Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #2 Spoiler Discussion

[oldschool]

By the way, I have been pretty down on Slott's work in general since Superior wrapped and especially since Vol 4 launched but I have to say, I have really enjoyed the book again since #25 and these past 2 issues (#29 and #30) are probably my favorite issues on this title in a few years. So, I mention that here because when the PP:SSM was first announced last winter, I was down on Slott's work and looking forward to what I thought was going to be a Spidey title I could get behind; instead, Slott's work has improved for me and this new PP:SSM has been a major letdown. Funny how things work out sometimes!

[AmazingFantasy]

Yeah I'm with most people here, I thought this book so far has been pretty disappointing. This issue was just as bad as the first one. The overload of jokes (not funny ones at that), Peter's portrayal, the art, etc... Not a fan. If the 3rd issue ends up with the same quality I'll drop it, which is too bad because I truly wanted to like this book. :/

[Prof. Warren]

Yes, I am well aware that the FF guest starred in ASM #1 but the fact is, after that, Spidey met for the first time and battled Vulture, Ock, Sandman etc all on his own without needing guest stars. It's part of the reason the book worked as well as it did. My point is, on a larger Marvel-wide scale, this is the status quo right now and---if you look back without cherry-picking throughout Marvel's best years----the constant stream of guest stars was not always the case.

But Marvel has never isolated its heroes. Right from the start, it heavily played into its shared universe.

As for this current vol. of PP:TSSM, having Johnny in the book is welcome as far as I'm concerned. It's been too long since Peter and Johnny have had extended quality time together in a book. Johnny could become a regular cast member and I'd be ok with that. And having Ironheart appear in connection to a larger mystery seems like fair game. It's not like she's crowding anyone else out. And Rebecca gets a lot of space devoted to her in this issue so it's not like it's all about Spider-Man and his superhero chums. What I wanted most out of this book was to see a focus on Peter's supporting cast and his regular life. While it hasn't been that yet, I do feel like Rebecca is a positive move in that direction.

I also feel like this book is going to be treading water somewhat until SE finishes and Slott can start implementing his status quo changes in ASM. I might jump off and come back when Legacy begins.

[Tuck]

The plot covered so far could have been condensed into one issue . . . but without much else I guess.

But I don't get the strong dislike to be honest. The pacing is a problem, but nothing really feels out of sync other than the meta captions (which, for better or worse, have been around since Stan wrote the book).

[Rincewind]

Yes, I am well aware that the FF guest starred in ASM #1 but the fact is, after that, Spidey met for the first time and battled Vulture, Ock, Sandman etc all on his own without needing guest stars. It's part of the reason the book worked as well as it did. My point is, on a larger Marvel-wide scale, this is the status quo right now and---if you look back without cherry-picking throughout Marvel's best years----the constant stream of guest stars was not always the case.

I'm pretty sure Johnny Storm showed up in a pivotal role in when Peter first fought Doctor Octopus. That was in issue #3.

And when Peter fought the Green Goblin for the first time, there was a Hulk guest appearance.

[blackspidey2099]

Wow, I thought Spectacular Spider-Man #1 was the worst issue of Spidey I had read in ages, but this comes close. At this point, I have no clue why Spider-Man is the title star of this book, because none of the characters here resemble Spider-Man one bit, not to mention the fact that the dude in the Spidey costume was completely superfluous to the plot.

The worst part is that Zdarsky is shitting all over all of Peter's character traits for MOAR jokes. In issue 1, he shat all over Peter's supergenius intellect (lol I guess Peter can't even fix your own webshooters now because I want to make my OC look cool) and now he shat all over Peter's responsibility (would Peter prioritize stopping a huge crime ring or protecting his sister/friend from the biggest spy organization in the world? Nah... I think he should shirk all his responsibilities and go on a date instead - literally the opposite of what Spidey would do and has done in the past). The worst part is that the jokes are so bad, like people complain about Slott's humour but I don't even think I can call this humour since it reads more like Zdarsky pointing out everything in the situation that could be remotely funny in the hopes of begging the reader to laugh. It's definitely not Spidey-level humour, and I wouldn't even say it even reaches the lower bar of Deadpool-style humour.

