleeps in the alley is too much. By the way, I’m going to fund the new Uncanny Avengers with my Parker Industries money now, go me!”
Yeah and this is the All-new, All-different MU? Ummm… no, I love Miles and his new status quo would be a book I be picking up but this, just make it stop.
@Al
Byrne and Slott are having a fight? Now THAT’s funny.
@krankyboy
Wow, that’s interesting! Ultimate Peter really used to sell a lot more than ASM. I guess it’s because of ASM’s crappy quality before JMS came to the rescue.
Interesting fact about the Miles Morales relaunch. It just proves how many comic book readers prefer Ultimate Peter over the replacement character Miles. Funny how the sales dropped once Peter was out of the title.
Grown Peter Parker? LOL! He looks More like a playboy teenage Peter Parker on the cover. Is he Bruce Wayne or what?
Moving on, the cover looks awesome. Alex Ross should more Spider-Man covers in the future.
“The grown Peter Parker I’ve always wanted to see, I SAW. In Spider-Girl, for years, written by Tom DeFalco”
BINGO. Guys, you don´t want to see a grown Peter Parker. You Want a Married Peter Parker.
@#129- I think that too. I do think the “purpose” of the story was to “show” why Peter was the ONLY one “worthy” to be Spider-Man, but I think the problem was Slott fell too in love with his own story and his own hype and he forgot to adequately set up the story that actually legitimized Peter. Slott knew how it would start, and he knew how it would end, but I think he didn’t connect the points the best way he could.
I also think, for everything that this changes, I think it’s ultimately just going to be a short lived affair, only lasting a year or so. Much like how other changes didn’t last long, like Superior which lasted about fourteen/ fifteen months. Or Bucky as Captain America. I have a feeling it’s more like an experiment rather than a permanent status quo change.
@125 – I think that was the point of the whole thing (Peter is the Superior Spider-Man, Otto is not – hence why he surrendered Peter’s body at the end when the Goblin King took over New York). But I also think it was executed horribly for a myriad of reasons that, if I listed them all, would most likely bore everyone to the point of tears. I have no doubt that this latest “change” with Playboy Parker will not be much better. And I agree that Marvel is going to keep pushing Miles like mad.
@126 – I saw that. It’s been pretty testy. But Slott is known for popping up and getting into these tiresome “discussions” when people aren’t exactly down with his direction for Spider-Man (and usually right when they’re announced in the press). Needless to say, Byrne thinks Globetrotter Millionaire Peter is stupid.
@#119- Technically, Peter never “wrote” a book.
“Webs” was a collection of photos of Spider-Man that Peter took, and it was the Daily Bugle that published it. In fact, in the story proper, this fact is SPRUNG on Peter. He had NO idea it was coming, and he had no input to it’s development. He was put on the touring circuit, but it really didn’t raise his profile.
As for the money, all of it went into paying for Peter’s trip back to college to finish his graduate degree, so it didn’t really ever solve his money problems.
@116 & @122, relax guys, I was (and remain) staunchly in favor of keeping Parker & MJ married. I think this “international million dollar playboy tycoon” business is idiotic.
@124 I read the Byrne/Slott exchange, I say a pox on both their houses. The existence of Chapter One means that Byrne doesn’t get to criticize any creator over “change for the sake of change.”
my post got spam filtered. Also Byrne and Slott have been having a back and forth on Byrne’s site over the relaunch
@#123-I don’t think Slott’s intention WAS to ‘prove’ Peter was truly the Superior Spider-Man. he paid lip service to the idea but in the ways that mattered (outside of being a lying, thieving, brutalising , murderous would be/actual rapist) the series seemed to lean on the idea that actually Otto WAS better and seemed to be pressing that idea afterwards.
At best we were maybe shown why Otto was the wrong man for the job but we were never shown why Peter was the RIGHT one. We weren’t shown why Peter not killing like Otto did was better, or why not invading Shadowland with a goddam army was better, or why he ultimately was the better Spider-Man and the best guy for the job.
