Is JMS run actually THAT good?

[RD155]

JMS has always been tough to rank for me as a writer.

I loved his actually writing of the character. He was also one of those rare writers that managed to make Aunt May actually interesting. He did a fantastic job of handling the Peter/MJ relationship and he could honestly write them in his sleep. So as far as the handling of the characters goes, he was always one of my favorites. I just really enjoyed his take of the character of PeterParker/Spider-man. His run had some really high moments, but damn did it have some low spots too and that's even ignoring the obvious OMD. "The Other" was flat out horrible to me. The mystical/magical angle that he always seem to want to push on the character just never worked.

Again, even as I'm writing this Im having hard time describing how I feel about him.

Best way to put it for me was that ......I loved his characters and relationships. Wrote them beautifully.....I hated some of his ideas and themes.

It's unfortunate as well but he will always be tied to OMD. Not his fault but it is what it is. He was the hired hitman....

[daredevil1]

I mentioned him on another thread but JMS was great when he could get out of his own way. He wrote some great stuff but had weird idiosyncrasies like 1) his endless unfunny humor where Aunt may or Peter play mean jokes and then comment smugly on it 2) His plots that went nowhere but he stubbornly pushed forward and then blamed everyone else after 3) he ignored continuity constantly, often lazily and spitefully and 4) his tendency, on all his books, to pack up his toys and go home in a huff when he got mad, often mid-story. The worst continuity gaffs are when he made up the way Uncle Ben died and refused to explain his rewrite to the point it made the scene nonsensical, and couldn't get Aunt May's maiden name right. That one is more on Axel (who was the most ineffective and out to lunch editor Marvel ever had, merely there to get name creators on books) but all either had to do is a google search... even casual fans know why it's Reilly.

He also kind of suffered in comparison (to me) by coming on a year after Jenkins had already done great things, so the tonal shift was not as great as it might've been. I couldn't believe anyone thought JMS did anything to turn the books fortunes around when you had Jenkins often outdoing him every month, but then, both of them made Bendis look like amateur hour and he's somehow best remembered from that period. So what do I know. JMS' run with Romita was fine and constant, he just made the world of the book so much smaller and insular. But in the other path lies madness, or Brand New Day.

[Matt Rat]

Here's a retrospective on his era by JMS' own nephew

[Mister Mets]

That was a decent video with some strong insights into his run. I don't recall this guy with a Scottish accent saying anything about being related to JMS.

[Matt Rat]

I don't recall this guy with a Scottish accent saying anything about being related to JMS.

Watch the video from around the :08 to 0:10 mark, he confirms it there, plus there's a photo.

[daredevil1]

Watch the video from around the :08 to 0:10 mark, he confirms it there, plus there's a photo.

I think that's just a joke. I know way too much about JMS it seems, but in his autobiography he goes into long detail about how he's estranged from most of his family, and is Russian (not Scottish) in background.

[kingaliencracker]

JMS has always been tough to rank for me as a writer.

I loved his actually writing of the character. He was also one of those rare writers that managed to make Aunt May actually interesting. He did a fantastic job of handling the Peter/MJ relationship and he could honestly write them in his sleep. So as far as the handling of the characters goes, he was always one of my favorites. I just really enjoyed his take of the character of PeterParker/Spider-man. His run had some really high moments, but damn did it have some low spots too and that's even ignoring the obvious OMD. "The Other" was flat out horrible to me. The mystical/magical angle that he always seem to want to push on the character just never worked.

Again, even as I'm writing this Im having hard time describing how I feel about him.

Best way to put it for me was that ......I loved his characters and relationships. Wrote them beautifully.....I hated some of his ideas and themes.

It's unfortunate as well but he will always be tied to OMD. Not his fault but it is what it is. He was the hired hitman....

This is almost identical to my thoughts about his run. The totem stuff never really clicked with me, and he had the misfortune of having two of his major stories mangled by edotiral in Sins Past and OMD.

But I still have a weird fondness for his run, mostly for the reasons you described. Sometimes great characterization can overcome terrible plots. That pretty much sums up his run for me.

[Mister Mets]

Watch the video from around the :08 to 0:10 mark, he confirms it there, plus there's a photo.

I think I missed that while setting up my speakers.

It still comes across like a joke. He has some good points about the run.

[phonogram12]

JMS' run was the last one I have almost in it's entirety and enjoyed. That said, I've always liked to think of it as an alternate universe version of the characters. While the characterizations were great and consistent, I was never really thrilled with the idea of mainline Peter being a teacher and being separated from MJ (I feel both made him seem older than he should be).

[Lukmendes]

JMS' run was the last one I have almost in it's entirety and enjoyed. That said, I've always liked to think of it as an alternate universe version of the characters. While the characterizations were great and consistent, I was never really thrilled with the idea of mainline Peter being a teacher and being separated from MJ (I feel both made him seem older than he should be).

At the very least, Spidey not being with MJ wasn't JMS' idea, Marvel did that to make MJ **** off even after returning, that would explain why JMS' run completely ignores her PTSD too.

[PCN24454]

At the very least, Spidey not being with MJ wasn't JMS' idea, Marvel did that to make MJ **** off even after returning, that would explain why JMS' run completely ignores her PTSD too.

Comics back then didn’t dwell on PTSD very much (heck they don’t do it too much now), so writing her out of the story was probably the most they could do with her.

[Matt Rat]

At the very least, Spidey not being with MJ wasn't JMS' idea, Marvel did that to make MJ **** off even after returning, that would explain why JMS' run completely ignores her PTSD too.

JMS retconned the PTSD into MJ believing Peter didn't need her. Their airport reunion culminated in her overcoming it.

(I feel both made him seem older than he should be).

And losing a child didn't make him look and seem older?

[phonogram12]

And losing a child didn't make him look and seem older?

I only try and pick up runs that I enjoy, so it's been awhile since I picked up any Spider-Man books, so that memory faded a bit. That and that entire arc that involved Norman coming back just was not very good. Certain things I just try and block out as much as humanly possible.

[KC]

His run was hit and miss for me. When it hit it was really good but when it missed like Sin's Past and OMD it made for some of the worst stories in Spider-Man's history.

[WebLurker]

And losing a child didn't make him look and seem older?

I think a lot of the "Spider-Man needs to be about youth first and foremost" creative decisions are more interested sweeping stuff under the rug. It's not the most creatively sound decision, but mainstream superhero comics have always quietly dropped and ignored stuff over time anyways. Comes with the genre.