Marvel’s Latest Attempt to “Fix” Spider-Man

“I try not to do anything that’s too close to what I’ve done before. And the nice thing is we have a big universe here. It’s filled with new ideas. All you have to do is grab them.”

-STAN LEE, Brandweek, May 2000

If you go WAY back on this blog, you’ll find a whole series of articles I wrote lambasting Marvel Comics’ handling of Spider-Man since the Early 90’s. They’ve attempted so many “fixes” the character is now barely recognizable. First, they had the Clone Saga which hurt Spider-Man fans to their very core with the twist that we had been following the adventures of Spider-Man’s clone for two decades. A few years later, the series was rebooted by the man who brought a more modern Superman to audiences everywhere, John Byrne, who promptly turned the series into a joke until what was thought to be the answer to all our prayers, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski took the reigns. His Spider-Man was a huge improvement, but still suffered from some of the same ailments that troubled the character since the Clone Saga. Those ailments being the seemingly self-destructive need to continue “changing the status quo” by altering Peter’s past and whole reason for being Spider-Man. And in 2004 when Straczynski transformed the once innocent Gwen Stacy into a tramp who would let herself get knocked up by a man twice her age, his run on the title finally “jumped the shark”.

Then in 2007, Jose Quesada and what was left of Jose Quesada decided it would be really neat to destroy another two decades of Spider-Man’s past with “One More Day”. Straczynski, who felt pretty guilty over what he did to Gwen Stacy was told that he’d be afforded the opportunity to correct that mistake during One More Day…a hope that was dashed by Editor in Chief Joe Quesada who took over the storyline to deliver us a more complete reboot of Spider-Man than ever before. And with that, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s marriage was erased. Fast forward about a half decade and Marvel decided to “kill” Peter Parker by having Doctor Octopus take over his brain(Yeah, I just said that). “Superior Spider-Man” was born. I predicted at the time this reboot would last only as long as the increased sales did. And lo and behold, when sales dropped, so was the “Superior” version dropped in favor of the original.

A new Amazing Spider-Man #1 was released with about 100 different variant covers. A record that would only be broken by Star Wars return to Marvel this year. Does Marvel have any shame at all? To force us completists to buy 100 different covers is tantamount to extortion. But, I digress…

Enter 2015 and a new story hits SuperheroHype…Marvel is using their new status quo changing crossover event(Those words have become so common from Marvel now, hasn’t it become the company’s status quo to change the status quo?) “Secret War” to bring back Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage! YAY! FINALLY! Whoo HOO! Everyone go dance in the streets the original Spider-Man is back! I mean, just check out this poster:

Wait. Who’s that on Spidey’s shoulder? Looks like a four year old girl. A redhead. Wait…May? Mayday Parker? Their daughter from the futuristic series “Spider-Girl”? Didn’t their baby die? Ohhh, that’s right, they left that open. So, not only are we getting a married Peter back, but as a dad as well.

OK, I can deal with that…as long as the series gets back on track. Surely it will. Who did they get to write this back to basics reboot? Roger Stern? Tom DeFalco? Straczynski? Bendis? Errr, John Byrne? Uh….no. Seriously? Dan Slott? Wait, I thought we were moving away from the madness of the past eight years? Wouldn’t that mean a new creative leader? So Marvel’s solution to the mistakes made since 2007 is to rehire the same freaking writer????

OK, I’ll preface my remarks from here with the fact that I have to admit I’ve never read a word Slott has written. I stopped reading Spider-Man from the moment I read Gwen Stacy cheated on Peter with Norman Osborn. Still, considering that under Slott’s watch I’ve seen the series go through some serious ups and downs and now supposedly back up(again), I would have thought Marvel would bring in some new blood to truly move Spidey into a new golden era. Sticking with the same writer through all of this tells me one of two things: Either Slott is just that good and they really want to see where he can take the original version OR….Slott is a yes man and Marvel wants to be in full creative control of the character moving forward. Especially considering the news the new Spider-Man Movie series will take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they don’t want take a chance on anyone taking Spider-Man into any stories that are not sanitized for public consumption.

