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[QUOTE=Chubistian;5026592]Finally the fifth Epic Collection of ASM arrived to my home (I bought it from Bookdepository a couple months ago. I knew it would take that long, but it was cheaper that ordering from Amazon, so it was worth it).
The first story is Annual #5, the epic that explains what happened to Peter's parents. As a superhero comicbook, it's pretty solid, though towards the end it becomes rough, as if Stan Lee and Larry Lieber had to rush to the final battle and resort to a just way too convenient narrative choice to have Peter find the truth and evidence he was seeking.
Larry Lieber did a great job and in line with what Romita Sr was doing in the regular series. I think this may have been Lee's biggest mistake in his long years as a writer in ASM. Making Peter Parker's parents spies (well, Richard was the spy here. His wife just accompanied her husband) doesn't work in the world of the character and though it is not an awful concept, further writers and editors did make it even worse
I have also been reading the next four or five issues in the volume, and they have been really cool so far. I'm digging the Clay Tablet storyline, with which I was familiar thank to Spider-Man TAS and the current issues by Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley in ASM[/QUOTE]
It's kinda annoying hearing about all the things that "don't work in the world". It just sounds like a reason to reinforce the status quo rather than move on from it.
You don't hear Dragon Ball fans talking about how out of place aliens were in the universe.
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[QUOTE=PCN24454;5038461]It's kinda annoying hearing about all the things that "don't work in the world". It just sounds like a reason to reinforce the status quo rather than move on from it.
You don't hear Dragon Ball fans talking about how out of place aliens were in the universe.[/QUOTE]
dragon ball is about aliens and also extremely mediocre
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[QUOTE=PCN24454;5038461]It's kinda annoying hearing about all the things that "don't work in the world". It just sounds like a reason to reinforce the status quo rather than move on from it.
You don't hear Dragon Ball fans talking about how out of place aliens were in the universe.[/QUOTE]
It depends on how the fictional world is established. Dragon Ball has the grace to don't care about a cohesive worldbuilding. As such, it can play with different genres and elements without them being disruptive. It's different to other mangas where a setting is put and it evolves within the boundaries imposed by its narrative, like Death Note, Akira or Naruto, to name a few.
And, to be clear, I think you can bring elements that don't fit the overall narrative of a character and make them work, but Annual #5 isn't the case where that succeeded imo
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[QUOTE=Chubistian;5038478]It depends on how the fictional world is established. Dragon Ball has the grace to don't care about a cohesive worldbuilding. As such, it can play with different genres and elements without them being disruptive. It's different to other mangas where a setting is put and it evolves within the boundaries imposed by its narrative, like Death Note, Akira or Naruto, to name a few.
And, to be clear, I think you can bring elements that don't fit the overall narrative of a character and make them work, but Annual #5 isn't the case where that succeeded imo[/QUOTE]
You mean the "Red Scare" stuff aka "reason why most people look down on Iron Man's rogues gallery"?
To be fair, it [B]wasn't[/B] meant to be part of some overall narrative; just an explanation as to what happened to his parents.
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Was reading some of the early Spiderman comics and Spidey's and his interaction with the Fantastic 4 and its quite surprising how many times he gets into fights with them over really minor stuff. Also Spideys strength seems to change issue to issue. In some only the Hulk is stronger and he has to be careful not to kill Flash in a boxing fight with it. Yet in others he's simply just very agile.
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[QUOTE=Mauled;5039052]Was reading some of the early Spiderman comics and Spidey's and his interaction with the Fantastic 4 and its quite surprising how many times he gets into fights with them over really minor stuff. Also Spideys strength seems to change issue to issue. In some only the Hulk is stronger and he has to be careful not to kill Flash in a boxing fight with it. Yet in others he's simply just very agile.[/QUOTE]
That's because Marvel loves having "heroes" fight one another. Many of them were deconstructions of classic hero tropes and thus just because they should act a certain way, doesn't mean that they would.
Part of that comes from plot dependance. It's like how in the Injustice video game, Bane plays like a big strongman character even though he's one of the weaker characters in the the game.
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[QUOTE=PCN24454;5038756]You mean the "Red Scare" stuff aka "reason why most people look down on Iron Man's rogues gallery"?
