Rate Dead Language (What Did Peter Do?)

[Xenon]

I think even bad fanfic is better at this stage with all the mistakes they have done with all the characters, as stated before by many others, they aren't looking to get readers attention with good story telling or character development but by pissing off the consumer and character assassinations left, right and center.

I have read better fanfic than this for sure. I have even read better fanfic where MJ was married to another person. It's....not good.

I've always been one to try and find something good about any story. I've walked away from books that everyone bashed, films, tv shows, etc, and found something good to talk about with them. Heck, I thought Sophie Turner's performance in Dark Phoenix was worth talking about.

Dead Language? There's nothing good here. It's not a story. It's a collection of things that Wells thought would satisfy the questions most had been asking since #1. Instead, it leaves us with more questions than answers, botched storylines that are probably going to go nowhere, and vastly OOC interactions with all the characters.

This isn't a story. This is a mess. It's not even worthy of being called a 'draft' in my opinion.

The kids, rabin's death, Peter not reacting to MJ's powers, the clumsily added two pages of flashback. So many little signs in 26 that this is just a badly done mess. Truly Awful. It's my 3rd worst Spider-Man story of all time at this point for a reason.

I think though that the getting one writer to write a single series twice or three times a month has resulted in generally more inconsistent quality comics than three monthly comics with three writers and three regular artists. Even where one writer was writing two of the satellite titles at once, as I believe Conway was at one point, keeping track of two storylines with an issue a month each is more flexible than advancing one storyline twice a month. Certainly the bimonthly/trimonthly schedule is more stressful for the writers and artists.

Someone posted average sales figures for the period here, and I believe the overall sales dropped slightly when they switched from three monthly comics to one trimonthly comic. Given that Amazing had a lot more sales than the other two, that represents a big loss in total readers, even if more of the readers who remain are reading more comics. I suspect it also means that the proportion of sales that goes to collectors went up. That makes the series more resilient in sales when the stories aren't much good which is perhaps good for the company but less good for the storytelling.

Regarding sales, I did the math ten years ago while arguing with Slott and there was a definite and significant dip right after OMD. There's no question it cost them a big chunk of readers, though it's been too long and they purged these boards so I couldn't tell you how many. In my memory it was like 30% or something like that. Significant. But not that surprising considering they had just published the worst story in Spider-Man history.

AS for performance yeah it's kind of a mixed bag. There's definitely a value in that consistency and giving each writer time. And there's also some value in the old books of just having different storylines going at the same time. He's fighting Rhino in Amazing but Mysterio is Spectacular. At the same time, perhaps because I'm impatient, I'm very happy for the main story to churn so fast now. During the Spencer run when it was good It was this nice treat every couple of weeks when I was running my errands. I'd go to the comic shop, pick up everything, then go have lunch and read everything while I ate. And it was great getting to push the story forward twice a month instead of once. But you do make sacrifices. You have to have rotating artists and that can lead to dips in quality. The writer probably needs a break every now and then. Honestly, BND and its rotating team wasn't a bad idea either, they just...only had one actually good writer.

[Xenon]

The worst thing is, that MJ is now dead forever. Her character is broken now, and I don't know how anyone can fix that.

Kamala is not a problem, she will be back in no time, her movie is coming up at the end of the year.

Chin up. There's always a way. I have like four different stories to redeem MJ in my head right now. Professionals can do better. Once Wells is gone we just have to pray they give the book to the right guy.

[DanMad1977]

Chin up. There's always a way. I have like four different stories to redeem MJ in my head right now. Professionals can do better. Once Wells is gone we just have to pray they give the book to the right guy.

I would only be satisfied with two ideas.

Get rid of her (not necessarily kill her, but let Peter move on)

or

Let her be an impostor, or alternative reality MJ, imagination etc....not the real one.

[Garlador]

I would only be satisfied with two ideas.

Get rid of her (not necessarily kill her, but let Peter move on)

or

Let her be an impostor, or alternative reality MJ, imagination etc....not the real one.

“The kids were created as “chains” to mess with my head. Now that they’re gone, I’m finally starting to think straight again.”

[Spidey_Legend]

“The kids were created as “chains” to mess with my head. Now that they’re gone, I’m finally starting to think straight again.”

This is the easiest idea and the one probably the next writer would do.

[MaydayStan]

The worst thing is, that MJ is now dead forever. Her character is broken now, and I don't know how anyone can fix that.

Kamala is not a problem, she will be back in no time, her movie is coming up at the end of the year.

She's damaged right now, for sure, but not broken forever. As a fanfiction writer, I've got several ideas on how they could fix all of this, ranging from simple 'It was a dream' Dallas style to it being Mephisto working to keep them apart. If someone like me who doesn't write professionally can think of ways to do it, imagine what someone who writes for a living could come up with. I'm sure, given we know there's been pitches to undo OMD at Marvel, someone's already working on a pitch right now to try and get the ball rolling back in the right direction.

