ASM #26 Preview

[Xenon]

I had not considered the Kamala page not being the last. It just has such Final Page energy to it. That would honestly make a lot more sense, and then include a bit more of the aftermath for MJ/possibly reveal anything larger going on. I kind of half expect a last page reveal if the kids aren't totem magic, we see them back with their original parents restored to their previous point in time. Which is something I would think MJ would be happy about. Sure, she'd be sad to lose them, but she'd understand that being with their actual parents is the best option.

I'm totally with you on not wanting the Paul villain/slow break up with MJ arc. I am firmly team "Just have him be a dude" or "gay bestie" both are wildly better options. Write him out with 26. Have him be a footnote in MJ's life that we move on from. Pretty, pretty please.

Best case scenario, we get the reveal the kids are fake/MJ's mind was tampered with. But Paul wasn't responsible and is just as much a victim as her, and they agree to split because there was nothing real between them. MJ apologizes to Peter and they finally start to heal.

Do I think that's what will happen? No, not really, I think Wells is gonna drag out the Paul/MJ stuff longer if he can, but I'm trying to hope this is it and Paul is gonezo from here.

Best case scenario I can see here is just that Paul doesn't come back. Like the hugging page is the last we see of him and when MJ comes back she just says it fell apart after the kids died. Best case she tells Peter they weren't really together together and it was just for the kids, more realistic scenario is that Wells still doesn't see the problem and he treats it as just a relationship that's over. Gonna be real gross.

Why? What difference does it make?

There is no competition between Paul and Peter for a properly written Mary Jane. If we're going to get tortured scenes about her staying with Paul it's just gonna be stupid. While there also isn't any competition between Mary Jane and Felicia in reality, Peter is the type that he would stay with Felicia because dumping her just beause MJ became available would be cruel. It also matter because I like all of the characters in the two girl triangle and the one on the outside is also a t fault. In the two men scenario, Mary Jane is at fault and not on the outside. And I don't want to see any more of Paul and MJ together than I have to.

So Bleeding Cool posted the "death" scene and I gotta say, Rabin has to be the worst villain in modern Spider-Man history.

spoilers:

Splits Peter/MJ, allegedly creates two magic kids to "chain" MJ to, keeps going after her for years to become a "god", but can't recognize a shapeshifter.

end of spoilers

Wells is just embarrassing.

Eh, kinda weird given he's been given supernatural perception in the past (knows when Weyep dies, knows that MJ did it), but not the worst. My bigger issue is that, as I thoguht, Spider-Man has nothing to do with stopping the villain. In fact he doesnt' even get stopped. He just kills the wrong person and apparently dies as a result. Weaksauce.

[Venomsaurus]

Best case scenario I can see here is just that Paul doesn't come back. Like the hugging page is the last we see of him and when MJ comes back she just says it fell apart after the kids died. Best case she tells Peter they weren't really together together and it was just for the kids, more realistic scenario is that Wells still doesn't see the problem and he treats it as just a relationship that's over. Gonna be real gross.

Eh, kinda weird given he's been given supernatural perception in the past (knows when Weyep dies, knows that MJ did it), but not the worst. My bigger issue is that, as I thoguht, Spider-Man has nothing to do with stopping the villain. In fact he doesnt' even get stopped. He just kills the wrong person and apparently dies as a result. Weaksauce.

Fingers crossed this is the last we see of Paul. Hopefully MJ gets out of the book for a while too, until someone who actually gets her character takes over. Though I still have a sinking feeling that we're seriously supposed to take issue 25 at face value, and that Wells feels he satisfyingly answered the big mystery. I'm waiting until the full issue is either leaked or released legit but it's hard not to worry. At least the kids are gone.

Spider-man doesn't beat bad guys. That's everyone else's job, silly. He's just there to get cucked and cry a bunch over people who've been dead for 50 years. Way more relatable to the youths.