Since I’ve yet to hear how great a writer Slott is from pretty much anyone, I’d have to lean toward the latter possibility. To which I say this: Grow some freaking balls, Marvel! You didn’t get where you are by being a conservative company. And no, not the type of balls to kill the character off temporarily, or change him into one of his greatest adversaries(again temporarily). No, the balls to bring in a writer that might actually bring us a Spider-Man that shows reverence to the stories of the past(as in pre-1990) while introducing us to new modern villains and supporting characters that FIT INTO THAT WORLD. And the balls to STICK WITH THAT DECISION no matter how good or bad sales get. Good stories will win out in the end and even if you have to go through some lean months or even years, the character will be better off for it in the end.

Or, stick with Slott who will continue delivering slickly produced stories and events from the boardroom that will temporarily(there’s that word again) drive the bottom line rather than drive the character to new creative heights that should be anything but temporary.

Look Familiar?

The new Secret Wars #1 cover by Alex Ross and Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 cover by George Perez. Homage or?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Life is like a wheel. Sooner or later, it always comes around to where it started.”

-Stephen King

Ah, John Byrne. I could say anything I want to about him right now. He wouldn’t give a damn. You see, I “hide” behind a username, so anything I say is inherently invalid. But, to be frank, this article is not about John Byrne’s opinions. I love that quote by Dirty Harry from The Dead Pool(1988), “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one.” Byrne must have thousands of assholes, but I digress.

The webline is appropriately upside down.

This article is not about Byrne or his thousands of assho—I mean, opinions. This article is about his Spider-Man “reboot” in 1999. In Spider-Man: Chapter One, Byrne gives us his interpretation of Spider-Man’s early days. The thing was, we had already seen a great rendition of Spidey’s early days by Tom DeFalco and Pat Ollife in the ensuing years up to Byrne’s Chapter One. Sure, Untold Tales of Spider-Man did not chronicle the character’s origin, but it did give those who hated the Clone Saga(and the issues following it) a place to go to read some classic Spidey tales. Tales free from the increasing weight of baggage being spoon-fed us in the core titles of the time. So, not only was Byrne’s Chapter One not needed, it wasn’t wanted either.

So, obviously he had an uphill battle ahead of him in recreating the same type of success he had rebooting Superman over a decade earlier. However, Superman was in a completely different place when Byrne took the reigns. Superman was a near fifty-year old character that was utterly out-dated. Superman needed a modern update. Spider-Man, on the other hand, was still a thoroughly modern character. He didn’t need an update. He needed to be brought back to basics. In bringing Byrne in to reboot Spidey, Marvel was not fixing what was wrong by bringing things back to basics, they were making it worse by changing things that didn’t need to be changed.

Byrne’s Superman was iconic.

The changes Byrne made to Spider-Man’s beginnings are:

1. Peter Parker and Otto Octavius receive their powers and abilities at the same radiation experiment(Which would be great for a movie, but in the comics, this just did not happen).

2. Electro’s origin and costume(because Byrne loves to tinker).

Electro’s new costume is so incredibly…generic.

3. Norman Osborn and Sandman are cousins(because, you know, cornrows run in the family).

Couldn’t they just have the same barber?

4. The Vulture can only fly in NYC(Huh?).

5. The burglar is after Uncle Ben because he bought a new computer(Which is so much better than money left in the basement by a mob boss, oh and this renders Amazing Spider-Man #200 an alternate universe tale).

This page shows how out of touch Byrne was. It looks like the original, but it’s not. The changes are subtle, yet terribly blunt.

6. Norman Osborn is behind everything(and I mean it, everything)

And that just scratches the surface. That doesn’t even go into his takeover of the regular series with introductions of some of the lamest villains ever created. And a new Spider-Woman, to boot, who gets her own goofy series as well(Thank the good Lord someone had the good sense to bring back Jessica Drew….eventually). Yes, let’s bring Spider-Man back to his roots and make up for everything the Clone Saga did, by…screwing everything up again. Well, Kaine stuck around, where’s this version of Spider-Woman? Huh? Where she belongs, comic book purgatory. Hopefully, she stays there.

Ladies and gentlemen, Flash Gordon—I mean Thompson!

After about two years of work(which is about all the time Byrne could apparently commit to after his long run on Fantastic Four), Byrne left(or was sent packing). And we were right back into Spider-Limbo for awhile. Erik Larsen jumped on for a few issues, further cementing, that even post Savage Dragon, he was the go-to guy when a Spider-Man creator jumped ship. And why, oh why was one of the men directly responsible for the Clone debacle always brought in to take over Amazing when they had no one else to go to? Howard Mackie must have worked for pennies. One bright spot during this time was John Romita Jr’s return to the flagship title. I’ve always loved his work, even when it got all blocky and scratchy.

