Amazing Spider-Man #47 Preview

[Frontier]

This run outright fridged Kamala. Received mainstream press criticizing the fridging.

Called MJ a scarlet woman and She-Hulk a b!tch. Stabbed both of them graphically in the back. Pretended to kill MJ just as a haha gotcha bait and switch.

MJ is kidnapped, sent to a dystopian hell with only one other person on whom she was forced to survive, labeled as a sacrifice for no other reason than being a woman associated with Spider-Man and her life constantly under threat for years, literally chained to children when being trapped as a caregiver was MJ’s greatest fear and the reason she ran away from her sister, and instead of exploring her trauma turned her into a happy little homemaker shown doing all the domestic labor while Paul played with the kids. The Jackpot one off then made Paul control MJ’s power levels remotely while watching her every move - creepy to the extreme and infantilizing but the story has the gall to try and sell it as empowering. MJ was just Moira’s meat puppet who waited for the big strong men to rescue her and did nothing to self-rescue herself. Made MJ and Kamala run away and then just stand around waiting for Rabin to stab one of them, Kamala did nothing to defend herself.

Turned Gwen into a literal reward for Peter. Yanked her out of heaven without any regard for what she wanted just so Peter can shed some tears.

Made Aunt Anna defend a rapist and compare him favorably to Peter. After giving her dementia out of the blue and then turning her into an insane person who assaults people.

Ignored Aunt May except as the sad disappointed mom who then unconditionally forgives Peter cliche stereotype.

Betty is a drugged mom who cries about her baby before this issue turns her into an Action Girl out of the blue (so much for worrying about her baby should both parents be killed/imprisoned).

Felicia’s position as a gang boss is ignored. She’s pretty much just an off-page “heating up” arm accessory except as a manic pixie in the Joe Kelly two parter. When she is on page, Felicia is turned into a jealous girlfriend - and she wasnt even dating Peter yet- who gets into cat fights with Bobbi Morse.

Anna Maria is turned into a one-note joke who wants to look good for Otto despite all the lies he told her.

Janice is denied story agency. The final battle is set up as Madame Masque vs Janice but Tombstone violently assaults his daughter and Janice disappears from the story and it becomes about Tombstone instead. Madame Masque is easily defeated as she’s apparently too stupid to use Sharpies to draw her sigils.

Turned Ashley Kafka into Queen Goblin, took away Norman’s sins but left her a goblin, and apparently according to this issue she’s still evil despite having the sins removed?!

I will say the Betty stuff is pretty on-brand.

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

BTW, crazy town banana pants theory that will likely be proven wrong...what with Norman Osborn becoming the Green Goblin again is just a red herring and the "new Green Goblin" (the one that supposed to be revealed on the cover of ASM #51) is actually Nurse Shay? That she was actually a protegee of Norman's back when he was the director of Ravencroft and still a villain? Sure it's Menace 2.0 but it would be somewhat of a swerve of having Peter unknowningly going on a date with a super villain, I guess.

It'd be on brand, sure. It's the same run that gave us Ben Reilly's 19 (21? I can't remember. Am I working for Beyond?!)-issue villain origin, tried to get us to care about Mary Jane's construct children by offing them unceremoniously instead of giving them any focus to begin with, promised the most shocking issue in Spider-Man in lord knows how many decades just to kill off Ms. Marvel in it, despite the number of panels she featured in the run also being able to be counted in a person's own two hands (and once again, tried to get us to care after the fact with Norman and Peter waxing poetic about it), started a relationship with Felicia that Wells seemed determined to run away from since almost every time the book focused on it someone else had to write it... so why wouldn't an actual wholesome sequence between another budding love interest get turned upside down like that?

[Garlador]

This run outright fridged Kamala. Received mainstream press criticizing the fridging.

Called MJ a scarlet woman and She-Hulk a b!tch. Stabbed both of them graphically in the back. Pretended to kill MJ just as a haha gotcha bait and switch.

