Preview: Jackpot #1

[MisterTorgo]

Maybe Paul can genocide 616. It's used up; let's just have a clean break.

OOOOH maybe that was the gameplan all along?

It'll be revealed that he didn't help his dad genocide his world, he did it himself? And now something will set him off to try to do it here? I mean, there.

What if Zeb Wells was waiting to pull this massive Uno reverse card out of his back pocket in one of the slickest reveals in all of Marveldom?

...naahhh...

I'd be fine if Paul gave us a Crisis-level reboot, though. Marvel probably needs it.

[Kevinroc]

I mean, they've gotten as explicit as they can about it, they live together, they sleep in the same bed, they do couple-y things, the only saving grace is they aren't super overt about it which doesn't make it any better.

We haven't seen them kiss, which is a weird thing in this medium.

[Frontier]

We haven't seen them kiss, which is a weird thing in this medium.

Could you imagine how people would react to a kiss though ?

[Tuck]

Could you imagine how people would react to a kiss though ?

With dignity and respect, clearly.

[Kevinroc]

Could you imagine how people would react to a kiss though ?

[MisterTorgo]

Could you imagine how people would react to a kiss though ?

BLLEeeeeCCCHHHPPPFFFTT!

[TinkerSpider]

I mean, they've gotten as explicit as they can about it, they live together, they sleep in the same bed, they do couple-y things, the only saving grace is they aren't super overt about it which doesn't make it any better.

Friends do the same thing :shrug. They were at Anna's in the bed scene, maybe that was Anna's only guest room and since Felicia apparently liked to break in and take over the sofa, that might be the only place where they could get some sleep

They were co-parents in a world where they had zero friends or neighbors, zero streaming services, zero video games, zero internet. I'm sure they talked a lot. There was nothing else to do aside from MJ doing all the domestic labor, according to what we saw (which maybe she chose to do so she wouldn't have to talk to Paul, who knows )

In that therapy scene, Paul and MJ are written like work colleagues competing for the gold star from the boss and then getting a drink after the presentation. :shrug

No doubt we're supposed to think they're a happy romantic couple, but again, the execution is...not good.

[MisterTorgo]

Best friends do the same thing :shrug They were co-parents in a world where they had zero friends or neighbors, zero streaming services, zero video games, zero internet. I'm sure they talked a lot.

In that therapy scene, Paul and MJ are written like work colleagues competing for the gold star from the boss and then getting a drink after the presentation. :shrug

I agree but I feel like, the more I talk about how they don't seem particularly intimate, it'll feel like a dare to the current Spider-Regime and it'll be like wishing it into existence.

[Hurricane Billy]

Maybe Paul can genocide 616. It's used up; let's just have a clean break.

Well, since the team are all apparently so in love with Spider-Man 2...

"He was a hero. I just didn't see it until it was too late..."

[Majesty]

This makes me wonder how rushed out this one-shot was. It was initially advertised as a mini unless the plan was always for that to be the Black Cat team-up series.

I called that they were going to do a team up series with Felicia and that they'd be dumb not to considering that the dynamic went over so well and when Felicia not only sleeps over at MJs house but is the one who talked her into getting into superheroing and even helped make her suit, it just makes sense.

Leaning into the bond/friendship between Felicia and Mary Jane is one of the better choices that have been made. I'm sure there's areas that could have been written better in the past, but when it works with those two it really works. And I don't want this bond/friendship they have going backwards anytime soon.

That excuse didn't fly at Nuremburg...

And let's say Marvel believes that. But why, for the love of anything and everything that is holy, would you even saddle a character with helping to kill all life on a planet? Why even create that association?! And then have MJ compare it favorably to Peter's guilt over not stopping the burglar?!?! Which also implies Paul DID know what he was doing, as Peter knew full well he was letting the burglar go. It is such an inexplicable, incomprehensible story choice.

Peter unknowingly committed genocide too can we find the panels the effect of it had on him?

Anyway, Peter's guilt with intentionally not stopping a burglar was because he knew he SHOULD have stopped him, but didn't feel like it, because he didn't think it would ever come back around to effecting him. It was more a "not my problem". But then it became his problem.

MJ comparing it wasn't to insinuate Paul knowing he was committing genocide. It was a comparison that both Paul and Peter made mistakes that haunt them and made them take it upon themselves to carry the responsibilities of rectifying them. Could have been done a lot better, but that was the clear intent.