And of course, Peter is completely superfluous to the plot. The Starktech crime ring plot was almost entirely handled by Ironheart (this is stupid because Peter hacked the freaking Iron Spider while on the run, and is much smarter and has way more resources than Ironheart, but decides to delegate this job down to her anyway), and Johnny was the only one who cared enough to protect Teresa for more than like 5 minutes (this is stupid because SHIELD could have found her in an unguarded apartment with ease, so why isn't Peter telling Nick Fury to stand down or putting her in some sort of fortified area that he may own, or building some sort of cloaking tech to stop SHIELD). Other than the pages where Spider-Man goes for a date (possibly the stupidest sequence I've ever seen in a Spider-Man comic), the story would have flowed much better if Spider-Man wasn't in the issue at all. At least then we wouldn't have had to deal with the constant bad jokes.

Zdarsky isn't the only one at fault though. I don't know what happened to Kubert since his awesome run on the original RYV miniseries, but his portrayal of Spider-Man here hurts my eyes. I think he is trying to draw Spidey in the most humiliating poses possible, and the webbing on the costume looks horrendous. The other art is pretty good, but I can't forgive this style of drawing Peter. It is like the worst parts of Bachalo's (messy) and Ramos' (scrawny, weird postures) art and made even worse.

At this point, I'm hoping sales drop so fast that this gets cancelled and we can get another satellite title written by a competent writer. Considering Conway seems to be leaving RYV, he would be a perfect choice, but guys like Nick Spencer, Joe Kelly, Christos Gage, Chris Yost, and maybe Jason Aaron could be good. To be honest though, anyone other than Bendis could better this crap being doled out monthly.

[Frontier]

I think the only thing I liked about this issue was Jonah apparently running his own blog now, where he can attack Spider-Man with impunity, gain the attention of the public, without needing to actually have a job to do it.

It just seems to Jonah .

[blackspidey2099]

I think the only thing I liked about this issue was Jonah apparently running his own blog now, where he can attack Spider-Man with impunity, gain the attention of the public, without needing to actually have a job to do it.

It just seems to Jonah .

Haha, yeah that was actually a cool moment. Not sure how canon Spectacular is with the rest of the MU, but it does mean that Peter going back to the Bugle in ASM is now going to be even more boring and pointless though, if Jonah is of doing a blog. Then again, Zdarsky plays so fast and loose with continuity that ts blog may never be brought up again.

[Vegeta]

Spider-Man 's behavior around Ironheart would have been fine, if he was back in his high school years. It's just embarrassing seeing a full grown adult act this way around actual teenagers.

Marvel might as well just magically de-age Pete at this point, ala "Teen Tony" if they intend to keep writing him this way. Sure, it will open up a few plot holes, but since when does the current Marvel staff really care about things like continuity anyways?

[Frontier]

Spider-Man 's behavior around Ironheart would have been fine, if he was back in his high school years. It's just embarrassing seeing a full grown adult act this way around actual teenagers.

Marvel might as well just magically de-age Pete at this point, ala "Teen Tony" if they intend to keep writing him this way. Sure, it will open up a few plot holes, but since when does the current Marvel staff really care about things like continuity anyways?

I think it's kind of funny, in a ridiculous and sad kind of way, that the actual teenage Spider-Man (Miles) seems to act more maturely and be treated more respectfully by people then the actual adult Spider-Man (Peter).

Zdarksy even made a man-child joke .

[TheSeaDragon]

Think we once had a mature and married Peter

This hurt my eyes

The Marvel icon acting like a fanboy around a nobody like Riri ,its a button of everything wrong with current Marvel

[Scott Taylor]

Enjoying the title, and I really see very little to criticize. The guest appearances are great as is the art. The jokes are meta and a bit mocking of the main character, but I don't mind that at all.

To those being so negative on the title, I have a big Bronx cheer right here for you. Why so serious?

[Tuck]

He said he was collecting autographs for Normie.

Which absolutely is something Peter would do for a friend.

[Frontier]

He said he was collecting autographs for Normie.

Which absolutely is something Peter would do for a friend.

I can't see Normie wanting a Superhero autograph though .

[Tuck]

I can't see Normie wanting a Superhero autograph though .

He just doesn't like Spider-Man.