Like Peter B, we just have to keep getting back up.

The kids, rabin's death, Peter not reacting to MJ's powers, the clumsily added two pages of flashback. So many little signs in 26 that this is just a badly done mess. Truly Awful. It's my 3rd worst Spider-Man story of all time at this point for a reason.

I genuinely think this is just as bad as OMD/OMiT. It's the same type of insulting and disgusting attempt to not only disparage Peter and Mary Jane as characters, but also to incite fans of them and their relationship. That to me is one of its most damning crimes; that beyond just not being a coherent and put together story in a general and literary sense, it just reeks of both being petty towards likely not getting their way in terms of what they probably had as the original idea, as well as being petty towards fans who don't want to indulge this convoluted piece of trash any longer.

Regarding sales, I did the math ten years ago while arguing with Slott and there was a definite and significant dip right after OMD. There's no question it cost them a big chunk of readers, though it's been too long and they purged these boards so I couldn't tell you how many. In my memory it was like 30% or something like that. Significant. But not that surprising considering they had just published the worst story in Spider-Man history.

AS for performance yeah it's kind of a mixed bag. There's definitely a value in that consistency and giving each writer time. And there's also some value in the old books of just having different storylines going at the same time. He's fighting Rhino in Amazing but Mysterio is Spectacular. At the same time, perhaps because I'm impatient, I'm very happy for the main story to churn so fast now. During the Spencer run when it was good It was this nice treat every couple of weeks when I was running my errands. I'd go to the comic shop, pick up everything, then go have lunch and read everything while I ate. And it was great getting to push the story forward twice a month instead of once. But you do make sacrifices. You have to have rotating artists and that can lead to dips in quality. The writer probably needs a break every now and then. Honestly, BND and its rotating team wasn't a bad idea either, they just...only had one actually good writer.

I'm actually calling the LCBS in my area today to ask about ASM has been selling, as a favor to a friend working on a piece. The one I already spoke to around the time of #23 and they said they weren't have a good time trying to sell it. When I stopped in the other day to pick up a Epic Collection, they had a stack of #25 sitting there, with variants. Not moving. And that's in a major city! I can't imagine what the smaller ones are dealing with right now.

“The kids were created as “chains” to mess with my head. Now that they’re gone, I’m finally starting to think straight again.”

Bam, there ya go.

[DanMad1977]

Even if she couldn't think straight, she cheated on him. A drunk person that cheats, couldn't think straight too, but hey...still cheating.

I know its worth a discussion.

[Garlador]

Even if she couldn't think straight, she cheated on him. A drunk person that cheats, couldn't think straight too, but hey...still cheating.

I know its worth a discussion.

There’s a reason no artist has drawn them as explicitly intimate, and the “chains” excuse is still there. She wasn’t exactly warm to Paul until they showed up. He even suggested leaving them to die.

[MaydayStan]

There’s a reason no artist has drawn them as explicitly intimate, and the “chains” excuse is still there. She wasn’t exactly warm to Paul until they showed up. He even suggested leaving them to die.

This. Because there's nothing there. I wish people would drop the 'Cheating' angle when there's not really anything there to prove it.

[Xenon]

She's damaged right now, for sure, but not broken forever. As a fanfiction writer, I've got several ideas on how they could fix all of this, ranging from simple 'It was a dream' Dallas style to it being Mephisto working to keep them apart. If someone like me who doesn't write professionally can think of ways to do it, imagine what someone who writes for a living could come up with. I'm sure, given we know there's been pitches to undo OMD at Marvel, someone's already working on a pitch right now to try and get the ball rolling back in the right direction.

Like Peter B, we just have to keep getting back up.



I genuinely think this is just as bad as OMD/OMiT. It's the same type of insulting and disgusting attempt to not only disparage Peter and Mary Jane as characters, but also to incite fans of them and their relationship. That to me is one of its most damning crimes; that beyond just not being a coherent and put together story in a general and literary sense, it just reeks of both being petty towards likely not getting their way in terms of what they probably had as the original idea, as well as being petty towards fans who don't want to indulge this convoluted piece of trash any longer.

OMD I think is still number 1 because ti's the foundation for this story to exist at all. Like this story being bad is also OMD's fault, lol. I can definitely see it taking OMIT's spot though. I wasn't really thinking about it before but you're right in that its very much a very similar story to OMIT. It's just an incompetently told MJ character assassination story to excuse them not being together. But this time with another man instead of just making her dumb. Oh damn I might agree with you. This might be 2. Gotta give it time though.