Peter's mistake was not caring. Paul's mistake was trusting his father. When both realized that was the wrong decision, it was too late, and both took it upon themselves to rectify that mistake. For Paul, it was killing his father, for Peter it was saving others.

There's comparisons that can be made if your really want it to, but you need to do it better than a one-off line from MJ.

But I really don't care what previous writers did or could have done when it comes to this Jackpot run. New writer who has new ideas and can flesh out the story in new and different ways. So I'm sticking to what they do with what they've been given more so than judging them by what came before. Some people can't get past it and that's there prerogative, I'm sure they can find better things than seeking something out to hate on it, unless it satiates them. Like fawning over Ultimate Spider-Man ^_^

I agree but I feel like, the more I talk about how they don't seem particularly intimate, it'll feel like a dare to the current Spider-Regime and it'll be like wishing it into existence.

Oh I'd love for them to do that. Not because I want to see the bunch of people pitching a fit online because it gets tiring to have to deal with negativity every time you try to be nuanced or positive about something. But I'd love for them to do it because it'd mean they're committing to the idea rather than using Paul as a placeholder for the same vicious circle the put MJ in for a few years before tossing her out of it and then putting her back into it.

Like I said, I always want MARVEL comics to COMMIT to these things rather than trying to sorta-commit but sorta-not. Once you plant your foot down firmly you establish that something IS and at that point people can complain if they want, but they know that it is what it is and it's staying that way for a bit. You rip off the bandaid and then you move on and continue telling the story. Playing 'loose' and 'some-timey' with it, only makes things worse imho.

Best thing they can do above all else, is make the comic fun. At the end of the day that's what people want. make the comic fun, make it awesome, make it a joy to read and fun to go through. Because if the quality is good, then the rest doesn't matter. People will look at great quality all the time and scream at it if it isn't what they want. The obligation should be to tell great stories. And if you decide to take a risk, make the story great.

I think Celeste Bronfman is a fantastic writer and she doesn't deserve all the crap she gets from Spider-Man fans and all the venom thrown at her online and on her socials for aspects of a story she didn't write. So I hope people give her a fair shot rather than trying to crap on everything she does and throwing an extended tantrum cause they don't like whoever. I wish her the best and hope she knocks it out of the park!

[TinkerSpider]

I called that they were going to do a team up series with Felicia and that they'd be dumb not to considering that the dynamic went over so well and when Felicia not only sleeps over at MJs house but is the one who talked her into getting into superheroing and even helped make her suit, it just makes sense.

The solicitation for MJ & BC Dark Web called they were going to do another team up arc LOL.

I hope this time MJ gets to be an actual character and not just the deus ex machina device to cause Felicia trouble. Take MJ out of the story and give Fel the random watch and nothing would have changed in the Dark Web story.

That costume is Fugly with a capital F; pretty sure that's Fel trying to sabotage MJ.

Peter unknowingly committed genocide too can we find the panels the effect of it had on him?

Why don't you first post the panels where that happened.

Anyway, Peter's guilt with intentionally not stopping a burglar was because he knew he SHOULD have stopped him, but didn't feel like it, because he didn't think it would ever come back around to effecting him. It was more a "not my problem". But then it became his problem.

Yes, that's what I said. Peter knew full well he wasn't stopping the burglar, even though the burglar was in the middle of committing a crime.

Which can very much be read as analogous to Paul not stopping his father, even though Rabin was in the middle of committing planetcide, because it wasn't his problem but then it became his problem.

In fact he says that! "And by the time I found out it was too late! There was no one left to save my world!" Paul whines.

Wow, how completely blind do you have to be to one day wake up and realize, "gee, all the heroes are gone, all the militaries are gone, there's a Mayan monster wreaking havoc outside my window, hmm, wonder if I should check on what dear old pops did with all those magic math formulas we worked on to communicate with a [culturally appropriated and not even close to being accurate] Mayan god of death -- oh. Oopsies! My bad."

And why do that to a character in the first place? Why associate them with planetcide (and patricide) and try to play it off as a positive thing?!?!

I mean, other than Paul is nothing but a bag of wet sand, an obstacle meant to keep MJ from Peter because in this run she's just a doll for men to be sad and/or possessive over.

