ASM 6 (#900) Discussion

[Kevinroc]

Shippers are dangerous in any fandom

We got The Night Gwen Stacy Died because a Peter x MJ shipper took over the book once upon a time.

[Jness]

Last issue and #900 have done a *great* deal in winning me over. #900 is the first time I've laughed out loud at a Spider-Man comic in a *very* long time.

[TinkerSpider]

Waste of an anniversary and so not worth ten dollars. Tonally totally disconnected from the earlier five issues. The plot was asinine, the characters were cardboard cutouts with Felicia and May not even resembling how they were portrayed in the last ASM issue and any previous characterization of Ock and Mysterio thrown right out the window. The whole thing read like a story rejected from Marvel Adventures for being too insulting to the intelligence of their grade school readers, with Wells even plagiarizing the sentient Ock arms from one of his issues of Marvel Adventures. If it weren’t for the plagiarism, I’d honestly wonder if Dan Slott ghost wrote this issue due to the sophomoric humor and the female characters verging on two dimensional sexist stereotypes.

[Matt Rat]

Most of the complaints im seeing are about shipping

No, they're really not.

And I've always liked Black Cat as a love interest so I've got no problem here.

Felicia is a better friend than lover.

[Kevinroc]

Most of the complaints im seeing are about shipping

Even if this was true, which it isn't, the way Wells has handled MJ has been exceptionally poor. He broke her and Peter up with zero explanation, and has treated what happened as a mystery box.

And I've always liked Black Cat as a love interest so I've got no problem here.

If something more does come from the kiss, Felicia would be presented as a rebound. That's... not a good place for a character or their relationship to be. (And this is without getting into how lackluster the build up to the kiss was in this issue.)

[Aura Blaize]

And I've always liked Black Cat as a love interest so I've got no problem here.

I don't mind them either. I've said they could make a good couple. But I would expect there to be a story behind that and not "Oh hey, we're together now." Especially after Spencer establishing that they were better friends. That's the annoying part for me. How did we go from 'We're better friends" to "We're lovers now"? I feel we were robbed.

[Dermie]

The tentacles being in love with Spidey reminds me of a scene several years back in a PUNISHER Annual where Spidey ends up getting a bit intimate with a Doc Ock tentacle after getting zapped with Lascivous' lust powers. She zapped Spidey to have him slow down the Punisher so she could escape -- but Punisher got himself away from Spider-Man by tossing a salvaged version of one of Doc Ock's tentacles at him, and things progressed from there. The scene cut away from Spidey at that point, so we don't actually see what happened, but another character comments that they'll be able to make good money "selling the shots I'm getting of Spidey's street side love-in with that Ock arm".

I have no idea if that scene was being remembered at all when this development with the tentacles was written for this issue....but its an amusing coincidence.

[Refrax5]

Even if this was true, which it isn't, the way Wells has handled MJ has been exceptionally poor. He broke her and Peter up with zero explanation, and has treated what happened as a mystery box.



If something more does come from the kiss, Felicia would be presented as a rebound. That's... not a good place for a character or their relationship to be. (And this is without getting into how lackluster the build up to the kiss was in this issue.)

Yeah and I'm coming at this from an unbiased place. I like MJ, but I don't know if she's my favorite love interest. I don't have any real personal shipping preference, honestly (although I did like Peter with Gwen more in the Ultimate Universe because she was cooler and more interesting than MJ), but they've been pretty much established as soulmates in the 616, undoing the marriage was just badly written and the breakup just feels tedious at this point. Trying to rewind 616 Peter to being a bachelor at this point just feels so hollow and forced. I'm just over the endless back and forth.

[Matt Rat]

Yeah and I'm coming at this from an unbiased place. I like MJ, but I don't know if she's my favorite love interest. I don't have any real personal shipping preference, honestly (although I did like Peter with Gwen more in the Ultimate Universe because she was cooler and more interesting than MJ)

Ultimate Gwen and Peter did hook up, and everyone around them pointed out how wrong it was because they had treated one another like brother and sister throughout most of the run. And I liked that Ultimate MJ was as big a nerd as Peter. Bendis made it out that they were soul mates in the Ultimate series also that no other love interest, not even the really popular one like Kitty, could ever match.

[Refrax5]

Ultimate Gwen and Peter did hook up, and everyone around them pointed out how wrong it was because they had treated one another like brother and sister throughout most of the run. And I liked that Ultimate MJ was as big a nerd as Peter. Bendis made it out that they were soul mates in the Ultimate series also that no other love interest, not even the really popular one like Kitty, could ever match.

I'm very aware of what happened in the story and why. I just didn't agree with them going that route.

[Somecrazyaussie]

What the hell was this? Was this the best they could come up with for an anniversary issue? My god... okay, one could argue they wanted to have fun with it. No problem there. But the characterisation was pretty much a parody (not in a good way) and it was a tonal departure from the previous issues in this run. So much so I nearly got whiplash as a result.

And the back slapping in the editor/letters column is fast reaching asinine levels.

To think this is waiting in my standing order. What's worse is I'll probably be slugged $12 Australian for it. If not more.

This is going straight into my box and shall never be mentioned again. It was that dreadful.

[Morgoth]

I can't say it was bad, but it looked like an ordinary issue of something like Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, not anniversary issue of flagship series.
I really can't understand what the hell Wells is doing with series.

[RJT]

Felicia is a better friend than lover.

Same is true about MJ.

[Kevinroc]

Same is true about MJ.

MJ always wins the best Spidey love interest polls. So your views on the subject definitely do not align with those of the majority of Spider-Man fans.

[Matt Rat]

Same is true about MJ.

LOL WUT?

Not even close to reality.

It's been demonstrated throughout the majority of adaptations and continuities, even during the post-OMD era, that MJ is the one for Peter, all roads lead back to her.

I'm very aware of what happened in the story and why. I just didn't agree with them going that route.

It made sense for the story. Gwen told MJ she considered Peter her little superhero brother earlier in the run, Bendis had the sense to have characters call her and Peter out on the relationship because of that. They tried making it work, but Peter ultimately kept confiding more in MJ than the others. They got over their break-up relatively quickly and didn't think about it again, indicating it was just a passing phase. This was never going to be a CW Barry/Iris situation here.