[Spider-Tiger]

There is no competition between Paul and Peter for a properly written Mary Jane. If we're going to get tortured scenes about her staying with Paul it's just gonna be stupid. While there also isn't any competition between Mary Jane and Felicia in reality, Peter is the type that he would stay with Felicia because dumping her just beause MJ became available would be cruel. It also matter because I like all of the characters in the two girl triangle and the one on the outside is also a t fault. In the two men scenario, Mary Jane is at fault and not on the outside. And I don't want to see any more of Paul and MJ together than I have to.

It's bad no matter which way you slice it. Peter should not be competing against Paul while dating another woman. And Felicia should not be set-up as an obstacle to Peter and Mary Jane reuniting.

Best case scenario, Paul and MJ split once the kids are gone, and they'll have Felicia end things amicably with Peter knowing that he still has feelings for Mary Jane. (Because she cares for him and just wants him to be happy.)

But knowing Marvel, they'll throw all of Felicia's character development out the window, and have Felicia do something like double-cross Spider-man or go Queenpin again to justify reuniting him with Mary Jane.

[CaptainUniverse]

Saw the new leaks and it reads like they REALLY wanted to kill off MJ but clearly a higher power, up to infinity, because of politics (and by politics, I mean the boatloads of cash money they make off of MJ merch) said "Nuh-Uh" and so Wells had to kill Kamala off instead via ANOTHER fake-out.

[Jman27]

Saw the new leaks and it reads like they REALLY wanted to kill off MJ but clearly a higher power, up to infinity, because of politics (and by politics, I mean the boatloads of cash money they make off of MJ merch) said "Nuh-Uh" and so Wells had to kill Kamala off instead via ANOTHER fake-out.

makes no sense since they do gwen merch and she dead wouldnt post mortem mj merch be even worth more. They are cowards

[CaptainUniverse]

makes no sense since they do gwen merch and she dead wouldnt post mortem mj merch be even worth more. They are cowards

I think making MJ dead would make OG Gwen even more redundant than she already is now that Spider-Gwen has entered the public consciousness.

[Xenon]

Fingers crossed this is the last we see of Paul. Hopefully MJ gets out of the book for a while too, until someone who actually gets her character takes over. Though I still have a sinking feeling that we're seriously supposed to take issue 25 at face value, and that Wells feels he satisfyingly answered the big mystery. I'm waiting until the full issue is either leaked or released legit but it's hard not to worry. At least the kids are gone.

Yeah unfortunately we're in the real danger zone at this point, without the kids the excuse to be with Paul is gone. If this is what it should be, then Paul and MJ should be no more. I would even be a little surprised if that wasn't the case (He can't be dumb enough to think he gets a fresh start with MJ still with Paul, can he?). But 1) He could screw it up and 2) even if they are donezo, that doesn't mean he's gonna tell us in 26. Like the things we thought were kids just died, I'm gonna leave the guy who was my emotional support for the last four and half years right now? No. The most we can hope for is some kind of confession from her to Peter, which would be enough, but I'm not sure we get it. So yeah, we could be getting what we want, we could be getting what we want later, or he could be a trash tier writer...now or later, lulz.

In any case, I'm certain MJ is out of the book for the next 2-4 months. She'll be back before Wells is done though. Just a question of why.

Spider-man doesn't beat bad guys. That's everyone else's job, silly. He's just there to get cucked and cry a bunch over people who've been dead for 50 years. Way more relatable to the youths.

Like amongst all the emotional drama I forget to complain that this is a superhero comic maybe the superhero should be doing some superheroics, lulz.

It's bad no matter which way you slice it. Peter should not be competing against Paul while dating another woman. And Felicia should not be set-up as an obstacle to Peter and Mary Jane reuniting.

Best case scenario, Paul and MJ split once the kids are gone, and they'll have Felicia end things amicably with Peter knowing that he still has feelings for Mary Jane. (Because she cares for him and just wants him to be happy.)

