Current Spider-Man Sales

[Kevinroc]

Or do some kind of Spinneret solo.

But either way, 616 MJ never needed to become a Superhero.

I never thought this would last and that it was always a temporary status quo (no different from Silver Age Superman stories where Lois or Lana or Jimmy would get powers for a story), but I will never understand why they tied the idea to Paul, one of the most unpopular status quos I have ever seen for MJ. The whole thing feels like it was just thrown together with no actual plan just because Wells wasn’t doing much with her.

[Celgress]

At this point hero MJ is an even bigger than the execution because there's so little normalcy to Spider-Man any more. Nobody cares about civilians or people having real, non-Superhero, lives.

I couldn't agree with you more. That said, this is a sad trend in modern comic books thus it is by no means a 616 Spidey exclusive. Civilian supporting casts are increasingly irrelevant if not non-existent.

[Celgress]

Or do some kind of Spinneret solo.

But either way, 616 MJ never needed to become a Superhero.

I agree, nor did Betty need to become Red She-Hulk or Iris West to become a speedster. Perhaps it stems from the disdain for the damsel in distress trope no love interest (most of all a female love interest) is allowed to remain a civilian these days, except Lois Lane who is a unique case both contemporaneously and historically.

[Jman27]

At this point hero MJ is an even bigger than the execution because there's so little normalcy to Spider-Man any more. Nobody cares about civilians or people having real, non-Superhero, lives.

yeah I stop caring for most of them at a certain point of my readthrough. I cant think of many examples where their lives are interesting when Peter isnt involved or when they get sucked up into Peter situations. Also there are a few characters I dont like for example Flash

[WebLurker]

...but I will never understand why they tied the idea to Paul, one of the most unpopular status quos I have ever seen for MJ.

I assume that the deciding factor is that Well's story has MJ chained to Paul. Everything the Powers That Be have been saying indicates that popularity has nothing to do with it. Course, I might be reading things wrong.

[Knightsilver]

I assume that the deciding factor is that Well's story has MJ chained to Paul. Everything the Powers That Be have been saying indicates that popularity has nothing to do with it. Course, I might be reading things wrong.

I really am morbidly curious as to the thought process that went into the handling of Paul. I mean,we know he exists solely to be an obstacle for Peter and MJ,but they haven't even tried to make him remotely interesting. Is he an editorial mandate that writers are saddled with?

[Lifetap]

I honestly think they were trying to do a Sins Past style story with MJ to try and sour her character on readership so they stopped being bothered about the marriage. I believe it was Slott that said a character can't be ruined, but from what I see from some online spaces I think this run has ruined the character for at least a portion of the readers it is just a question of how big that portion is.

[Knightsilver]

I honestly think they were trying to do a Sins Past style story with MJ to try and sour her character on readership so they stopped being bothered about the marriage. I believe it was Slott that said a character can't be ruined, but from what I see from some online spaces I think this run has ruined the character for at least a portion of the readers it is just a question of how big that portion is.

MJ is still popular in movies,games,and in Ultimate Spider-Man,so just like with Peter,it's really only the 616 version that seems to be viewed as pathetic.

[Kevinroc]

I honestly think they were trying to do a Sins Past style story with MJ to try and sour her character on readership so they stopped being bothered about the marriage. I believe it was Slott that said a character can't be ruined, but from what I see from some online spaces I think this run has ruined the character for at least a portion of the readers it is just a question of how big that portion is.

There are a lot of people who just hate MJ because she isn't their Spider-Waifu of choice and they look at moments like this current run as an opportunity to spread that toxicity around.

[WebLurker]

I really am morbidly curious as to the thought process that went into the handling of Paul. I mean,we know he exists solely to be an obstacle for Peter and MJ,but they haven't even tried to make him remotely interesting. Is he an editorial mandate that writers are saddled with?

Until there's a tell-all about the making of the run (if there ever is one), I couldn't say. Wells did go on record at the beginning that he wanted to tell a story about Spider-Man's life hitting rock bottom, so that might mean that Paul was his idea. The repeated "we're not reading it right" retort to reader backlash might suggest that there was an overall vision for the run that failed pretty drastically to connect with the readers, although that's based on a lot of assumptions. That said, given all the chaos of the run (the "what did Peter do?" mystery box turning out to be literally nothing, the fiasco that was the fridgeing of Kamala Khan, making Black Cat the love interest again just to end it right away, etc.), it would be interesting to know just what did happened behind the scenes.

tl dl: no idea, but the chaos of the run makes one wonder how smoothly the creation went despite Marvel projecting a "it's all according to plan" image.