MJ is kidnapped, sent to a dystopian hell with only one other person on whom she was forced to survive, labeled as a sacrifice for no other reason than being a woman associated with Spider-Man and her life constantly under threat for years, literally chained to children when being trapped as a caregiver was MJ’s greatest fear and the reason she ran away from her sister, and instead of exploring her trauma turned her into a happy little homemaker shown doing all the domestic labor while Paul played with the kids. The Jackpot one off then made Paul control MJ’s power levels remotely while watching her every move - creepy to the extreme and infantilizing but the story has the gall to try and sell it as empowering. MJ was just Moira’s meat puppet who waited for the big strong men to rescue her and did nothing to self-rescue herself. Made MJ and Kamala run away and then just stand around waiting for Rabin to stab one of them, Kamala did nothing to defend herself.

Turned Gwen into a literal reward for Peter. Yanked her out of heaven without any regard for what she wanted just so Peter can shed some tears.

Made Aunt Anna defend a rapist and compare him favorably to Peter. After giving her dementia out of the blue and then turning her into an insane person who assaults people.

Ignored Aunt May except as the sad disappointed mom who then unconditionally forgives Peter cliche stereotype.

Betty is a drugged mom who cries about her baby before this issue turns her into an Action Girl out of the blue (so much for worrying about her baby should both parents be killed/imprisoned).

Felicia’s position as a gang boss is ignored. She’s pretty much just an off-page “heating up” arm accessory except as a manic pixie in the Joe Kelly two parter. When she is on page, Felicia is turned into a jealous girlfriend - and she wasnt even dating Peter yet- who gets into cat fights with Bobbi Morse.

Anna Maria is turned into a one-note joke who wants to look good for Otto despite all the lies he told her.

Janice is denied story agency. The final battle is set up as Madame Masque vs Janice but Tombstone violently assaults his daughter and Janice disappears from the story and it becomes about Tombstone instead. Madame Masque is easily defeated as she’s apparently too stupid to use Sharpies to draw her sigils.

Turned Ashley Kafka into Queen Goblin, took away Norman’s sins but left her a goblin, and apparently according to this issue she’s still evil despite having the sins removed?!

I mean, it’s only bad if you think about it…

I’ll chime in here and say that multiple women in my community group have called out perceived sexism and misogyny in this run. It certainly stands out to me as well, but I defer strongly to the many women who shared their distaste for how nearly every female character has been written lately. If they feel it’s a problem, I’m inclined to listen.

[Sr. Bungle]

This run outright fridged Kamala. Received mainstream press criticizing the fridging.

Called MJ a scarlet woman and She-Hulk a b!tch. Stabbed both of them graphically in the back. Pretended to kill MJ just as a haha gotcha bait and switch.

MJ is kidnapped, sent to a dystopian hell with only one other person on whom she was forced to survive, labeled as a sacrifice for no other reason than being a woman associated with Spider-Man and her life constantly under threat for years, literally chained to children when being trapped as a caregiver was MJ’s greatest fear and the reason she ran away from her sister, and instead of exploring her trauma turned her into a happy little homemaker shown doing all the domestic labor while Paul played with the kids. The Jackpot one off then made Paul control MJ’s power levels remotely while watching her every move - creepy to the extreme and infantilizing but the story has the gall to try and sell it as empowering. MJ was just Moira’s meat puppet who waited for the big strong men to rescue her and did nothing to self-rescue herself. Made MJ and Kamala run away and then just stand around waiting for Rabin to stab one of them, Kamala did nothing to defend herself.

Turned Gwen into a literal reward for Peter. Yanked her out of heaven without any regard for what she wanted just so Peter can shed some tears.

Made Aunt Anna defend a rapist and compare him favorably to Peter. After giving her dementia out of the blue and then turning her into an insane person who assaults people.

Ignored Aunt May except as the sad disappointed mom who then unconditionally forgives Peter cliche stereotype.

Betty is a drugged mom who cries about her baby before this issue turns her into an Action Girl out of the blue (so much for worrying about her baby should both parents be killed/imprisoned).