Cos right now (especially due to Spider-Verse) it seems Marvel is trying to push (and with how badly Peter’s been handled actually been proving) that that honour belongs to Miles, Spider-Gwen, Miguel, maybe even Kaine or Ben Reilly but not Spider-Man himself.
@122 – I think my point is that before OMD/BND/Ultimatum and a host of other bad decisions, there seemed to be a Peter Parker for everyone, you know? If you wanted to read about married “adult” Peter, you had JMS writing some very popular stories (and the art by Mike Deodato was out of this world). But if you wanted teen Spider-Man, you had Ultimate. And both were consistently in the top ten or top twenty (at one point, ASM under JMS got to 137,000 in a single month). Even better, if you wanted Spidey for kids in done in one stories, you had Marvel Adventures.
As to why MIles is being kept around… ugh, I’m afraid to even go there. But I think it’s sort of become “the cause” for Bendis and some people (including Axel Alonso) to phase out Peter Parker for being a straight, white hero. Hence why MIles is basically being gifted everything that one associates with Spider-Man (the New York digs, street level adventures, the classic Spidey villains, the quips, the young protagonist trying to balance “regular life” with being a superhero) while Marvel is allowing Slott to make Peter into a globe-trotting playboy. I’m sure that Dan has a point in mind with it — much like he did with Superior, where the goal was to show why Peter is just the right person to be Spider-Man while Ock is horribly wrong. But even so, I think it gets away from what has made Spider-Man so successful for so long. Which leads me to your other great post —
@114 Semper nailed it.
@#115-Peter and Mary Jane’s wealth was only introduced at two points in their married life. the first example was done as part of a larger arc involving Jonathan Caesar (a stalker of MJ’s) wherein he’d ruin thier lives by taking their home and their money. Essentially the idea was to give Peter and MJ the high life so they’d fall all the further, hence their eviction on Christmas eve itself. After that they were at best comfortable but not rich.
The Second time was when Marvel were actively trying to make fans hate the marriage so they reintroduced MJ’s supermodel job (which also went away because of Caesar) and made them rich again.
Furthermore MJ was a model for only HALF the marriage’s existence. Otherwise she was a struggling actress or student or unemployed. It was far from the case that Peter and MJ were rich for 20 years.
And even if they were dumping the marriage would have been an asinine resolution as it would’ve been easy to course correct things by giving MJ a new job.
Additionally Peter being dirt poor isn’t relatable. It sometimes made him stupid. he should be up and down financially but never one step away from homelessness as that’s over the top.
@#119-In the Michelinie/McFarlane run in the early 300s Peter published the ‘Webs’ book which was a book featuring many of his Spider-Man photos. He went on a book tour thereafter.
@#120-How odd? Wasn’t ASM usually ranked higher on the sales charts?
Hmm…that was during the JMS run. Could the young hip single Spider-Man have honestly been more appealing than the married one JMS was writing? Or in fairness I guess maybe it was just the other stuff going on in the book cos ASM wasn’t exactly selling badly. There was the mysticacism stuff in ASM and the lack of traditional supporting characters and villains which USM had.
Wait so Miles is popular but sells LESS than Ultimate Peter…then…why did they keep him around and then try and push him into the 616?
I liked the Miles stories I’ve read, but Miles has never sold anywhere near even Slott’s ASM sales levels. To replace Peter with Miles would be a sales disaster. As bad as Slott’s character-work is, his zany plots keep the magazine selling. (If he could just write _characterizations_ as well as he comes up with fizz-pop plot scenarios, most of us wouldn’t complain so much.)
@109 – Hi Al!
