Reasons To Keep Peter Parker Single

[Celgress]

...You make him a playboy single guy, there's not really that responsablity as a man and hero.. No one to hold him to the mark. He needs someone to reinforce that. He's not supposed to be Bruce Wayne, pretending to be someone behind a mask.....

Bravo, elegantly put friend. My hat is off to you.

[boots]

This is what you think of unmarried people?

it was brilliant. like an episode of madmen in forum post format

[Tuck]

I find myself curious if there's any demographic research on this?

There is a tension in the slim margins of comic publishing (from what I gather, for whatever that's worth) between maintaining a core audience to stay in the black and putting out new content that could potentially garner increases in certain demos (for a particular IP) to grow the audience long term.

[boots]

I find myself curious if there's any demographic research on this?

There is a tension in the slim margins of comic publishing (from what I gather, for whatever that's worth) between maintaining a core audience to stay in the black and putting out new content that could potentially garner increases in certain demos (for a particular IP) to grow the audience long term.

i'd assume marvel conducts market research, but that stuff is always high confidential.

i wonder if they use psychographics instead/as well as demographics. the idea that all "caucasain females 24-31 in nyc" (for instance) share the same values and interests is a bit outdated. if thats the case then they'd be less interested in that generational tension

[Tuck]

i'd assume marvel conducts market research, but that stuff is always high confidential.

i wonder if they use psychographics instead/as well as demographics. the idea that all "caucasain females 24-31 in nyc" (for instance) share the same values and interests is a bit outdated. if thats the case then they'd be less interested in that generational tension

I don't know. Marvel wound down a bunch of titles last year (I think . . . losing track of time ) and then sort of reverted to more of a "Marvel Classic" status quo.

I guess a couple of those characters survived (Riri and Kamala). Is that a good success rate? (I'm actually asking.)

[Inversed]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and especially recently and I think it's something worth thinking about. When you look at something like Peter and MJ coming back together in Spencer's issues, and the extremely positive reaction among fans, and then you look at other similar instances like Batman and Catwoman in King's Batman, Superman & Lois' reunion in Bendis' Superman, Nico & Karolina in Runaways, several other examples big or small scaled, and you realize just how much people actually do love romance in their books. We love seeing our favourite characters get together, and some of the best responses usually comes from issues that focus on these relationships. So it opens up the question, if its shown people respond to them, why don't we see as much from companies or writers?

One of my possible answers may be because writers feel a pair up works better as a conclusion rather than something intrinsic to the narrative, and the reason it connection feels so satisfying is because of how much buildup and anticipation there's been. Also probably because some people feel characters being in relationship becomes "limiting" in some way so they'd want to have an easy out if possible.

[boots]

I don't know. Marvel wound down a bunch of titles last year (I think . . . losing track of time ) and then sort of reverted to more of a "Marvel Classic" status quo.

that could still work in psychographics way; you might surprisingly find that a "tribe" of interests spans 2 or 3 "generations". an interest in "classic marvel" might be strong in gen y demos as well.

I guess a couple of those characters survived (Riri and Kamala). Is that a good success rate? (I'm actually asking.)

yeah, i'd like the answer to that too. i'd be surprised if marvel thought that every new iteration would stick.

has the rate of attrition always been fairly high when introducing a slew of new characters? new universe, 2099, ultimates, the founding image characters, bloodlines, reign of the supermen. thinking about it...there tend to a be a few break outs or long termers and the rest fade away.

[KyCoo]

As an inspiration and motivation to the gazillion single guys out there.

[bob.schoonover]

SNIP

One of my possible answers may be because writers feel a pair up works better as a conclusion rather than something intrinsic to the narrative, and the reason it connection feels so satisfying is because of how much buildup and anticipation there's been. Also probably because some people feel characters being in relationship becomes "limiting" in some way so they'd want to have an easy out if possible.

You see this in tv and movies all the time, too. Bruce Wayne got his happy ending at the end of Nolan's trilogy. Ted doesn't meet the Mother until the end of HIMYM (and then it went super dumb). Leia and Han in RotJ, Ross and Rachel finally settle down at the end of Friends, JAG's two main lawyers, CG & Danny and Donna & Josh on West Wing, etc., etc. I'm not sure it's always true that the writers believe settling down is limiting in a story sense, but one could imagine they either think (a) the will-they/won't-they is just more interesting or (b) settling down can be incompatible with other story elements*.

If you think about the various Spidey stories between his marriage and the start of the Clone Saga**, none of them really changed the dynamics of how Peter fought crime, did his job, etc., which is to say the marriage was written to mitigate the effects on other parts of the book (this is also not to say the marriage was good or bad, just that Marvel chose not to introduce kids, or moving to the 'burbs, or changing cities because your spouse gets a job, or any of a hundred other story elements from marriages that would affect the books in a substantial way). It's actually why the OMD retcon kind of almost works in the sense of how Quesada framed it (that all the stories happened, just w/o the wedding rings on) - Kraven's Last Hunt isn't a substantially different story if it had happened right after they moved in together instead of right after they got married, neither is The Child Within, or The Revenge and Return of the Sinister Six, or Carnage, etc.

*For example, and while this isn't what happens to everyone, getting married sometimes results in moving to the suburbs, having kids, spending far too much time worrying about your lawn, etc. Spider-man can't even swing between any buildings in the suburbs!


**Which was designed to be Pete's swan song to bring in Ben - MJ's pregnancy was part of sending Pete off into the sunset a happy family man, much like the other examples above.

[Mister Mets]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and especially recently and I think it's something worth thinking about. When you look at something like Peter and MJ coming back together in Spencer's issues, and the extremely positive reaction among fans, and then you look at other similar instances like Batman and Catwoman in King's Batman, Superman & Lois' reunion in Bendis' Superman, Nico & Karolina in Runaways, several other examples big or small scaled, and you realize just how much people actually do love romance in their books. We love seeing our favourite characters get together, and some of the best responses usually comes from issues that focus on these relationships. So it opens up the question, if its shown people respond to them, why don't we see as much from companies or writers?

One of my possible answers may be because writers feel a pair up works better as a conclusion rather than something intrinsic to the narrative, and the reason it connection feels so satisfying is because of how much buildup and anticipation there's been. Also probably because some people feel characters being in relationship becomes "limiting" in some way so they'd want to have an easy out if possible.

Another aspect is that writers like changing the status quo. Whatever job Peter gets isn't going to be permanent. He probably won't be roommates with Randy forever. The bad guys he's fighting are going to get defeated.

The romantic relationships are the same way.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Its easier for new writers to come in and wipe the slate clean than a commited relationship or a marriage.

[Starrius]

i'd assume marvel conducts market research, but that stuff is always high confidential.

i wonder if they use psychographics instead/as well as demographics. the idea that all "caucasain females 24-31 in nyc" (for instance) share the same values and interests is a bit outdated. if thats the case then they'd be less interested in that generational tension

Using the term, Caucasian for "white" ( another term that I don't like) makes no sense

After the stuff that I have read and learned, I think of Caucasian as pertaining to the Caucasus region located at the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

I think of Armenians, Georgians,Russians,and Azerbaijanians as Caucasians

[boots]

Using the term, Caucasian for "white" ( another term that I don't like) makes no sense

After the stuff that I have read and learned, I think of Caucasian as pertaining to the Caucasus region located at the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

I think of Armenians, Georgians,Russians,and Azerbaijanians as Caucasians

dude. i hear ya; it's scientifically inaccurate and outdated

but it's still in wide use on the demo reports i've seen, unfortunately.