Anyone Want Gwen Back?

[cyberhubbs]

Want her back in modern stories? Nah.

Use her in flashback stories? Sure!

[Prime]

No. She is more relevant dead than alive. Plus she has been dead for over 40 years, does Marvel really want to undo that?

[Petotto Parkavius]

Why does this thread exist? Obviously it would be a terrible idea.

[Pako]

Gwen being dead doesn't have any significance anymore because of sins past, so she's better off alive now days. Plus I chuckle everytime I read stuff like Spider-Man Blue, or scenes intending to memorializing her life like in that last issue of SSM; because the most memorable thing about Gwen now is not her significance as Peter's first love (that's MJ now), but having goblin babies.

[RobertMacQuarrie1]

No. She is more relevant dead than alive. Plus she has been dead for over 40 years, does Marvel really want to undo that?

Some have, over the years.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

Gwen being dead doesn't have any significance anymore because of sins past, so she's better off alive now days. Plus I chuckle everytime I read stuff like Spider-Man Blue, or scenes intending to memorializing her life like in that last issue of SSM; because the most memorable thing about Gwen now is not her significance as Peter's first love (that's MJ now), but having goblin babies.

Agreed. What's the point of keeping her dead if incompetent writers are just going to **** on her character? Bring her and Jean Grey back. They have brought back every other meaningless character from the dead, why not her? Her returning to get revenge on Norman (If he's even still around?) and Spiderman would make an incredible storyline.

[BoRaCho]

I guess my reasons for bringing Gwen back are more on the "justice" side. I know people argue that bringing her back would cheapen her death. However, if it's true what has been said regarding the reasons as to why she was killed and that it was because Gerry Conway, John Romita, and editor Roy Thomas did not know what to do with the character, that's what feels cheap to me. As a writer (if I was) I wouldn't just kill a character because I don't know what to do anymore. That just shows poor creativity and lazy storytelling. What could have been was denied simply because they ran out of ideas. Lastly, no she does not have to be Peter's girlfriend. She could come back and have other role, maybe be the next George Stacy. If you agree that's great, if you don't that's great too, I am simply giving my opinion. In case this writing was difficult to comprehend, let me tell you, English is not my first language :P

[BoRaCho]

That freak is around. It would be interesting to see her plotting her vengeance against Norman and even Spiderman. It could make some good popcorn reading.

[RobertMacQuarrie1]

I guess my reasons for bringing Gwen back are more on the "justice" side. I know people argue that bringing her back would cheapen her death. However, if it's true what has been said regarding the reasons as to why she was killed and that it was because Gerry Conway, John Romita, and editor Roy Thomas did not know what to do with the character, that's what feels cheap to me. As a writer (if I was) I wouldn't just kill a character because I don't know what to do anymore. That just shows poor creativity and lazy storytelling. What could have been was denied simply because they ran out of ideas. Lastly, no she does not have to be Peter's girlfriend. She could come back and have other role, maybe be the next George Stacy. If you agree that's great, if you don't that's great too, I am simply giving my opinion. In case this writing was difficult to comprehend, let me tell you, English is not my first language :P

I understand that, in retrospect, her death may feel cheap and lazy. But the problem with that is that it overlooks the fact that, at the time, it wasn't cheap or lazy writing. It was daring and innovative. Usually, when writers didn't know what to do with a character, they'd just be written out of the narrative. The same way that Betty was written out of the story earlier on in the book. Or other characters did after that. Yes, these days killing off characters has become passe. But at the time, Gwen's death was revolutionary. It was something that hadn't been done before. That isn't a sign of lazy writing. That's a sign of creative thinking.

But, at the very least, I'd say you offer a different idea than what most of the people asking for her return do. From what I've seen, most of the people wanting Gwen back want her to come back as Peter's girlfriend. That they'll be a little bit of drama, but she'd come back as his super girlfriend, able to help him out in the field or as a police informant or use her amazing scientific brain (which she never had in the comics. She had one science class with Peter and Harry, and was never shown to have any interest in the sciences after that) to help him out as Spider-Man. This sort of idea seems less about increasing the drama and the conflict, and making things harder for Peter, and more just about a nice idea that people think would make things better. It's less about crafting a story, and more about the notion that if this status quo was to be set in place, everything would just be better.