Well, here are some sales figures from March 2003:
2 Ultimate Spider-Man 38 $2.25 Marvel 111,218
3 Ultimate Spider-Man 37 $2.25 Marvel 110,978
5 Amazing Spider-Man 51 $2.25 Marvel 95,277
Sept 2003:
7 Ultimate Spider-Man 46 $2.99 Marvel 106,017
12 Amazing Spider-Man 58 $2.25 Marvel 92,826
Sept 2004
7 Ultimate Spider-Man 65 $2.25 Marvel 94,169
14 Amazing Spider-Man 512 $2.25 Marvel 87,231
I’m not sure if that was during JMS’ run though. But clearly USM was selling like gangbusters for quite a while. I don’t think teenage Peter was a problem. Anyway, I agree with you that Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends wasn’t the best direction for the series, but that was after the relaunch. And it’s also why I think a new writer (and better artist) could have been a better route for the title than continuing to go with Bendis. At the very least, he needed a break. At his nadir, Ultimate Peter after the relaunch was selling around 34,000. Miles has sold around 30,000 and has dropped below into the upper 20,000 range before his titles were relaunched again. His sales jumped to the upper 30,000’s after the latest relaunch where readers had Peter’s return dangled in front of them (following USM #200), but they dropped again after Peter simply “gave his blessing” and departed.
Peter wrote a book? When did this happen?
This is the sort of thing that writers do when they have become totally bored with a character.
I’m out. Too much for me. I’ve been slogging through Slott’s run long enough. I can’t take it any longer. This is the proverbial straw that broke my proverbial back.
Slott doesn’t write stories about characters, he writes stories and bends the characters that he is given to fit those stories. And that is not an acceptable way to write a serial story like a comic book. If he wanted to write Tony Stark he should have asked to be the new Iron Man writer. What they’re giving us is not Peter Parker and it is not Spider-man. And the cherry on top of it all is that, if it is anything like the rest of Slott’s writing, it will also be poorly written.
This is the point where I am actually finally dropping The Amazing Spider-Man from my pull list.
@115 – “Marrying a supermodel…”
Who he had known for years before she was ever famous.
Known and dated for years before she was ever famous.
Known and dated and had been intimate with for years before she was ever famous.
I don’t know how to phrase this comment any more effectively than if I addressed it directly to Dan Slott, so here goes.
“He’s become the Peter Parker we’ve always hoped he was going to be.”
No Dan, you mean the Peter Parker that YOU’VE always hoped he was going to be. I think. You sort of wanted him to be Otto Octavious for quite a while there. so it’s hard to know who exactly you’ve ever hoped Peter to become.
The grown Peter Parker I’ve always wanted to see, I SAW. In Spider-Girl, for years, written by Tom DeFalco, who understands Peter Parker INFINITELY better than you ever have.
I guess that’s why you dropped a fridge on that Peter Parker. Couldn’t have him sticking around the multiverse to show your Peter Parker as the incompetent fanfic hack-job that he is.
I don’t know exactly when you jumped over the shark, Dan, but you’re well clear of it now.
The one thing I agreed with the anti-married crowd was Peter & MJ’s wealth. Marrying a supermodel and becoming a bestselling author (is Peter’s book ‘Webs’ still “canonical”) was a giant leap from a “relatable” Parker who always seemed to be a paycheck away from homelessness. And now we get this.
“Is it just me, or does this new approach seem to change everything that fundamentally made Spider-Man…Spider-Man?”
John Semper, Executive Producer of the 1994 Spider-Man the Animated Series
@#107-Its not so much that he’s unrelatable because he’s successful, its because he’s a rich and famous celebrity which makes him a idealised fantasy NOT a relatable one.
@110 – that’s what I’m doing. I’m probably 150 issues away from a complete Spider-Man run (main titles). I look forward to one day starting from Amazing Fantasy and just reading Spidey straight through.
Doesn’t sound like the guy-next-door, ordinary guy Peter Parker I followed for many years….
Saw what Spider-Man 2099’s new outfit is going to look like in the new series and I like it. So sticking with PAD with 2099.
