The Problem With Spider-Man Comics Today

[Refrax5]

You just pointed out the problem yourself, Spideys unwillingness to go past the classic old school conventions amd embrace the traditonal. MJ is old school and tradition as its just typical romantic teasing and build up plop told a thousand times, and MJ is not the source of Peters foundation of ideas and new takes of fun, Peter Parker hinself is, MJ is a utility that needs Peter to stay interesting based on what plot build up she adds, and frabkly i think MJ is boring by herself, the only characters i see Peter being equal as side narratives and exploratory stories outside of him are the villains, the smybiotes and maybe JJ.

While I generally find kid characters annoying and personally have no interest in Spider-Man suddenly focusing on Peter being a dad, the supporting cast and Peter having normal problems and relationships is a huge part of the character. Removing that stuff takes the soul out of the character.

[Kevinroc]

While I generally find kid characters annoying and personally have no interest in Spider-Man suddenly focusing on Peter being a dad, the supporting cast and Peter having normal problems and relationships is a huge part of the character. Removing that stuff takes the soul out of the character.

The current run is basically about taking Peter away from his supporting cast and it's one of the most maligned runs in recent memory.

[Matt Rat]

You just pointed out the problem yourself, Spideys unwillingness to go past the classic old school conventions amd embrace the traditonal. MJ is old school and tradition as its just typical romantic teasing and build up plop told a thousand times, and MJ is not the source of Peters foundation of ideas and new takes of fun

The 'new takes of fun' don't work, they only serve to make the character look repeatedly more adolescent.

Peter and MJ also weren't 'romantically teased' for 20/33 years, they were fully committed to one another. There's a difference.

[Daibhidh]

This run seems to indicate Peter x Norman is actually pretty boring. Too bad for their shippers.

It would be more interested if there were a third person interacting with the two of them who had a similar but subtly different history with Norman Osborn. Is there anyone in the Spider-man supporting cast who basically shares Peter's history with Norman but who didn't know Norman was the Goblin until after his first death, someone whose first impressions of Norman were just that he was herXXX their friend Harry's father? If the writer had Peter and that other character bouncing their subtly different histories with Norman off each other that would make things more interesting.

[Huntsman Spider]

It would be more interested if there were a third person interacting with the two of them who had a similar but subtly different history with Norman Osborn. Is there anyone in the Spider-man supporting cast who basically shares Peter's history with Norman but who didn't know Norman was the Goblin until after his first death, someone whose first impressions of Norman were just that he was herXXX their friend Harry's father? If the writer had Peter and that other character bouncing their subtly different histories with Norman off each other that would make things more interesting.

The only one I could think of right off the bat would be Mary Jane Watson, who was just as affected by Gwen Stacy's death, caused by Norman, as Peter was, to the point she refused to let Peter push her away so he could wallow in guilt and grief alone, even when he was lashing out at her, saying she wouldn't even be sorry if her own mother died. (Then it turned out, as per her backstory revealed some hundred issues later that her mother was long dead, and she was quite sad about it, to say the least.)

[CaptainUniverse]

The only one I could think of right off the bat would be Mary Jane Watson, who was just as affected by Gwen Stacy's death, caused by Norman, as Peter was, to the point she refused to let Peter push her away so he could wallow in guilt and grief alone, even when he was lashing out at her, saying she wouldn't even be sorry if her own mother died. (Then it turned out, as per her backstory revealed some hundred issues later that her mother was long dead, and she was quite sad about it, to say the least.)

Ironic that the one character who could have made this storyline better has been completely removed from the equation because of Marvel Editorial's obsession with a stagnating status quo that was ripped out of the 1970's.

[Tabs]

It would be more interested if there were a third person interacting with the two of them who had a similar but subtly different history with Norman Osborn. Is there anyone in the Spider-man supporting cast who basically shares Peter's history with Norman but who didn't know Norman was the Goblin until after his first death, someone whose first impressions of Norman were just that he was herXXX their friend Harry's father? If the writer had Peter and that other character bouncing their subtly different histories with Norman off each other that would make things more interesting.

MJ, Randy, and Flash.

[Agent Z]

MJ also lost a child to Norman and had one of her closest friends (Harry) corrupted by his legacy. And there was that time Norman put Flash in a coma.

[CaptainUniverse]

MJ also lost a child to Norman and had one of her closest friends (Harry) corrupted by his legacy. And there was that time Norman put Flash in a coma.

Norman just needs to die already and spend the rest of eternity with Mephisto in HELL!

[Daibhidh]

The only one I could think of right off the bat would be Mary Jane Watson

Well, yes. It was something of a rhetorical question. (CaptainUniverse has since spelled out the implicit point I was making.)

[Huntsman Spider]

Well, yes. It was something of a rhetorical question. (CaptainUniverse has since spelled out the implicit point I was making.)

All right, then.

[kcekada]

The problem with any character that's been around for years is that their best stories have already been told. Creating knock off versions isn't bringing anything new to the plate, but if a younger audience is drawn to them -- so be it.

[Matt Rat]

The problem with any character that's been around for years is that their best stories have already been told

I think that's fair. You can still have good stories, but most of the time it's in limited series or anthology shorts set in an 'ideal' and uncomplicated past or even future, disconnected from the responsibility of keeping a story 'current' and 'ongoing' and needing to clutter it with setback upon setback that cheapens all the progress made in those iconic stories.

DC seem to be getting this a bit more right in recent years, and have mastered it with their holiday one-shots, Black Label titles, anthology and young adult labels etc, Marvel don't play nearly half as much in that sandbox, though when they do it's very good also.

I'd rather see stories connect to the eras they belong to than try and undo progress just to revisit them.

[Hoodj]

While I generally find kid characters annoying and personally have no interest in Spider-Man suddenly focusing on Peter being a dad, the supporting cast and Peter having normal problems and relationships is a huge part of the character. Removing that stuff takes the soul out of the character.

I know the side characters are important and play a big part of the narrative peter leads,but this book is called the amazing spiderman for a reason, spidey leads the narrative as a spurce of everything he interacts with and thus he himself is the soul. He can honestly be on his own without his cast as long as he focuses on his character ideals and flaws plus is sense of justice and humor.

[Mercwmouth12]

I know the side characters are important and play a big part of the narrative peter leads,but this book is called the amazing spiderman for a reason, spidey leads the narrative as a spurce of everything he interacts with and thus he himself is the soul. He can honestly be on his own without his cast as long as he focuses on his character ideals and flaws plus is sense of justice and humor.

But that's that's been the core of he character since the 60's you can have issues where he's in a fight for an arc then what just move onto a new arc with no substance and get what we're getting where Peter is begging for help each and every fight from his lord and savior Norman?