MJ comparing it wasn't to insinuate Paul knowing he was committing genocide. It was a comparison that both Paul and Peter made mistakes that haunt them and made them take it upon themselves to carry the responsibilities of rectifying them. Could have been done a lot better, but that was the clear intent.

Paul hasn't done a single thing to rectify a single thing. Nada. He hasn't lifted a single finger, much like how he was depicted in ASM 25 not lifting a finger to help MJ with the domestic labor. He didn't even help when Rabin came back, even though Paul is the only one who supposedly defeated him before and the kids were in an Osborn safe house surrounded by security who could do far more to protect than good ol' Paul. Paul, who didn't seem to care that a Mayan monster - which he is very used to fighting and knew the formulas to counteract it - attacks NYC.

Peter's mistake was not caring. Paul's mistake was trusting his father. When both realized that was the wrong decision, it was too late, and both took it upon themselves to rectify that mistake. For Paul, it was killing his father, for Peter it was saving others.

Paul is also a liar and an unreliable narrator, who lied to Peter and MJ when first meeting them. Peter caught the burglar, but he didn't stop there. He accepted with great power there must also come great responsiblity, and he served the greater good. Paul supposedly killed daddy, and the Paul did nothing but live the good life leeching off MJ in 616 even though Paul can do culturally appropriated Mayan magic.

Paul didn't tell MJ the kids shouldn't be alive and were probably a trap, because Paul knew the planet was dead and Paul knew his father could create lifelike beings.

Paul didn't try to build another device to send MJ home, even though he was so close to having the dimension hopper correct that Peter just made a slight adjustment.

Paul didn't tell MJ about the time displacement, even though he mentions knowing about it in his first appearance.

Paul said he was from 616 and he even knew the backstory of Spider-Man's first fight with Wayep and Rabin. Something is very hinky there (I mean, aside from that being another editorial error like Romanie, where no one apparently bothered to check the story details from issue to issue)

Etc.

There's comparisons that can be made if your really want it to, but you need to do it better than a one-off line from MJ.

No, there are no comparisons that can be made. You can try of course, and please do, I'd love to see them.

The fact that line was given to MJ is a crime against characterization as well as a crime against the reader's ability to read in context. Because these are serial stories, where the chapters build upon what came before. People who find serial stories too taxing might be happier with The Simpsons or maybe Robot Chicken, and that's great if that's what gives them pleasure :-D

[Frontier]

I called that they were going to do a team up series with Felicia and that they'd be dumb not to considering that the dynamic went over so well and when Felicia not only sleeps over at MJs house but is the one who talked her into getting into superheroing and even helped make her suit, it just makes sense.

Leaning into the bond/friendship between Felicia and Mary Jane is one of the better choices that have been made. I'm sure there's areas that could have been written better in the past, but when it works with those two it really works. And I don't want this bond/friendship they have going backwards anytime soon.

Also probably a chance that they don't think Jackpot can sell solo, unless this one-shot does gang-busters. But either way having Felicia around helps marketing-wise.

[Lifetap]

I think they clearly had a different idea for Paul and the kids and then later changed it because of a lot of the 'clues' that Paul drops in his early appearance just don't really amount to anything because they basically dropped him as a character. So while there are some ideas that could be mystery boxes such as him knowing about the time difference, or how he is repenting for his part in the genocide, I doubt they ever going to be explored. And unless we are going to be spending the last few arcs on Wells' run on Paul + MJ details (or Wells is extended), we probably aren't going to get any kind of answer that makes any sort of sense from the original writer and it will just be hand waved away as I doubt any future writer will really care all that much about Paul + MJ unless it is mandated by editorial.

[TinkerSpider]

Also probably a chance that they don't think Jackpot can sell solo, unless this one-shot does gang-busters.

Well, that's not going to happen. Which is probably why they cut down the originally announced mini to a one-shot, and didn't include it in the Gang War checklist even though it's part of Gang War. No use killing more trees to print more chapters. One of the smarter decisions.

[Majesty]

Also probably a chance that they don't think Jackpot can sell solo, unless this one-shot does gang-busters. But either way having Felicia around helps marketing-wise.

Maybe, depends. But giving her a go with Felicia is a very idea in either facet. Would love to see a solo series, but I think they're seeing what the temperature is here, and then with her and Felicia's run. If it does well enough, I'm sure we'll get a solo run of a few issues. Either way, gonna enjoy it while it all lasts