Is anyone feeling broken up due to the demise of Parker Industries?

[JackDaw]

One of them was character development(the marriage). The other was putting the character in a completely new situation which doesn't suit the character.

Never really understood why it doesn't suit the "character", if by character we mean personality.

Peter has always been shown as a scientific genius who likes making money and gets on well with a wide range of people. You almost have to write him out of his personality if you portray him as not ending up in a high tech job somewhere making big bucks.

Contrast that with writing him as a teacher...yes it would suit him well personality wise as well..but the hours he would need to keep would be too inflexible to fit in Spider-man role. There's a pretty low number of times he would be able to just not turn up for lessons.

What being really successful maybe doesn't fit in with is his branding as "unlucky loser"...we should all be as unlucky as to be young, super powered geniuses, constantly dating good looking women!

[Miles To Go]

Never really understood why it doesn't suit the "character", if by character we mean personality.

Peter has always been shown as a scientific genius who likes making money and gets on well with a wide range of people. You almost have to write him out of his personality if you portray him as not ending up in a high tech job somewhere making big bucks.

Well then, you may as well be saying that to the newspaper writers, MC2 creative team, and the people behind Renew Your Vows who have kept Peter within pretty humble and everyman professions...oh wait, they actually know what they're doing and know not to exaggerate Peter's life like that.

Peter's been through multiple personality transplants since the Lee/Ditko years...it's called growing up.

[blackspidey2099]

Well then, you may as well be saying that to the newspaper writers, MC2 creative team, and the people behind Renew Your Vows who have kept Peter within pretty humble and everyman professions...oh wait, they actually know what they're doing and know not to exaggerate Peter's life like that.

Peter's been through multiple personality transplants since the Lee/Ditko years...it's called growing up.

To be honest, at this point I'm not sure that they did actually know what they were doing. It's pretty obvious how they were blocking Peter's natural character progression by trying to "keep Peter within humble and everyman professions" because anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see how stupid it is for a super genius to be working in a dead end photography job an struggling to pay his bills. People say that Slott writes Peter as immature and incompetent, but what is more immature and incompetent than purposefully making your life as difficult as it could possibly be, for absolutely no reason whatsoever?

[Profnewell]

I really liked the how BND storyline that had Parker work at Horizon and then eventually own Parker Industries. I liked even more that SpOck created it. So to see it go away is somewhat logical, but it should have been more gradual.

[Uncanny Mutie]

To be honest, at this point I'm not sure that they did actually know what they were doing. It's pretty obvious how they were blocking Peter's natural character progression by trying to "keep Peter within humble and everyman professions" because anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see how stupid it is for a super genius to be working in a dead end photography job an struggling to pay his bills. People say that Slott writes Peter as immature and incompetent, but what is more immature and incompetent than purposefully making your life as difficult as it could possibly be, for absolutely no reason whatsoever?

That's exactly why I think having Pete work at Horizon Labs under Max was the PERFECT middle ground. He had a nice salary, got to use his genius and do science related stuff, and still had a flexible schedule for superheroing. It was a PERFECT update to make Peter's civilian life and supporting cast more contemporary for the 21st Century, to get him away from the archaic and low paying newspaper job at the Daily Bugle. Superman creators WISH they could have come up with a solution as good as Horizon Labs was for Peter for Clark, to bring his civilian side and supporting cast more up to date while still keeping him character.

But once Slott had Doc Ock create Parker Industries and then made Pete the multi-billionaire CEO of P.I., he went waaaaay too far and it sent Peter and the Spider-Man mythos waaaaay out of character, and basically made him a knockoff, watered down version of Tony Stark/Iron Man. That's not good for the character at all. Hell, putting too much Iron Man and Iron Man-like tech into Homecoming were what dragged that movie down. But that's another topic...

