Be a TRUE Friend to a Comic Fan!

It's not easy being a comic fan these days and it's even harder to be a friend of one. There's so many bad comics out there that it's hard to avoid them. This is where you can help your friend. Keep them from making a mistake and buying a bad comic.

Keep them from buying AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

Not only will you save your friend from a fate worse than death (reading a comic that doesn't respect them) but you will help send the only message that comic companies understand today: a financial one. It's been said on other blogs that the only thing that comic companies like Marvel and DC care about is $ale$ and, sadly, that is true. They really don't care about fans and what they want. All they care about is moving the most 'product' out the door every week. They know from past events that many comic fans may express outrage over a ret-con or stupid storyline (like Gwen Stacy's twins) but most of those fans will keep on buying the comic and that's the only thing that's important.

So, be a friend to your friend and save them from themselves. Show Joe Quesada and Marvel that, despite the hype and news, you don't like this new direction and refuse to have it shoved down your throat. Show your friend how buying an AMAZING SPIDER-MAN merely justifies the story to Q and Marvel. Explain to them how the only way to exact any lasting change at Marvel or DC is through their profit margins.

Remember, friends don't let friends buy AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

One More Bad Idea!

Much has been said lately of Joe Quesada's "One More Day" storyline which ended in last week's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 544. Basically, Peter Parker and Mary Jane agreed to have their marraige wiped out of existence so that Mephisto would save Aunt May.

Many readers have reacted with outrage in the blogosphere and in the comic stores I frequent.

What's my take on this? Not surprisingly...

I DON'T LIKE IT ONE LITTLE BIT!

I'm against retconning characters and histories for the most part but this one annoys me even more than the rest.

In an exclusive 5 part interview with Comic Book Resources website, Joe Quesada explains some of the reasoning behind the story and why Peter should not be married.

Although I found myself shaking my head in disbelief many times, this section stood out to me:

While the marriage is absolutely the logical progression for a character like Peter Parker, so is having kids, having grandkids, growing old and dying. Would we -- better yet, should we -- go that far? Of course not. So why isn’t getting married too far? Simple: Because a lot of people have grown accustomed to it, indeed, attached to it -- and that is understandable. But it wasn’t the healthiest long-term scenario for the character. Each one of those life progressions (marriage, child, grandkids, etc.) cuts Peter Parker and the Spider-Man books off from the story-trappings that have been the bedrock of great Spider-Man stories.

The truth of the matter is that if the fans truly want a married Peter and MJ with kids, then we have an incredible book called “Spider-Girl.” If this is truly what fandom wants, to see Peter go through the natural progressions of life, then I expect orders on “Spider-Girl” to go through the roof in the next month.

Peter Parker getting married is not the "healthiest of long-term goals"?? Only in Quesada's mind. To me, and many readers, Parker's marriage was a thing of celebration! The one-time nebbish not only grows up but ends up marrying an amazingly beautiful woman! It was the greatest validation of geekdom since Julia Roberts said "Yes" to marrying Lyle Lovett! We had won!

Which, I'm sure, Quesada would say proved his point that the comic could not progress from there which is a foolish thing to say. If bad stories occurred after Peter and MJ married, it was the result of bad and unimaginative writers, not their marriage.

The end result is that Marvel has seen fit to revert Spider-Man back to the comfortable 'nebbish' status-quo. Back to worrying about web-shooters and covering Aunt May's medical bills and keeping his identity secret. Haven't we seen all this before? How is any of that new and interesting?

Elsewhere in the interview, Quesada states how the success of a single Spider-Man in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN proved to him that the character belonged single. But he contradicts himself in that last paragraph. If people want a married Spider-Man, they can read SPIDER-GIRL. But, Joe, if they wanted a single Spider-Man, they could read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. There was room for a married Spider-Man except that he wasn't what Quesada considered 'hip and happening' for the twentysomething set.

The fact that ONE man has been able to push his personal agenda down the throats of his creators and readers is utterly and morally wrong! I have to wonder if the E-I-C of both Marvel and DC are going out of their way to alienate and offend their older readers.

I wonder what Stan Lee and John Romita have to say about all this.

If you should want to read the interview with Quesada, follow the link:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12681