To sum up this edition of SMCC, when will Marvel learn that the only way to fix things is to actually fix them? When a 1965 Mustang breaks down, you don’t go buy parts off a 1999 Camaro, to update it. You look at what’s broken and fix it with original parts meant for that make and model. You can’t make Spider-Man like the modern version of Batman or Superman or Spawn, because he’s Spider-Man. That’s who he is and that’s who he’s supposed to be. You created his parts in the 60’s, 70’s and some even in the 80’s. Those are the parts you use when you attempt to repair him. And you surely don’t replace a 1965 Mustang with a newer model. It’s worth more if you restore it. And that’s because it’s a classic.

Maybe that’s what Marvel should do. Stop updating Spider-Man and restore him instead. The way sales currently are, it couldn’t hurt.

This is what Spidey is today. All customized, and very little original. Sure it’s an expensive hot lookin’ ride. But to me, it’s not much different than this:

To be continued….

The old adage used to be, “No one in comics stays dead except Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben.”

Well, Bucky was resurrected, and so was Jason Todd. So, is Uncle Ben next?

Ben Parker’s death is so integral to the character of Spider-Man, that it became just the first in a long line of personal tragedies that defined Peter Parker. Peter Parker would not be the same character without his ability to overcome almost constant personal loss. Even the movies get this. From losing Ben in the first film, to losing Mary Jane and nearly himself in the second, it’s obvious that Raimi understood how important personal loss was to Spider-Man. So, someone tell me why modern writers/editors seem to forget the most prominent aspect of his persona?

Time and time again, the writers/editors have killed off a character, only to bring them back. And they don’t stop there. They have also gone back into the past and resurrected long dead characters. Fortunately, there are three they have not touched; Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy. Sure, there is the Gwen Stacy clone, but she is not the real deal. And she was also introduced not long after the actual Gwen’s death, by the writer of Gwen’s death. So, one must assume there is a line these modern creators won’t cross or haven’t crossed…yet.

Two major characters were resurrected in the ensuing years after the Spider-Man Clone Saga. And both should have stayed dead for different reasons.

First up was Norman Osborn, AKA The Green Goblin. Now, after the virtual hell that the Clone Saga became, I was actually pretty stoked(90s term for happy) that they brought back my favorite Spider-Man villain. So much so, I went out and bought every appearance he ever made before that(including Amazing Spider-Man #14). That happiness(“stokiness”?) was quickly obliterated after I read the story in (Adjectiveless) Spider-Man #75. Here was my favorite villain drawn by my favorite artist, yet there was something so incredibly wrong. The story wasn’t horrible. I just didn’t know what bothered me at that time. Now, I know it was the fact that they “fixed” ruining Spider-Man’s history by ruining his history.

Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 are classic issues and defined Spider-Man of the 70s and 80s. By changing the culmination of those issues they took away the impact they held. Sure, Gwen is still dead, but after killing her, the Green Goblin had to die. Fortunately for our hero, Osborn saved Peter from having to make a hard choice by doing himself in. That event stuck with Peter. He would relive it for a new generation a decade later with the introduction of the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin is another piece of this puzzle, who had his impact lessened by the resurrection of Osborn.

I love Green Goblin, I really do. So much so, that I think he never should have been brought back. I didn’t need to see new stories involving him. His legend was enough to sustain me. A legend that is now a bit tarnished thanks to his resurrection.

Now, onto Aunt May. I touched upon my feelings on her death in the last edition of SMCC, but now I’m going to critique her revival. As I stated last time, her time in Peter’s life had run its course. By bringing her back, and then de-aging her, she became a different character. Read any story after her resurrection in Spider-Man #97, and you will be able to plainly see this is not your father’s(aunt’s?) Aunt May. She’s “hipper”, younger and she takes no guff. Not the frail Aunt May, who Peter had to worry about. At first, they attempted to give her “amnesia” after her resurrection. Explaining that the other Aunt May, an actress(who apparently took method acting dead serious) had been told by Norman Osborn that Peter was Spider-Man. However, once J. Michael Straczynski took over the writing chores, he re-established Aunt May’s knowledge of Peter’s double life.

Still, she was not the Aunt May I remembered. I think the character would have been more believable if she had been his mother resurrected, since this was a woman I really had no experience with. Aunt May should have stayed dead, since they had given us enough time for her death to become another part of Peter. Three and a half years was plenty of time for her death to become as integral to Peter as Ben, Capt. Stacy and Gwen. And it should have been enough time to become as integral as Norman Osborn’s demise as well.