As for Spider-Man, there’s still the comic strip where he’s still married which I read FOR FREE in Comic Shop News, I have that massive ASM DVD-Rom set from Gitcorp and I’m getting close to Gwen Stacy’s death and I’ve been wanting to read the Time Arrow prose trilogy for a while now, where he’s also still married.
Plenty of ways to get your Spider-Man fix on without worrying about what Slott is doing.
@#84-Exactly
@#85-USM wasn’t selling better than ASM during JMS’ run or thereafter. Bendis went into off kilter directions like Ice Man and Human Torch living with Aunt May and arbitrarily had Peter and MJ break up and reconcile for a third time. It was clear he was getting bored with the series, hence the off kilter direction. So I think it had A LOT to do with him being a teenager stuck in the same status quo indefinitely for a long period of time. Compare it to say Stan’s latter half of his run where he also slowed/halted the status quo. He burnt out and got bored. That is one of the reasons Gwen died. It was just shuffling game pieces around instead of moving forward.
We must also not forget Bendis being the biggest Marvel writer today working on Spider-Man (the biggest Marvel character) and with the ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ branded name (which became associated with quality and has a certain amount of prestige attached to it) coupled with the following since USM #1 was going to guarantee a certain amount of automatic sales. Sales which often didn’t outdo ASM even after BND and during Slott’s run before Slott’s name got as big as it did. That’s because ASM and the mainstream universe have even MORE prestige attached to them. People will en masse buy ASM more than USm just because it’s ASM.
Can you give sales figures for Miles selling worse than Peter on USM?
Additionally the rejuvenation came also in the form of both critical reception and creativiety of the title. Peter was stuck in the same place and it was stale. Miles however was a blank slate that could be anything and we hadn’t seen him in any one status quo for too long a time.
To a certain extent EVERY Spider-Hero adopts traits of Peter Parker, e.g. the quipping. The trick is making them stand out. I will accept that maybe Miles was too similar to Peter though.
@#87-I dunno if we can say we KNOW how it will end because from a logical writing POV that does make sense…but Slott isn’t a logical creative writer. He doesn’t get his own craft.
@#88-Basically the opposite of the Spider-Girl campaigns
@92- Got any examples of people on the site ‘praising complete and utter crap’ because their hero looks good in it?
@#93-No it didn’t get buried on the front page. And the fat lady hasn’t sung on RYV yet given it’s 5 parts. Furthermore I find it hypocritical to criticise people for enjoying a story where the character they like looks good and then say BTW go read Daredevil cos it’s awesome.
And frankly people are more than entitled to be proven wrong about things. Not that we have been proven wrong about RYV being a troll, oh wait YES WE HAVE because this announcement confirmed the marriage isn’t coming back.
And I don’t think a Daredevil fanboy or anyone for that matter gets to say “you are in appropriate to appreciate Spider-Man”, especially when they provide little evidence for that accusation (great lawyering there pal) and when frankly the criticisms have most of the time been incredibly valid. WTF are we supposed to think when we see a teaser like this? Or get a teaser for RYV when it’s being done by a writer ad a regime which has stated MULTIPLE times they won’t return the marriage and have shown themselves to troll fans repeatedly over that fact. It’s like yeah we can be proven wrong because THIS time the dog didn’t bit us like we expected. But it wasn’t an unreasonable expectation given how it’s done so 50 times before then.
Also you lose crddibility when you bash a character? No you lose crdcibility when you bash a character invalidly. Which you haven’t proven anyone of doing. You’ve just said the mere act of doing it loses credibility.
And at the same time wanna know why Slott has a bandwagon saying he sucks. Because he OBJECTIVLY does! Literally take the most BASIC tenants of creative writing and characterisation and Slott’s work falls apart next to it. He is a TERRIBLE Spider-Man writer and for the record I at least haven’t been on a bandwagon. I’ve felt that way since before 2008.