But knowing Marvel, they'll throw all of Felicia's character development out the window, and have Felicia do something like double-cross Spider-man or go Queenpin again to justify reuniting him with Mary Jane.

Peter should not be competing against another man for Mary Jane's love, full stop. That relationship is too developed. Even Slott, incompetent as he was, was never stupid enough to try and suggest they weren't together because of a lack of love. It was always exterior circumstances. Dumb ones, but he was smart enough to not put him into direct competition, because there's only one answer to that competition.

The Felicia and MJ thing though...in a good writers hands that's actual drama. Felicia does love Peter, after all, and while deep down she may realize she's gonna lose, you can't blame someone for hanging onto someone they love. And Peter, of course, is going to feel some responsibility to Felicia, even once MJ is available. Even MJ is going to feel like she shouldn't interfere, at least at first. I've brought this idea up before, but honestly I think a triangle where MJ is the one pursuing Peter could be fun. It'd be a little bit of a reversion to classic MJ (she did try to steal Peter from Gwen repeatedly) and I can argue that after she just wasted years sacrificing for kids that weren't even real, a little bit of selfishness is warranted. Peter has already been shown to be lying to himself about MJ. and Felicia is obviously worried about her coming from behind and swiping him. It would even give a purpose to the Black Cat relationship beyond her being someone for him to sleep with while MJ is busy. It basically writes itself. And I wouldn't expect such a triangle to end that badly. Felicia would be heartbroken and have to take some time away probably, but like I mentioned before, she already knows the score. And she's done some bad **** so she kinda deserves it. Kinda. Whatever. It'd be actual high stakes DRAMA. Which the book could use a lot more of instead of this bull****.

BUUUUUUUUUUT. I have no faith. We're gonna get MJ and Paul just hanging out living together for another six months.

spoilers:

Saw the new leaks and it reads like they REALLY wanted to kill off MJ but clearly a higher power, up to infinity, because of politics (and by politics, I mean the boatloads of cash money they make off of MJ merch) said "Nuh-Uh" and so Wells had to kill Kamala off instead via ANOTHER fake-out.

end of spoilers

I still maintain that MJ was always too obvious a candidate. That said, if the leaks hadn't happened, I wouldn't be surprised if they had intentionally leak her "death" page to stir the pot.

[Venomsaurus]

Yeah unfortunately we're in the real danger zone at this point, without the kids the excuse to be with Paul is gone. If this is what it should be, then Paul and MJ should be no more. I would even be a little surprised if that wasn't the case (He can't be dumb enough to think he gets a fresh start with MJ still with Paul, can he?). But 1) He could screw it up and 2) even if they are donezo, that doesn't mean he's gonna tell us in 26. Like the things we thought were kids just died, I'm gonna leave the guy who was my emotional support for the last four and half years right now? No. The most we can hope for is some kind of confession from her to Peter, which would be enough, but I'm not sure we get it. So yeah, we could be getting what we want, we could be getting what we want later, or he could be a trash tier writer...now or later, lulz.

In any case, I'm certain MJ is out of the book for the next 2-4 months. She'll be back before Wells is done though. Just a question of why.



Like amongst all the emotional drama I forget to complain that this is a superhero comic maybe the superhero should be doing some superheroics, lulz.

We are absolutely at a crucial point where Wells can at least salvage something out of this. Not anything good, mind you. But at least not sink the entire boat that is ASM going forward. I really just want some kind of confession/apology. Just a panel. Just something to show this is all behind them, and they can move forward eventually. We all know Paul's days are numbered. Even if it's the villain path, the amicable break-up, or something else.

I will say, that page of MJ asking Paul about the kids seems pretty clear to me she wasn't lying to Peter for his protection, and she thought the kids were very much real. At least by her reaction. So unless we get that mind-control/reality warp bit, it points again to her choosing Paul over Peter, and now only breaking up with him eventually because they don't have kids anymore. Which to me just sucks. It sucks real dang bad. Zeb Wells dun goofed.