I honestly think they were trying to do a Sins Past style story with MJ to try and sour her character on readership so they stopped being bothered about the marriage.

I have wondered about that sometimes. At this point, I'm kinda giving up on trying to play "OMD creator" whisperer, though.

[Coop]

Until there's a tell-all about the making of the run (if there ever is one), I couldn't say. Wells did go on record at the beginning that he wanted to tell a story about Spider-Man's life hitting rock bottom, so that might mean that Paul was his idea. The repeated "we're not reading it right" retort to reader backlash might suggest that there was an overall vision for the run that failed pretty drastically to connect with the readers, although that's based on a lot of assumptions. That said, given all the chaos of the run (the "what did Peter do?" mystery box turning out to be literally nothing, the fiasco that was the fridgeing of Kamala Khan, making Black Cat the love interest again just to end it right away, etc.), it would be interesting to know just what did happened behind the scenes.

tl dl: no idea, but the chaos of the run makes one wonder how smoothly the creation went despite Marvel projecting a "it's all according to plan" image.



I have wondered about that sometimes. At this point, I'm kinda giving up on trying to play "OMD creator" whisperer, though.

I still think one of the funniest things was from those issue #1 script excerpts we saw. Where the introduction for Paul mentions "We like him". If that wasn't being tongue in cheek and was genuine that they thought Paul would be likable, that's just really funny

[CrimsonEchidna]

Honestly my big takeaway is there's a lack of cohesiveness in the "Spider-Man Family books." Some books like Miles and Venom will shoot up when a big issue is coming out but this current run has done a fairly bad job at having a unifying vision.

USM #3 and USM #4 against their respective issues of ASM are head to head battles in the same exact market conditions. It’s an apples to apples comparison. USM demonstrates how much money is being left on the table.

Its the chicken and the egg dilemma "would Ultimate Spider-Man be as big of a smash hit as it currently is if Peter and Mary Jane were already happily married in the 616." And I think you underestimate how much the Marvel Bullpen sees Amazing not faultering in it's performance and going "Well, now we have a single Spider-Man and a married one, that's a win-win."

[TinkerSpider]

I mean it kind of does but it also shows Marvel that it released without negatively impacting ASM so they can just keep the status quo of Amazing unchanged.

One of Quesada's responses during the height of the backlash of OMD is "well if you want a married Spider-Man, just read the Spider-Girl series."

USM is outselling 2:1 on the weekend of release in ComicHub stores. The data is squishy but we’ve been told the data is reliable for ASM so it must be reliable for USM. It’s revealing the capturable market is much higher than previously thought. We have anecdotal evidence that it’s bringing new faces into LCSes. And Dan Buckley recently told retailers Marvel’s priority is to get people into the stores.

USM is showing that what was previously thought of as the ceiling of the market is actually a floor.

The Spider-Girl argument has been rehashed.

Spider-Girl was about Mayday, not Peter. And Peter wasn’t Spider-Man in the book. So it really wasn’t an option for readers.

(And as it is, Mayday is still Marvel’s longest running solo heroine despite not having a book for 15 years.)

Its the chicken and the egg dilemma "would Ultimate Spider-Man be as big of a smash hit as it currently is if Peter and Mary Jane were already happily married in the 616." And I think you underestimate how much the Marvel Bullpen sees Amazing not faultering in it's performance and going "Well, now we have a single Spider-Man and a married one, that's a win-win."

I think you’re underestimating how much companies are driven by P&L.

[JTait]

I still think one of the funniest things was from those issue #1 script excerpts we saw. Where the introduction for Paul mentions "We like him". If that wasn't being tongue in cheek and was genuine that they thought Paul would be likable, that's just really funny

What is unlikeable about Paul?

[Daibhidh]

Where the introduction for Paul mentions "We like him".

I presume that meant 'Please draw him as an ordinary good guy, rather than as sinister or threatening or as a guilt-ridden inadvertent genocide-causer,' only in three words.