[Donuts]

So, to all of the folks who want to bring her back. How would you do it?
And why does everyone keep leaving the hyphen out of "Spider-Man?"

[Mister Mets]

So, to all of the folks who want to bring her back. How would you do it?
And why does everyone keep leaving the hyphen out of "Spider-Man?"

I'd assume the hyphen problem happens a lot with people who write on their mobile/ tablet.

[Damnyellow]

I despise bringing characters back from the dead. It cheapens the story immensely and ruins it for me. Let dead characters stay dead.

[Probalus]

I despise bringing characters back from the dead. It cheapens the story immensely and ruins it for me. Let dead characters stay dead.

Unfortunately bringing dead characters back to life is a fact of life with comic books. That's just the nature of the business, plus it keeps things sustainable. Just look to the Ultimate universe to see what happens if dead characters don't come back. Its a shell of its former self.

Heck, just think about who we would be reading about in a Spider-Man comic had everyone who died stayed dead... The book would be unrecognizable. Peter Parker, Mary Jane, Aunt May, just about every major villain, etc., none of them would be around.

[neoblackdragon]

Ultimate's issue is that they keep characters dead. Is that that kill off or disbands the characters people were reading about.

X-men: Well geeze I guess will still got Kitty. Sure we have Storm, Rogue, Iceman, Jean, and Colossus, but those guys are like never around. And of course they don't ever act like X-men post wave so it's a stranger.

Fantastic Four: Well they broke it up and now we have a roster with just Sue as an original member. Everyone else is an Ultimate. So basically they made a new Ultimates team.

Ultimates: Hey I like Miles, but these are not Ultimates. They are Spider-man and his Ultimate Friends.

Spider-man: I think this works because while there is a new guy, it still the same book.

And I don't think this has to be the nature of the biz. First and foremost, don't kill them off in the first place. Or have the calls to carry forward. Wally West could have stayed Flash. Barry Allen did not need to come back. Hal Jordan did not need to come back.
If you are writing good stories, there is no need for so much Resurrection.

[Probalus]

Ultimate's issue is that they keep characters dead. Is that that kill off or disbands the characters people were reading about.

X-men: Well geeze I guess will still got Kitty. Sure we have Storm, Rogue, Iceman, Jean, and Colossus, but those guys are like never around. And of course they don't ever act like X-men post wave so it's a stranger.

Fantastic Four: Well they broke it up and now we have a roster with just Sue as an original member. Everyone else is an Ultimate. So basically they made a new Ultimates team.

Ultimates: Hey I like Miles, but these are not Ultimates. They are Spider-man and his Ultimate Friends.

Spider-man: I think this works because while there is a new guy, it still the same book.

And I don't think this has to be the nature of the biz. First and foremost, don't kill them off in the first place. Or have the calls to carry forward. Wally West could have stayed Flash. Barry Allen did not need to come back. Hal Jordan did not need to come back.
If you are writing good stories, there is no need for so much Resurrection.

You don't understand the issue here. People care most when a character they care about dies. Otherwise there's no emotional impact to a death if they just kill characters that no one likes. And you can't just avoid important deaths completely, for dramatic reasons as well as to up the stakes and urgency of stories. The problem is, when you kill a character, you, as the comic book publisher, is basically taking an intellectual asset you have and throwing it in the garbage. You also upset a certain segment of the fan base.

So that's really it. You can't isolate the deaths to only unpopular characters because it lessens the dramatic effect of the deaths, but when you kill a popular character the stories become more memorable but you lost a character that people care about and pay to read about. The most pragmatic solution is just to resurrect the character once the drama fades away from people's minds. Hence it's the nature of the biz.