Why does “The Other” seem to slip by when discussing JMS low points?

[RD155]

Personally I feel “The Other” was the low point of his run. However I usually hear people bring up OMD or Sins past and The Other barely gets mentioned. Am I overestimating how bad that story was? Where there fans that actually liked it?

This isn’t intended to be a topic to rag on JMS because I enjoy his run as a whole. It’s just a bit weird to me that this particular story seems to be forgotten when to me, this was the worst his run had to offer. OMD for as bad as the concept and idea was, at least served a purpose and it wasn’t solely JMS fault.

I mean, is there anything remotely redeemable about the story?

[Snoop Dogg]

It's a sex thing.

[your_name_here]

Sins Past and One More Day are worse.

The Morlun fight was pretty cool but yes, everything else sucked.

[Triniking1234]

> The Other
> JMS era low points

Does not equate.

[Ozymandias]

It could be argued that JMS was only partially responsible for it, as he only wrote some issues. I'm sure the quality suffered from that fact more than anything else. But yes, bringing back Morlun felt out of place, he had served his purpose.

[NC_Yankee]

Personally I feel “The Other” was the low point of his run. However I usually hear people bring up OMD or Sins past and The Other barely gets mentioned. Am I overestimating how bad that story was? Where there fans that actually liked it?

This isn’t intended to be a topic to rag on JMS because I enjoy his run as a whole. It’s just a bit weird to me that this particular story seems to be forgotten when to me, this was the worst his run had to offer. OMD for as bad as the concept and idea was, at least served a purpose and it wasn’t solely JMS fault.

I mean, is there anything remotely redeemable about the story?

The Other has not escaped my criticism. If I ranked that story it is third from the bottom. Obviously the bottom feeder is OMD/BND, then Silk then The Other.

[Scott Taylor]

The Other was my least favorite story when they were coming out on stands. It just reeked of off-brand and out-of-character, for Peter specifically. I didn't feel that Peter was all that misrepresented in Sins Past (that was more Gwen) and OMD, well, lets just say it had bigger issues than just Peter.

[Mister Mets]

There are two main factors.

Other people are blamed for it, as it had two cowriters, including Reginald Hudlin, whose earlier work was poorly received.

It also had a limited impact. This meant that it was disappointing as a twelve-issue mini-series, but it doesn't piss off people the way Sins Past or One More Day did, as those were more consequential.

[SuperiorIronman]

The Other just isn't Sins Past or OMD. It's a bit out of the realm of Spider-man but it did have good usage with Kaine so one can argue it did have some merit. A bad idea got reworked into something good so retroactively it does hold some worth. You just can't say the same for OMD or Sins Past so it tends to get lost in the shuffle.

[Lukmendes]

Like OMD, fans may not blame JMS completely for it because it was mandated by editorial, but above all, The Other just isn't as controversial as Sins Past and OMD, the bigger controversy is often the one that gets the most attention lol.

[federicodettofred]

Because, to me, The Other is nowhere near as awful as Sins Past or One More Day. It's a weird story and it's not a great one for sure, but it's just that. There is no controversy (except Spider-Man getting beaten almost to death). Sins Past and One More Day completely betray Peter Parker's character and they look like middle fingers to fans and readers.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

The Other is at least technically well-written. It's not trying to character assassinate anyone like Sins Past and isn't poorly written like OMD.

Also, the message of The Other isn't horrible like the message of the first two are.

[jebsib]

Were the new 'Stingers' in "The Other" ever explained?

That's a massive and conspicuous new Spider-Man power and it feels like it just went away, never to be used again (except inexplicably by Kaine years later)

[RD155]

Were the new 'Stingers' in "The Other" ever explained?

That's a massive and conspicuous new Spider-Man power and it feels like it just went away, never to be used again (except inexplicably by Kaine years later)

It was a horrible idea so it’s best left to just fadeaway.

Looking back I guess the fact that “The Other” was handled by so many different writers alleviates JMS of some of the blame. I still give him the lions share because he was the catalyst for the whole “magic/totem” aspect of Spider-Man. It was an interesting idea at the start but completely hit rock bottom when things just got out of control during “The Other”.

[Jman27]

whats wrong with the arc wasnt it give Peter a power up?