The Problem With Spider-Man Comics Today

[Lee]

Marvel is putting out one Spider-Man series that is aimed at you, and one Spider-Man series that isn't aimed at you, and your response is that they should both be aimed at you?

[RJT]

Because the core books suck without it.

Not according to the many people that are buying them.

[Matt Rat]

Not according to the many people that are buying them.

Sales still aren't as high as they were during the marriage years. The 'many' in today's comics climate are still very few.

[RJT]

Sales still aren't as high as they were during the marriage years. The 'many' in today's comics climate are still very few.

Sales were higher over all during that period for all books. Spider-Man comics are top selling comics relative to the market.

[Alan2099]

The problem is that the character is controlled by a whole bunch of people who act only on the principle "the character should be the way we remember him from our childhood, everything else is wrong, if you don't agree with us, you can go to hell."
That's the problem. They're not writing comics for fans, they're writing for themselves. Unfortunately, Spider-Man is too big for sales to start drastically declining, so, they're gladly using that.

The marriage has been gone for fifteen years now. At this point people that are crying about how it's not around anymore like it was in the 80s and 90s are the ones upset that it's no longer like their childhood memories of the characters.

[Hoodj]

This is such a great argument because it allows folks to ignore metrics that don’t support their position that fans really really want Peter and Mary Jane married. Clearly, there are plenty of real world examples of Marvel/DC superhero books where the sales cratered enough that a drastic status quo change occurred (someone mentioned the pre-Hickman X books as an example.) But If one says “sales pressure can’t work on a Marvel book” then you never have to address the sales argument against your position. It’s basically the “ I have a girlfriend, she just goes to a different school” defense: there are legions of readers who want Peter and Mary Jane married, but they’re still buying the book because Marvel has a monopoly. Sales of Spider-Man comics have stayed relatively high comparatively to the industry as a whole—if the marriage was such a dealbreaker for so many of them, we would have seen Spider-Man’s sale position drop and we haven’t. Most readers really don’t care one way or the other.
Characters like Deadpool and Punisher held multiple monthly titles, and now routinely go through periods where they don’t even have one; Spider-Man went through low sales periods in the late 90s/early 00s that led to all sorts of drastic status quo shifts. So saying “voting with your wallet doesn’t work” (when there’s evidence plenty that it can) is just a way to insulate your argument from the reality that there really aren’t a significant enough number of people willing to drop reading Spider-Man comics over the marriage issue.

Only in your headz people for the mass majority want to see spidey fight bad guys and crack jokes whike teaming up with characters while alternating between the former 2. The video games and movies prove this.

[Jman27]

Only in your headz people for the mass majority want to see spidey fight bad guys and crack jokes whike teaming up with characters while alternating between the former 2. The video games and movies prove this.

that's me give me the hero doing the hero things. whoever he's sleeping with shouldnt be my priority

[Matt Rat]

Only in your headz people for the mass majority want to see spidey fight bad guys and crack jokes whike teaming up with characters while alternating between the former 2. The video games and movies prove this.

You mean the video games and movies that feature him married, trying to sort out his relationships, and come to terms with his Aunt's death?

Those movies and games?

[RJT]

Duplicate post.

[NC_Yankee]

I'm literally telling you NOT to consume the product if you dislike it.

You're saying a "better" product, but the thesis of this thread, and the most vocal unsatisfied fans on this particular forum, is that Spider-Man comics are bad because Marvel won't age Peter up, won't make him a married man again, won't make him a mature and sensible grown-up who has his life together. That's not about "good comics" or "bad comics". That's about wanting to read a particular type of comic, one where characters get older and older and all of the big changes stick and don't get undone. That's not Marvel's wheelhouse. That's not the nature of the beast. They have to ensure that their characters are still viable 10, 20, 50 years down the line.

You can demand that McDonald's starts serving steak, or you can go to a steak restaurant.

I can agree with the McDonalds analogy, but I can tell you that the Wells run has caused me to lose interest in Spider-Man ( I even stopped being angry), I am more concerned these days about how the Islanders play then what happens with Peter. Why? The quality of the product. Islanders good, Spider-Man bad it’s that simple.

[RJT]

The marriage has been gone for fifteen years now. At this point people that are crying about how it's not around anymore like it was in the 80s and 90s are the ones upset that it's no longer like their childhood memories of the characters.

Right, it's straight up projection. They assume that editorial is making irrational story decisions either out of nostalgia or out of spite for fans because that is what they would do if they were in charge of Spider-Man.

[Matt Rat]

The marriage hasn't gone anywhere

It's back next week.

[Mercwmouth12]

I can agree with the McDonalds analogy, but I can tell you that the Wells run has caused me to lose interest in Spider-Man ( I even stopped being angry), I am more concerned these days about how the Islanders play then what happens with Peter. Why? The quality of the product. Islanders good, Spider-Man bad it’s that simple.

It's the same for other readers and they'll get angry or happy or share their annoyance in the future when the next thing happens during this run

[Matt Rat]

The marriage has been gone for fifteen years now. At this point people that are crying about how it's not around anymore like it was in the 80s and 90s are the ones upset that it's no longer like their childhood memories of the characters.

Sins Past had been in continuity for seventeen years. At this point people that were crying about how it was around when Gwen was a sainted virgo in the 70s are the ones upset that it's no longer like their childhood memories of the charac...oh wait, they fixed it, everyone's happy

[Alan2099]

Sins Past had been in continuity for seventeen years. At this point people that were crying about how it was around when Gwen was a sainted virgo in the 70s are the ones upset that it's no longer like their childhood memories of the charac...oh wait, they fixed it, everyone's happy

Not even remotely comparable, man. Try again.