One of these days Peter will get to beat a bad guy. Law of averages, right? Also I wish he'd put his mask on in those leaked pages. He looks real stupid just exposing his secret identity out in the open.

I also just wanted to address your idea of MJ chasing Peter. While I don't see Wells himself going that route, I would seriously love having that shoe on the other foot and Peter having to deal with being the target of her affection. I think the right writer could really make this fun, and even find an amicable way for Peter and Felicia to split without it being a cheesy soap. I would read the hell out of that. Peter's resolve crumbling, Felicia reading the writing on the wall and not wanting to prolong things. MJ just not taking any **** and going after what she wants. 12/10, would read again even though it doesn't exist. That's how good it is.

[Kevinroc]

Saw the new leaks.

Is this the worst ASM run in the history of the title? Because I genuinely think it might be.

[Frontier]

spoilers:

I don't know what's funnier, Wells bringing up Kamala's shapechanging powers (which she hasn't used for years) back just to use it to help kill her or that she dies, not fighting, but getting stabbed in the back while posing as a white woman and he tries to spin this as a grand heroic sacrifice?

end of spoilers

I can't believe Marvel is actually publishing this.

[Spider-Tiger]

Peter should not be competing against another man for Mary Jane's love, full stop. That relationship is too developed. Even Slott, incompetent as he was, was never stupid enough to try and suggest they weren't together because of a lack of love. It was always exterior circumstances. Dumb ones, but he was smart enough to not put him into direct competition, because there's only one answer to that competition.

The Felicia and MJ thing though...in a good writers hands that's actual drama. Felicia does love Peter, after all, and while deep down she may realize she's gonna lose, you can't blame someone for hanging onto someone they love. And Peter, of course, is going to feel some responsibility to Felicia, even once MJ is available. Even MJ is going to feel like she shouldn't interfere, at least at first. I've brought this idea up before, but honestly I think a triangle where MJ is the one pursuing Peter could be fun. It'd be a little bit of a reversion to classic MJ (she did try to steal Peter from Gwen repeatedly) and I can argue that after she just wasted years sacrificing for kids that weren't even real, a little bit of selfishness is warranted. Peter has already been shown to be lying to himself about MJ. and Felicia is obviously worried about her coming from behind and swiping him. It would even give a purpose to the Black Cat relationship beyond her being someone for him to sleep with while MJ is busy. It basically writes itself. And I wouldn't expect such a triangle to end that badly. Felicia would be heartbroken and have to take some time away probably, but like I mentioned before, she already knows the score. And she's done some bad **** so she kinda deserves it. Kinda. Whatever. It'd be actual high stakes DRAMA. Which the book could use a lot more of instead of this bull****.

BUUUUUUUUUUT. I have no faith. We're gonna get MJ and Paul just hanging out living together for another six months.

I just find it to be regressive for all characters involved. Ignoring the questionable misogyny of it, I don't think Peter should be put into a position to choose between Mary Jane and Felicia. Not in the current 616 status quo. The reader already knows what the outcome would be of this so there's 0 suspense. And it just makes him look like a douche if he leaves Felicia to reconcile with Mary Jane when she's available again. Even if they drag that decision out and make him conflicted about it. The outcome is still the same.

Mary Jane trying to win Peter back would be a better scenario for Mary Jane's character (as opposed to her continually giving him **** and pushing him away) but it also comes across as slightly hypocritical given her behavior the first year of this run. She would have to eat significant amounts of crow for it to work. As you pointed out, Mary Jane going after Peter isn't even something new. It happened with the return of Gwen Stacy in the original Clone Saga. So it's just not worth it.

The only winning scenario is Felicia removing herself from the equation as both a friend to Peter and Mary Jane who wants them both to be happy. Maybe realizing that they still feel strongly for one another before they're even willing to admit this themselves. And ultimately refusing to be anyone's second choice. So Peter and MJ aren't forced to make those awful decisions themselves and Felicia isn't thrown under the bus.

