ASM 6 (#900) Discussion

[Triniking1234]

Have you never heard of PR?

Imagine if Marvel published a listicle of best stories in celebration of an anniversary, and deliberately omitted the big, high price tag, extra pages and extra expensive issue in honor of that very same anniversary they published less than a week ago. Like.... this issue was pretty poor for an anniversary but this really isn't a slam dunk of "what hacks!" that you seem to think it is.

If it was PR, they should've used a better book for Miles like Spider-Men vol 1, Secret Wars or Spider-Verse.

[ChrisIII]

The Kimmel story kind of reminded me a bit of Ron Zimmerman's (RIP) Spider-Man/Jay Leno team ups from the early 00's

[wleakr]

Based on reading prior comments, I thought this issue was going to be a crapfest.

This issue was a GREAT read!

Granted, it was a departure from the previous arc, but it was enjoyable, including the short add-on stories. It reminded me of the joy I had reading Amazing Spiderman Annual #1 the first time. If you're not part of the continuity police, there is a lot to like about this story, especially how it all comes together with the answer to "Who is Spider-man?". This single issue did more for me than the entire run of Spencer.

[Vegeta]

Compared to the other Marvel titles I picked up this week, (AXE and it's various tie-ins, Edge of Spiderverse) this was a rather enjoyable read. I like the upgraded Living Brain design (kind of "Brainiac" looking, which is my favorite Superman villain) and the Sinister Adaptoid was really cool as well. I also thought it was funny that Mysterio released an album. "EVERY SONG IS ABOUT YOU!"

I'd rather have fun issue like this for the anniversary than a "someone DIES!" or "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!!!" overhyped storyline. 2 fun new villains and Peter gets rewarded with kiss from an old romantic interest instead of the usual "Peter gets dunked on by some other upstart character in his book" that tends to happen often nowadays.

[Huntsman Spider]

Compared to the other Marvel titles I picked up this week, (AXE and it's various tie-ins, Edge of Spiderverse) this was a rather enjoyable read. I like the upgraded Living Brain design (kind of "Brainiac" looking, which is my favorite Superman villain) and the Sinister Adaptoid was really cool as well. I also thought it was funny that Mysterio released an album. "EVERY SONG IS ABOUT YOU!"

I'd rather have fun issue like this for the anniversary than a "someone DIES!" or "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!!!" overhyped storyline. 2 fun new villains and Peter gets rewarded with kiss from an old romantic interest instead of the usual "Peter gets dunked on by some other upstart character in his book" that tends to happen often nowadays.

Fair enough. For all the flaws in this issue (especially Mary Jane not even showing up for his birthday party), I did like how the upgraded Living Brain came to understand who Spider-Man really was and what he represented. That was probably the best part of this whole thing, but then it's long been a trope in Spider-Man comics that the villains recognize Spidey's heroism much more easily than most others in-universe do.

[TinkerSpider]

Fair enough. For all the flaws in this issue (especially Mary Jane not even showing up for his birthday party), I did like how the upgraded Living Brain came to understand who Spider-Man really was and what he represented. That was probably the best part of this whole thing, but then it's long been a trope in Spider-Man comics that the villains recognize Spidey's heroism much more easily than most others in-universe do.

But it was so on-the-nose and read like "on a very special episode of Amazing Spider-Man, the lesson is being nice can pay off." The Living Brain's plan didn't make sense. If it was so concerned about learning "who is Spider-Man" that it feels it will be "condemned" and it can absorb people for information, why not just absorb the Sinister Six, Peter's friends, and the unconscious Spider-Man? That would have solved its burning need to know. But I guess asking for logic from a giant brain is too much.

As a silly romp it was...silly. At least it was a break from JRJR having to draw blood splatters everywhere.

[jackolover]

I don’t know the continuity of this. It’s set one year ago, so is this during the time everyone knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, before Doctor Strange changed Mephisto’s deal about Spidey’s identity? Anyway, I can see why fans don’t like this #900, but I’m not one of them. ASM #8 was my first introduction to Spider-Man so it is endearing to me. I love the Living Brain. Now to some comments.

The Avatar killed those ICM executives? The Avatar DEFEATED the whole of the Sinister Six! Doc Ock’s arms are now controlled by Peter Parker? These are all big factors to come out of this story. Yes, I agree, the Sinister Six sounded childish. But all of them getting captured and tied up by a machine would set anybody’s psychopathic senses blaring. And the Avatar wasn’t even an Adaptoid like the main villain. I definitely want to get that Avatar back again in the stories, mainly because he looks great as a humanoid Living Brain. He reminds me of the Vision a bit.

And another thing about this anniversary issue is the point of the story - who is Spider-Man? The use of the Sinister Six is poignant, because they represent the sum total of his villains gallery in an iconic sense. For them to be used as the vehicle to derive the character of the man under the mask, gives it the Sinister Sixes impremitur as well. Who but those who constantly are in conflict with Spider-Man can define him the best? I thought it was a very admirable representation of how comfortable Peter is around the Sinister Six.

