Oh and ...

[quietprofanity]

Man, this sucks.

Although it doesn't really affect my life because I don't read the newspaper comics. Hell, I haven't read the new Marvel comics for ... awhile now. Mostly because my job was keeping me preoccupied so I had to drop comics even before One More Day/Brand New Day came out. So I didn't really contribute to the "vote with my wallet" initiative. I suspect they don't care about money anyway, given how adamant Quesada was about this.

My boyfriend has been whining to me about my Marvel apathy. (I taught him the term "harshing my squee" and now he says that to me all the time.) But at least that's pretty much all it is: apathy. I don't want to play the "you have a responsibility to buy the books you like" game anymore. And I'm not going to get excited about these big crossover events only to have them come out late and be annoying. I can still squee, even if most of that squee has been taken up getting excited over a comic that came out when I was 1-years-old. I just, don't feel it for Marvel much anymore, I'm afraid.

And while I'm complaining, I just want to say this: Peter Parker should have never married Gwen Stacy. Actually, scratch that. GWEN STACY should have never married Peter Parker because she threw herself at him and he was a total prick to her. Right before her death he thought she was cheating on him with Flash. That relationship sucked, sucked, SUUUUU-CKED.

Comments

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

ARGH, that sucks. Why do I suddenly feel as if Spider-Girl is ending for the same reason? DDDDDDDD:

[quietprofanity.livejournal.com]

Despite what I said, I really do often wish I had the energy to fight again for Spider-Girl, but ... I haven't lately, I'm afraid.

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know... For some reason, this cancellation feels so much more final. :(

[big-wired.livejournal.com]

RAGH!! Stupid Quesada~!!!

*sighs, shakes head* Ah hell with it, I'm too damned tired to feel angry anymore. About the only Marvel comics I buy are a few of the Marvel Adventure series because they're actually fun, even if Spidey is single in those ones.

I can certainly understand your apathy, because it seems like no matter what we, the fans, say, Joey boy and his idiot cohorts are just going to do what we like, and we can't do anything but wait for new staff to take over and change things back to how they should be.

I still think the whole single Spider-Man thing is insulting to men, because Spider-Man has been about growing up and facing your responsibilities, not running away from them over a sense of nostalgia.

Not to mention a slap to women too, saying that hey, you're just a girl, we'll toss you aside in favour of someone else.

[quietprofanity.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the insulting to men and women aspect of the storyline. I actually think the superhero girlfriend has some sexist tropes the medium has never been able to move beyond. And you combine that with the bizarre youth culture worship and the idea that someone's only relatable if they're a loser and you come up with an ugly combo.

(And I don't think Peter was ever a loser, by the way. He had a shitload of crap working against him in the early issues, but that's not the same as being a loser.)

[big-wired.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Spectacular spider-Man, the new animated series, captures on that last note perfectly, encapsulating all that it means to BE a superhero.

And that's something I find encouraging, that despite how hard he finds it at times, in being a superhero and being Peter Parker, he keeps at it. That's inspiring.

[sandoz-iscariot.livejournal.com]

At least they've only set the clock back to before the marriage, instead of actually undoing it with all that Mephisto crap. Not unexpected, but still sucky. The newspaper strip audience is probably the least likely to care about whether Spider-Man is young and hip and single or whatever.

And while I'm complaining, I just want to say this: Peter Parker should have never married Gwen Stacy. Actually, scratch that. GWEN STACY should have never married Peter Parker because she threw herself at him and he was a total prick to her. Right before her death he thought she was cheating on him with Flash. That relationship sucked, sucked, SUUUUU-CKED.

So much word. The Cult of Gwen makes me want to pull my hair out. Rosy-eyed nostalgia will be the death of the Spider-Man franchise, not what saves it.

You have a Sal Buscema icon! That's awesome!

[quietprofanity.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In a way I'm not surprised because I think Stan Lee likes to be agreeable more often than not. I don't think he was forced into it, but for him it might be a, "Well, if they're doing that, I'll do it too" type of thing. You're right about the newspaper audience probably not caring, too.

Rosy-eyed nostalgia will be the death of the Spider-Man franchise, not what saves it.

I totally agree. They just want to do the same tropes again and again and it's going to just stunt the books, not keep them in some magical time capsule. I mean, when I read the Lee/Ditko issues, they're not my favorite Spider-Man era but you can clearly feel the creativity and the inventiveness and the willingness to take risks. And THAT was what made them great. And strong, distinct personalities made the Lee/Romita era great. They have to work on THAT to make the new Spidey books great, not arbitrary rules about Spider-Man being some sort of dateaholic slacker.

Re: You have a Sal Buscema icon! That's awesome!

[sandoz-iscariot.livejournal.com]

Constantly referencing/strip-mining stories that happened thirty years ago (no matter how good they may be) doesn't seem like a very productive way to recruit new, young readers who weren't even born when those stories were written, but oh well. Sooner or later someone will be in charge who grew up with the marriage and the cartoons and movies and considers the only "true" Spider-Man to be a married one.

I mean, they got Romita to do a brand new variant cover with swinging single Pete and two hot girls on his arm, and Romita is certainly a talented artist, but his style is dated as hell and it just looked weird and...it's 2009, guys.

Re: You have a Sal Buscema icon! That's awesome!

[quietprofanity.livejournal.com]

I suppose we can hope ...

I haven't been able to find the Romita cover on Google. It sounds kind of pathetic, though.