JMS Spiderman

[IndianaDrake]

So i was thinking about reading the JMS run on the Amazing Spiderman but first just wanted to see if it was good overall.ON one hand I heard some good stuff about it but on the other hand i read up on the Grey Goblin fiasco and that just sounds terrible. I refuse to believe Gwen would cheat on Peter with Norman. Whats everyone else s opinion on the run?

[Russ840]

It's great. The first half ( the Romita jr issues ) is amazing ( pun intended ).

The second half has a couple of stories people tend to not like but I enjoyed the whole run immensely. Apart from OMD.

In short. Read it !

[oldschool]

It's great. The first half ( the Romita jr issues ) is amazing ( pun intended ).

The second half has a couple of stories people tend to not like but I enjoyed the whole run immensely. Apart from OMD.

In short. Read it !

JMS' opening arc "Coming Home" is nothing short of brilliant and is on many lists of Best Spidey stories ever. After that….his run is mostly solid for the next year or so with one more truly great story ("Doomed Affairs"). Apart from that, though, his run leaned way too heavily on the mystical and bland new villains (Digger, Shathra, Charlie Weiderman) at the expense of Spidey's classic rogues. A lot of folks critique JMS for "Sins Past", "Civil War" and "OMD" which defined the latter half of his run but that's unfair IMO as those were all heavily dictated by Marvel editorial. Overall, I think JMS brought a unique vision and maturity to Spidey's story at a time it was needed. The first year or two of his run is excellent but the rest of it is pretty hit and miss with a lot of bland stuff in there.

[Batman Begins 2005]

From what I've read, I liked everything from JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run. Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home is THE highlight. That's one of the best ever Spidey stories. I'm also fond of Amazing Spider-Man #37-50, #57-58 and #500-502, particularly #38. I've never managed to read the two controversal ones, Sins Past and One More Day.

[BlitheringToot]

I would agree that the first half of Straczynski's run is better than the second. But it's all good, despite the awkward hiccups like "Sins Past" (which nonetheless boasts some gorgeous Mike Deodato, Jr. art). And you can almost taste his rage in each sentence of "One More Day," which is how it should be. He made it bad on purpose because it was a BAD IDEA forced upon him, and I can dig that. Comic book reviewer Linkara actually has a great, scathing review of it on YouTube that nailed my thoughts on "OMD" almost verbatim.

[Scott Taylor]

Great. Worth reading the whole thing with an open mind. They should have gone with the JMS version of OMD, it made more sense considering the gravity of what was happening.

[Aura Blaize]

I found JMS' run an interesting take on the character. It was the run that got me back into Spider-Man actually.

[John Ossie]

I liked JMS's run a lot as Peter progressed as a character quite a bit in it and Aunt May shone in his run, which seems to be a hard thing for writers to do.

[TheOnslaught]

While I'll enjoyed the whole run up till OMD, I stopped collecting in Trade format at 'The Book of Ezekiel'. At the runs height, before 'Sins Past' started a downward trend

[RD!]

Its one of the best runs ever. You need to read it. Sins Past is a good story, it just takes away some of what made The Night Gwen Stacy Died so good, and was a mis-step. OMD is not good, and you could probably skip it, but it's only four issues. Apart from these two arcs, it is a fantastic run and a "must read" for new fans in my opinion. Dare I say JMS is the ONLY writer who made good use of Aunt May in 616 to this day.

[toddx77]

Yes read it. JMS told great Spider-man stories and the character development with Peter was amazing . Even though though One More Day sucks still read it since I consider it a right of passage among Spider-Man fans. You have to read it so you can see how awful the JMS run had to end lol.

[Qrx2]

From what I've read, I liked everything from JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run. Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home is THE highlight. That's one of the best ever Spidey stories. I'm also fond of Amazing Spider-Man #37-50, #57-58 and #500-502, particularly #38. I've never managed to read the two controversal ones, Sins Past and One More Day.

I got to the last issue of One More Day and saw a Spoiler of how it ended and never read the last issue.

As for Sins Past just a bad story idea. I can understand why people skip it though.

[Ivan P91]

I'm with others, in that the first half is stronger than the second. I can respect JMS' take on the character, but those spiritual/totem stories ended up getting a bit exhausting (this is coming from someone who read them pretty much all together in Ultimate Collection form). I really liked the developments in Pete's personal life, ie. his career, relationship with MJ and May.

Sins Past, regardless of whose idea it was, is the worst though, and I dislike it more than OMD.

This gives me the chance to ask something I've been wanting to for a while - is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that in the average JMS comic (I've only read his ASM and Superman: Earth One, but noticed it in both) that he really overuses the characters names? This is generally during non-Spidey scenes, when Pete's talking to MJ or Aunt May, but it makes the conversation so clunky, unbelievable and hard to read. For example, ASM #38 which, as great a story as it, there are some things with the writing that bother me so much. Just flicking through now, in a span of 22 pages there are at least 18 instances of May calling Peter directly by name in the course of a conversation between two people (there are two of Peter imagining what May is saying that I didn't count), and I know Pete name drops May quite a handful of times as well. I understand that comic books have never had realistic dialogue, and all writers - comics, books, tv, movies - use the characters' names in the course of a conversation, but sometimes in JMS' run it got a little ridiculous for me (this isn't even the best example, I know there's another story at some point in his run where I believe May uses Peter's name, while talking to his face, twice in the one speech bubble).

For example, ASM #38, Page 19. In the span of one page (6 panels), we get:
I didn't take it well at all, Peter.
They don't know I'm your nephew, Aunt May.
It's all right, Peter.
I dreaded having this talk, Peter. (May literally says this immediately after the one above it, nothing else in between)
And for me, that's you, Peter.

I know it's not that big a deal, and I'm probably the only one that cares about it (I'd say most people probably haven't even noticed it?). If anything this is my one criticism of JMS' writing. I get that there may be new readers who don't know who is who, or that it can create emotion by showing how close characters are bonded to one another, but on the other hand I, for one, can say I never use someone's name in the course of a conversation unless it's to get their attention ("I know, Peter - sorry, just using your name in case you've forgotten who you are.")

[Dayle88]

I've read practically every Spidey comic and his is my favourite run. My take on One More Day is that the people in charge weren't going to NOT do it and at least we had someone who we know understood the character and was smart enough to disagree with it. The worst part is that they didn't do anything special with the new status quo after we had it forced on us.

[Naked Bat]

it's very well written, with some great character moments, and some genuinely emotional scenes. The whole fate stuff is also interesting.