Originally Posted by
jgprime
What prevents Bendis from becoming one of the all-time Marvel greats was killing Peter Parker, easily the best character in the entire Ultimate Universe and at one time much more interesting than 616 Peter.
Peter Parker is indeed more important than Spider-Man.
I disliked seeing Aunt May being characterised as a fragile old woman that only exists for giving Peter advice and constantly reminiscing her life with Uncle Ben. Thankfully Ultimate May came along, and it's nice to see that both the 616 May and the ASM May are closer in characterisation to Ultimate May.
Gwen > Mary Jane.
I dislike a lot of Bagley's early art. I think, however, that I dislike it more because of how 90s art was in general. Bagley's art has of course, evolved and he's become one of the most influential comic book artists today.
John Romita Jr's work is criminally underrated. In my opinion he is as important a Spidey artist as Bagley.
Marcos Martin is the best artist working in the comics industry today, and he just might become one of the all-time greatest, especially if he comes back to the Spidey book sometime.
John Romita Sr. is the best Spider-Man artist of all time.
The Civil War stories sorrounding Spider-Man and everything that came afterwards before Brand New Day is the most depressing Spider-Man run ever. Sure, OMD wasn't the best way (at all) to undo the damage that had been made to the Spidey book but it was necessary. Peter's identity was public & his life was an absolute wreck, Aunt May was about to die a horrible death, the marriage with MJ was going down the drain, etc. Quality-wise & story-wise, the book was going down the drain. I'm sure there were better ways of handling OMD, though.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 is indeed a damned good movie on par with Spider-Man 2. Sure, it has its weak spots but so does every movie, and in this case I'd say critics are overly harsh on it. What it does best is that it is mainly a Peter Parker story where Peter loves, suffers, and ultimately bounces back. Classical Spider-Man. His supporting cast is strong as heck too, especially Aunt May & Gwen. Harry was well-developed too (albeit rushed into becoming the Goblin). And I honestly couldn't care less about villains like Electro, honestly. He never was much of a memorable character to begin with in the comics and adding a whole backstory to the character is only time wasted on Peter & the rest of the main cast.
In the long run the new Spidey movies as a whole will be considered better than the old Spidey movies. In my opinion, the first 2 Raimi movies work very well as stand-alone movies. And, Spider-Man 2 besides the odd excessively campy scene holds up very well (just look at the Spidey vs Ock battle on the train & Peter saving the people on the train). What hinders it is the Raimi camp sprayed all over the movies, Spidey rarely wisecracking, the awkward Mary Jane-Peter scenes (and Mary Jane being kidnapped by the Norman, Ock, Venom, and even Harry), and especially the fact that Peter never actually matures. At the start of the three Raimi movies, it feels as if I'm watching the same loser, insecure, borderline mute Peter from before he was bit by the radioactive spider. His being Spider-Man, growing older, losing Uncle Ben & Harry, and his relationship with MJ are things that are supposed to make him mature! Through the new Spidey movies, I can actually see Peter growing up and maturing. He starts off in characterisation closer to the 1610 Peter in ASM1 but starts to morph into the 616 Peter in ASM2, it's yet to be seen if he finally matures into THE Amazing Spider-Man. The series could do with stronger villains though, especially some that give Spidey more of a fight.
Andrew Garfield owns the Peter Parker role, in the way Robert Downey Jr owns the Tony Stark role. And, since Garfield owns the Peter role, therefore he owns the Spider-Man role too.