54 Comments

1. @chase the blues away People who have Samsung watches, phones, HD TVs Have no idea who the CEO is. Also we see commercials with the law offices of marks & Harrison but still never remember the faces from most commercials . Pete’s revolutionary tech in the marvel world is so diluted with loads of guys and technology in that world just in the end makes him another CEO. Carly fiorina CEO of HP has run for senate & California & now president & people are barely finding out who she is & there’s still plenty of others in the past and future where its the same. Now if Pete were in our world of course but there is much much more technology from much more ceos in that world. All over the USA even in places like Africa, the UK , Australia, China. You can’t deny there is a lot of technology all over in the comic world.

   Further more again so Pete has the name former CEO are we afraid people will look at him funny? Remember he’s in a universe where his tech guy s actually nothing compared to others & a dime a dozen.

   & as far as MJ actually people say she was a super model. I think she is more identified as a lower down the ladder model /actress by most. The point was she still walks around in public as a normal civilian in the end. Same here.

   @Al you’ve stated thing is way worse than Spider-man the other & less reversible. The other had spiderman was the chosen one to turn into a mutant with glowing eyes and retractable claws that could just shed its body when its body dies and ate morlun alive when the other takes control at any given time. With organic webbing & poison. Also the unmarriage retcon, & you said the unmasking maybe is so slight worse. I simply I disagree those things are way worse. I point those out tho because they are gone now. This is all he has to do is quite lay low for a while.

   I understand defending the status quo but you have to realize marvel doesn’t even know what that is anymore or how to do that right. BND as you said will make Pete a loser, who’s incompetent, overly goofy like a man child. So its either that stays quo with Slott or this until Slott leaves. Which is why I’m glad for this. BND style hurts Spiderman Peter Parker worse. Its not just slot tho the whole marvel creative team right now outside the movies will jack up your status and get it all wrong. I’ll take a competent Peter, with a company while slott and this teams in charge over your normal status quo peter under this marvel creative team that wants to make him in incompetent, loser, that rehashes the same stories but with him and his villains being lame total jokes to everyone. You’d really they just have Slott and marvel do that for another year instead of this be cause that is our only option.

2. People who have Samsung watches, phones, HD TVs Have no idea who the CEO is. Also we see commercials with the law offices of marks & Harrison but still never remember the faces from most commercials . Pete’s revolutionary tech in the marvel world is so diluted with loads of guys and technology in that world just in the end makes him another CEO. Carly fiorina CEO of HP has run for senate & California & now president & people are barely finding out who she is & there’s still plenty of others in the past and future where its the same. Now if Pete were in our world of course but there is much much more technology from much more ceos in that world. All over the USA even in places like Africa, the UK , Australia, China. You can’t deny there is a lot of technology all over in the comic world.

   Further more again so Pete has the name former CEO are we afraid people will look at him funny? Remember he’s in a universe where his tech guy s actually nothing compared to others & a dime a dozen.

   & as far as MJ actually people say she was a super model. I think she is more identified as a lower down the ladder model /actress by most. The point was she still walks around in public as a normal civilian in the end. Same here.

   @Al you’ve stated thing is way worse than Spider-man the other & less reversible. The other had spiderman was the chosen one to turn into a mutant with glowing eyes and retractable claws that could just shed its body when its body dies and ate morlun alive when the other takes control at any given time. With organic webbing & poison. Also the unmarriage retcon, & you said the unmasking maybe is so slight worse. I simply I disagree those things are way worse. I point those out tho because they are gone now. This is all he has to do is quite lay low for a while.

   I understand defending the status quo but you have to realize marvel doesn’t even know what that is anymore or how to do that right. BND as you said will make Pete a loser, who’s incompetent, overly goofy like a man child. So its either that stays quo with Slott or this until Slott leaves. Which is why I’m glad for this. BND style hurts Spiderman Peter Parker worse. Its not just slot tho the whole marvel creative team right now outside the movies will jack up your status and get it all wrong. I’ll take a competent Peter, with a company while slott and this teams in charge over your normal status quo peter under this marvel creative team that wants to make him in incompetent, loser, that rehashes the same stories but with him and his villains being lame total jokes to everyone. You’d really they just have Slott and marvel do that for another year instead of this be cause that is our only option.

3. @#46: Yes and no.

   Yes it is my prediction is the cracks will appear and damage the series. But at the same time history has not only taught me that this is the case but at the same time this story is already flirting so close with disaster its inside the hotel room and one smile away from doing something that’s gonna feel really damn regretful in the morning. For something like that…don’t flirt with disaster.

   The story as is right now is ONLY not being entirely eviscerated by me because it isn’t yet over and there might hypothetically be a get out clause to fix the apparent damage already wrought. But as is right now…Slott has severely damaged Spider-Man. And that isn’t acceptable.

   No, it isn’t simply my views and take on things. Breaking the series like this and this type of status quo for Spider-Man is something we shouldn’t see in the first place. Its a distraction from what Spider-Man should really be like and makes him derivative of other characters. It is also a cheap gimmick to be frank.

   You misunderstand. I never said he cannot try his own business. He can, but it needs to be small scale and humble. Not a billion dollar globally famous corporation with 4 HQs and supply deals with SHIELD. If he had a factory and a little local office wonderful. Not this though.

   Well, the HORIZON labs situation was in and of itself stupid anyway and gave him too much ease and recognition. I’d argue the same thing applies to having resurrected CIA agent parents and being known as Spider-Man’s photographer friend about town is not the same thing as having a verb named after you and appearing in commercials where you are advertising things from the company named after you. Peter was able to remain generally anonymous because taking pictures of Spider-Man every so often isn’t going to make you an A-list celebrity. Models and actesses who are famous for 5 minutes before they get blacklisted also don’t have egregious amounts of global street fame and that goes double for thier spouses unless they are themselves big celebrities. How many people on the street are gonna be able to tell you “OMG that’s Christina Hendricks’ husband!” You also have the fact that MJ was NEVER an A-list celebrity and most of her fame came in very short temporary bursts. The parents thing was also frankly ridiculous and a step too far. Ostensibly this is a case of trying to justify one bad thing by citing other bad things that happened. Doesn’t add up. It’s just a multitude of dumb things. But even besides that the realistic fame Peter might have from those things is still noticeably nothing to the same degree of what he has here. Even with his parents that’s a hot news topic for a few minutes as far as the general public is concerned. It isn’t going to get him global recognition let alone street fame or paparazzi attention for years down the road. That type of fame fades after awhile and frankly people are more interested in the types of celebrities Peter Parker company owner is now one of instead of son of CIA agents meets his parents. In fact int he context of the time Peter’s story might not have been all THAT amazing since it was building off of the collapse of the Soviet Union and so Peter was hardly the only person reunited with loved ones, even loved ones who might’ve presumed dead. It’s like one of those interesting WWII stories in the papers. It isn’t the same as what this is and at worst it’d be something which could affect how his friends (who’ve all led bizarre lives) would remember and comment upon not something that will carry over day to day with strangers.

