Volume 4's Status Quo - What About A Limited Series?

[SpiderNerd]

It seems to me that there are a lot of people who are not enjoying this particular volume of ASM, or at least they are not enjoying it as much as they have previous runs/works of the series. While I was reading the latest issue, a thought occurred to me that I want to throw out: would you enjoy this status quo more if it were a limited series and not the ongoing narrative?

Personally, I draw a comparison between this and Superior Spider-Man. While I like the idea of Superior, and I think it's a decent series, I did not enjoy having it be the primary ongoing status quo for Spidey. I would've liked to have seen it be a secondary title, with classic Spidey in his regular setting being the primary flagship book. I realize that would've changed the whole story drastically, but I think you get my point.

I also got to thinking about Renew Your Vows, which featured a very different status-quo to the one that we've generally had for the past decade, but it was a limited story with a very clear beginning, middle, and end. It didn't take up the main slot for too long, and it was in no way a permanent thing.

To sum this all up, I have found that while I don't mind the whole CEO of Parker Industries setting as an idea, it's not what I would love to see for the ongoing primary status quo as it currently is. I am wondering if this story had been given the "Renew Your Vows Treatment" with a limited series that has a beginning, middle and end, would people be more accepting of it?

[Phantom Roxas]

Maybe. People absolutely didn't want Renew Your Vows to have a lasting effect, and rejected the possibility of it being continuous or primary out of fear for the marriage returning, particularly a marriage to Mary Jane. So it's weird that Renew Your Vows was insisted as not having any lasting consequences, yet Superior and Parker Industries are viewed as acceptable in the long run. Though that might be because I feel the opposite, in that I'd rather the marriage stay around, couldn't wait for Superior to go away, and cannot see why Parker Industries cannot coexist with the marriage. I don't necessarily mind Parker Industries itself, or Peter being a CEO, just that it was handed to him on a silver platter to drag out the effect of Superior rather than being something Peter earned in his own right, like it's another burden passed onto him that he was to work with like the spider bite, and that it puts Peter in the same position that was supposedly the biggest problem with him being married to a supermodel. Mary Jane earning money as a "supermodel" was deemed unrealistic and didn't fit with a unspecified yet still anticipated lifestyle for Peter, as if he should be regularly poor, yet Parker Industries allows Peter luxuries, and no amount of attempts to distinguish the two will cover up that there's some hypocrisy going on here. So while I can understand the status quo of Parker Industries, the ends simply do not justify the means for me. It should go back into its box with the rest of Superior.

[John Ossie]

As far as ''Renew Your Vows'' goes. Regent was brought into it in issue 7 and he was the main villain of RYV. So that's a consequence, whether it'll be a long-lasting one is a wait and see.

As for the question posed by the OP. I personally don't think I would enjoy it more if it were part of a limited series rather than an ongoing narrative but I guess there MAY be some people who would.

[RD!]

It is a limited series in a way that all comics are now.
It'll end in a year or two (when the new movie is out) and ASM will be relaunched with the new status quo. Probably a back to basics, BND-lite to make him as similar as possible to the movie

[Mister Mets]

I don't think it would work as a limited series as it requires a lot of setup. It really only works as part of the regular title.

Structurally, there could be ways to clue readers into this being a temporary status quo (IE- flashforwards.)

[Phantom Roxas]

I don't think it would work as a limited series as it requires a lot of setup. It really only works as part of the regular title.

Structurally, there could be ways to clue readers into this being a temporary status quo (IE- flashforwards.)

Like a flashforward to a story where Peter and Mary Jane are married and have a daughter?

[Zeitgeist]

It is a limited series in a way that all comics are now.
It'll end in a year or two (when the new movie is out) and ASM will be relaunched with the new status quo.

Yup. Most comics - at least on the Marvel side - are limited series in everything but name these days, though I feel it's driven more by rotating writers/artists who can only commit to shorter terms than a marketing strategy of any sort - though it does coincidentally work in that favour also anyway.

[Mister Mets]

Like a flashforward to a story where Peter and Mary Jane are married and have a daughter?

Depends.

Even if Marvel wants to go in that direction, the flashforwards probably work best when it makes readers intrigued about what's going on in the main book now. So it would probably work better if it's something that's connected to the current narratives in this particular example.

[Phantom Roxas]

I was thinking of something along the lines of how Renew Your Vows showed a possible future, and while timeline shenanigans are probably going to be behind it, Renew Your Vows is going to directly connect to the current narrative in Power Play. So that future in which Peter and Mary Jane are married will likely inform the story of Power Play, although it will probably be the past from the Regent's perspective. So one point of intrigue could be how different the current timeline is from the future in Renew Your Vows, because just as with Spider-Verse, an alternate future where Peter has a child with Mary Jane influences the "main" timeline.

[Mister Mets]

I was thinking of something along the lines of how Renew Your Vows showed a possible future, and while timeline shenanigans are probably going to be behind it, Renew Your Vows is going to directly connect to the current narrative in Power Play. So that future in which Peter and Mary Jane are married will likely inform the story of Power Play, although it will probably be the past from the Regent's perspective. So one point of intrigue could be how different the current timeline is from the future in Renew Your Vows, because just as with Spider-Verse, an alternate future where Peter has a child with Mary Jane influences the "main" timeline.

Renew Your Vows seemed to be more of an alternate present than a possible future. That's why there were some anachronistic details (from the POV of the current books) like Eddie Brock being Venom.

[Phantom Roxas]

"So one point of intrigue could be how different the current timeline is from the future in Renew Your Vows, because just as with Spider-Verse, an alternate future where Peter has a child with Mary Jane influences the "main" timeline."

You misunderstand me, as I was pointing out that the anachronisms are a point of intrigue, and they could be related to the Regent going after Peter. Granted, the premise of "The Regent goes after Peter because he was defeated by an alternate Peter who was married to Mary Jane" requires far less setup than Parker Industries, making it more accessible, and lends itself better to a limit series. Granted, the limited series was just Renew Your Vows itself, and Power Play seems to suggest that the story didn't quite have an end.