Uncertain Future of the Amazing Spider-Man Newspaper Strip

[Spider-Man Crawl Space]

I really hope the strip isn't ending. I've been reading it for years. I just got a quote from Alex Saviuk on the status.
https://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/...ure-uncertain/

[Miles To Go]

Such a shame that Roy and Alex weren't even notified about the creative changes and just got a pink slip. There's gratitude for you.

Peter and Luke followed MJ's advise and created a more convincing fight, despite Luke playing a little rough

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Such a shame that Roy and Alex weren't even notified about the creative changes and just got a pink slip. There's gratitude for you.

Peter and Luke followed MJ's advise and created a more convincing fight, despite Luke playing a little rough

It's a shame because if they were, they could have created an ending for the strip.

Still I am amazed the strip lasted as long as it did. For a long time, before the Raimi movies, this was the main way people who didn't have access, and wallet, to read the monthly comics, got to be introduced to Spider-Man. When newspapers started fading out and so on, I kind of expected the axe to fall any day.

This was my introduction to Spider-Man. And I still remember it well. The first strip I read was a repeat of a classic moment in Spider-Man comics where Spider-Man goes to cash a check and the teller at the bank says "if mask then no withdrawal". Then I followed after that, and got to read the story where Spider-Man fought Magneto, and that was also my introduction to Magneto, and the strip showed Peter, MJ, and Jameson in a number of stories together.

[Miles To Go]

Ironically, I got into the strip back when they did their own "Brand New Day", Peter and MJ weren't married, but were dating, it involved Electro and his relaitonship with his son...but it amounted to nothing because it was revealed to be a dream, and the marriage was restored to the dailys. The next eleven years pretty much saved me from giving up on Spider-Man completly and kept me going through days where I struggled mentally and days where I had to put up with some really crappy 616 Spider-Man storylines during the final days of BND and the era of Slott.

In the strip, Peter and MJ's love and loyalty to one another was never once brought into question, adventure would give in to absurdity and tense moments were ultimately played for laughs. It was a refreshing change of pace from the taxing drama of the core books. It may not have pleased edgier readers, but it represented a stable and more traditional Peter Parker for those who wanted to see him happy.

If the future of the strip means a continuity refresh when it returns, it means 2019 will be the last year with new Spider-Marriage material being printed. Frighting in some regards, but commendable in others. It meant it took an extra decade plus to get rid of a married Peter and MJ. Think on that. It did not go quietly into the night.

[Digifiend]

Such a shame that Roy and Alex weren't even notified about the creative changes and just got a pink slip. There's gratitude for you.

It just sounds like they didn't know it was getting a revamp and thought it was kaput outright.

It's a shame because if they were, they could have created an ending for the strip.

Maybe they did. Apparently the last Sunday strip was drawn well before they finished the dailies. They knew it was ending, they just thought it was cancelled, not on hiatus.

[Mister Mets]

I'm curious about the audience for the strip. This is what got me into Spider-Man, so it had a big impact on me personally, but I get why Marvel may want to reboot it, or dump it entirely. It's a different newspaper market than when the strip premiered in the 70s, and visual sensibilities have changed.

[Miles To Go]

I'm curious about the audience for the strip

My experience with the online audience in particular is that they are loyal, but small and very snarky, often critiquing the strip for it's overt silliness, but they're like that with other strips promoted by Kings Features

I recall Youtuber Zarenyzerak (of "The Multimedia Chronicles") covered the strip once largely because it could be found in the pages of some retailer comic book preview magazines that he would receive from donors.

Have you been purchasing the IDW trades? What are you hoping to see featured in the reruns? The strip was a lot sillier back when it started, it might be a good change of pace if they cover the earlier years and maybe the new writers and artists can bring it back to that kind of level.

[Mister Mets]

The online audience may not be fully representative, and it's likely to be a sliver of the whole. I'm curious as to who pays for it. Is it largely collected in American papers? Which readers of the papers care about the particular strip? This can all be relevant for Marvel's decisions going forward (Do they still benefits with the Kings Features Syndicate deal?)

I don't have the IDW trades. I did buy the panned Marvel hardcover, since it was at a discount. It's okay, though I'm not sure it merits a double-dip.

[Digifiend]

Yes, it's still with King Features, and can be read online at Comics Kingdom, which is their website. As far as I know, it doesn't appear in any UK newspaper, so I think it is just distributed in the US.

[The Negative Zone]

I tried reading it but I honestly felt just like Morlun.

[Spidey_62]

Always enjoyed knowing these strips were out there every day and would occasionally follow some of the storylines. The strips from the beginning through 2001 are pretty much the big blind spots in my Spidey reading, that is until IDW started releasing those nice hardcover collections from the beginning onwards. Now I've read almost up til the marriage and that's pretty cool. They're great books if any of you want to read them. Fun new Stan and John Romita stories in a different format, and then later on so far you get other artists like Fred Kida getting to tackle Spidey, and other artists that never drew him in the books.

Anyways, it stinks neither Roy or Alex really had any clue what was happening. Never understand why some companies don't treat the people making their butter better, a little communication or heads up or fyi goes a long way. Sounds like the strip might likely return in a new form in the near future, will be interesting to see what that means.

[Miles To Go]

Which readers of the papers care about the particular strip?

There were seemingly enough readers who took issue with the idea Marvel were forcing the Brand New Day agenda in the strip back in 2009 (that's when I started reading it) and the resulting backlash convinced them to restore the marriage.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Thanks to syndication and so on, these newspaper strip is also published internationally across the world, so it's got a global audience as well. John Romita Sr. has talked about that but not enough has been studied about this, since to do that you need to look at newspaper data and so on.

And you have to cross-check how many read the funnies, how many read cover-to-cover, how many read just the front page and so on?

[Rod G]

I tried reading it but I honestly felt just like Morlun.

I imagine that in the Sunday strip, Morlun shows up, acts impatient and disappears, leaving Peter and MJ puzzled.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I imagine that in the Sunday strip, Morlun shows up, acts impatient and disappears, leaving Peter and MJ puzzles.

In the Spider-Verse comic, Morlun actually appears in the newspaper strip world but the nature of the newspaper comic strip and its daily strip nature, repetition and stretching out action by days bores him and he leaves it alone in a huff.