Amazing Spider-Man #39

[Tien Long]

Agree with a lot of people here, this was a great issue. I was truly surprised how well Jonah held his own in the debate against Spidey. A lot of his points made sense.

Furthermore, loved the use of Norah in this issue. She acted in the POV of the audience, recognizing just when the trainwreck was about to happen. Great stuff!

[Huntsman Spider]

Agree with a lot of people here, this was a great issue. I was truly surprised how well Jonah held his own in the debate against Spidey. A lot of his points made sense.

Furthermore, loved the use of Norah in this issue. She acted in the POV of the audience, recognizing just when the trainwreck was about to happen. Great stuff!

Indeed, and like you and others here have said, Jonah not only held his own, but made lots of very good and sensible points about how Spider-Man didn't really help his case in the beginning and for much of his career, even recently. Granted, a lot of it could be chalked up to his past as a friendless, bullied loner before he got bitten by the radioactive spider making him especially reluctant to rely on or trust others with his most precious secrets and other aspects of his life, but after a certain point, he was just making things harder on himself than they had to be out of . . . pride, maybe?

[Rosebunse]

Pride, arrogance, and, let's be honest, just pure habit. It's how he's always done things.

[blackspidey2099]

Spencer wrote Jonah perfectly here. I love how Jonah was actually right for once when criticizing Pete. Definitely one of my favorite issues of Spencer's run so far.

[Frontier]

A lot of what Jonah said made a profound amount of sense, especially the part about Doc Ock. It took forever for anyone to realize something was wrong. You can call that bad writing, but it also points out that despite Spiderman's long history, he doesn't have the best reputation.

People realized Spider-Man was acting differently but they didn't seem to mind it, even when he outright murked somebody in cold blood. Even Jonah was all for the new Spider-Man up until he got blackmailed.

The people who actually knew Spider-Man on a more intimate level like the heroes or his loved ones don't have the same excuse. And they were the only ones who were actually in a position to do anything about it.

The sad thing is, Jonah is truly the only one who could call him out like that. Other people, like MJ and even the Fantastic Four, are sort of fine to suffer through Peter's arrogance and just be a part of his life as best they can. And Peter works to incorporate MJ into his life as best he can, but MJ just can't yell at him to be better the way Jonah can.

I think MJ could totally be critical of Peter and he would listen to her. Failing to meet her expectations or disappointing her is almost as big of a deal for him as Aunt May.

Granted, I don't think MJ thinks he's arrogant.

[Hypestyle]

bah! If Jonah had known Pete was Spider-Man from the get-go, he'd be selfishly goading him into conflicts purposely for selling papers himself. Jonah has never been as mature as he likes to portray himself to be.
In the long run, it's going to be a mistake for him to know the secret ID.

[Hulkout42]

I liked the issue but damn those last pages with Overdrive really made me feel for him.

[Rosebunse]

bah! If Jonah had known Pete was Spider-Man from the get-go, he'd be selfishly goading him into conflicts purposely for selling papers himself. Jonah has never been as mature as he likes to portray himself to be.
In the long run, it's going to be a mistake for him to know the secret ID.

I'm more worried about Norah. She's proving to be as bad as Jonah, but younger and with more tech no-how.

[Huntsman Spider]

Pride, arrogance, and, let's be honest, just pure habit. It's how he's always done things.

Stubborn pride and force of habit, yes. Arrogance, I'm not so sure of, unless self-righteousness can be counted under that, which he sometimes falls into.

bah! If Jonah had known Pete was Spider-Man from the get-go, he'd be selfishly goading him into conflicts purposely for selling papers himself. Jonah has never been as mature as he likes to portray himself to be.
In the long run, it's going to be a mistake for him to know the secret ID.

Fair enough, although that's another thing Jonah and Peter actually have in common; neither of them are as mature as they'd like to think of themselves, and both of them have at least internally acknowledged that they're not as good as they'd like to be. That's probably why they have such a hard time getting along even when Jonah is sincerely trying to help Peter.

I'm more worried about Norah. She's proving to be as bad as Jonah, but younger and with more tech no-how.

Yeah, that's a good point, too. Wonder how long it'll take for her to have her epiphany . . . and how much wreckage will be left by the time that happens.

I liked the issue but damn those last pages with Overdrive really made me feel for him.

Indeed. It was a good, if harrowing, parallel to Jonah's argument that Peter/Spider-Man should, at long last, take some responsibility for his bad reputation.

[Rosebunse]

There's so many reasons why Norah's company is destined to fail, but the big problem is that she isn't only risking exposing identities and plots, but just think about how mean the real news is. How long will it be before she publishes something really mean and hurtful about a hero or villain? Sure, the HydraCap thing was bad, but Steve is stable guy and he would be able to calm anyone down, but what about other people?

[Huntsman Spider]

There's so many reasons why Norah's company is destined to fail, but the big problem is that she isn't only risking exposing identities and plots, but just think about how mean the real news is. How long will it be before she publishes something really mean and hurtful about a hero or villain? Sure, the HydraCap thing was bad, but Steve is stable guy and he would be able to calm anyone down, but what about other people?

Considering Chance just burst in on them while Spidey and Jonah were having their interview-turned-argument . . .

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think Norah and co. will eventually all land on their feet.

[eratas123]

So I'm reading some of the later issues of Spider-Man and...wow, Norah Winters' character has become the Millenial Jameson. She went from being one of the more upstanding journalists despite her quirks to being a proud clickbaiter who approves articles like 'Captain America still a HYDRA agent' and gleefully telling Jonah she essentially bilks her employees. She's even eager to pin blame on Spidey on (an admittedly bad looking) situation whereas Jameson argues that there must be another explanation and even tricks Spidey into an interview with Jonah just to goad them into a fight for views. She even celebrated it when she thiught Peter was abiut to physically hurt Jonah.

Guess getting fired from the Bugle really screwed her worldview. I miss the issues where she talks **** to Norman Osborn and helped Rachel Cole-Alves get revenge for the people who murdered her friends and family. Then again Norah’s always been the weird character who was written better outside of the mainline books. In the mainline books she comes across as the zany girl whereas in the Osborn miniseries and especially Greg Rucka’s Punisher she feels like a completely different character - talking smack to Osborn, being a willing informant to vigilantes and even sneaking into crime scenes for Rachel just to help hee get memntos. I hope we can see that version again.

[Von]

I absolutely love how this issue lets these two characters vomit up all the negativity and resentment built up over the past 50 years at each other in one, single spectacular brawl.

DON'T HOLD BACK! TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!!

My only reservation was the possibility that Spencer might be leaning toward going back to status quo...ugh...I love how he's making a lot of effort to have characters evolve and stay fresh without tampering too much with the core of who they are.

So it would be a huge disappointment to have Peter and Jonah straight enemies again (*yawn*) ... or even worse... hating each other even more than before. I doubt he'll go that way but we'll see.

I think with Spidey saving him from Chance's attack, this could make Jonah back off a bit. On the other hand '...this only happened BECAUSE you're Spider-Man!! Putting everyone in danger!!' is also an equally possible way to go.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

My only reservation was the possibility that Spencer might be leaning toward going back to status quo

Remember that Slott also had Jameson as a foolish and shallow character in Go Down Swinging. Spencer has done better with Zdarsky's vision than Slott did.

I think with Spidey saving him from Chance's attack, this could make Jonah back off a bit. On the other hand '...this only happened BECAUSE you're Spider-Man!! Putting everyone in danger!!' is also an equally possible way to go.

I am sure that if and when Spencer will have Jameson and Peter come to blows or lapse back again it will be in a major story and not in this one.