[Uncanny Mutie]

And I think the science/tech side of Spider-Man has been vastly overplayed as of late, with Parker Industries doing nothing for me on that front

Exactly. Horizon was a nice, not too over the top way for Peter to display his scientific genius, earn a nice, steady paycheck that would keep him from being a poor/broke genius, and incorporate some cool, helpful, not too over the top tech into his crime fighting. But once he moved up to Parker Industries, it got RIDICULOUS to the point where it didn't even feel like Spider-Man anymore: Unlimited money and resources, armored costumes with more random different types of webbing that could conveniently get him out of any situation better than Silver Age Superman could conveniently come up with random super powers to get out of any situation, flying rockets to outer space and riding highly weaponized Spider-Jets, Spider-Cycles, and Spider-Mobiles across the globe to fight world level threats, etc. No thanks. That is NOT Spider-Man.

[Frontier]

To be honest, at this point I'm not sure that they did actually know what they were doing. It's pretty obvious how they were blocking Peter's natural character progression by trying to "keep Peter within humble and everyman professions" because anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see how stupid it is for a super genius to be working in a dead end photography job an struggling to pay his bills. People say that Slott writes Peter as immature and incompetent, but what is more immature and incompetent than purposefully making your life as difficult as it could possibly be, for absolutely no reason whatsoever?

It wouldn't be Spider-Man if he didn't make his life more difficult then it needed to be .

That's exactly why I think having Pete work at Horizon Labs under Max was the PERFECT middle ground. He had a nice salary, got to use his genius and do science related stuff, and still had a flexible schedule for superheroing. It was a PERFECT update to make Peter's civilian life and supporting cast more contemporary for the 21st Century, to get him away from the archaic and low paying newspaper job at the Daily Bugle. Superman creators WISH they could have come up with a solution as good as Horizon Labs was for Peter for Clark, to bring his civilian side and supporting cast more up to date while still keeping him character.

But it didn't. It didn't update Peter's civilian life and supporting cast for the 21st century, it basically replaced it for something completely different with new characters who effectively replaced the old supporting cast.

And I also understand the complaints that Horizon as a job just made things too easy for Peter.

I don't think taking Clark Kent out of the Daily Planet and replacing his supporting cast with new characters would go over very well.

Ultimate having Peter work on the Bugle's web-design felt like a more proper update to Peter's civilian life then Horizon, because it at least still involved him with the Bugle. Horizon pretty much takes him away from that and anyone not involved with that lab.

Exactly. Horizon was a nice, not too over the top way for Peter to display his scientific genius, earn a nice, steady paycheck that would keep him from being a poor/broke genius, and incorporate some cool, helpful, not too over the top tech into his crime fighting. But once he moved up to Parker Industries, it got RIDICULOUS to the point where it didn't even feel like Spider-Man anymore: Unlimited money and resources, armored costumes with more random different types of webbing that could conveniently get him out of any situation better than Silver Age Superman could conveniently come up with random super powers to get out of any situation, flying rockets to outer space and riding highly weaponized Spider-Jets, Spider-Cycles, and Spider-Mobiles across the globe to fight world level threats, etc. No thanks. That is NOT Spider-Man.

Honestly, looking back at it I think even Horizon was too much, and really just set the stage for all this to happen.

[Huntsman Spider]

The great thing about Spider-Man is his versatility. He might be more at home on the streets of New York, battling "regular" criminals, mobsters, and the not-so-occasional super-villain (oftentimes formerly "regular" criminals or mobsters who gained access to superpowers or advanced tech to make themselves more formidable against the likes of Spider-Man and virtually invincible against regular law enforcement), but his sense of responsibility and moral courage means that he will go just about anywhere he feels he's needed to do the right thing.

As for journalism vs. science as a profession, I would say combine the two and have The Daily Bugle put him in charge of science and tech reporting, or at least use him as a very valuable resource in that department, maybe also have him in charge of expanding the Bugle's online and social media presence. That would be a pretty solid middle ground, and there could even be showcases of how scientific and technological advancements could improve journalism, like drones equipped with cameras to capture footage in areas too dangerous for human reporters to enter, or augmented reality to incorporate data that could add informative context to real-time footage of newsworthy events.

