-
My first Spider-man was the young adult in Spider-man the animated series from the 90s, and when I got into the comics he was a married adult. So I have more of a fondness for adult Peter than teen Peter.
Not that I dislike teen Peter or anything, I just prefer the adult version quite a bit and I'm happy that the recent Playstation game went with Peter as a young adult.
-
Started with [I]Spider-man and his Amazing Friends[/I], then watched the Fox Kids take, and really liked the college-age setting. I tend to think it lends itself a little better to stories because he gets to work in university labs and does part-time work to pay the rent. And even though college is less rigidly structured than high school, he still has that issue of having to cut class. Also, I like that in these versions, it's not like Spider-man is the only kid surrounded by adults when he meets up with other superheroes.
I feel like Raimi wanted to give a nod to how the series started with Peter in high school, but generally having Peter being a few years older just lends itself to more stories.
I shouldn't neglect the fact that I'm in my 40s probably has a lot of influence in preferring college/grad school age Peter than high school.
-
Adult Spider-man 100%*. I roll my eyes every time a new live action movie goes back to high school and haven't bothered watching the last few Spider-man cartoons.
To be fair, it is the Spider-man I've always known. He was older in the 90's cartoon where I first met him and in all the comics since. I've since read everything several times (as I'm sure most of you have) and he was in college within a few years of his debut, so outside of Ben dying and first meetings with major villains I don't view the high school era as overly important in the grand scheme of things. It's only relatively recently that the kid Spider-man thing has been pushed super hard. Before that the point was seeing him grow into an adult.
*excluding the Ditko/Lee era of comics, naturally, and Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales because, let's face it, Busiek is an incredible writer and we were blessed to have that book if only for a little while.
-
To me, high school stories worked better when I was in high school. They are the stories I have the hardest time returning to. Same with most kids cartoons.
I was a Harry Potter kid so I preferred kids heroes getting older. So I don't mind high school Peter if we can see him leave it sooner than later. You don't have to rush through it like Raimi did but you don't have to elongate it like Bendis.
A middle ground is focusing on Peter's college years.
-
its also has to be the supporting cast in college/adult era that are more developed and likable. Especially as I rather read about the more heroic well-liked Flash in that era than bully high school Flash. I guess it has to do about how bullying sorta triggered me athough my bullying wasn't as bad as what saw in fiction or even real life,(I was verbally bullied and my reactions gave fuel, but it never got physical).
-
[QUOTE=Rzerox21xx;5892438]its also has to be the supporting cast in college/adult era that are more developed and likable. Especially as I rather read about the more heroic well-liked Flash in that era than bully high school Flash. I guess it has to do about how bullying sorta triggered me athough my bullying wasn't as bad as what saw in fiction or even real life,(I was verbally bullied and my reactions gave fuel, but it never got physical).[/QUOTE]
There's a reason a lot of adaptions bring the college era to high school.
-
[QUOTE=Rzerox21xx;5892438]its also has to be the supporting cast in college/adult era that are more developed and likable. Especially as I rather read about the more heroic well-liked Flash in that era than bully high school Flash. I guess it has to do about how bullying sorta triggered me athough my bullying wasn't as bad as what saw in fiction or even real life,(I was verbally bullied and my reactions gave fuel, but it never got physical).[/QUOTE]
I feel like that’s one reason why I like Teenage Spidey more.
It seems like people are wanting a finished result rather full-length story.
-
[QUOTE=the illustrious mr. kenway;5892374]To me, high school stories worked better when I was in high school. They are the stories I have the hardest time returning to. Same with most kids cartoons.
I was a Harry Potter kid so I preferred kids heroes getting older. So I don't mind high school Peter if we can see him leave it sooner than later. You don't have to rush through it like Raimi did but you don't have to elongate it like Bendis.
A middle ground is focusing on Peter's college years.[/QUOTE]Yeah it's one of those things where.... him as a teen is fine and all, but being a teen is temporary. Eventually you get older, then you do college, etc.... Pete being "stuck" in teen mode I hate. Which is part of why I liked the stories with him and MJ as a couple. It felt like natural story progression.
[QUOTE=PCN24454;5892677]I feel like that’s one reason why I like Teenage Spidey more.
It seems like people are wanting a finished result rather full-length story.[/QUOTE]I could get behind that... except I already read/saw Pete in high school once already.. no thanks.
-
It really depends... the one major thing that is good about the high school era is watching him grow and learn from his mistakes. I liked the Spectacular animated series and that was going to keep him in high school throughout the entire series (granted each season is approximately 3 or 4 months), but things seemed to be advancing there. In this day and age, adulthood is where it's at, but the problem is they don't seem to know where to go in adulthood as being a perpetual frat boy isn't exactly my idea of adult.
