What Is Your Verdict On Dan Slott's Big Time?

[Mister Mets]

There's an overview thread of the Superior Spider-Man run, but we don't really have a poll about the Big Time era that came just before it.

I started a similar thread about the Brand New Day Era, but the Big Time is different, as Peter Parker got a job at Horizon Labs, and Dan Slott became the solo writer (for the most part.)

To explain the potential scores, as it's possible for one man's B to be another man's C...
An A+ is the highest score. It's meant to be pretty rare, an indication that this run is up there with the best of the medium (Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Stern's Amazing Spider-Man, Love & Rockets, etc.)
An A is impressive, but not quite on that level. It's among the best for the character, but not the best ever in comics.
A B indicates that the run is good but not great. The majority of the material is still worth rereading. In terms of quality, it's largely a success.
A C is pedestrian. It's neither good nor bad, and most of the material is probably not worth rereading.
A D is poor. It's a flat out failure. Most of the material isn't worth reading in the first place.
An F is worse.

It's also possible that some of the people here might not have an interest in purchasing a 53 issue (and that's not counting the tie-ins) comic book run, so I left another option for those posters.

[Keeper of the Crows]

Given the critical and commercial success of the title, I’d say Big Time was an unqualified success. Following on the heels of a BND that frequently suffered from vacillating quality, Slott infused the book with one voice. He took the book in new, interesting directions, incorporated existing characters while introducing new ones (Horizon Labs comes to mind), brought back many of Peter’s classic rogues in a big way (Doc Ock). Big Time was also bolstered by a strong team of rotating artists.

I’m torn between “A” and “B.” Overall, I’d say Big Time was a good run with elements of greatness, like “No One Dies.”

Slott’s strengths include a clear passion for the character that directly translates onto the page, fast-paced storytelling, and out of the box ideas. His issues sometimes suffer from poor dialogue, selective use of continuity, and occasional slip-ups in execution (“Alpha”) but in my opinion those are usually mitigated by the quality of the book as a whole. I’d say he’s a better “ideas guy” than a writer.

Oddly, after all this time my favorite Slott story is still Spider-Man/Human Torch: I’m With Stupid, which is a little strange, considering all the work he’s done since then. I think he’s had a good to great run on the title, but I’m ready to see what someone with a new vision for the character could do.

[Metamorphosis]

Feels like a 'C' to me. The spotlight was shared too much with guest stars to make it a super-memorable run for me. Really, it's more like a new volume of Marvel Team Up than an Amazing Spider-man title.

The quality ranges from great ("No One Dies") to good ("Revenge of the Spider Slayers", "Return of Anti-Venom", "No Turning Back") to hugely disappointing ("Spider-Island", "Ends of the Earth") to just outright crap ("Alpha"). Also, I hated Slott's take on villains like Hobgoblin, Kingpin, Mysterio and Venom. If he's really writing from the "Marvel method" of loosely plotting and then writing the script after getting the art back, it's a writing style that really doesn't work for me.

I may be a judging the run a bit harshly. I just expected to be wowed a little more. Definitely ready for the next writer on ASM by now.

[Mister Mets]

I gave it an A. The opening Horizon Labs/ New Hobgoblin arc, No One Dies, Spider Island and Dying Wish probably rate among the best Spider-Man stories ever. Ends of the Earth was a great epic in the mold of the David Michelinie summer six-parters (except probably better than any of those). The quality was fairly consistent, Doctor Octopus worked quite well as the big bad, and there's very little that isn't worth rereading. It was a lot of fun.

[Aruran.]

I gave it an A too. Dan Slott came out with brand new ideas, and just gave really great stories to us. Like Alpha is really the only thing from 648-700 that really hurts Dan's run, but other than that there wasn't anything that was written poorly. It brought back consistency in Spider-Man especially with how BND was set-up. It also really showed the potential that Spider-Man had with his friends, mostly with the Horizon cast.

And this is also the reason why I'm disappointed in the current run by Slott. When I look back at these issues and I look at what came out from Volume 3, I know Slott can do better and has done better.

[exile001]

Gimme an A! So close to a perfect Spidey run.

It had everything I want from a Spider-man run. It was exciting, fun and funny.

We got old and new villains, Doctor Octopus back as his biggest enemy, Spidey upping his game, Horizon, "No-one dies!", Peter Parker; super scientist, the Sinister Six, Hobgoblin (three of them!), Pete and MJ as friends (with sparks flying), Spider-Island, Jackal... Damn, I could go on and on.

Also, Slott was also paired with fantastic artistic teams who really ran with the energy he infused into every script.

And let's not forget Slott used this run to springboard several characters' solo series. Liked Venom, Scarlet Spider or Morbius? Thank Slott.

I can't give it a perfect score, though. The kid Avengers issues and, of course, Alpha make that impossible.

Otherwise, yeah, really hard to criticise for me.

[John Ossie]

I gave it a B overall. Liked a lot of the ideas, some of the stories were a lot of fun to read i.e Spider Island. And some of the art was fantastic. The No-One dies thing wore a bit thin personally, personally didn't like Dying Wish or Alpha (especially Alpha). And some of the stories were just average to me personally.

The new Hobgoblin was kinda ''meh'' to me. I did enjoy reading JJ as Mayor though.

So, yeah like I said I give a B overall.

[Vegeta]

It wasn't too bad, I liked seeing Peter really trying to put his education to use at Horizon, and there were a few touching stories as well. Did not care for the new Hobgoblin though. I'm sure I'll get some flak for this, but I am not a fan of Ramos' art. It's just too wildly kinetic and stylized, and considering that Slott tends to cram a lot of Superhero guest stars in every issue it ends up looking a bit too jumbled and busy.

[Metamorphosis]

It wasn't too bad, I liked seeing Peter really trying to put his education to use at Horizon, and there were a few touching stories as well. Did not care for the new Hobgoblin though. I'm sure I'll get some flak for this, but I am not a fan of Ramos' art. It's just too wildly kinetic and stylized, and considering that Slott tends to cram a lot of Superhero guest stars in every issue it ends up looking a bit too jumbled and busy.

Totally agree, Phil Urich was the worst Hobgoblin yet, and Ramos' art was frequently not up to par.

[RD!]

Better than BND but too many teams ups kept it from an A grade.

[Scott Taylor]

B. I was a fan of most of his smaller arcs, but none of the big epic arcs like Spider-Island or Ends of the Earth.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I'll probably have to sit through it again to give a proper verdict
At the moment, I feel like giving it a 'C', unremarkable. If one thing I would think not really worth reading I'd say Ends of the Earth is a low point after the first few pages of part 1
The best thing is Peter finally having a great job worthy of his skills and talents, and something with working hours fitting for his time as Spider-Man

[deadboy80]

I gave it a B. This is about whwre I picked up Spider-man for the first time in years. I didn't think this run to be Amazing (pun intended), but its kept me on to date. I like the current run. And I'm anxiouslly awaiting Spiderverse.

[exile001]

Two votes for N/A: Haven't/Won't Read It. Lol.

[Mister Mets]

Totally agree, Phil Urich was the worst Hobgoblin yet, and Ramos' art was frequently not up to par.

One thing I liked about the Big Time was how Slott made Urich a different time of Hobgoblin, while also giving Kingsley an effective M.O.

Macendale's always going to be the worst Hobgoblin, I think. The sense of mystery was gone, and there were three separate attempts to make him seem more dangerous: the demonic possession, Kraven formula and cybernetic upgrades. He did coast by for a few years as the only Goblin.