[blackspidey2099]

That's exactly why I think having Pete work at Horizon Labs under Max was the PERFECT middle ground. He had a nice salary, got to use his genius and do science related stuff, and still had a flexible schedule for superheroing. It was a PERFECT update to make Peter's civilian life and supporting cast more contemporary for the 21st Century, to get him away from the archaic and low paying newspaper job at the Daily Bugle. Superman creators WISH they could have come up with a solution as good as Horizon Labs was for Peter for Clark, to bring his civilian side and supporting cast more up to date while still keeping him character.

But once Slott had Doc Ock create Parker Industries and then made Pete the multi-billionaire CEO of P.I., he went waaaaay too far and it sent Peter and the Spider-Man mythos waaaaay out of character, and basically made him a knockoff, watered down version of Tony Stark/Iron Man. That's not good for the character at all. Hell, putting too much Iron Man and Iron Man-like tech into Homecoming were what dragged that movie down. But that's another topic...

I really loved Horizon, but I think Parker Industries could have been a lot better had Slott not completely shit the bed with that status quo. I would have loved to see Peter's company focusing more on tech that can actually help people - like clean energy, medical devices, etc. - instead of those Webware smartwatches. Also, it would have been better if Peter didn't have sole control over the company and had a dissenting voice in the leadership who owned equal shares (so someone more business focused and profit minded) that would try and dissuade Peter from all his do-gooder missions. That would have been a far better source of internal drama than Peter's employees continuing to betray him (Sajani, Lien, Vernon Jacobs, etc). I would probably have left off the armor for Peter's solo adventures, and kept the Spider-Tech to a more Horizon Labs level scale. Peter could have built an even better armor for Spidey to use only in Avengers books, making him a true powerhouse of the team rather than just a jokester (which would solve both the problems of overly teching up Peter's book, and the lackluster Spider-Man in Avengers titles). And finally, Peter should have fought better and more powerful villains - Zodiac and Regent were both kind of forgettable, and Osborn and Octavius shouldn't have been any reasonable threat to a much upgraded Peter. Unfortunately, Slott just phoned in an average 30 issue run - not bad by any means, but certainly not as good as it should have been.

It wouldn't be Spider-Man if he didn't make his life more difficult then it needed to be .


But it didn't. It didn't update Peter's civilian life and supporting cast for the 21st century, it basically replaced it for something completely different with new characters who effectively replaced the old supporting cast.

And I also understand the complaints that Horizon as a job just made things too easy for Peter.

I don't think taking Clark Kent out of the Daily Planet and replacing his supporting cast with new characters would go over very well.

Ultimate having Peter work on the Bugle's web-design felt like a more proper update to Peter's civilian life then Horizon, because it at least still involved him with the Bugle. Horizon pretty much takes him away from that and anyone not involved with that lab.

Honestly, looking back at it I think even Horizon was too much, and really just set the stage for all this to happen.

Well, Peter making his life more difficult as a SIDE EFFECT of saving people is very different from Peter literally choosing to take a low-paying job with an abusive boss instead of becoming a super-rich engineer for absolutely no reason whatsoever. The former makes Peter seem noble, the latter makes Peter look like an unlikable idiot.

As for Peter working in web-design, I think that tries to be a compromise between Peter's photography and science sides, but ends up being worse than either. Being a web designer, contrary to what one may think, is probably more to do with actually designing (so, like art) than programming, since creating a webpage is easy. It doesn't succeed in showing any intelligence or scientific expertise from Peter's side, and it also loses the detective aspects of photojournalism. I'd take Parker Industries over photography or web designing any day, and Horizon is even better. I'd rather lose all the Bugle supporting characters than have Peter go back to a completely uncharacteristic and lame job like either of those. Of course, that doesn't have to be the case, since Peter can still interact with the Daily Bugle staff even while working at a place like Horizon. Or, if he is a CEO, he likely has reporters watching his every move - so the Bugle would have been right at home there too.