Otherwise, positioning Felicia as an obstacle to Peter and Mary Jane is just a lose-lose scenario. It would have to be handled very tactfully to remotely work and I don't trust them to do that. I would sooner expect them to make a mess of everyone's characterization as they've done continually.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Saw the new leaks.

Is this the worst ASM run in the history of the title? Because I genuinely think it might be.

Yes. By far.

[Batman Begins 2005]

I'd take Mackie/Byrne and Slott (Vol. 3/Vol. 4) over this **** by Wells.

[Xenon]

We are absolutely at a crucial point where Wells can at least salvage something out of this. Not anything good, mind you. But at least not sink the entire boat that is ASM going forward. I really just want some kind of confession/apology. Just a panel. Just something to show this is all behind them, and they can move forward eventually. We all know Paul's days are numbered. Even if it's the villain path, the amicable break-up, or something else.

I will say, that page of MJ asking Paul about the kids seems pretty clear to me she wasn't lying to Peter for his protection, and she thought the kids were very much real. At least by her reaction. So unless we get that mind-control/reality warp bit, it points again to her choosing Paul over Peter, and now only breaking up with him eventually because they don't have kids anymore. Which to me just sucks. It sucks real dang bad. Zeb Wells dun goofed.

The "protection" part was always emotional protection "I have these kids and cant' be with Peter, so I'm just going to cut him off completely so he doesn't think there's a chance we'll get back together". No way she knew the nature of those kids before this issue. Though the way she asks to me suggests that Rabin said something before that scene.

One of these days Peter will get to beat a bad guy. Law of averages, right? Also I wish he'd put his mask on in those leaked pages. He looks real stupid just exposing his secret identity out in the open.

I suspect he'll start beating them after this, honestly. Maybe that's his "fresh start". But I wouldn't be surprised if Ock just walks away too, lol.

I also just wanted to address your idea of MJ chasing Peter. While I don't see Wells himself going that route, I would seriously love having that shoe on the other foot and Peter having to deal with being the target of her affection. I think the right writer could really make this fun, and even find an amicable way for Peter and Felicia to split without it being a cheesy soap. I would read the hell out of that. Peter's resolve crumbling, Felicia reading the writing on the wall and not wanting to prolong things. MJ just not taking any **** and going after what she wants. 12/10, would read again even though it doesn't exist. That's how good it is.

Yeah it's a real shame we're probably getting something much worse.

I just find it to be regressive for all characters involved. Ignoring the questionable misogyny of it, I don't think Peter should be put into a position to choose between Mary Jane and Felicia. Not in the current 616 status quo. The reader already knows what the outcome would be of this so there's 0 suspense. And it just makes him look like a douche if he leaves Felicia to reconcile with Mary Jane when she's available again. Even if they drag that decision out and make him conflicted about it. The outcome is still the same.

There are no good romantic subplots after OMD, so on a certain level you're right, but you can still mine drama out of a situation you know the resolution if done well. Yeah, everyone knows Peter is going to choose Mary Jane, again, but you could certainly get some drama out of a stiuation where Peter feels like he has to stay with Felicia because he doesn't want to be a jerk and he did ask her out and he doesn't want her to feel like crap. It involves a lot of lying to himself, sure, but that's what makes it dramatic.

Mary Jane trying to win Peter back would be a better scenario for Mary Jane's character (as opposed to her continually giving him **** and pushing him away) but it also comes across as slightly hypocritical given her behavior the first year of this run. She would have to eat significant amounts of crow for it to work. As you pointed out, Mary Jane going after Peter isn't even something new. It happened with the return of Gwen Stacy in the original Clone Saga. So it's just not worth it.

