Editor Nick Lowe discusses Superior Octopus

[Bor]

Pav, you seem a little more reasonable than some around here. You'll have to excuse some of us that are sick of having Otto be the de-facto deuteragonist of the Spider-Man book for well over five years now and counting.

It's overdone, and by now wearing more than a little thin. Precious few other villains get even any focus.

If Slott seems so intent on writing Otto, than having him star in his own book seems like a fair compromise. Otherwise, Otto needs a break. Not even when they brought Norman back did he drive the narrative to this insane extent.

I don't expect you to agree, but I am trying to explain where some of us are coming from.

Its not that the rest of us do not get that you are tired of the current direction, its that we dont see the logic in coming and complaining about it on an almost daily basis while you make claims like "Slott was against turning RYV into an ongoing" and then not feeling you have to provide evidence to support stuff like that. Not to mention acting almost like a victim while you do it. You would get more understanding from the rest of us if you stopped saying stuff like that unless you actually had something to back it up with.

[TitanMax]

Why do we need to hear about how much you don't like it?

Perhaps you could try posting about what you like - or about some interesting analysis of something Spidey-related - rather than just ranting about what is "crap" in your eyes.

-Pav, who wishes every poster offered constructive criticism and thoughtful analysis rather than overly-emotional diatribes...

This is a public forum I'm allowed to complain if I want to.

[Metamorphosis]

Its not that the rest of us do not get that you are tired of the current direction, its that we dont see the logic in coming and complaining about it on an almost daily basis while you make claims like "Slott was against turning RYV into an ongoing" and then not feeling you have to provide evidence to support stuff like that. Not to mention acting almost like a victim while you do it. You would get more understanding from the rest of us if you stopped saying stuff like that unless you actually had something to back it up with.

You're all over the place here man, as usual, and if there's a victim mentality, it's from certain (not all) posters here that seem to need a safe-space haven from any critical opinion that doesn't interface with their own.

I somehow doubt that having "something to back it up with" (which has nothing to do with what we're talking about here, again, you're all over the place) would make any difference with you anyway, anyhow.

[Bor]

You're all over the place here man, as usual, and if there's a victim mentality, it's from certain (not all) posters here that seem to need a safe-space haven from any critical opinion that doesn't interface with their own.

I somehow doubt that having "something to back it up with" (which has nothing to do with what we're talking about here, again, you're all over the place) would make any difference with you anyway, anyhow.

Right lets see what you have here: A childish attempt at getting people to forget you behaviour. My point here was directly a response to your implication that a lot of us are not reasonable. Btw have you found the qoute from Slott yet or do we actually have an example of you being mature enough to admit you made it up?

[xpyred]

The issue I have with the forum (and this is MY issue, I speak for myself only) is that while it is indeed a public forum and freedom of speech and all that, there's a limit to how many times each and every thread gets segued into "**** Dan Slott. He sucks." Over in the X-Men corner, they have or had that one stickied topic where everyone went to talk about how bad the X-men books became and how it was marvel's plot to ruin the X-Men. Why can't the users here who hate Slott just make a thread hating on Slott and have it stickied? Slott frequents around here. Maybe he'll see it and give his opinions on everyone's opinion against him. Otherwise these posts degrade into the hell of pro and anti Slott posts and in turn makes this forum a chore to visit.

[Metamorphosis]

Right lets see what you have here: A childish attempt at getting people to forget you behaviour. My point here was directly a response to your implication that a lot of us are not reasonable. Btw have you found the qoute from Slott yet or do we actually have an example of you being mature enough to admit you made it up?

The fact that you have to make an ad-hom attack in every post says it all.

Also, it wasn't an implication, a lot of you (not all) become unreasonable, and extremely nasty, when you perceive an attack on your Otto fanfiction.

The issue I have with the forum (and this is MY issue, I speak for myself only) is that while it is indeed a public forum and freedom of speech and all that, there's a limit to how many times each and every thread gets segued into "**** Dan Slott. He sucks." Over in the X-Men corner, they have or had that one stickied topic where everyone went to talk about how bad the X-men books became and how it was marvel's plot to ruin the X-Men. Why can't the users here who hate Slott just make a thread hating on Slott and have it stickied? Slott frequents around here. Maybe he'll see it and give his opinions on everyone's opinion against him. Otherwise these posts degrade into the hell of pro and anti Slott posts and in turn makes this forum a chore to visit.

I'm not sure it's a proportionate comparison when, unlike the X-Men, you have just one writer driving the Spider-Man title, as it has been for 7 long years, and repeating the same tired story beats over and over.

[oldschool]

Let's keep it civil; I've deleted a few posts with bad language already.

[Bor]

The fact that you have to make an ad-hom attack in every post says it all.

Also, it wasn't an implication, a lot of you (not all) become unreasonable, and extremely nasty, when you perceive an attack on your Otto fanfiction.

The fact you of all of people dont see the hypocrisy of saying something about an ad-hom attack is so fantastic its hard to put into words.