   Actually Peter’s job as a photographer (or any new job he has) outright requires him to interact with different people all the time. And obviously if he’s going to be a normal down to Earth guy he SHOULD be interacting with regular people as Peter Parker. And again you have to look at the realism. even if he doesn’t interact with strangers realistically his fame would STILL be affecting him even off panel meaning we can only ignore it’s effects through concerted effort and worse by placing him in a bubble. But even in a bubble his friends would surely look at him a little differently if he was a goddam millionaire company owner at one point. Not to mention how they probably would’ve/would get harassed for information about him. I mean MJ is famous in her own right and surely people would be able to figure out the ex model/actress and current swanky nightclub owner MJ Watson used to live with the current media/tech darling Peter Parker who’s revolutionizing the world at large and so harass her for dirt on Peter.

   That messes with the verisimilitude of the narrative and again creates cracks that should never be there which we have to begrudgingly ignore.

   I beg to differ. Peter is in commercials and has a verb named after him with revolutionary technology. He most certainly would get recognized especially in our modern internet age.

   No, Ghost Peter WAS Peter’s mind. It was effectively Peter Parker who sold out and got his ass despicably handed to him for BS reasons.

   Yeah but Superior showed Otto being superior to Peter in other ways (sometimes in ways which weren’t superior but the story and Slott thought they were) which weren’t addressed like him earning his doctorate and balancing his life better.

   Yes but again what Otto did was built upon contrivance within the story itself. Even though Norman didn’t intend for Peter to snap Gwen’s neck he still intended to kill her by dropping her off the bridge.

4. @ronny:

   The problem is the internet exists in the Marvel Universe. From now on, wherever Peter goes, people will be able to Google him and see his work history. THAT’s what can’t be erased. So he’s either going to be a loser who can’t pick himself up and start all over again once the company is inevitably lost thanks to Sajani and Doc Ock (and Peter’s own stupidity), or he’s going to go back to being Slott’s manchild who is incapable of behaving like an adult and holding down a steady job. Or a cosmic reset will be used.

   It’s not that Peter can’t try to run and bulld his own business, it’s that:

   1) Peter just happily accepts everything Doc Ock did in his name. He didn’t earn the degree. He didn’t build the company. He is a, in a word, fraud.
   2) The company isn’t something Peter built in Aunt May’s basement. This is a MAJOR multinational corporation, supplying tech to SHIELD (and if Peter doesn’t trust them, why is he in business with them?!) and selling all over the world. It’s so famous, its name is now a verb (Parker-scoping). As for Peter being recognizable: he’s starring in his own commercials! So his face IS all over the world. And even if he weren’t starring: you might not be able to pick Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg out of a crowd. But you know their names…and definitely people in Peter’s industry would know both his name and face.
   3) You mentioned MJ being a supermodel. That’s a PERFECT example of how this works. Because MJ was a “supermodel” for a nanosecond. It was a story done expressly to make the Parkers rich, only to take it all away – supposedly like how everyone thinks this CEO story will play out. MJ lost her career and couldn’t find work thanks to Jonathon Caesar. She then became a struggling actress, and that was her status quo for years (until she was Byrned and turned into a supermodel again, just so they could repeat the stalker storyline (roll eyes) and write her out of the book). And when she returned, she was back to struggling actress. However, to this day. people attach “supermodel” to Mary Jane’s name.

   And that’s what should happen to Peter as well. He should have “famous multinational CEO” following him around from now on. Unless, of course, mind wipe. Because that’s just awesome and not at all weak and cliched writing.

5. @ AL 44 OK so this is now just a matter of your own views & predictions and take on things. I disagree. Most I’ve said already states in contradiction to what you said. So no need to drag this out anymore. This is obviously where you draw the line he can never ever temporarily try his own business or its the end of Spiderman. I feel that’s a bit dramatic but we be both stated our points.

   As far as Pete being famous. He’s known as the person who takes Spider-man’s pictures as a photographer for the bugle & is closely affiliated with him, he dated/married a super model , His parents were CIA agents believed to have died as traders to the USA before Peter cleared their name as a photography reporter & he was a part of a company of scientist & CEO of this company before this. When Pete goes back to status quo its always been with the same people that always knew him. He doesn’t have a life outside of his job thanks to Spiderman. This won’t change MJs or flash or the daily bugle crew to him. A lot of people won’t even recognize a bill gates whom Pete is still no where near or a Steve jobs (much closer) on the streets in regular clothes. Not like a Donald Trump, or actor, TV /movie star or athlete.

   As for superior that’s not how it ended though u went back to the middle where it was only an illusion that he was being superior while he was only creating a vacuum. Otto vary smart but no military like strategist. & what you’re talking about was just a fraction left of Pete that Otto created in his own mind…doesn’t count. Again tho I said how it ended. Ock being good in prep time is just fine Pete’s a good prepped too & again as the ending of superior showed you don’t always get prep time & that’s where otto is inferior to Peter.

   Last I never said Ock was on the same level as Norman. Heck it was The goblin whom in a way time advantage of what he thought was being superior. I said that one incident he did was note worthy in the playground if you will of super villain street credit that further puts ock in the top list of humiliating things done to their arch enemy. When they do one of those this will make the bottom at least

6. I remember the thrice-monthly schedule and the push in Brand New Day to go back to a “classic”-feeling Spider-man. And I laugh.

7. The Other was entirely reversible and not all that damaging beyond being a poor story. OMD and the Unmasking may potentially be worse than this but that’s a moot point. They are cut from the same cloth. Maybe this story is a twister and OMD was a volcanic eruption but at the end of the day your house is never gonna be the same again. Some damage may be worse than others but we shouldn’t be damaging the series/character in the first place.

   But again though, this path breaks the appeal of Spider-Man for now and going forward unless it is VERY justified it will undermine why he never did this before and why he couldn’t just do it in the future. And thus far we have little evidence of that. So if Peter is hard up for cash why NOT just invent something and patent it? We already have the egregious problem of Peter being globally famous which is going to GREATLY compromise him going back to normal as a down to Earth guy because everyone on the street will be able to recognize him as ‘that guy who used to be like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who invented Parker scoping’. I mean at the time of this story alone, Peter Parker is going to have his very own Wikipedia article in the context of the Marvel universe.

   Peter going back to normal by giving up a job and suit handed to him by Tony Starkis entirely different from him making this stuff himself. He could GET this rich whenever he wants and as I said the fame has already tainted the character.

   I know, but you’ve ignored my analogy about marble and playdough. This series isn’t flexible like that. You don’t get to warp it on the belief that you can just ignore it later. You can’t. That isn’t how storytelling works and frankly asking for people to do that is abominable storytelling. As I’ve said, this isn’t a case of just disliking this status quo it’s a case of the realistic ramifications of it going forward. It doesn’t matter if we know it won’t last the fact that it HAPPENED means that realistically it must be something for Peter to bring up in the future.

   Yes it showed Peter was strong and had willpower which is why he folded like a lawn chair in Superior #9 and was unable to exert his will power too much after Superior #1.

   Nope. That stuff was lipservice and Otto did in fact succeed in balancing his life and downgrading crime more than Peter because of his plot armour.

