Fair points, each. I still don't see Peter as "the heart and soul" of the MC2 universe - that's Mayday, in my mind - but I do think you guys explain why he could be considered the "heart and soul" of the Spider-Girl book itself. But please: don't rely on strawman argument's, Scott Taylor. Me saying that Peter isn't the heart and soul of the MC2 universe is totally not the same as me saying that he is "not important and...is the least interesting character." Those two things don't jive at all. I put enough words in my own mouth; I don't need help. (Oh, and Scott: you have no evidence that a Spider-Girl series without Peter and MJ would've failed. There's no evidence that such a series would've succeeded though, either.)
You and I both know that she can be a "uniquely positive character" while still having tragedy in her past. And actually, the fact that she DOES have tragedy in her past makes her positive demeanor all the more important and compelling, in my mind. It's easy to be happy when nothing terrible has happened. (Plus, she wasn't without some tragedy in her life already: the death of Crazy 8 weighed on her conscience pretty heavily.)
I'm sure Marvel expects that a lot of MC2 lovers will buy this, yes. I'm sure they're also hoping that people who enjoyed Spider-Verse will buy it. I'm sure they're also hoping that people who are buying Secret Wars-related comics will buy it. I'm sure they're hoping that people who liked Spider-Island will buy it. In essence, while the MC2 fans will be there, I'm sure that Marvel is hoping that new readers will also find these new stories about Mayday compelling. And to your second sentence quoted above: just because you think that's the reality doesn't make it the reality. You have no proof of that. You have no evidence of that. All you have is a belief, and beliefs are fuzzy things. And if you are correct - if new fans find Mayday because of these stories from Tom and Ron, the fact remains that we are only getting these stories because Slott decided to use Mayday in Spider-Verse. Any appearances, any rise in popularity that may come is because of Slott's choice to include her in his stories.
See, this shows me that you just can't (or won't) think about things from the writer's perspective. Slott didn't "mess things up." He picked up Mayday's story and started things moving again. You just don't like the direction he chose, and fair enough. But EVERY STORY needs things to be "messed up" - that's called conflict. It's what makes a story work, moves the characters into action, creates dramatic tension, etc, etc. Further, your description of Peter being replaced with Uncle Ben isn't accurate; you have to think about it from a storytelling perspective: Mayday, as has been noted, has had a pretty good run at superheroing and her positive personality speaks to that. But now, how will she deal with the death of her father, her mentor, her hero? And simultaneously, how will she deal with the introduction of the man who is supposed to be her hero's hero - the man her father looked up to and spoke so warmly about? This is drama. This is conflict.
It is unfortunate that the choices Slott made have made some of you folks unhappy, but I continue to find it disconcerting that you'd rather have no new Spider-Girl stories at all than have new stories that aren't exactly what you want. Aren't you interested in seeing how Mayday deals with the loss of Peter? Aren't you interested in seeing if she can redeem this Uncle Ben? Aren't you just happy that there are still people at Marvel who find her to be a character with writing about? I'd love to see SHOC used again, even if it wasn't exactly in a way that I hoped for. (And I have SHOC stories written in my head and on my computer; I'm about as invested in SHOC as anyone else on the planet.)
Yeah, you've said that before. And I've answered with this: just because you have the right to do something doesn't make it worth doing. You have the right to smoke cigarettes: doesn't mean it's a good habit. You have the right to get drunk as a skunk every night of your life: doesn't mean it's a good habit. You have the right to complain and complain and complain: doesn't mean it's a good habit.
Ha! Right you are, Rob. With great posting power comes great complain-ability.
-Pav, who misses SHOC...