Real talk. Was Slott's run HONESTLY better than Michelinie's?

[Spidercide]

David Michelinie's run is often (and in my view unfairly) criticised and ran for almost 10 years.

Dan Slott's run is often (and in my extremely unfairly) praised and will run for around 10 years.

Slott is often given accolodes over Michelinie but real talk in terms of their writing craftmanship skills and just handling of the character and fundamental defining themes of Spider-Man who is the honest to Stan Lee superior spider scribe.

Please note this is not a contest with who came up with the most original ideas. Slott wins that for various reasons (though none of his new ideas were as remotely successful as Venom or Carnage).

We're talking about executing stories and handling of the central characters.

[TheCape]

Wait, the poll means that i'm voting for the worse or the best run?, i definetly think that Slott's run is worse if you ask me, but i don't think that the option is quite clear.

[Spidercide]

Wait, the poll means that i'm voting for the worse or the best run?, i definetly think that Slott's run is worse if you ask me, but i don't think that the option is quite clear.

I meant to just write better but there was a typpo and I dunno how to edit it

[TheCape]

Ok, thanks.

[bob.schoonover]

Wait, the poll means that i'm voting for the worse or the best run?, i definetly think that Slott's run is worse if you ask me, but i don't think that the option is quite clear.

It's probably be better (and more interesting) if the poll options were:
A. Slott's run was much better than Michelinie's
B. Slott's run was slighty better than Michelinie's (probably what I'd have picked)
C. I like both the same
D. Michelinie's run was slightly better than Slott's
E. Michelinie's run was much better than Slott's

Binary polls never distinguish degrees of things and don't lend themselves well to thoughtful discussion.

*Slott's run is definitely going to end better than Michelinie's (I can say this without knowing how the Red Goblin arc ends because I know Lifetheft was not good at all and The Jury arc before it won't be making any top 20 lists).

*Michelinie's run also weirdly starts with the somewhat . . . rapid proposal and marriage of Peter and MJ. If you just call that an editorially mandated deal and give him the Venom arc to start off, though, that's straight fire. Where you define the start of Slott's run will affect your view of how it began - Big Time is a great opening arc, but Brand New Day is an equivalently weird starting point for a run (having to do the heavy lifting of establishing the post-OMD universe).

*What's their peak? For Slott, No One Dies, Dying Wish, Spider Island, New Ways to Die and Red Goblin (maybe/hopefully) off the top of my head. For Michelinie, Venom, Carnage, Return of the Sinister Six, Cosmic Spidey, and Maximum Carnage (with others).

*Is Lifetheft worse than Clone Conspiracy? I'm not sure if Lifetheft is the worst Michelinie story, but it's clearly bothered me for over 20 years, so . . .

I'd suggest Michelinie was more conservative as a writer of Spider-man - other than (the editorially mandated) marriage, I don't think you can credit his run with any big waves in Peter's life or how he behaves as a super hero (this is not a criticism by any means, and is also probably a product of writing when there were two or three other ongoings with whom he had to coordinate) - the Cosmic stories, perhaps, counter this, but were also written across the other two titles. Slott took some very big swings (Big Time, Spider-verse, Superior, Parker Industries) during his run. As a matter of personal preference, I forgive a few misses when a writer takes big swings, but that's hardly a universal feeling.

[Mister Mets]

I'm adding a new poll because the old one has very confusing wording, which might throw off the results. Hell, I voted based on the thread title thinking it was about who was worse.

The seven of you who had voted previously should try again.

[TheCape]

I don't doubt that Slott run is by far the most innovative of the 2 runs, but in my book risk doesn't equal quality and frankly i don't think thst Slott ideas were that good to begin with, Superior is popular and i won't deny his sucess, but frankly i thougth that is poorly written tale but eh, YMMV there, i prefer to just leave my vote and not engage in that discussion, i already can see other people doing it for me .

[Celgress]

I'm adding a new poll because the old one has very confusing wording, which might throw off the results. Hell, I voted based on the thread title thinking it was about who was worse.

The seven of you who had voted previously should try again.

Thank you, I could not make sense of it.

[Mister Mets]

Changing the poll one more time, since I think it needs a question phrased positively (who is better?) rather than negatively (who is worse?)

To go with the real talk theme, I think Slott's work as writer is better.

Michelinie has a style that's rather dated, and didn't repeat the heights of his early Todd McFarlane Venom stories. There's also a lot of his stuff in his later run that's just forgettable.

I'd rate Spider-Man/ Human Torch, No One Dies, and the first ten issues of Superior Spider-Man above anything Michelinie did as writer.

Your mileage may vary. Some people really like the marriage annual, and the Return of the Sinister Six.

[Celgress]

My vote goes to Mr. Slott.

[Tuck]

Slott's better. It's not even close.

I think a lot of people started reading Spider-Man during Michelinie's run, so it's inflated in their assessment.

[Lukmendes]

I don't know what issues Michelinie wrote, any story arcs worth mentioning?

[WebLurker]

I've found the stuff by Michelinie I've read to be better than the stuff by Slott that I've read, but with different times and different expectations of what comic book writing should be, I think it's a pretty hard comparison between a modern writer and an earlier one.

[TheCape]

Slott's better. It's not even close.

I think a lot of people started reading Spider-Man during Michelinie's run, so it's inflated in their assessment.

I started with post-Clone Saga DeFalco actually, 10 years after it was written in my case it doesn't have anything to do with nostalgia.

[Spidercide]

It's probably be better (and more interesting) if the poll options were:
A. Slott's run was much better than Michelinie's
B. Slott's run was slighty better than Michelinie's (probably what I'd have picked)
C. I like both the same
D. Michelinie's run was slightly better than Slott's
E. Michelinie's run was much better than Slott's

Binary polls never distinguish degrees of things and don't lend themselves well to thoughtful discussion.

*Slott's run is definitely going to end better than Michelinie's (I can say this without knowing how the Red Goblin arc ends because I know Lifetheft was not good at all and The Jury arc before it won't be making any top 20 lists).

*Michelinie's run also weirdly starts with the somewhat . . . rapid proposal and marriage of Peter and MJ. If you just call that an editorially mandated deal and give him the Venom arc to start off, though, that's straight fire. Where you define the start of Slott's run will affect your view of how it began - Big Time is a great opening arc, but Brand New Day is an equivalently weird starting point for a run (having to do the heavy lifting of establishing the post-OMD universe).

*What's their peak? For Slott, No One Dies, Dying Wish, Spider Island, New Ways to Die and Red Goblin (maybe/hopefully) off the top of my head. For Michelinie, Venom, Carnage, Return of the Sinister Six, Cosmic Spidey, and Maximum Carnage (with others).

*Is Lifetheft worse than Clone Conspiracy? I'm not sure if Lifetheft is the worst Michelinie story, but it's clearly bothered me for over 20 years, so . . .

I'd suggest Michelinie was more conservative as a writer of Spider-man - other than (the editorially mandated) marriage, I don't think you can credit his run with any big waves in Peter's life or how he behaves as a super hero (this is not a criticism by any means, and is also probably a product of writing when there were two or three other ongoings with whom he had to coordinate) - the Cosmic stories, perhaps, counter this, but were also written across the other two titles. Slott took some very big swings (Big Time, Spider-verse, Superior, Parker Industries) during his run. As a matter of personal preference, I forgive a few misses when a writer takes big swings, but that's hardly a universal feeling.

Risk doesn't equal quality in craftmanship.

As for the editorial mandates it's not really fair to blame Michelinie for Lifetheft. That one was due to editorial mandated meddling and indecicivness.

The proposal though was never rushed. It'd been building up since 1984