   Yeah no. This is the worst thing Otto has ever done but it was built entirely upon luck and contrivance. It required Peter ignoring his spider sense then not alerting the Avengers, then apparently being so weak willed he’d endanger a child and then even more weak willed Otto could say he’s worse than himself and thus he gets deleted and then Otto being OOC enough to give up his life instead of letting Peter fight and win back his body after Otto defeated him cheaply twice.

   But okay, lets say for the sake of argument we accept what Otto did…this is nowhere near Green Goblin or Joker levels of villainy. Doc Ock stole Peter’s life. The Goblin ripped out his heart and stepped on it before putting it back in his chest. The Goblin killed Gwen, Ben, baby May, crippled Flash, faked Aunt May’s death twice, made Peter come close to accepting darkness into his life and other terrible things which brought him close to the edge. And then Peter had to live with all that pain foreverafter. If Peter values his loved ones more than himself then by definition Norman hurting so many of them is leagues and bounds worse than Otto just hurting Peter himself.

   This is also damaging to Otto as it makes him overpowered by knowing too much about Peter, creepy due to violating Peter’s body and mind to intimately and it makes him derivative of other villains like Venom and the Green Goblin by giving him knowlwdge of Spider-Man’s identity. it isn’t even in character for him to use that since Web of Death firmly established that Otto ONLY cares about fighting Spider-Man and beating him through science. He cares nothing at all for the man under the mask. Making him THIS personal of a villain just makes him a watered down Norman Osborn, who works better when knowing Peter’s ID since he was a supporting cast member and they have friends/family in common. Otto is unconnected to Peter’s life beyond his moronic relationship with May. Venom also works better when knowing Peter’s identity because he presents a different side to someone knowing that. He doesn’t care about Peter as a person but he was basically a creepy crazy stalker who just invaded his privacy all the time and was an enemy from out of the unknown since Peter didn’t even know this Eddie Brock guy posed a threat. What’s an in character Otto REALLY gonna do with his knowledge of Peter that Norman or Venom hasn’t or wouldn’t or couldn’t do? And then you have the fact that having ALL of the Big Three Spider-man villains know the truth is just repetitive. That knowledge should be reserved to a small group and since Venom and Norman represent a great dichotomy of how a villain could use that info, it makes Otto more unique amongst the Big Three for him to NOT know the truth. And again because of Web of Death it’s a truth he doesn’t even care much about.

   As for making Otto unpredicatable and unbeatable, therein lies the problem. It is incredibly contrived that Otto could ever lose to Peter given all of Otto’s knowledge and prep time based upon Superior. Although frankly the idea of him being able to do all this crap with prep time is rather ridiculous given how he had prep time in the past as did Norman and Peter still kicked his ass. Ostensibly Superior flanderized Otto and turned him into a Villain Sue.

8. @Al #41 I agree exactly how you put it in their playground along others in the top. I’ve always agreed Reed & Doom being the smartest two in the MU. Although its debatable who is the smarter of the two or if they are equal between Reed & Doom.

   I disagree however that this is something he should never do on the scale of unmasking. Or them the unmarriageable to add to that. Then there is Spider-man the Other…..Those things are far far worse & should never be done. This way is a likely path I could see Peter trying and realizing it isn’t for him. In irony Spiderman has already started off famous and about making money so, was on TV before wrestling. Now at least he believes he is doing it for the greater good while still being spiderman.

   The other irony is in the unmasking Peter was the iron spider with all kinds of tech he created with iron man an unlimited science source. Plus a much bigger company. It was only temporary & he again went back.

   Unfortunately the very nature of comics is not exclusive or new to Spiderman is what I’m saying. This is actually small potatoes as it won’t need mephisto to go back. Ignore it or not I’ve written a simple example it can & probably will. With reason why he’d never go back.

   #42 actually as I’ve stated. It showed Pete is Superior because doc ock always needs prep time Pete on the other hand has always been resourceful cause he’s always had to be, Pete also has a powerful sheer force of willpower when backed into a corner, ock killed & thought he was being smart by eliminating guys like the kingpin and others but he was only creating a vacuum making others like the green goblin more powerful he collected all of his enemies former followers. Also ock created more time by taking his Botts see and controlled everything yet goblin again toke advantage making ock only see in them what he let him making ock clueless of what was going on. All of that definitely equals Peter Superior not just lip service.

   Last this is the greatest and most humiliating thing Ock has done to Spiderman & will be on the top list on all villain’s ever. Its up there with Green Goblin & Joker type things to their arch enemy. Many agree & its put him back in the league with Goblin & has made him dangerously unpredictable. People think wow Otto could beat anyone with prep time if he could do things like that, there’s no limit to his intelligence & what he will do. And they’d be right.

   As far as

9. @Ronny: Superior paid lip service to Peter’s superiority and did an inadequate job (including afterwards) of solidly making the case for Peter’s superiority, never addressing some of the seemingly brilliant ideas Otto came up with for Peter. This included Otto somehow balancing his time which even ASM #50 implied was impossible to do precisly BECAUSE he was Spider-Man.

   Superior also created big cracks and as for putting Otto up there with other villains he was already up there and in truth by redeeming Otto this actually damaged his villain rep to say nothing of the creepy implications of his stealing Peter’s body which have gone unaddressed.

   Moving on there is making Peter smart and competent and then there is going OTT with that. Ends of the Earth was guilty of this. Thsi arc thus far moreso. And frankly it makes him too Batman and Iron Man derivative.

10. @#36: Bear in mind though Peter might be in those guy’s playground (though I don’t think he’s smarter than Reed because shit no one is smarter than Reed unless their called Victor Von Doom) but I don’t think his intelligence should be taken to it’s logical conclusion the way this story is doing it.

    Yes Spider-Man realistically in universe can go down this path. No, Spider-Man should never go down this path creatively/from a realistic creative POV.

    Remember how when Spider-Man unmasked it was new and creative and holy shit all these possibilities are now presented. Yeah…this is like that. Which is to say something you should never, ever do!

    The thing many people don’t quite comprehend is that Spider-Man isn’t fluid and flexible or at least should’t be. I’m not saying there are not options but when your series can be anything and everything (when it hasn’t been defined that way) your series basically equals nothing. There is no weight to it or anything. Emotional investment becomes difficult if not impossible and it becomes hard to truly get into the heart and minds of the characters. Think of it this way, are you or anyone else going to be more invested in

    a) a Spider-Man who seemed to be on a logical organic progression of his life where there was a hope and expectation he’d hit certain milestones eventually but you weren’t wholly sure and even if he did how was he gonna get to that and this stuff along the way may matter
    or
    b) could be a billionaire but then that will be reversed and we can sweep it under the rug later no worries and we all know this going in and we all know similar situations will come in the future

    Or to put it another way are you going to be more invested in

    a) Harry Potter as you read each book as it came out, or

    b) 1940s Daffy Duck shorts?

    Because option a) is what we were promised and how Spider-Man was defined as being from day 1 and for decades thereafter. You cannot switch to option b) without breaking something vital and frankly option b) was never as inviting as option a) in the first place.

    And therein lies why the unmasking and this direction are problematic. It treats a franchise which is solid marble carved and chizzled over time into an ornate statue as if it was playdough when it isn’t that at all and never was.