I'm actually calling the LCBS in my area today to ask about ASM has been selling, as a favor to a friend working on a piece. The one I already spoke to around the time of #23 and they said they weren't have a good time trying to sell it. When I stopped in the other day to pick up a Epic Collection, they had a stack of #25 sitting there, with variants. Not moving. And that's in a major city! I can't imagine what the smaller ones are dealing with right now.



Bam, there ya go.

As always I hope these are true, because it deserves to fail.

Even if she couldn't think straight, she cheated on him. A drunk person that cheats, couldn't think straight too, but hey...still cheating.

I know its worth a discussion.

I mean she didn't choose to have chains put on her, exactly. Like, it's the difference between getting drunk and getting roofie'd. One your complicit in and one you are not.

Also, mercifully, with what's on the page so far they can still make the relationship platonic. It would be...weird. But they could still do it. WE still thankfully can avoid her being a cheater. AT least based on what's been published.

This. Because there's nothing there. I wish people would drop the 'Cheating' angle when there's not really anything there to prove it.

I just can't trust them is the issue. Like it's why I was looking for confirmation from MJ in 26 and held out hope. I'm not hard to please. If they dont' want to put them together, they're wasting time, but I can handle it. But I need that part set in the canon. That Paul and her are actually just very close friends/partners based on their trauma bond. Because there IS stuff there. They do live together, she does say she's not leaving him, she does give a weirdly intimate defense of him in 26, Rabin calls him her "precious Paul". Impllications are there...but they're also implications in what they haven't done, and the scene at the end of ASM9 is a thing that still needs proper explnation. So i can't get comfortable with it I said I was going to step away from Spider-Man after this issue until it's fixed, but I find it difficult this time than last time, and then I remembered I didn't quite quit at 700 like I said I did last time.

I was done at 700, but I hung around for two more issues (not buying, of course) because i needed to see how they were going to resolve the MJ stuff. And while Superior 2 was one of the worst comics in the whole franchise, it broke them up, which made her safe, and then I was able to drop the comic because I knew they weren't going to do any more damage to her. Her e i don't trust that the axe will fall in any upcoming issue and they show them having angry misery sex or something after the kids are gone or something. It's making it very hard to disengage. I may have to use a different method. Especially with the movie and then the game in a few months, I can't entirely disengage anyway, not like I could in 2013. It's kind of funny, Slott predictable mediocrity made it easier to walk away from it, while the fact Wells might be worse is what's making it harder.

[Mister Mets]

I voted that it's a good story. The art and storytelling are top-notch, and the characters are pushed to their limits. I buy the characterization.

[Garlador]

I voted that it's a good story. The art and storytelling are top-notch, and the characters are pushed to their limits. I buy the characterization.

Characters clothing changes from page to page. Paul grew a full beard in the span of a few pages. The group shot of the characters realizing it’s Kamala dying actually made me laugh. I’m actually shocked there are so many art inconsistencies in this issue. I felt JRJR was rushed or something. It’s so sloppy.

[Spidey_Legend]

This. Because there's nothing there. I wish people would drop the 'Cheating' angle when there's not really anything there to prove it.

People are going to still saying cheating unless got an explicit story that said it did not happen.

[Xenon]

Characters clothing changes from page to page. Paul grew a full beard in the span of a few pages. The group shot of the characters realizing it’s Kamala dying actually made me laugh. I’m actually shocked there are so many art inconsistencies in this issue. I felt JRJR was rushed or something. It’s so sloppy.

He gave the script as much effort as it deserved.

[WebLurker]

MJ is relying on her history with Peter for every interaction, as we all do. Otto is attempting to leverage that history and affection to have sex with her. Anna has no history with Peter and isn't relying upon that to make her decisions. Now, I didn't read past six so I can't speak about the specifics, but as long as her decisions were based on only interactions with Otto Peter, it's...MOSTLY fine. There's still a little bit of questionableness but it's the best Otto can do under th circumstances.

Everything is different.

First Anna did not know Otto or Peter personally. Otto could have name himself John Smith and would be the same.

Second Otto try to manipulate memories, circunstance and MJ feelings for someone who believe he is her lover just to get in her pants.

Claiming that both situations are the same it's nonsense.

Rape by deception includes using a false identity, even if the victim starts the relationship with the person in question using the false identity from the start. For that matter, in Slott's clone event, there's a scene establishing that Anna would never have entered the relationship had she known that it was Doc Ock, not Peter Parker. She did not fall in love with Ock, but the persona he was using at the time.

(Had the series shown it to be a bad thing that Ock was catfishing someone, to put it lightly, don't see why it would be so much an issue to have it be a plot point -- Superior Spider-Man is about a villain pretending to be a hero, after all -- but, as I recall, we're supposed to be rooting for Ock the whole way.)