Amazing Spider-man 22 Preview

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

Going by the spoilers (I refuse to read this) if we're supposed to take this at face value MJ cheats on Peter with this random dude she's trapped with, has his babies in an apocalyptic wasteland (but having Spider-Man's kid is too dangerous?), then when she returns she doesn't feel like she owes Peter any kind of explanation or closure given their history and then Peter responds to this by stalking her?

Depending on how the next few issues go I may just walk away from the book for good. No one looks good here and no one is likable. The bad guys frequently beat up Spidey instead of the other way around. I don't know who this Spider-Man ntr stuff is for but I just fine it kind of gross and off-putting.

[NC_Yankee]

All it means is that the crater isn't what pissed people off.

I go back to what Wells was talking about when to paraphrase nothing of his run is lasting.

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

I don't think there's anything wrong with Wells using his own character.

Right until he ties it into such an overbearing plotline, which boasts an impression of overvaluing his own work - if this was just an one off tale of Spidey facing another off-kilter villain, that'd be fine. Which is why I said most of the issue is the framing, since at least this chapter, so far, didn't seem all that bad to me overall - right until I remembered they decided to make so "serious" (for want of a better term) for this run. It's one thing to bring back a forgotten baddie from a decade and change, another is to frame it as such a "make or break" moment in the character's life (or at the very least, the run's).

And it's guaranteed to be controversial, so it probably wouldn't be good for other peoples' characters to be here. Wells has done major stories elevating Tombstone and the Living Brain, so he's willing to pick less-obvious existing villains. But if this was a story with Fusion, Calimari, the Disruptor or whatever obscure villain you like, it wouldn't do them any favors given that some readers will be really against any story that breaks up Peter and MJ.

I honeslty don't think these kinds of considerations matter much for villains - we're supposed to dislike these guys, though we can always grow to "love to hate them" or, at the most, empathize, at spots. Wells also didn't shy away from doing rather divisive things with other established characters like Ben, Janine and Dr. Kafka as well, and IMO, since their roles never were to make Spidey's life tougher for him, they could have used that much hypothetical consideration rather than other villains.

As for "elevating", I did like how he handled Tombstone at the end of his first arc, but was pretty neutral for his take on Living Brain. I'm not sure if I'd use "elevating" for his work on them, but I also would be the first to admit at this point it's just arguing semantics.

[Frontier]

All it means is that the crater isn't what pissed people off.

The framing and advertising of the story made it look like it was the crater but I guess now it's how he got Paul, MJ, and the kids out.

[Kevinroc]

They didn't plan anything out. And it shows.

[spiderlink]

All it means is that the crater isn't what pissed people off.

It makes sense, why all his friend who don’t know he is Spider-Man would hate him for the crater? Wells said that no one get hurt or died in the explosion so I don’t see why the Avengers, FF and other hate him too, make sense that what Peter do was act a bit like a creep to rescue MJ ( but we will see in the two upcoming issues) and of course Marvel would use the picture of the explosion to promote the run, it’s basic marketing but since the first issue it’s clear that it goes beyond that
I think in 23 we will see why everyone hates Peter and in 24 we see how he decide to team up with Norman, in 25 we will see MJ again with explanation to her family

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I don't think there's anything wrong with Wells using his own character.

I think it's smart for Wells to use Paul and a forgotten BND villain. But only because it will be easier to ignore this run going forward.

Part of why OMD can't be ignored is because they used Mephisto - a major Marvel character with ties to Ghost Rider and that appeared in big events like Infinity Gauntlet. It was easier to ignore MJ being kidnapped in the 90's because the kidnapper was a nobody - and now everyone forgot about that story.

So I'm all for Wayeb and Paul being the big bads and/or having major roles, because it's part of how you avoid this run doing long-term damage to the story and the characters. Whether or not that was the intent, I don't know (I doubt it). But it helps.

[jebsib]

Fair point - it’s like the MJ stalker plot from 1999 and 2000 - another huge drawn out story with massive ramifications that was obviously not planned out - the more this can be tied to a one off villain, the easier it will be to forget in the future.

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

I think it's smart for Wells to use Paul and a forgotten BND villain. But only because it will be easier to ignore this run going forward.

Part of why OMD can't be ignored is because they used Mephisto - a major Marvel character with ties to Ghost Rider and that appeared in big events like Infinity Gauntlet. It was easier to ignore MJ being kidnapped in the 90's because the kidnapper was a nobody - and now everyone forgot about that story.

So I'm all for Wayeb and Paul being the big bads and/or having major roles, because it's part of how you avoid this run doing long-term damage to the story and the characters. Whether or not that was the intent, I don't know (I doubt it). But it helps.

The problem long term isn't Paul himself though it's the character assassination of MJ if she cheated on Peter here and had kids with him in these circumstances. I'm not sure if I want to see these versions of the characters together anymore after this.

[Mercwmouth12]

The problem long term isn't Paul himself though it's the character assassination of MJ if she cheated on Peter here and had kids with him in these circumstances. I'm not sure if I want to see these versions of the characters together anymore after this.

The kids will be some kind of totem creation

[Kaitou D. Kid]

The problem long term isn't Paul himself though it's the character assassination of MJ if she cheated on Peter here and had kids with him in these circumstances. I'm not sure if I want to see these versions of the characters together anymore after this.

The event in general can be more easily ignored if none of the characters in it are thay important, and that too is good news for MJ.

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

The kids will be some kind of totem creation

I hope you're right but I don't have much faith. We know MJ and Paul are actually together from the Joe Kelly issues.

The event in general can be more easily ignored if none of the characters in it are thay important, and that too is good news for MJ.

I don't know how we just ignore MJ cheating on Peter and refusing to talk to him after being brought back and I don't think I'd want Peter pursuing a relationship with MJ after something like that. I hope in the end this is misdirection but I think Marvel knows exactly what they're doing and just don't care.

[Vegan]

I’m perfectly content with ignoring everything that happened in this run. That Mayan god no one cared about years ago never came back. Peter never got punked by the Vulture so hard he begged Norman Osborn to save his life. Paul Who? I’m not familiar.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I don't know how we just ignore MJ cheating on Peter and refusing to talk to him after being brought back and I don't think I'd want Peter pursuing a relationship with MJ after something like that. I hope in the end this is misdirection but I think Marvel knows exactly what they're doing and just don't care.

The nature of 616 being a loose continuity is that it's easy to ignore bad stuff. Especially in post-OMD runs (which go out of their way to treat themselves as recyclable).

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

I’m perfectly content with ignoring everything that happened in this run. That Mayan god no one cared about years ago never came back. Peter never got punked by the Vulture so hard he begged Norman Osborn to save his life. Paul Who? I’m not familiar.

The nature of 616 being a loose continuity is that it's easy to ignore bad stuff. Especially in post-OMD runs (which go out of their way to treat themselves as recyclable).

If this is something Marvel commits to then it could affect the comics for awhile and honestly I doubt they'll ever let us forget it as long as the same attitude towards the status quo continues.

I will say that if Wally West can come back from Heroes In Crisis then anything is possible. Doesn't make it suck any less in the moment though.

On that note, think can we can get Jeremy Adams on ASM after this run to fix this mess?