    You cannot veer off course for fun like this because you know you are gonna come back to normal. It’s the equivalent of looking at the statue you have, realizing you could take the work you’ve done and build upon that to turn it into a different shape from what it is now and what you intended. But you are just doing it for fun right and you intend to chizzle the new shape back to how it was before. Except only the most skilled of hands could do it but you probably couldn’t pull it off. At best you will get the statue sort of the way it was before but with noticeable chips and cracks you’d have to ignore.

    Maybe some of us will enjoy the statue/series new shape while it lasts even if we wouldn’t want it to stay that way. But the fact remains the new shape’s appeal lies in it’s novelty and we all again would ultimately prefer the statue to be how it was before. Except the novelty enjoyment comes at the price of the statue being more damaged than it was before when you try to get it back to how it was supposed to be.

    And because it’s true form is what we want and how it’s going to be long term we shouldn’t have to live with and accept that damage.

    Something like the Cosmic powers story arc from the 1990s? That’s just adorning your marble statue in ill fitting clothes to appreciate the contrast and clash and make what the statue really is all about more obvious through the contrast. You can just take the clothes off and be fine.

    That is my ultimate point.

    Don’t damage the series in the first place.

11. @chase the blues away we re going to have to agree to disagree. In the links tony stark and pym ask peter these very questions though about why he doesn’t use his brains for more. Pym stating he’s smarter than him & stark asking how he invented some things. Also it shows Spiderman has created other various types of web shooters to specialize against the opponent. If he’s back to reg status its just too expensive. He can barely afford regular ones. He’s also had access to unlimited science funds with the FF before. Its not dooms day for spiderman because he’s temporarily doing this stuff again at a larger scale. He could quit because right now its just too taxing running the company & being Spiderman. he has to hire other spiderman & one of them gets really injured & he feels responsible to add to that.

    I get you don’t agree and that’s fine though. I can’t even believe I’m defending Slott but I feel I’m being fair & optimistic. I feel like the superior run or not its ending did good things in ways as I’ve stated & let me add to that he mad ock up their with most bad a villains again. Is Slot the best S-Man writer ever? No. He can not write Pete forever tho. I’ll take what he’s currently doing (which again like Spock, will only be temporary) over anything he’s done on amazing spiderman if you don’t count amazing spiderman RYVs

12. @Ronny.

    Nope, sorry, I never said he wasn’t as intelligent as the other characters. @Al is correct, I meant that Peter isn’t the same character (or even character archetype) as Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne or Reed Richards. So thanks for the link but it’s not needed.

    For the villains to get smarter, the writer would need to be smarter. That’s just not happening here. This will continue to be more of Slott’s standard MO: repeat the action over and over until suddenly, boom, time to end the story. We already saw the repetitive action in issue one: Zodiak steals something, Peter chases them to get it back. Zodiac steals something, Peter is going to chase them to get it back. This will be repeated until suddenly it is time for the story to wrap up and poof! Peter will just find or stumble on what he needs to defeat the villain. At the same time, the villain will suddenly stop being an unstoppable force and will simply roll over and allow him/herself to be beaten. Happened in Superior, Spider-Verse and RYV. I predict the same here.

    “no one will ever have to question why he doesn’t just do what he’s currently doing.”

    That’s not how fiction works. If Peter goes back to friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, living paycheck to paycheck, with his webshooters as his most advanced tech: the reader will wonder, well, why doesn’t Peter just use all the fancy stuff he used before? He made it once, surely he can make it again. He worked for a big company once, surely he has no objection to doing it again. He hid his secret identity at Horizon and Parker Industries, surely he can do it again.

    Before, it was always that Peter knew it wasn’t worth to him, personally, to sell his tech. That he could do more good as Spider-Man than he ever could by selling his inventions. And yes, he was worried about his secret identity and retaliation against his loved ones.

    But now he’s doing just that. And he’s set up a foundation to help people with his proceeds. And he’s no longer married or even dating anyone seriously and Aunt May has a husband to take care of her and is living in Boston. So really, he has no one he must protect. So if he loses everything – why not do it again?! If he doesn’t, isn’t he being a quitter? Who wants to read about a quitter?!

    Slott either has to make him so screw up, this is all taken away from him and no one will want anything to do with him – in other words, make him ridiculously stupid, like he’s acting with Sajani, and turn him into a pariah loser and gee, isn’t that fun to read – or some sort of cosmic reset/gimmick, as @Jack astutely points out, will be needed.

    *Shrug*

    Because that’s how fiction works. Once the reader knows Peter has a certain skill or ability, then the next time that skill or ability is needed, the reader will wonder well, gee, why isn’t he using it?

    @Al:

    Agree with everything you said. But I get the feeling this story is setting up to show us that Doc Ock is, indeed, superior. Only Slott will tell us, no, no, it’s Peter. And the cracks won’t be addressed, just like they refuse to address the cracks caused by OMD/OMIT.

    @Jack

    I really wish they’d call this Marvel Team-Up and be done with it. Just like they should call Silver Surfer “Dan Slott’s Doctor Who Fan Fiction” and be done with it.

13. Slott writes What If? stories, stretched out to enormous lengths, combined with the non-depth and non-nuance of MTU. What if Doctor Octopus took over Peter’s body? What if Peter became a corporate mogul? Now, team him up with somebody! Prowler! The Avengers! The Avengers many times!

    I wouldn’t worry about Peter never being able to return to normal-guy status. Marvel will draft some gimmick, and erase everyone’s memories.

14. @Al #34 Thank you for stating you disagree spiderman is not on the level of intelligence as reed or stark @chase the blues away . I read enough that strongly would say otherwise but that’s why I love this site I know a lot of people on this site who’d disagree with examples. I have plenty of scans and samples myself for instance Spiderman coming up with a solution for a cure for a whole species of aliens that Richards nor doom came up with although reed said given more time he may have but admitted Spiderman had done it faster & that Pete scored the same in test results as reed when he was his age. I could go all day but I’d rather others join that debate & add plus I send this linkhttp://www.comicvine.com/spider-man/4005-1443/forums/spider-man-s-intelligence-1633598/

    So this basically comes down to two things . I can confidently say no Spiderman fan wants him to stay this way & would be mad if he did. The two different sides of the argument bottom line is can & should Spiderman ever go down that path for a while. I feel yes for a while & there are worse things . Like him gaining the imagine of incompetent. Which is how he’s been since OMD at least that part is fixed. For now. Its a start tho. As for relating to Pete I’ve always related to his personality. Feeling that’s how I’d feel or do in his situation & as far as brains go its always inspiring how important intelligence can be & to always get smarter. I don’t mind what situations they throw him into for a while as long as his general kind, intelligence, moral, selfless personality with witty humor comes out. Also the notion that now there will never be any suspence I don’t believe villian’s will get tougher & smarter too. & Pete will be singing p-diddy: mo money mo problems. It has the chance to close that argument why should he never do this. Just like when doc ock became what he thought was the superior spiderman only to realize & solve the question why Pete didn’t just take down kingpin or kill. Because it would create a vacuum. Other villains would take their followers doubling their own making them more powerful. Also ock learned you don’t always get prep time & Pete was crafty & had heart & sheer force of will when he was really backed into a corner

    Last I agree Pete hasn’t been Pete for some time since OMD but its not cause he’s too smart & or owning a business is only going to be a temporary status. I feel if Pete had this temporary status this is a likely way he’d be tho. Even if slot can never get his personality dead on it has at least improved in him being competent. Also something Slot did pretty well in his RYVs mini so he does understand him and is capable of writing some things right for a while & if Pete made all of these gadgets and different web fluids (which he’s been doing way before Slot & OMD) that is him using his brains and being smart. Don’t worry he’ll go back to average status & no one will ever have to question why he doesn’t just do what he’s currently doing. Creating an antidote to a venom is not uncommon like with a snake identify the snake and use its venom in the antidote. The notion he or NY superhero can’t or should be a super hero if the y do would put a lot out of business. Mr fantastic, stark, batman & again Pete has done this kind of stuff before Slott & OMD others on this site can vouch. Plus I provided a site with samples.