Felicia’s position as a gang boss is ignored. She’s pretty much just an off-page “heating up” arm accessory except as a manic pixie in the Joe Kelly two parter. When she is on page, Felicia is turned into a jealous girlfriend - and she wasnt even dating Peter yet- who gets into cat fights with Bobbi Morse.

Anna Maria is turned into a one-note joke who wants to look good for Otto despite all the lies he told her.

Janice is denied story agency. The final battle is set up as Madame Masque vs Janice but Tombstone violently assaults his daughter and Janice disappears from the story and it becomes about Tombstone instead. Madame Masque is easily defeated as she’s apparently too stupid to use Sharpies to draw her sigils.

Turned Ashley Kafka into Queen Goblin, took away Norman’s sins but left her a goblin, and apparently according to this issue she’s still evil despite having the sins removed?!

And don't forget the things done to Janine Godbe

[Lifetap]

I hate it when bad things are considered bad because of an 'ism'. Not because I don't believe creators can be racist/sexist/whatever, but because unless the 'ism' is so blatantly obvious that it isn't up for debate that the conversation becomes 'is this thing actually x' instead of what I think should be the main focus in that 'thing x is bad and how can it be fixed'.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I hate it when bad things are considered bad because of an 'ism'. Not because I don't believe creators can be racist/sexist/whatever, but because unless the 'ism' is so blatantly obvious that it isn't up for debate that the conversation becomes 'is this thing actually x' instead of what I think should be the main focus in that 'thing x is bad and how can it be fixed'.

I think the Kamala stunt absolutely counts as a blatantly obvious example of an -ism.

[Frontier]

And don't forget the things done to Janine Godbe

Well, people liked the Hallows Eve mini at least.

[TinkerSpider]

I think the Kamala stunt absolutely counts as a blatantly obvious example of an -ism.

The handling of MJ definitely counts as well, and has been pointed out by many people including a letter writer in Jackpot and Black Cat #1.

[ARkadelphia]

Well, people liked the Hallows Eve mini at least.

Girlfriend has the potential to be the best red-headed heroine of them all!

[exile001]

Well, people liked the Hallows Eve mini at least.

Not written by Wells. His ideas can be done well (Gold Goblin), just not by him apparently.

[Sr. Bungle]

Girlfriend has the potential to be the best red-headed heroine of them all!

Not sure if sarcasm

[Frontier]

Not written by Wells. His ideas can be done well (Gold Goblin), just not by him apparently.

The same cannot be said for MJ, unfortunately .

[ARkadelphia]

Not sure if sarcasm

Sarcasm… No!
Hyperbole… Yes!

[Refrax5]

I hate it when bad things are considered bad because of an 'ism'. Not because I don't believe creators can be racist/sexist/whatever, but because unless the 'ism' is so blatantly obvious that it isn't up for debate that the conversation becomes 'is this thing actually x' instead of what I think should be the main focus in that 'thing x is bad and how can it be fixed'.

I doubt that it's being done deliberately or maliciously, as much as some people desperately want that to be the case. But sometimes these kinds of things are unconscious because they're so ingrained in our culture and that can be worth discussing.

On this board, there's at least a few people who only really show any outrage over the way women are treated when it gives them ammunition to complain about creative choices they don't like. There's a lot of performative outrage from generally non-progressive people, so it's difficult to have much in the way of a nuanced conversation on the topic here.

One of my two majors in college was sociology. I've taken a lot of gender studies courses and things of that nature. And I roll my eyes at some of the overly simplistic takes on the topic I see on here on a regular basis.

[Garlador]

One of my two majors in college was sociology. I've taken a lot of gender studies courses and things of that nature. And I roll my eyes at some of the overly simplistic takes on the topic I see on here on a regular basis.

Hard to tell if you’re speaking in generalities or not here. I know I’m hardly one to focus exclusively on ASM regarding how mainstream comics handle women and minorities. I’m quite vocal in my endorsements for better representation and more respectful writing across the board.

But I also think people hold Spider-Man to a higher standard than, say, Lobo or Howard the Duck. As they likely should.