15th anniversary of Brand New Day. Hooray?

[Alex_Of_X]

If the ol' internets aren't lying, ASM #546 came out January 9th, 2008. It's been 15 years since BND. How does that make you feel, apart from very old?

Your likes, dislikes etc. are encouraged and welcome!

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[Batman Begins 2005]

Unscheduled Stop was the best story from it by far. It's in my top 40 Spider-Man stories. The major development of Flash Thompson losing his legs leading to Agent Venom. Those were the only positives from this period. Thank God, The Spectacular Spider-Man debuted shortly after in March. Love that show.

[Matt Rat]

At least in 2008 you still had:

-Spider-Girl with probably the best clone saga of all
-Ultimate Spider-Man
-An enthusiastic Slott out to prove himself
-The Spectacular cartoon
-The newspaper strip carrying on with the marriage
-The Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man shorts (which honestly should have been a full length comic)
-JMD penned shorts expanding on things like Harry's return and Ben's lost years

We still ate pretty good back then. Too bad none of it lasted and the empire collapsed into freefall not long after.

Make no mistake, BND was the beginning of the end. I truly believe it cost us all of that because interest in Spider-Man dwindled across the board and only ever seldom recovers now and then, either through experimental gimmicks (Superior) or by flat out ignoring the last decade and repairing/rebuilding (Spencer)

The last decade has seen:

-A mainline comic on such a quality decline that in any sane world it would be a "What If"
-Three rubbish animated series, one of which is for babies, with the only true sign of improvement in this field being the oscar-winning Into The Spider-Verse
-Andrew Garfield's movies weren't great, they have a cult following, but let's face facts, that's a Snyderverse level niche if ever there was one
-Tom Holland's movies, which have their own fair share of criticism as everyone comes to realise how awful the MCU truly is (No Way Home got away with it for a few months, but even it's attracted criticism since then)

[Vegan]

At least in 2008 you still had:

-Spider-Girl with probably the best clone saga of all
-Ultimate Spider-Man
-An enthusiastic Slott out to prove himself
-The Spectacular cartoon
-The newspaper strip carrying on with the marriage
-The Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man shorts (which honestly should have been a full length comic)
-JMD penned shorts expanding on things like Harry's return and Ben's lost years

We still ate pretty good back then. Too bad none of it lasted and the empire collapsed into freefall not long after.

Make no mistake, BND was the beginning of the end. I truly believe it cost us all of that because interest in Spider-Man dwindled across the board and only ever seldom recovers now and then, either through experimental gimmicks (Superior) or by flat out ignoring the last decade and repairing/rebuilding (Spencer)

The last decade has seen:

-A mainline comic on such a quality decline that in any sane world it would be a "What If"
-Three rubbish animated series, one of which is for babies, with the only true sign of improvement in this field being the oscar-winning Into The Spider-Verse
-Andrew Garfield's movies weren't great, they have a cult following, but let's face facts, that's a Snyderverse level niche if ever there was one
-Tom Holland's movies, which have their own fair share of criticism as everyone comes to realise how awful the MCU truly is (No Way Home got away with it for a few months, but even it's attracted criticism since then)

Least we’ve got the video games! Thank god for that and ITSV

[Alan2099]

It was really nice clearing away a lot of the garbage that JMS and other writers had left us and got Spider-man back to feeling young and energetic again.

[Matt Rat]

Least we’ve got the video games! Thank god for that and ITSV

Yeah, the video games are all awesome too. I've seen a few YT vids talking about how great the Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man game was. I'd also recommend Edge of Time.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

At least in 2008 you still had:

-Spider-Girl with probably the best clone saga of all
-Ultimate Spider-Man
-An enthusiastic Slott out to prove himself
-The Spectacular cartoon
-The newspaper strip carrying on with the marriage
-The Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man shorts (which honestly should have been a full length comic)
-JMD penned shorts expanding on things like Harry's return and Ben's lost years

We still ate pretty good back then. Too bad none of it lasted and the empire collapsed into freefall not long after.

Make no mistake, BND was the beginning of the end. I truly believe it cost us all of that because interest in Spider-Man dwindled across the board and only ever seldom recovers now and then, either through experimental gimmicks (Superior) or by flat out ignoring the last decade and repairing/rebuilding (Spencer)

The last decade has seen:

-A mainline comic on such a quality decline that in any sane world it would be a "What If"
-Three rubbish animated series, one of which is for babies, with the only true sign of improvement in this field being the oscar-winning Into The Spider-Verse
-Andrew Garfield's movies weren't great, they have a cult following, but let's face facts, that's a Snyderverse level niche if ever there was one
-Tom Holland's movies, which have their own fair share of criticism as everyone comes to realise how awful the MCU truly is (No Way Home got away with it for a few months, but even it's attracted criticism since then)

This.