To be fair, it [B]wasn't[/B] meant to be part of some overall narrative; just an explanation as to what happened to his parents.[/QUOTE]
I meant Peter's father as a spy agent. I don't think it was a good backstory for Spider-Man, and only made worse by further writers (though this ain't Annual #5's fault). I could have spent my whole life not knowing what was the fate of Peter's parents
[QUOTE=Mauled;5039052]Was reading some of the early Spiderman comics and Spidey's and his interaction with the Fantastic 4 and its quite surprising how many times he gets into fights with them over really minor stuff. Also Spideys strength seems to change issue to issue. In some only the Hulk is stronger and he has to be careful not to kill Flash in a boxing fight with it. Yet in others he's simply just very agile.[/QUOTE]
Though sometimes forced, I like the frenemies relationship between Spider-Man and the Human Torch back then. Spider-Man' strength not only varies according to the story, but the Spider-Sense served whatever purpose the character needed to solve a crime or trap a villain in those times haha
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[QUOTE=batnbreakfast;5011371]Having finally read Kraven's Last Hunt I'd like some perspective on it. Didn't wow me. Nice Art, solid writing and maybe without retconning a certain moment I might have liked it more.[/QUOTE]
Kraven's Last Hunt isn't complete workout reading Soul of the Hunter IMO
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Been reading PPSSM between issues 43 and 129. Mainly the Stern and PAD ones, but some select Mantlo too.
I settled on 49-52, 57-60, 72, 80, 85, 103, 107-110, 112, 113, 115-120, 123, 128 & 129 as the ones worth having from that series.
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I read Ann Nocenti's two-part Typhoid Mary story in Spectacular Spider-Man #213-214. Nocenti talked about this to Chip Zdarsky in this interview ([url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuixJZ8KoXY[/url]) and identified it as a favorite of hers.
It's an interesting two-parter, and the interaction between MJ and Typhoid Mary is fascinating.
Not a very good story overall unfortunately.
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Nova #12 and Amazing Spider-Man #171.
One of my favorite crossovers.
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I just read the 5 trades that collect the Clone Saga (the pre-SpiderReilly parts) and it was a mixed journey, like 55% bad and 45% good, i really enjoyed the beginning and some parts of the middle, but man most of the climax was awfull and really hard to finish, thought i still find some moments enjoyable.
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As of now I am 43 issues into Nick Spencer's run. I give him props for returning Spider-Man to something resembling a pre-Slott status quo, but overall I find it to be 'meh'.
1. The plot is too loose and there is too much focus on peripheral characters.
2. The constant artstyle changes are distracting.
3. Peter himself comes off bland most of the time.
4. Spencer's Jameson and his "both sides are to blame" approach to his relationship with Peter is in poor taste and unfounded given 616 history.
5. Peter's relationship with MJ is uninteresting due to the fact that we know it worked out. The fact Peter can't remember any of it doesn't change this for the readers.
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[QUOTE=Kaitou D. Kid;5070725]5. Peter's relationship with MJ is uninteresting due to the fact that we know it worked out. The fact Peter can't remember any of it doesn't change this for the readers.[/QUOTE]
Interesting. Can you elaborate on this?
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[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;5070745]Interesting. Can you elaborate on this?[/QUOTE]
I am mainly referring to issue # 29 when Peter misses his chance to say goodbye to MJ before her flight. We've seen a similar situation in JMS' run and we know they ultimately found a way to make their relationship work. I also find all the talk about whether they will ever be a stable couple or not to be redundant. It is the equivalent of Tom King tackling the "Can Batman ever truly be happy?" question just 10 years after Morrison's run.
If Marvel is ok with Peter and MJ being together as long as they're not married (which I still don't get...they take issue with them signing a legal contract but not with them practically functioning as a married couple? Also doesn't that make Mephisto look dumb? You could argue Peter and MJ played him by taking advantage of a legal human-made loophole...but I digress), why not continue their dynamic from pre-OMD instead of recycling the same ideas? It's also not like marriage is the end-all-be-all of love anymore, it's common for a couple in their mid-20s-early 30s to be close but not be officially married.
A common criticism I hear of 616 Spider-Man is that he never learns from his mistakes. See, I think that is slightly inaccurate. I think the problem is he always learns from the same mistakes.