Is there anyway I can enjoy the Spider-Man fandom without pairing him with love

[SpideyCeo]

I read Peters stories for fun, and as a superhero he needs more exciting stories that highlight his heroics and powers nearly every issue. I can't stand his romantic sub plots, and fandom wise I think I can't be a true fan if I don't debate him with mj or felicia. Is this wrong of me?

[Celgress]

Of course, you can be a Spidey fan without having any interest in Peter's love life (or until recent times lack thereof). Whatever floats your boat I say.

[Rosebunse]

I like his life interest thing sometimes, but I hate when it gets overdone or...well, weird.

[Miles To Go]

Relationships are part of what makes Spider-Man function...turning away from that in the last ten years hurt the book greatly

[theoneandonly]

I read Peters stories for fun, and as a superhero he needs more exciting stories that highlight his heroics and powers nearly every issue. I can't stand his romantic sub plots, and fandom wise I think I can't be a true fan if I don't debate him with mj or felicia. Is this wrong of me?

there's no set requirements for being a fan of a comic character apart from buying and liking his books and you are fine if you dislike or are indifferent to certain aspects of his character to others. after all no one mentioned that you have to like every single aspect of a character to be his fan. you could even try explaining why that aspect doesn't strike you as important to the character without anyone calling you out. of course if it's just a personal irrational feeling and you already are aware of what I am saying then it isn't a problem as long as you don't permit it to spoil your reading and enjoyment of spider man. after all it's up to you to be bothered or not by the issue.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Simply don't go into threads that discuss his love life or just read general spidey fics.

[Kevinroc]

Spider-Man is part soap-opera, so romantic subplots are going to come up.

[Tuck]

If you want stories that concentrate more on the heroics than the every day life of the hero, you want DC.

It's not really that different in the last couple of decades, but getting into the heroes' personal lives is essentially Marvel's thing, particularly Spider-Man.

[Daniel22]

I read Peters stories for fun, and as a superhero he needs more exciting stories that highlight his heroics and powers nearly every issue. I can't stand his romantic sub plots, and fandom wise I think I can't be a true fan if I don't debate him with mj or felicia. Is this wrong of me?

You're a fan if you like the character. I wouldn't worry about any gatekeeping or anyone who tries to downplay you because you aren't into MJ or Felicia or Gwen or JJJ or Venom or any other person/thing. My advice would be to totally ignore anyone who gets into "true fan" arguments, period. It's hard to avoid the romantic stuff here because so many threads devolve into marriage/OMD/MJ debates. But if you skip those threads (knowing it's going to be a lot of threads), there's still lots to talk about with the posters who don't always go in that direction.

[Celgress]

You're a fan if you like the character. I wouldn't worry about any gatekeeping or anyone who tries to downplay you because you aren't into MJ or Felicia or Gwen or JJJ or Venom or any other person/thing. My advice would be to totally ignore anyone who gets into "true fan" arguments, period. It's hard to avoid the romantic stuff here because so many threads devolve into marriage/OMD/MJ debates. But if you skip those threads (knowing it's going to be a lot of threads), there's still lots to talk about with the posters who don't always go in that direction.

solid advice

[Zeitgeist]

The 'best waifu' arguments do get dreadfully tiring (the Spider-Man community seem to be obsessed with shipping worse than any animu fan), but while drama-at-home is intrinsic to the Spider-Man experience, I feel you can cut away the dating nonsense if need be and still enjoy most of what's going on.

[Mister Mets]

Of course you can be a fan without caring about something other fans care about.

It is kinda funny to have someone coming into a passionate argument and not caring about either side.

[WebLurker]

I read Peters stories for fun, and as a superhero he needs more exciting stories that highlight his heroics and powers nearly every issue. I can't stand his romantic sub plots, and fandom wise I think I can't be a true fan if I don't debate him with mj or felicia. Is this wrong of me?

Fair enough if you don't like certain aspects of something but do like others. That's how it works. There's no such thing as a "true fan" who has to love everything about something without reservation.

If you want stories that concentrate more on the heroics than the every day life of the hero, you want DC.

It's not really that different in the last couple of decades, but getting into the heroes' personal lives is essentially Marvel's thing, particularly Spider-Man.

Green Lanterns is a DC series that had a lot of the character's personal lives and problems balanced out with the heroics.

You're a fan if you like the character. I wouldn't worry about any gatekeeping or anyone who tries to downplay you because you aren't into MJ or Felicia or Gwen or JJJ or Venom or any other person/thing. My advice would be to totally ignore anyone who gets into "true fan" arguments, period. It's hard to avoid the romantic stuff here because so many threads devolve into marriage/OMD/MJ debates. But if you skip those threads (knowing it's going to be a lot of threads), there's still lots to talk about with the posters who don't always go in that direction.

Seconded. In regards to the bolded, it does get really old, esp. since I think it's all just rehashing of stuff that's been going back and forth for years now.

It is kinda funny to have someone coming into a passionate argument and not caring about either side.

Well, it can depend on how you engage with the material in question. Case in point, I've recently gotten interested in Power Rangers stuff. However, despite it being a pretty in-depth franchise with a long history and settings, because my main sources of materials are the 2017 movie and Boom! Studios comics, I really don't care about anything outside the original five characters and find the idea of replacing them destroys any interest I have in the subject. People who grew up watching everything might have trouble understanding why the only shows I'd watch are the original MMPR before the cast turnover (esp. since the original is considered far less polished and rougher then later installments), but for me, its stories about that specific set of characters that are why I come to the well, not the world in general. Conversely, I'm a Trekkie who's very tied into that fictional universe and on principle like the idea of seeing new crews and filling in the blank holes in the timeline, while someone who only wants to see Captain Kirk and company wouldn't have much common ground with me.

[Starrius]

Yes...you can

to each, his/her own


as for myself, I enjoy Spider-Man stuff a lot more when Mary Jane is his love interest

[Von]

You can make little squares out paper black construction paper, then use them to block out any panels featuring romantic subplots and dialogue?