15. @Al #34 Thank you for stating you disagree spiderman is not on the level of intelligence as reed or stark @chase the blues away . I read enough that strongly would say otherwise but that’s why I love this site I know a lot of people on this site who’d disagree with examples. I have plenty of scans and samples myself for instance Spiderman coming up with a solution for a cure for a whole species of aliens that Richards nor doom came up with although reed said given more time he may have but admitted Spiderman had done it faster & that Pete scored the same in test results as reed when he was his age. I could go all day but I’d rather others join that debate & add plus I send this linkhttp://www.comicvine.com/spider-man/4005-1443/forums/spider-man-s-intelligence-1633598/

    So this basically comes down to two things . I can confidently say no Spiderman fan wants him to stay this way & would be mad if he did. The two different sides of the argument bottom line is can & should Spiderman ever go down that path for a while. I feel yes for a while & there are worse things . Like him gaining the imagine of incompetent. Which is how he’s been since OMD at least that part is fixed. For now. Its a start tho. As for relating to Pete I’ve always related to his personality. Feeling that’s how I’d feel or do in his situation & as far as brains go its always inspiring how important intelligence can be & to always get smarter. I don’t mind what situations they throw him into for a while as long as his general kind, intelligence, moral, selfless personality with witty humor comes out. Also the notion that now there will never be any suspence I don’t believe villian’s will get tougher & smarter too. & Pete will be singing p-diddy: mo money mo problems. It has the chance to close that argument why should he never do this. Just like when doc ock became what he thought was the superior spiderman only to realize & solve the question why Pete didn’t just take down kingpin or kill. Because it would create a vacuum. Other villains would take their followers doubling their own making them more powerful. Also ock learned you don’t always get prep time & Pete was crafty & had heart & sheer force of will when he was really backed into a corner

    Last I agree Pete hasn’t been Pete for some time since OMD but its not cause he’s too smart & or owning a business is only going to be a temporary status. I feel if Pete had this temporary status this is a likely way he’d be tho. Even if slot can never get his personality dead on it has at least improved in him being competent. Also something Slot did pretty well in his RYVs mini so he does understand him and is capable of writing some things right for a while & if Pete made all of these gadgets and different web fluids (which he’s been doing way before Slot & OMD) that is him using his brains and being smart. Don’t worry he’ll go back to average status & no one will ever have to question why he doesn’t just do what he’s currently doing. Creating an antidote to a venom is not uncommon like with a snake identify the snake and use its venom in the antidote. The notion he or NY superhero can’t or should be a super hero if they do would put a lot out of business. Mr fantastic, stark, batman & again Pete has done this kind of stuff before Slott & OMD others on this site can vouch. Plus I provided a site with samples

16. @32 Chases the Blues Away
    “It actively erases all molecular damage done by the poison”
    I didn’t catch that from the issue. I should re-read it. But the point is that particular feat was not that impressive given history. 70’s Spidey could have borrowed Dr. Connors’ lab and whip up an antidote. But the super car and super company and magical physics defying we-shooter did bother me a bit. At least Spider-man’s competent, for now…

17. @#32: As I said, there could be a way to excuse Peter from not developing poison antidotes when he goes back to normal but you are right in this status quo there is no excuse.

    I disagree that Peter isn’t Iron man or Reed Richards if you are talking about his raw intelligence and ability to create. He is in their league. But I agree if you meant that as a character he isn’t supposed to be like those people and doesn’t work that way.

    I think the problem with this story is that at the moment it is not justifying that Peter being Spider-Man is actually where he can do the MOST good even though he could take up this job. In a way that is what Ezekiel Sims and Norman Osborn represented. Peter who used his smarts and abilities to become a business person. But Ezekiel in the JMS run was conveyed as being in the wrong for having the power of Spider-Man but not using it, even though he did use his business power to help other people. This story NEEDS to justify that Peter as the humble street level superhero truly is both effective and more effective than he could be if he followed his intellect to this conclusion. And I fear it won’t do that. And I fear no one later on will try to address that.

    I think there IS a way to do that, to let him go backwards even without causing cracks we’d need to ignore in the series. I’m just not sure what it is yet.

18. @#18: Therein lies the problem. We have for decades suspended our disbelief about Peter making money like this and doing projects of this nature frankly because the core of the character and his appeal requires him to be down to Earth and relatively normal. Global company owners of major tech companies who supply SHIELD and have multiple HQs across the globe and are internaltionally famous are not down to Earth. Remember the Spider Shoppe in Spider-Girl? That little boutique place MJ ran basically as a small family business. That is in line with Spider-Man. It’s humble. It’s attainable. Its street level.

    But in theory COULD Peter (with help) go to this level of success. Sure…but why would we want him to do that any sooner than we’d want Superman to solve world hunger or any number of global crises. It guts some of the drama and conflict, and whilst realistic undermines the appeal of the character and worse arguably is undermining of him because if he’s canonically doing this now why couldn’t he do this BEFORE in the past? In the past the answer was suspension of disbelief but this guts that.

    Basically if we are going to defend this on the grounds that “But it is realistic” realistically Peter shouldn’t even BE Spider-Man. I don’t mean the magic science is bullshit. I mean why would he keep his Spider-Man identity and not switch to a new identity, thus sidestepping the public scorn and mistrust he has as Spider-Man? The answer is because we wouldn’t WANT him to do that we LIKE him as SPIDER-Man not Hornet-Man. Same situation here.

    The question is if this story will justify sufficiently why our standard status quo is the BEST thing for Spider-Man because if it doesn’t it’s opened up a major crack in the story. Worse failing on this scale could be rather damaging to Spider-Man because this si a BIG failure in anyone’s life so realistically he should take it hard. But when you push him lik that and because you need the show to go on you just open up more problems in the series, e.g. his non-reaction to the realistically traumatic events of Superior.

    As for the not permanent idea, sure this isn’t permanent but the Cosmic Powers in the 1990s allowed for a fun short term diversion which was relatively easily reversible. Spider-Man as a cosmic powered hero could easily walk away from that and function fine as Spider-Man. Peter Parker the globally famous millionaire realistically is much harder to undo and it’s temporary status is thus not as defendable. Plus the Cosmic stuff lasted less time than this stuff seems set to. And on top of all that yeah this won’t last and we will go back to normal but therein lies another problem. We haven’t BEEN normal for an incredibly long time, since at least 2012 if not before then.