#94 is right ASM volume 3 has destroyed Slott’s credibility. Even CBR who are on Marvel’s payroll have been giving him less than glowing reviews which they tended to do.
@#98-there are kids reading the book but they are far from the majority.
Actually PLENTY of people are asking for mature and literate stories. And even not asking for them doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have them Mature and literate stories from Spider-Man should be fucking EXPECTED because we had those for DECADES. Yes, even in the 1960s. They were of a different standard because standards changed but in the time Spider-Man was incredibly revolutionary and intellectually challenging to readers. The 80s and JMS era did that too.
It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, child friendly stuff. Spider-Girl undr DeFalco was like that but even THAT was literate and mature. It dealt with issues of domestic abuse for God’s sake.
Want another example? The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. Very well read, intended for kids but adults could like it as well because it was smart and didn’t treat the audience like idiots or pander to them with shit like the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon does.
You can have things be all ages and entertain kids and adults alike. But throwing idiotic stuff at not only the majority of the fanbase who ARE older but even worse at kids and conditioning them to accept lesser quality from their stories (and for their money) is not only antithetical to what Stan started but downright reprehensible.
You are ostensibly advocating in Spider-Man for low brow low quality work (at a $4-5 prince range no less) and playing in the same ball park as the pathetic ‘it’s for kids’ excuse. ‘It’s for kids’ is the reason cartoons don’t have shit like rape in them. It doesn’t justify poorly written schlock.
Furthermore if your argument is that no one is demanding literate Spider-Man that just proves the point of how degraded and in low esteem Spider-Man has become and is held. This is the character who delivered the emotionally challenging Death of Gwen Stacy storyline and Death of Jean DeWolff. People should EXPECT deeper work than this sugar coated Saturday morning cartoon rubbish.
Additionally whilst one poster here dislikes Miles’ venom blast as seeming deal breaker he is not only entitled to do so but no one else is so don’t paint us with a broad brush ‘kitten’.
@107
There’s being successful to the point of being good at your job and there’s being overly successful at your job. Marvel seems to have skipped the being good at the job step and vaulted Peter Parker into Forbes status just by saying it happened in the last eight months. I’m all for Peter being success at his job locally, but to suddenly gain world-wide status? That’s out of character.
This actually could end up being interesting if it’s done right, and I’m glad they’re not nuking Parker Industries for editorial mandate. I tend to think that people who say that Spider-Man is about “youth” or struggle or about being an underdog don’t understand character growth. Can people struggle? Of course, but they can also overcome and grow. I resent the idea that a successful Peter Parker is unrelatable, so I’m glad they’re letting him succeed. Of course, all this depends on execution.
I know it won’t add to anything but I felt so strongly at this debacle I wrote a paper to any marvel employee about how preposterous this direction is. Now i know CBR must serve their masters but I’m praying some employee does read it. If they didn’t put the Joe dirt like Peter Parker on the cover I would’ve guessed it wasn’t him as spidey in this new series and all honesty I wish it wasn’t. And I myself am not a fan of miles character and it looks pretty obvious where this is going as he will be the definitive spider-man in maybe a year or so. Outside of batman spidey has the most diverse and interesting cast in his universe and this is what they come up with? I know it’ll take a lot for marvel to stop serving their Disney masters and put their foot down but after this series bombs which I’m pretty confident it will, someone there will stand up and ask what are we doing with our no.1 property?
I think it’s easier for Spider-fans to get upset at bad writing in the title, because we’ve had interesting, illuminating runs on the character by the likes of DeMatteis, Conway, Stern, PAD, and, like him or hate him, JMS.
Which makes it even more more frustrating to have to put up with padding and a crap direction that doesn’t fit the character.
How many variant covers this time to inflate sales?
#101 No there would have been caps lock abuse.
#76 Has CBR ever been a reliable source for reviews….not that I have ever seen:)
Whoops, typo!
Who is this ‘Matt Murdork’ guy anyway? Dan Slott in disguise?