[blackspidey2099]

The great thing about Spider-Man is his versatility. He might be more at home on the streets of New York, battling "regular" criminals, mobsters, and the not-so-occasional super-villain (oftentimes formerly "regular" criminals or mobsters who gained access to superpowers or advanced tech to make themselves more formidable against the likes of Spider-Man and virtually invincible against regular law enforcement), but his sense of responsibility and moral courage means that he will go just about anywhere he feels he's needed to do the right thing.

Is that really true? I don't think Spider-Man fits well fighting against non-powered mobsters, and hasn't since he was a teen.

[Frontier]

Well, Peter making his life more difficult as a SIDE EFFECT of saving people is very different from Peter literally choosing to take a low-paying job with an abusive boss instead of becoming a super-rich engineer for absolutely no reason whatsoever. The former makes Peter seem noble, the latter makes Peter look like an unlikable idiot.

Personally I think Peter's been a more unlikeable idiot with Parker Industries then he ever has with the Bugle, but that's me.

Of course I generally have a more positive opinion of his role in the Bugle, and think of it as more of Peter just making do with his situation and finding ways to thrive from it rather then view it as a fault on his part or bad writing.

As for Peter working in web-design, I think that tries to be a compromise between Peter's photography and science sides, but ends up being worse than either. Being a web designer, contrary to what one may think, is probably more to do with actually designing (so, like art) than programming, since creating a webpage is easy. It doesn't succeed in showing any intelligence or h expertise from Peter's side, and it also loses the detective aspects of photojournalism. I'd take Parker Industries over photography or web designing any day, and Horizon is even better. I'd rather lose all the Bugle supporting characters than have Peter go back to a completely uncharacteristic and lame job like either of those. Of course, that doesn't have to be the case, since Peter can still interact with the Daily Bugle staff even while working at a place like Horizon. Or, if he is a CEO, he likely has reporters watching his every move - so the Bugle would have been right at home there too.

I'd lose Horizon and Parker Industries in a heartbeat if it meant the Bugle came back to prominence.

But that's just me, and Peter working in a menial job like that didn't bother me as much as it did you, which is fair.

Is that really true? I don't think Spider-Man fits well fighting against non-powered mobsters, and hasn't since he was a teen.

Well, I don't think Spider-Man ever fits as the globe-spanning CEO he has been in this run. Obviously we have different opinions on the character .

[The Negative Zone]

Okay sure it can argued that CEO Parker took away the "everyman" aspect, but sheesh people it was temporary. Have a little fun. What was relatable about a middle aged scientist stealing a young man's body? What's relatable about having a clone brother? What was relatable about a multiversial Spider-Man war?

[SilverWarriorWolf]

Well, Peter making his life more difficult as a SIDE EFFECT of saving people is very different from Peter literally choosing to take a low-paying job with an abusive boss instead of becoming a super-rich engineer for absolutely no reason whatsoever. The former makes Peter seem noble, the latter makes Peter look like an unlikable idiot.

What if there was a reason he couldn't work in science, like some enemy in the business *cough*NormanOsborn*cough* had Peter blacklisted so no lab or research department would hire him, either for revenge or as blackmail. That way, there'd be an excuse for why he's falling back on the Bugle.

[Miles To Go]

What was relatable about a multiversial Spider-Man war?

Watch the series finale of the 90s animated series and you'll find out

And there was plenty of relatable traits to Peter and Ben's relationship in the clone saga. Remove the science-fiction trappings of how he got a brother and embrace the fact he had one.

[The Negative Zone]

Watch the series finale of the 90s animated series and you'll find out

And there was plenty of relatable traits to Peter and Ben's relationship in the clone saga. Remove the science-fiction trappings of how he got a brother and embrace the fact he had one.

Alright, I can agree to some degree regarding Peter and Ben's relationship, but all of the events surrounding it were way out of the "everyman" concept. Also, alright I'll bite what was so "everyman" about the Spider-Verse and the 90s series finale? I've seen the entire series.