    @#19: Well he COULD go back to being a normal guy/put genies back in the bottle but it’d be incredibly unrealistically and difficult. For our own sanity the only way to sort this out is to say Peter has an antidote for some rare poisons used by Zodiac people but cannot whip up anything to fix any problem. Or say that the antidote is only temporary and he honestly cannot figure out a way to fix that the same way he cannot make his webbing lat longer than 1 hour. With the new type of webbing that stuff could be environmentally damaging and overly expensive to make hence when he goes back to normal he can’t have it anymore. There are ways to do it but I doubt Slott will.

    @#24: Peter’s intellect here is merely an expansion of the already over the top depiction he had in Big Time Under Slott. MOOS point was not that he’s finally Spider-Man again, it’s that he’s still not Spider-Man. I disagree with her (I’m presuming MOOS is lady) only because Peter hasn’ been Peter since OMD.

    And as I said before, no this isn’t unrealistic for him but with fictional characters like this a balance between core concept/appeal and realism must be struck. Hence Superman doesn’t cure world hunger and Batman doesn’t take over crime in Gotham thus controlling it better.

    @#27: I’ve never ever identified with Peter Parker, i’ve just liked the guy and liked him when he was more humble. Note humble doesn’t = dirt poor.

    Novelty to the keep the character fresh is fine in moderation but we’ve just had that in Superior and at the same time didn’t writers of old keep Spider-Man fresh by just telling new stories within his established status quo, developing the characters and exploring thier relationships? I mean Len Wein didn’t do anything mindblowingly novel but it was still entertaining.

    @#30: *claps*

19. #xonathan
    “For someone with seemingly unlimited scientific resources, creating an antidote for a specific strain of poison is relatively easy”

    PRECISELY.

    Not to mention, this isn’t just an antidote. It actively erases all molecular damage done by the poison.

    That’s my point: if Peter has all these unlimited scientific resources: what is he doing wasting time as Spider-Man? He can solve all the world’s poison problems by coming up with different antidotes that reverse damage done to the body. Isn’t that a bigger responsibility?!

    (We’re able to suspend disbelief with the Lizard, if just barely. One, Peter is working off Connors’s own notes, so he’s not coming up with the science all on his own. Two, presumably the formula is cued to Connors’s own biology, and wouldn’t be of much help elsewhere. Three, Peter didn’t have his own resources to start manufacturing and distributing formulas.)

    Now he does. Now there is nothing standing in his way. There are no limits. He even hires people to play Spider-Man for him, and he employs an actual spider-powers person in Miguel.

    So, yes, @Ronny might be all excited about Peter using his brain – even though we don’t see him using his brain to solve his problems as we did in classic Spider-Man stories; instead he uses fantasy tech instead to solve his problems. There’s a huge difference,

    Because yes, Peter is intelligent. But he’s not Tony Stark and he’s not Reed Richards and he’s not Bruce Wayne. At least, when written properly Peter isn’t. Peter could have easily gotten his Ph.D on his own. Peter could have easily gotten a cushy job if he wanted. Or built his own biotech empire. But he didn’t. He dropped out of grad school. He prioritized his responsibility to use his power to help those who didn’t have the same power over his own career and his own wallet.

    By just blithely taking what Doc Ock set up, Peter now has new power. But where is his sense of responsibility? Is selling Apple Watches really a good extension of the responsibility that comes with his newfound power? Supplying SHIELD, an organization he obviously doesn’t trust, with tech that furthers its mission – is that really a true extension of responsibility that comes with his power?! Sitting on a cushy private jet for the almost 12 hours it takes to fly between Shanghai and San Francisco – that’s the type of thing that used to cause Peter great guilt, because what if he was needed during that time? What if only his skills and power could have stopped whatever might be happening?

    But now, Peter is fighting a foe specifically targeting Parker Industries. This isn’t saving people from the Rhino’s rampage – he’s just saving his own company’s skin.

    And by putting Peter into this situation in the manner Slott did, there is no real way they can put Peter Parker back to his traditional status quo ever again. This isn’t a Spider-Mobile gifted to Peter as a one time joke, and that he never really learned to drive. This is a Spider-Mobile Peter co-built, and could conceivably build again at any time, given the time and resources. So no, Peter can’t go backwards, not unless Dr. Strange does another global mind wipe, and wipes most of Peter’s newly acquired from out of nowhere skills as well.

    @Ronny, re: Sajani: Anyone who has had any kind of executive role at any kind of successful company knows you get rid of the bad apples ASAP to stop the sabotage from going further. And then one investigates to see how far it might go internally and/or with whom the person may be working, if anyone. But you do not give the saboteur even more chances to bring down the company, unless A) you aspire to being unemployed; B) you enjoy destroying your livelihood and the livelihoods of hundreds of others and/or C) you’re acting too stupid to live. I’m going with C) for Peter.

    And hey, you can enjoy this story all you like. Feel free. You’re not alone. Your enjoyment, however, is separate from the fact that this story has internal logic the consistency of mushy peas, and has zero relation to the real world as we know it. Now Peter is living a pure cloud cuckooland life – or, since, it’s Slott, a crazytown banana pants life. And not in a good way.

20. @30 you’re not the only one already tired of this new direction I promise.

21. I’m apparently in the minority, but I found the book to be everything that’s wrong with modern Spider-Man comic books gift wrapped in one issue. At this point Spider-Man is Spider-Man in name only, there is nothing in this issue (or really most issues since O.M.D.) that reminds me even remotely of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. I started reading Spidey pretty late (2000ish) but I’ve gone back and read the majority of Spidey’s core comics from 1962 – 2007, then I said to hell with it. I’ve come back for bits and pieces, but there hasn’t been a run I’ve really enjoyed since 2007. My point in all that, is Spider-Man has not been the same character for any length of time in many years. The Clone Saga gets a lot of hate (some deserved, some not) but even that period only lasted two years, this nonsense has been going on for eight years!

22. @xonathan. Right like a snake venom. I mentioned he’s done this before & as thinking of the lizard serum one of the times & there have been others. Along with other webfluids like coagulating & asbestos. Also yes & we know he ll go back to the way stan lee intended. This will just be a long story arc where he trys this out for a while. Ive said some of this with less detail in previous post to @ ” may’s older, protective sister”

23. *aside from the beautiful art

24. #19 Chase the Blues Away — You are articulating very well how I feel, too. It’s very validating to know that others share my opinion. To put it simply, I miss the Peter Parker that I could identify with. I can understand novelty for the sake of keeping the character “fresh,” or whatever other excuses people use to justify such changes when dealing with serial characters. But the greatest aspect of this new direction, for me, is that it’s only temporary — aside from the beauit I really do not like when writers, as you say, wave a magic wand and say “poof!”

    This is not what I look for when I read Spider-man. I find myself in the same situation I was in when waiting for Superior Spider-man to end before I jumped back in. But even the end of Superior Spider-man didn’t bring any improvements in the characterization. At least before Peter had his body back there was some consolation in the fact that Peter’s strange behavior was due to possession by someone else.