Another resurrection, that was a bit more recent and post-One More Day, was bringing Kraven the Hunter back from the dead. Kraven’s Last Hunt remains a high watermark for Spider-Man in comics. It’s a moment that is nearly as important to who Spider-Man now is(or was) as Amazing 121/122. In the Grim Hunt storyline from Amazing Spider-Man #634-637(“Set up” by the preceding twenty some-odd issues, yeah, twenty), Kraven is resurrected by Sasha Kravinoff(his wife.  Kraven had a wife?). While I may appreciate the talent assembled and the commitment to telling a very long overarching story, they were all wasting their time, in my opinion. Because Kraven, like Aunt May and Norman Osborn, should have stayed dead.

Next time, I get into John Byrne’s failed attempt at “fixing” Spider-Man, and why restarting Amazing Spider-Man back at #1(not Byrne’s Chapter One) was the penultimate nail in the coffin of the Spider-Man we once knew.

” If this is a victory… I’d hate to be defeated.”

-Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man #82(1970)

“The more I risk my life… the more deadly chances I take… the less good it seems to do! With all my strength… with all my powers… why can’t I ever make things right?”

-Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man #70(1969)

Peter Parker is a lovable loser. It’s Spider-Man that gets to win.

Let me repeat that.

Peter Parker is a lovable loser. It’s Spider-Man that gets to win.

This simple truth of Peter Parker’s existence is something that seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the line. In Amazing Spider-Man #400, Peter loses the woman he was closest to in this world, his Aunt, May Parker. She died a noble death. And, in the midst of the craziness of the Clone Saga, she died when she was supposed to die. Had she stayed dead, it would have given credence to a saga that is now the punchline to a lot of jokes.

Aunt May should have stayed dead.

Let me repeat.

Aunt May should have stayed dead.

We are talking about a lady who had been close to death’s door so many times, it made one wonder if she was the Parker with super powers. It was a plot device used so much in the early days of Spider-Man, that it started to become a parody of itself. “Aunt May is not looking good, I need to get money for her medicine or medical bills, etc. etc. etc.” But it worked. It worked every time. Stan(Actually Steve and John) had a way of tuggging at the heartstrings and evoking a response, and most importantly, loyalty from the reading audience.

However, all good things come to an end. The use of Aunt May as a motivational plot device wore thin by the ’80s. Peter Parker had outgrown worrying so much about his dear aunt. He had so many more things to worry about; School, his friends, and his love life. So, by the time the mid ’90s rolled around, the time for Aunt May to move on to the next plane(off the comic page) was long overdue.

^Yes, that really happened.

The Clone Saga was in full swing. Revelation after torturous revelation had been shown. And, for better or worse, Spider-Man was changing. Amazing Spider-Man #400 was a story that needed to happen. It was a story that was long awaited and gave us all a moment to reflect on the classic Spider-Man. Not what he was unfortunately becoming.  Was it a well written tale? No. But, it revealed something we had suspected for years; Aunt May knew Peter was Spider-Man.

In one moment, all of the times he had worried about his secret identity being revealed were shown to not be  necessary. It revealed that a lot of Peter’s neuroses were self-inflicted. It revealed he was human once again. And it gave us, as longtime readers and fans, a moment to say, “Ah! It makes sense!”. Mary Jane’s revelation in #259, that she knew he was Spider-Man was not nearly as impactful as Aunt May saying she did. It just seemed appropriate that this lovable loser was worried about nothing.

And the scenes in which Peter lets go of his Aunt, even having Ben Reilly, the clone, there seemed to enhance, rather than distract from the moment. It was doubly painful to watch as two Peter Parkers mourned for the woman he loved more than any other. Of all the parts of the Clone Saga that should have been retconned, why did they decide to take this one away?

Why? Because Spider-Man was in creative crisis, and bringing Aunt May back was yet another representation of that. It’s like the writers and editors were co-dependents, enabling Peter Parker’s self-destruction. When they couldn’t save Spider-Man…only Spider-Man could save himself.

More on that next time. Sorry for another “interlude”, but I decided it was best to cover Aunt May’s “death” in its own article, rather than in the next one.  Which will cover her resurrection, and the resurrections of other characters that should have remained in the grave. Until then…