As bad as OMD/BND was, the "dark times" didn't begin until around 2011. That's when all the other writers dropped, Slott got full control, and any good Peter Parker content outside 616 vanished (Miles Morales is a bit different). 2011-2017 were the real dark times.

That said, things looked better between 2018-2021, minus the MCU and Disney XD cartoon. Although, even there, things ended on a positive note. The cartoon was cancelled and it looks like NWH was course-correcting for the future.

[Matt Rat]

That said, things looked better between 2018-2021, minus the MCU and Disney XD cartoon. Although, even there, things ended on a positive note. The cartoon was cancelled and it looks like NWH was course-correcting for the future.

Yeah. No Way Home I'll credit, I hate the other two Holland movies, but NWH is OMD/OMIT/BND done incredibly right, moves Peter on while also setting him back.

[Kevinroc]

I can't believe the same people who steered the Spider-Man ship 15 years ago are still steering the ship. No wonder the current run is so creatively bankrupt. Spider-Man desperately needs new blood.

[Darthfury78]

I can't believe the same people who steered the Spider-Man ship 15 years ago are still steering the ship. No wonder the current run is so creatively bankrupt. Spider-Man desperately needs new blood.

Got to get rid of Nick Lowe and co...

All they are doing is repeating the same stories over and over again. Not to mention the constant trolling of Mary Jane and Black Cat, as well as all of the forgettable new love interests for Peter Parker that no one cares about.

[Kevinroc]

The biggest issue with BND was OMD. As a result of THAT story, they needed to hit the ground running with the best Spider-Man stories possible. And they didn't. The stories that followed were, at best, the textbook example of mid. And that is not what they needed. You can argue that BND got better as it went along, but the large and short of it was that it lacked a cohesive direction for the longest time because all of the different creators had different visions of what Spider-Man should be.

The whole thing was a mess with a few bright spots.

As for Slott's run that followed? That's a whole other discussion. Same thing with Spencer's run.

But it's pretty clear at this point that Beyond, and the Wells run that followed that. were an attempt to try to recapture BND (and the Spider-Man of the 1980s). And that was absolutely the wrong way to go.

[TinkerSpider]

The biggest issue with BND was OMD. As a result of THAT story, they needed to hit the ground running with the best Spider-Man stories possible. And they didn't. The stories that followed were, at best, the textbook example of mid. And that is not what they needed. You can argue that BND got better as it went along, but the large and short of it was that it lacked a cohesive direction for the longest time because all of the different creators had different visions of what Spider-Man should be.

The whole thing was a mess with a few bright spots.

As for Slott's run that followed? That's a whole other discussion. Same thing with Spencer's run.

But it's pretty clear at this point that Beyond, and the Wells run that followed that. were an attempt to try to recapture BND (and the Spider-Man of the 1980s). And that was absolutely the wrong way to go.

Wells's run is straight up a BND homage, from the time skip leaving the reader disoriented and the introduction of frustrating mystery boxes that went nowhere or ended highly unsatisfactory; to MJ suddenly living with another man, estranged from Peter and the tease of "jackpot" powers; to Peter and Felicia suddenly being friends with benefits again; to ASM 900 and Dark Web: Dusk, which are reminiscent of the parties in BND where random characters would gather just to provide exposition.

And yes, agree with everything you say, especially the fact that this is absolutely the wrong way to go.

[Kevinroc]

Wells's run is straight up a BND homage, from the time skip leaving the reader disoriented and the introduction of frustrating mystery boxes that went nowhere or ended highly unsatisfactory; to MJ suddenly living with another man, estranged from Peter and the tease of "jackpot" powers; to Peter and Felicia suddenly being friends with benefits again; to ASM 900 and Dark Web: Dusk, which are reminiscent of the parties in BND where random characters would gather just to provide exposition.

And yes, agree with everything you say, especially the fact that this is absolutely the wrong way to go.

The Wells run has been so negatively received by fans online that it's basically destroying BND's "legacy" with the equivalent of splash damage.

It's fascinating (and frustrating because of how terrible the current run is) to watch.

[Alex_Of_X]

Unscheduled Stop was the best story from it by far.

Unscheduled stop numero uno, agreed. A tremendous gem of a story.

Off the top of my head, I remember really liking the Mr. Negative stories, Paper Doll, Molten Man, New Ways to Die, one shot about Flash, American Son, the early Kraven Clan stories, Overdrive, Sandman, Rhino, Mysterio and spoilers:

Shed

end of spoilers

I think, blow for blow, BND is stronger than post JRJR JMS stuff. Also the spin-offs were peak: Carnage USA babyyyyyy

[Kevinroc]

With the possible exception of Unscheduled Stop, I've never really dug Mark Waid's take on Spider-Man. It's weird because I have enjoyed his work elsewhere and fully acknowledge him as one of the most significant comic creators of the last few decades. But I never really clicked with his Spider-Man.