    I think I will be waiting a long time.

25. @chase the blues @Ronny creating an antidote is different than say a cure or an antiviral. For someone with seemingly unlimited scientific resources, creating an antidote for a specific strain of poison is relatively easy. Sometimes, even the same poison molecule with some chemical changes will do the trick. Let’s remember, Peter was able to whip up an antidote for the Lizard formula at 15 by just reading Dr. Connors’ notes, a feat much more difficult (I’m assuming the Lizard formula required genetic changes and much more complex biological mechanisms) than a poison antidote.

    But you are right, having seemingly unlimited scientific resources does take away the tension. Stan Lee in his brilliance had Peter develop wondrous gadget but at the same time they had limitations that added tension to the plot (web cartridges going empty, the reverse electromagnetic dohickey from ASM#2 didn’t work a second time on the Vulture, spider-tracers would trace the villain advancing the plot but then Spidey still had to figure out how to defeat the villain, etc…).

26. #8 — OK #719 it is. If Marvel agrees with this numbering system, then sometime early in the run of ASM Volume 5 they will start dual numbering, and then have a flashy Amazing Spider-Man #750. Somebody will die, or get better.

27. @may’s older sister. If I wanted to read Batman, & i dont know what Superman has to do with this but, him to, then I would. Certainly dont need your permission, thank you.

    Anyway you just proved the point I was making by admitting Pete hasnt been himself before this. He certainly hasnt shown his biggest weapon. His brain. Pete having modified web shooters isnt something he hasnt done before nor is having a spider-mobile or coming up with an antidote. Its really not beyond his realm thinking. Thinking that it is shows a lack of understanding of Pete, his history & brain power. Getting angry with me for pointing that out is juvenile. This also wouldnt be the first time he’s tried for more successful. Superficial things or not are not the things that make him, him or not him. So dont blame it on that. He has tried them & whats wrong with that for a while which we all know its only temperary in the long run. I just wish he could still be married to MJ & maybe with a kid like May or Annie while he were going through this new adventure.

    In closing, I like most, dont think or want his status to be permanent but, see no problem with him temperarily exploring being more successful (again) or using modified webbing (again) or the spider-mobile (again) Or creating antidotes (again)

28. @Ronny

    If you want to read Batman and Superman, THEN GO READ BATMAN AND SUPERMAN. If you think Spider-Man had something to prove, then you’re reading the wrong comic.

    I read Spider-Man for Peter Parker.

    And this isn’t Peter Parker.

    Although really, Peter hasn’t been seen in ASM since Slott took over, Conway’s Spiral mini being the only exception.

29. @chases the blues: amen to that.

30. @chase the blues away. We ‘re going to have to agree to disagree on this. No one is suggesting Pete can come up with any antidote at any time he was able to come up with this one & it toke him some time but he had seen it plenty of experience with it & the situation prior. Notice he shot it in the neck right after the guy bit into the tablet also. This means the antidote probably had limitations & needed to be taken immediately where it was entered. Its not some super antidote.

    Also yeah i agree if you know you cant trust someone you cant trust them & that should be it. They should be gone. At least he did know already. Maybe he just didnt see it aa a threat cause he knew he had it handled. Still I agree there how could you not fire them right away…unless you’re using them to lead you to the whom they may be working for…

    Last it could simply end because he can’t be Spider-man & run a global company like that. He doesnt have to be stupid. It could at least establish a new respect for him in sacrificing all he could have if he wanted to. Plus showing he actually is up their with Marvel’s (& DC’s) think tanks.

31. I was pleasantly surprised by this issue. I even enjoyed the back ups. I know they were all ads for the other books, but I liked how they all wrapped together back into the main title. I have the benefit of not having read the RYV series yet. I had decided that I would wait and read all the Secret Wars stuff on Marvel Unlimited, so I’m not upset (yet) at seeing his appearance.

    This isn’t a Peter I would want for keeps, but I’ll take it for now. The biggest draw back for me was the open fly joke. I’m tired of Peter being the goof ball character. Other than that, it was an enjoyable read.

    Good review. Andrew.

32. #18

    Yes, traveling comes out of his business accounts. That’s the point. He is living a lifestyle only a handful of people ever could. His personal income is moot when he can use company resources to finance a gazillionaire lifestyle. In fact, there are lots of executives in the real world who take a nominal salary, but are still incredibly wealthy thanks to stock grants, income off patents, corporate perks, etc. Peter’s not doing anything new or unheard of.

    And here’s the thing: If Peter can make instantaneous poison antidotes, then he can never go back to Peter Parker, living hand to mouth and worrying about rent again. Because that is something incredibly valuable and necessary and would keep him employed (and wealthy) for the rest of his life. In fact, he probably shouldn’t be a superhero any more, because if Peter is driven by “With great power must also come great responsibility,” then Peter’s greater power is using his genius to rid the world of poisoning deaths, and he has responsibility to do that and not risk his life beating up costumed bad guys. Especially when there are hundreds, if not thousands of superheroes, and SHIELD, but only a handful of geniuses capable of coming up with antidotes that not only stop death, but reverses all the damage. Heck, he could sell that reversal technology to beauty companies for use in anti-aging cosmetics and make gazillions squared.

    In addition, it is so incredibly unbelievable, so incredibly out of the realm of the real world, that it takes away any grounding in reality the title once had. Now if Peter has a problem, he can just magick up a tech to solve it. And now it is obvious Peter lives a life none of us can ever relate to in a world none of us will ever inhabit, because we don’t have cars that can drive upside down and learn Mandarin simultaneously while learning to drive and come up with “z coil” tech that somehow fits into a web cartridge but magically expands to whatever solid length we need.

    When the writer doesn’t put limits, he removes conflict, and he also removes the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief. The next time Peter encounters poison: where’s the antidote? The next time Peter encounters a situation that could use expanding foam but doesn’t: where’s the foam?

    So yes, I can see the fun in exploring what if Peter had money. Like when he and MJ led a swanky life until she lost her career. Like when Peter’s book of photography took off. But that story needs to be driven by who Peter is, by his core values and goals and motivations. This isn’t. This is some generic tech using action hero. There’s nothing inherently Peter about his reaction to the situations. And Slott is in fact forcing this character to act stupid re: Sajani, so that when Peter does lose the company, it will be because Peter wasn’t smart and Peter didn’t use common sense.

    You can’t put genies back in the bottle. And this storyline lets a LOT of genies run loose.

33. @chase the blues away. Traveling would be part of the business & so the business’ money not his pocket money. I still think it feels more like Pete if he were to have a sucessful company & life to make it less about personal profit or money for his own pockets. Its the best way to do it if he’s going to try & why shouldnt he or why wouldnt he try ever in his life? It will probably fail & just be moral lesson but they shoul have him try & show why. This wont be permanent. However it does show to respect his intelligence & ingenuity. I do agree I always found him actually better than like batman/ironman making more of less but that goes unrecognized by many also. Should be fun to show he can do what they do maybe even better for a while…On the antidote you’re assuming he’s not adding that to his gadgets made for shield & the world.

