What did you think of Parker Industries?

[Frontier]

Yeah no...

That’s a horrible idea

It would be a step backwards for the character.

I mean, it's not like he has much career momentum anyways these days...

Liz being a CEO doesn't mean she isn't a civilian. MJ and Jameson using technology to come to Peter's aid once in a while doesn't make them any less civilians either. It didn't make MJ less of a civilian when she beat up the Chameleon with a baseball bat.

Liz as a CEO is a borderline Supervillain.

MJ beating on Chameleon with a baseball bat seems more like something a civilian could pull off.

The way that could have worked is if we got a sense that Parker Industries was something a) Peter wanted and/or enjoyed doing, b) believably good at.

That means that readers are happy to enjoy it while it lasts and will feel sufficiently invested to feel sad when it ends. When JMS made Peter a teacher, you got the sense that Peter enjoyed doing that. It wasn't exactly an ideal job but it was one he was happy to do and he was believably good at doing it. And it did feel sad when that ended, which you got in Back in Black when Peter briefly visits the school at night. To Slott's credit, Peter working at Horizon Labs was established and we did get a sense that he enjoyed being there and his boss Max Modell at least seemed to like Peter.

Neither was the case with the way Slott did Parker Industries. Peter treated that job as a burden, kept skiving away, and basically amounted to being in office and then telling employees to "science this into existence". Peter had an interest in science/technology yes but him being a businessman was never part of it. So again, we didn't get a real sense that this was something A) Peter wanted/enjoyed, B) He was good at. So there was no real sense of loss or tragedy when that ended.

I mean Nick Spencer's first issue is all about what a mistake it was for Peter to accept something he didn't earn and then deciding, "no that wasn't Parker Luck" it was entirely justified losing that and he's a much happier guy since than before.

Yeah, I think Horizon was conceptually something that worked even if the supporting cast just wasn't on the same level as the Bugle.