But I get it. Its stil easier to reflect attacks like that instead of providing evidence for what you actually claim.
Its relevant because it shows this is not just about being tired of a storyline, quite frankly I am done with Otto to at this point, its just as much about your extreme dislike of the writer behind it.

[Johnatellodi]

Wow, what was the point of that interview? Everything was a no-answer or a "that's for another day!". Embarrassing.

[Metamorphosis]

The fact you of all of people dont see the hypocrisy of saying something about an ad-hom attack is so fantastic its hard to put into words.

But I get it. Its stil easier to reflect attacks like that instead of providing evidence for what you actually claim.
Its relevant because it shows this is not just about being tired of a storyline, quite frankly I am done with Otto to at this point, its just as much about your extreme dislike of the writer behind it.

Bor, don't speak for me here. Being sick of Otto and my "extreme dislike of the writer behind it" can be two different things.

It's akin to me saying to you spend every post you make here defending Slott, Otto and the status quo.

[Blacksuit]

Wow, what was the point of that interview? Everything was a no-answer or a "that's for another day!". Embarrassing.

Indeed! That was a nothingburger, Loew said nothing we already know or the readers following ASM couldn't easily deduce. I know he can't spoil the story, but couldn't he give the minimum of exciting information abut the upcoming arc?

[The Whovian]

Doc Ock is my favorite Spidey villain so I'm not getting tired of him any time soon. The more the better.

[Bor]

Bor, don't speak for me here. Being sick of Otto and my "extreme dislike of the writer behind it" can be two different things.

It's akin to me saying to you spend every post you make here defending Slott, Otto and the status quo.

How I am speking for you here? I pointed out what I saw as something worth noting. I gave an example of something you said before, thats not speaking for you thats repeating something YOU said yourself.
And I am sorry but no when you reach the point where you make up statements by that particular writer it really cant be different things. Plenty of poster here have stated how and why they are tired of Slott's work but they dont make up things about his character while doing so.

That last statement there though is completley stuff about me thats not true. I have noted several times that I would be completely okay with a break from both Otto and PI. I dont hate it but I would be totally fine with something new. I have no problem defending Slott when I see people make claims that I find highly unlikely and they refuse to provide evidence for.

[Mister Mets]

Pav, you seem a little more reasonable than some around here. You'll have to excuse some of us that are sick of having Otto be the de-facto deuteragonist of the Spider-Man book for well over five years now and counting.

It's overdone, and by now wearing more than a little thin. Precious few other villains get even any focus.

If Slott seems so intent on writing Otto, than having him star in his own book seems like a fair compromise. Otherwise, Otto needs a break. Not even when they brought Norman back did he drive the narrative to this insane extent.

I don't expect you to agree, but I am trying to explain where some of us are coming from.

Has it been an unusual level of focus on an A-list villain?

Obviously Superior Spider-Man was a lengthy mega-arc with a major role by Doc Ock for 33 consecutive issues (plus assorted spinoff titles and guest appearances.)

That was followed by 13 issues of other stories on Slott's Amazing Spider-Man (including Learning to Crawl.)

Otto popped up again in Spider Verse, although he wasn't the main bad guy.

That was followed by 18 issues of other villains.

Otto has a role in Clone Conspiracy, but he wasn't the main bad guy.

He had a back-up story in ASM 25, but was largely absent for a TPB length story.

Superior Octopus is the first story in which Otto is the main antagonist for quite some time.

It's a large role for Otto, but not quite co-lead.

[Metamorphosis]

Has it been an unusual level of focus on an A-list villain?

Obviously Superior Spider-Man was a lengthy mega-arc with a major role by Doc Ock for 33 consecutive issues (plus assorted spinoff titles and guest appearances.)

That was followed by 13 issues of other stories on Slott's Amazing Spider-Man (including Learning to Crawl.)

Otto popped up again in Spider Verse, although he wasn't the main bad guy.

That was followed by 18 issues of other villains.

Otto has a role in Clone Conspiracy, but he wasn't the main bad guy.

He had a back-up story in ASM 25, but was largely absent for a TPB length story.

Superior Octopus is the first story in which Otto is the main antagonist for quite some time.

It's a large role for Otto, but not quite co-lead.

He starred as the main villain in ASM #600.

He was the background villain during all of Big Time, running up to Ends Of The Earth, where he was the big bad.

Superior was the start of Otto-Palooza, during which he also starred in Avenging.

He played a pretty major role in Spider-Verse, including down to being the one to give the big motivational speech to Uncle Ben of that universe.

He's been the background baddie for much of Vol 4, as we've seen him scheming in the Living Brain. There was even a whole issue devoted to him during Clonespiracy in ASM.

He was the one that helped stop the zombie-frequency-outbreak-whatever-the-crap in Clonespiracy.

Now we're getting another entire arc devoted to him, and one tied into a big Marvel event at that.

We can't go 20 issues without getting some kind of Ock story now.

I think even you have to admit that's a whole lot of Otto. Again, Norman was the big bad of the entire Marvel U and didn't get nearly this amount of attention in the pages of Spider-Man.