34. I thought the issue was okay at best I still feel very iffy about this I mean it feels like Peter is James Bond or something similar with all the little fancy gadgets he is using and Peter wearing fancy suits all the time and learning to drive cars perfectly like a pro then from what i saw of previews of issue #2 #3 hes going to go fight with Prowler in some underwater lair like out if a Bond film or something.

35. I agree this issue is an improvement over the issues that preceded it, but then a 72 hour stomach flu is an improvement over a week of stomach flu.

    Also, Slott only had to write one issue per month during RYV. He’s back to three books a month (2 ASM, 1 Silver Surfer) and whinging about deadlines on Twitter, so I’m sure what quality improvement there is will soon go back to the usual status quo.

    #6

    Peter taking a “low salary” is ridiculous. First, managers at real life tech companies make over $200,000 a year, which puts them in the top 6% of all Americans. Second, in practically the next panel we’re shown Peter flying in a private jet from Shanghai to San Francisco. In the real world, that’s a $100,000 flight. He’s driving a car that breaks real world physics and transforms from a race car to a eight-legged crawler to a submersible. So, no, J.C. Penney product placement aside, he doesn’t feel like Peter at all. Now he’s a generic comic book superhero who can just speak a command and use whatever fantasy tech the writer needs him to use to solve his problems. We don’t really see him thinking. Seeing him thinking would mean watching Peter use the limited resources on hand. When a character has unlimited fantasy resources bound only by the writer’s needs for a particular plot point, there’s no real conflict, no need for the character to actually be clever.

    Also, and this is probably just me, but if Peter can just whip up poison antidotes that reverse all the damage done by the poison – what the ^#$*) is he doing as Spider-Man? That’s some serious saving the world stuff right there. Why isn’t Peter putting poison control centers all over the world out of business?! Isn’t that an even bigger responsibility?

    #13

    Slott never explains. He just waves a magic wand and *poof* Felicia is evil now! *poof* Peter Parker declares no one will die! *poof* Peter Parker admits “no one will die” is crap!

    Slott’s character arcs look like em dashes: — — — — They stay perfectly flat, until they are broken off and a brand new one started with no connection.

    #15

    So now Peter is canonically about to turn thirty? He’s fifteen when the spider bites him, thirteen years have passed since the spider bite in ASM #1 vol. 3., and now another sixteen months have passed.

    But marriage makes him OLD and is UNREALISTIC.

36. @14 isn’t it 16 month skip between old 616 and the New MU?
    ASM #18 -> 8 months -> Secret Wars -> 8 months -> ASM Vol 4

37. And how did Parker Industries recover from the literal collapse that occurred in issue #8?

38. I wonder how Dan Slott explains the sudden change in Peter’s character — which is more akin to how he should have been.

39. We know Slott references Spider-Man stuff even of the most obscure variety, including TV commercials starring Spider-Man. And in ASM vol 4 #1 we meet Lian Tang, a new love interest for Spider-Man, whom I believe is Chinese. So what if she is some kind of weird riff on Emily Chang, Peter’s love interest in the last 2 episodes of the 1970s Amazing Spider-Man TV series?

40. @#9 – Well, I just pretend that the .1 issues are a mini-series like RYV. Instead of calling the first SPIRAL issue ASM #16.1, I call it ASM: SPIRAL #1. As for the annuals, they have their own numbering.

41. This is a somewhat better version of Big Time, but bigger. And with the added benefit of not having everyone say how perfect Carlie is or a bad written Mary Jane. This is decent stuff indeed…

42. #8 — OK I’ll bite. What are you counting and what are you not counting? Point Ones? Select mini-series like RYV ? Probably leaving Annuals out …

43. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #719(Not gonna call it ASM #1 ’cause the numbering is a big mess) is an improvement over ASM #709-718…but knowing Slott he’ll either bring back Ock to mess up Peter’s life, or do a rush job with the new story arc.

    Oh well, at least they finally replaced the Humbreto Ramos with Camuncoli as the regular artist. Good riddance. No wonder the art looks so good.

44. I liked it actually. I laughed at the first page just because it was ridiculous, but I found it a fun read. I liked Peter actually taking charge and trying to make the world a better place. I also liked seeing Hobie Brown again! I thought the issue was fun, and I know the status quo probably won’t stick around for too long, but its still a fun idea to play around with.
    I also loved the art. The colours really made Shanghai come alive

45. I loved the whole concept of this whole thing because number one. It lifts Spider-man again for his brains. He had so great web shooter tech & I was like woo! When he shot the antidote into the theif when he tried to commit suicide to keep the brains of the operation quiet. I however, hated that bad quip about Kraven’s Nipples. Seems like more of a deadpool joke to me. Which are off putting. I liked some of his other jokes though.

    Lol. Haha hobbie was his rhodey lol. I didnt even think of that. I do like at least they make it so Spider-man is not all about the money & keeps profits at a low salary cap cutting his own checks the most. Makes him still feel like Pete. I like the concept a lot. If you dont just keep in mind it wont stick but for now it shows Spider-man is marvel’s batman when it comes to using his wits & ingenuity & he’s finally getting that respect again.

46. Wait…wait…you mean to tell me that the big thing to be saved from renew your vows the thing that was going to be a massive impact and shape the direction of the title is the Regent. The thing that every single reviewer of RYVs pointed out as the weakest, dumbest, or basically the worst thing about the book. I’ve pulled a muscle laughing.

47. Heh…Hobie Brown is Peter’s Rhodey.

    The Iron Man comparisons here. I’m rereading this as a drinking game.

48. I’m so looking forward to the subplot with the Regent to be shoved off the side and practically ignored for over a year only to be squeezed in at the last moment and rushed haphazardly, further destroying any sense of good faith any fans might have had in the book and the resolution of that particular storyline.

49. I was at the store reading this and I completely agree on all your points. While the set ups were nice and explaining where everyone was and how it all worked. It was like treating people to things they not only know but have figured out. I do like how Slott did a nice spin so far with the Zodiac, a team that has really been screwed up for years with no writer getting a good handle on them. I do like the new costume too but some things were not necessary but I enjoyed Peter using his head again. One thing I really enjoyed about Big Time was Peter making new gadgets to handle situations and learning from things. However, that Peter Parker was turned into the man-child for over the last year since Superior ended. The back ups really only work with Miles but leading to: “The Best Thing about Renew Your Vows” is now in the Nu616 is now here. So, not needed but I’m already seeing what Slott is going to do with the reveal that the nano project is still not online yet and Doc Ock shown to be in the Living Brain (which we knew was coming). Oh well, what can you do? After all, we don’t know what we want in Spider-Man.

50. I honestly did not expect to like this. Like at all. But this is probably my favorite issue of Slott’s run so far, Peter felt like an actual mature adult, trying to make a difference in the world, and the action/Spider-Man stuff was very entertaining. There are several scenes where Peter doesn’t beat around the bush, but is up front that he’s running the show; with Nick Fury Jr, with Sanjai.

    Also, having read about this characters pretty consistently for the last few years of Spider-Man, I’m happy to see characters like Sanjai, Anna Marconi, and Max Model get new roles/continue to play a role in the story. Like it or not, this is the supporting cast these days and at least Slott is doing things with them.