-
[QUOTE=Rzerox21xx;5892438]its also has to be the supporting cast in college/adult era that are more developed and likable. Especially as I rather read about the more heroic well-liked Flash in that era than bully high school Flash. I guess it has to do about how bullying sorta triggered me athough my bullying wasn't as bad as what saw in fiction or even real life,(I was verbally bullied and my reactions gave fuel, but it never got physical).[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I can understand that.
[QUOTE=PCN24454;5892677]I feel like that’s one reason why I like Teenage Spidey more.
It seems like people are wanting a finished result rather full-length story.[/QUOTE]
That's a reasonable argument.
[QUOTE=marhawkman;5892687]Yeah it's one of those things where.... him as a teen is fine and all, but being a teen is temporary. Eventually you get older, then you do college, etc.... Pete being "stuck" in teen mode I hate. Which is part of why I liked the stories with him and MJ as a couple. It felt like natural story progression.
I could get behind that... except I already read/saw Pete in high school once already.. no thanks.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, also reasonable.
[QUOTE=Mistah K88;5892736]It really depends... the one major thing that is good about the high school era is watching him grow and learn from his mistakes. I liked the Spectacular animated series and that was going to keep him in high school throughout the entire series (granted each season is approximately 3 or 4 months), but things seemed to be advancing there. In this day and age, adulthood is where it's at, but the problem is they don't seem to know where to go in adulthood as being a perpetual frat boy isn't exactly my idea of adult.[/QUOTE]
Especially when the more recent comics have seen him seemingly stagnate as an adult, unable to learn or apply lessons he should have been able to by this point, which can be true to life for a lot of people in the real world, but it's not necessarily something that makes a compelling protagonist.
-
High school or college ideally - it's the thing which made him different when he was created, as "adult super-hero who has their shit figured out" was and still is a dime-a-dozen. I've never had any interest in a character aging along with me or anything, besides the fact that mainstream superhero comics are completely the wrong medium to expect superhero character to truly age due to the fact they're designed to run in perpetuity, I'd like the current and future generations of readers to have their time with the character instead of them being catered to the older members of the fanbase.
-
I prefer to read/watch an adult Peter because it's where I am in life. When I was a teen, I preferred to watch/read a teen Peter.
That said, I would never want an adult Peter who never became Spider-Man while in high school, or a high school Peter that never gets older. I always liked how Spider-Man literally grew up with me. High School Spider-Man is great because you want to watch him grow up, and Adult Spider-Man is (partly) great because of the backstory you can build off of. Kinda like people in real life.
[QUOTE=Mistah K88;5892736]In this day and age, adulthood is where it's at, but the problem is they don't seem to know where to go in adulthood as being a perpetual frat boy isn't exactly my idea of adult.[/QUOTE]
Marvel also intentionally sabotages adult Spider-Man, to be fair. Their tactic since BND has been to get writers who don't know know what to do with Spider-Man, and use that as justification that an adult Spider-Man can't work. Except no one was saying that Marvel doesn't know what to do with an adult Spider-Man back when JMS and Paul Jenkins were working on Spider-Man in the 2000's. Those runs are considered some of the best runs on the character.
-
[QUOTE=Kaitou D. Kid;5893845]I prefer to read/watch an adult Peter because it's where I am in life. When I was a teen, I preferred to watch/read a teen Peter.
That said, I would never want an adult Peter who never became Spider-Man while in high school, or a high school Peter that never gets older. I always liked how Spider-Man literally grew up with me. High School Spider-Man is great because you want to watch him grow up, and Adult Spider-Man is (partly) great because of the backstory you can build off of. Kinda like people in real life.
Marvel also intentionally sabotages adult Spider-Man, to be fair. Their tactic since BND has been to get writers who don't know know what to do with Spider-Man, and use that as justification that an adult Spider-Man can't work. Except no one was saying that Marvel doesn't know what to do with an adult Spider-Man back when JMS and Paul Jenkins were working on Spider-Man in the 2000's. Those runs are considered some of the best runs on the character.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much this, especially on the last part.
-
I think I understand why I prefer Teen Spider-Man to the Adult one. It's far less jarring to see Teen Spidey screw things up.
People seem to want Peter to [I]appear[/I] more mature than he actually is. Whether he really is mature isn't actually important to them.
-
[QUOTE=PCN24454;5897548]I think I understand why I prefer Teen Spider-Man to the Adult one. It's far less jarring to see Teen Spidey screw things up.
People seem to want Peter to [I]appear[/I] more mature than he actually is. Whether he really is mature isn't actually important to them.[/QUOTE]Part of the fun with MC2's daddy Spider-man was that he had May and April to screw things up for him. :P