[Triniking1234]

Only the Ultra Living Brain digging up the original's body took place one year ago.

[Destro777]

Easily one of the worst Marvel comics of the last 25 years.
It read like something from the late 60's. Dated doesnt begin to explain it.
Seriously what even was this book? It was like fan fiction from a high schooler. Just completely awful.
Its a bad sign when you finish a book and feel terrible you spent any money on it - let alone 10 bucks.

Im thinking ill just stick re-reading Larsen's run, JMS, and Brand New Day for my spidey fix.

Marvel in general (actually the big 2 as a whole) are not very good at the moment. It seems all the best books, runs, and ideas came from the 2000's era. Nothing is even close to those. Outside of Hickman, these creators today are pretty much garbage - they just dont got it.

[Huntsman Spider]

Easily one of the worst Marvel comics of the last 25 years.
It read like something from the late 60's. Dated doesnt begin to explain it.
Seriously what even was this book? It was like fan fiction from a high schooler. Just completely awful.
Its a bad sign when you finish a book and feel terrible you spent any money on it - let alone 10 bucks.

Im thinking ill just stick re-reading Larsen's run, JMS, and Brand New Day for my spidey fix.

Marvel in general (actually the big 2 as a whole) are not very good at the moment. It seems all the best books, runs, and ideas came from the 2000's era. Nothing is even close to those. Outside of Hickman, these creators today are pretty much garbage - they just dont got it.

The 2000s were very creative and fruitful when it came to blowing up the established norms and traditions of the mainstream superhero genre. That was where a lot of the excitement and buzz came from in those days, as the prevailing sentiment was that the genre had gotten stale and needed some freshening up. The problem was that once everything got blown up and deconstructed to high hell . . . I don't think anybody in charge there had any real endgame or plan for reconstructing the mainstream superhero genre into something that could work in the modern era, but still stand the test of time.

Also, on the more real-world level, Marvel and DC don't compensate their creators fairly, although they're both part of multibillion-dollar corporate conglomerates that aren't exactly hurting for money, so that's a big factor as well. I mean, what enterprising comics creator wants to give away their best ideas, or even just their really good ideas, to the Big Two knowing that they won't get a fair wage or a fair chunk of the millions (if not billions) of dollars those companies are raking in from film, TV, and even videogame adaptations of their characters and stories?

[Destro777]

The 2000s were very creative and fruitful when it came to blowing up the established norms and traditions of the mainstream superhero genre. That was where a lot of the excitement and buzz came from in those days, as the prevailing sentiment was that the genre had gotten stale and needed some freshening up. The problem was that once everything got blown up and deconstructed to high hell . . . I don't think anybody in charge there had any real endgame or plan for reconstructing the mainstream superhero genre into something that could work in the modern era, but still stand the test of time.

Also, on the more real-world level, Marvel and DC don't compensate their creators fairly, although they're both part of multibillion-dollar corporate conglomerates that aren't exactly hurting for money, so that's a big factor as well. I mean, what enterprising comics creator wants to give away their best ideas, or even just their really good ideas, to the Big Two knowing that they won't get a fair wage or a fair chunk of the millions (if not billions) of dollars those companies are raking in from film, TV, and even videogame adaptations of their characters and stories?

Thanks for the reply - I hate to sound so intensely negative with my previous post - but dangit its the truth.
Your post makes a lot of sense. Whats the incentive for a creator to go big, original, wild anymore for the Big 2 - when creative rights are sitting at other companies? It seems like when someone actually does bring those huge ideas to the Big 2 table (Hickman Xmen) theres some kind of editorial interference - or the story never gets fully told.

I guess we didnt know how good we had it in that 2000's era when Johns/Brubaker/Morrison/Ellis/Millar etc were just going crazy with their ideas on characters whove been around for decades. Im kinda always searching for that era's mood and feeling and current mainstream Big 2 books rarely achieve it.

[Huntsman Spider]

Thanks for the reply - I hate to sound so intensely negative with my previous post - but dangit its the truth.
Your post makes a lot of sense. Whats the incentive for a creator to go big, original, wild anymore for the Big 2 - when creative rights are sitting at other companies? It seems like when someone actually does bring those huge ideas to the Big 2 table (Hickman Xmen) theres some kind of editorial interference - or the story never gets fully told.

I guess we didnt know how good we had it in that 2000's era when Johns/Brubaker/Morrison/Ellis/Millar etc were just going crazy with their ideas on characters whove been around for decades. Im kinda always searching for that era's mood and feeling and current mainstream Big 2 books rarely achieve it.

You're welcome, and thank you as well.

[jackolover]

Only the Ultra Living Brain digging up the original's body took place one year ago.

Thanks. It took a while to gather that.

[Matt Rat]

Sales data.

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/...XEEd_I.twitter

Number 5 by Unit

Number 2 by Dollar

[Matt Rat]

https://comicshenanigans.podbean.com...ith-zeb-wells/

Wells admits 900 is just a 'fun done in one' he belted out right after finishing issue one, to give Ed time to draw it.