When it happened before MJ was the challenger and failed (I don't really remember the bits in teh Clone saga, honestly, that felt more like Peter sorting out his own feelings than anything else). This time she's be the favorite. She does have to answer her behavior in the previous bit, but that's true ANYWAY, so, meh. In my mind this would a tempeorary a little bit bad selfish MJ we're dealing with as she's kind fed up with everything, but of course Wells has shown no capacity to write that so....lol.

The only winning scenario is Felicia removing herself from the equation as both a friend to Peter and Mary Jane who wants them both to be happy. Maybe realizing that they still feel strongly for one another before they're even willing to admit this themselves. And ultimately refusing to be anyone's second choice. So Peter and MJ aren't forced to make those awful decisions themselves and Felicia isn't thrown under the bus.

Otherwise, positioning Felicia as an obstacle to Peter and Mary Jane is just a lose-lose scenario. It would have to be handled very tactfully to remotely work and I don't trust them to do that. I would sooner expect them to make a mess of everyone's characterization as they've done continually.

I mean her removing herself is no a no drama solution. Frankly I don't have a problem with that either because again, OMD solved all romance plots forever, but I'm just thinking of ways to interject some drama that might be fun and different, since we're there. Felicia takes a massive L, but she's gonna take an L either way, just a matter of when and by whom.

Of coruse, all this hypothetical rambling is a bit foolish, because there's a decent chance we're getting more Paul anyway.

[Spider-Tiger]

There are no good romantic subplots after OMD, so on a certain level you're right, but you can still mine drama out of a situation you know the resolution if done well. Yeah, everyone knows Peter is going to choose Mary Jane, again, but you could certainly get some drama out of a stiuation where Peter feels like he has to stay with Felicia because he doesn't want to be a jerk and he did ask her out and he doesn't want her to feel like crap. It involves a lot of lying to himself, sure, but that's what makes it dramatic.



When it happened before MJ was the challenger and failed (I don't really remember the bits in teh Clone saga, honestly, that felt more like Peter sorting out his own feelings than anything else). This time she's be the favorite. She does have to answer her behavior in the previous bit, but that's true ANYWAY, so, meh. In my mind this would a tempeorary a little bit bad selfish MJ we're dealing with as she's kind fed up with everything, but of course Wells has shown no capacity to write that so....lol.



I mean her removing herself is no a no drama solution. Frankly I don't have a problem with that either because again, OMD solved all romance plots forever, but I'm just thinking of ways to interject some drama that might be fun and different, since we're there. Felicia takes a massive L, but she's gonna take an L either way, just a matter of when and by whom.

Of coruse, all this hypothetical rambling is a bit foolish, because there's a decent chance we're getting more Paul anyway.

Mary Jane did win as the "challenger" in the original Clone Saga. Peter ultimately realized that Mary Jane was the one that he loved (that's how he knew he wasn't the clone.)

This whole love triangle scenario is not something I want explored further or in depth as it's just making a mess of everyone's character. I just don't think Peter Parker would have ever gotten back together with Felicia as quickly as he had in this run. Especially since he clearly had feelings for and was trying to reconcile with Mary Jane.

It's reasonable to date again if you're trying to move on from an ex. But I feel like Peter would have given it some more time (He waited nearly two years to date MJ after Gwen's death.) And getting back together with Felicia of all people: an ex, an intimate friend of the couple, someone who Peter knows deeply cares for him, and who he's had to reject before? Using that as a way to "get over" MJ: the girl you really want to be with? That feels like a boundary that a guilt-ridden Peter Parker wouldn't cross...or would at least tread very lightly.

Now if they showed Peter's affection/feelings for Felicia growing while Mary Jane was written out for a period of time and Peter being conflicted about dating her again (sort of akin to what Conway did with MJ in the 70s) it might have worked. But that's not at all what happened here. This run hasn't had an ounce of nuance, or empathy, or tact.

So the sooner they pull the characters out of this mess, the better. Unfortunately, they most likely will keep this going for at least another year.