How Serious Should Spider-Man Be?

[Agent Z]

I'm talking about the character and the tone of his stories. How much gravitas should the plots be treated with? How should things like dying affect Peter?

[SuperiorIronman]

It depends on the story. In the hands of a skilled writer anything can be great and I feel Dan Slott has done a wonderful job giving us some varied spiderman stories. I think though during No one dies Dan hit the nail on the head. Peter makes jokes and can laugh at a situation but the guilt and failure he feels for everyone he lost and the toll spiderman has taken on his life always sits in the back of his mind and it really gets to him.

I say the tone should be light but it needs to have a bit of seriousness to it because at the end of the day Peter still runs the risk of injury and or death of himself or a loved one.

[cyberhubbs]

Cool thing about Spidey, and what separates him from other superhero icons, is that he can go either way in tone and not feel like he's straying from his wheelhouse.

[Agent Z]

A part of me thinks that we don't really see Peter actually deal with depression. He either lashes out violently or jokes it away and by the end of the issue it's business as usual. How long do you guys think it should take Peter to deal with depression and PTSD from events.

[cyberhubbs]

Peter's personal worries tend to be short-lived because he's usually too busy grieving over other dead folks.

[Mister Mets]

It does depend on the story.

Dematteis had a serious Spidey, and it was great.

Slott has a jokier Spidey, and it's been great.