What's do you like the most about JMS' Spider-Man?

[Micro]

Alright, I think it should be known that I'm not the biggest fan of J. Michael Straczynski's work on Spider-man by any means, but I do understand many others are. This got me wondering "What do people like about his run". I'm really somewhat clueless as to what has made it appealing to so many people. So I'm curious, what's your favorite part of JMS' run so far?

[Venom]

Iron Spider. That's my 3rd favourite Spider-Man costume of all time. I love the design of the suit; it's definitely a costume Spidey hasn't worn before. The 2nd greatest thing JMS did on his run was finally have Aunt May discover that Peter was Spider-Man.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Personally I enjoyed the move to make Peter a teacher at his old school.
It was logical and gave Peter some new ground to work on and is a great opperatunity for some new supporting cast members, though that hasen't worked out since JMS sucks at giving Spidey normal human supporting cast besides MJ and May.

[Sandy Hausler]

Uh, you left out a spot for none of the above. I've never liked his work on this book. But, it's not because it's poorly written. It just doesn't fit with my idea of Spider-Man.

Sandy Hausler

[Michael P]

Characterization. The stuff you listed was just plot details; the real gem here has been his consistent and thoughtful portrayal of who Peter Parker is as a person.

[ednemo]

JMS made Spider-Man interesting for me again. He's funny, he's interesting and he has new ideas for the character. Spider-Man originally never did it for me. I didn't understand the kid who was bullied, gets powers, then is monumentally unsuccessful because he can't use his genius level brain to figure out a way to become a financial success.

It just didn't click. And the stories didn't click. And then JMS came along. And Peter suddenly started following a path that I could understand. It's the writing, JMS makes Spider-Man interesting for me.

[Mister Mets]

The changes in Aunt May.

[Sean Whitmore]

Uh, you left out a spot for none of the above.


No he didn't. That would go in a differently-titled thread. :)


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

Wow, someone voted for Sins Past. Takes all kinds, I guess. :D

I think Aunt May learning the secret has been the best single event that JMS has brought to Spider-Man, though I agree with Michael that his consistent characterization of Peter, MJ, and May have been tops.

Second would be his becoming a teacher, like Dark Soul said. I really dig that. Though I'd prefer we actually see more of it than we do lately. The last time I remember seeing the school was when they introduced Flash as the new coach, and before then...? I don't even remember.


SEAN

[Sandy Hausler]

No he didn't. That would go in a differently-titled thread. :)


SEAN

Uh, I was just implying that there is darned little that I like about JMS's Spider-Man. Sheesh!

Sandy Hausler

[Jack]

The art by JRJr.

Wait..

I liked Peter becoming a teacher in theory, but the execution didn't really do anything for me. I kinda find it hard to believe that JMS could be so fantastic on his own projects and yet just... miss... every time he takes on one of Marvel's own properties.

[Violently Apathetic]

Got to agree with Sean, Aunt May being let into Peter's world at last tops the list.

[Beacon]

I went with Ezekiel. Silly mystical crap aside, he’s an interesting take on the classic “Spider-Man gone wrong” archetype that gave us Doctor Octopus, Venom, Kaine, ect. Until the end, he wasn’t presented as a villain so much as a person who hadn’t “gotten around to” being a hero yet.

I like the idea of May finding out but the JMS story wasn’t half as good as when it was told the first time in Amazing #400.

I like the idea of Peter as a teacher but JMS never really DID anything with it.

I like the idea of Peter as an Avenger but I don’t think they could have done a worse job in the execution if they tried. Rather than using the team as a way for him to make a bigger difference, they used an ineffective super team (have the Bendis-era Avengers EVER won a fight?) as an excuse to cut him off from “normal people” even more than they already had (being on the team is one thing but living with them in Stark’s Ivory Tower is quite another).

I hated pretty much everything else which goes a long way toward explaining why I haven’t bothered buying it since they killed Ezekiel.

[PersonaDark]

This is going to sound odd but...The MJ and Peter moments that he did really well, May/MJ/Peter punking Wolverine moments, and that Poker game with the Kingpin.

I hated the mythical stuff. Ezeikel was an interesting character I would have liked more if not connected to the mythical stuff. Morlun felt far too much like a Doomsday both times, especially in The Other. May finding out and her characterization so far has been an improvement. Liked the teacher idea but more should have been done with it. And even though Avengers got their ass kicked a lot, the humorous parts of it made me forgive that, not to mention the team just bounces off each other nicely. (At least before Civil War) Kinda meh about the suit.

But the marriage parts and the return of a Spiderman that made me laugh again tempered the bad for me. I would hear Q complaining and whining about the Marriage and then see JMS write a scene like the one where Peter's just admiring her and realizing how damn lucky he is to have her or that touching moment with Spidey and Cap and her when they reunited, not the horrible crap they passed off in Disassembled and Chapter 1, etc. Proving that nothing's wrong with Spidey's married, he just needs good writing.

So I'm kinda on the fence. I know JMS' is a good writer, and while it's hard to forgive for The Other and Sins Past/Sins Remembered, those few moments of gold were enjoyable.

[Sean Whitmore]

This is going to sound odd but...The MJ and Peter moments that he did really well, May/MJ/Peter punking Wolverine moments, and that Poker game with the Kingpin.


The poker game was Paul Jenkins, I believe. :)


SEAN

[Dark Soul # 7]

The poker game was Paul Jenkins, I believe. :)It was.
Don't give JMS the credit for Jenkins brilliant one-shot story.

[Alan2099]

Wow, someone voted for Sins Past. Takes all kinds, I guess. :D

I think Aunt May learning the secret has been the best single event that JMS has brought to Spider-Man, though I agree with Michael that his consistent characterization of Peter, MJ, and May have been tops.

Second would be his becoming a teacher, like Dark Soul said. I really dig that. Though I'd prefer we actually see more of it than we do lately. The last time I remember seeing the school was when they introduced Flash as the new coach, and before then...? I don't even remember.


SEAN
The school bit was actually used really well in Marvel team-up.

[PersonaDark]

It was.
Don't give JMS the credit for Jenkins brilliant one-shot story.

My bad. I sat in a Barnes the other day reading trade after trade to catch up, so who did what kinda ran together at points. :p

Correction: The MJ and Peter moments that he did really well, May/MJ/Peter punking Wolverine moments

[Red Lotus]

I picked Aunt May finding out. But the Iron Spider was a close second.


Personally I enjoyed the move to make Peter a teacher at his old school.
It was logical and gave Peter some new ground to work on and is a great opperatunity for some new supporting cast members, though that hasen't worked out since JMS sucks at giving Spidey normal human supporting cast besides MJ and May.


You're right about that. If they had one student who was a supporting cast member then the my teacher is Spider-man story would have been so much better. That to me is the problem with the unmasking. They are going to have to bring back people who hasn't had anything to do with Spider-man to have some one react to it.

[Sean Whitmore]

The school bit was actually used really well in Marvel team-up.


I may have to check that out. I've only read the first issue, and I wasn't a fan, but maybe it deserves another shot.


SEAN

[Micro]

Hum, I find it interesting that so many people picked "Aunt May discovering Peter is Spider-man," didn't that happen way in Amazing Spider-Man #400 also? or was that not the real Aunt May, or was that the real Aunt May we thought wasn't the real Aunt May but then turned out to be real Aunt May, only to find that is wasn't the real Aunt May.....

I'm also kinda shocked we got a vote for "Sin's Past," but I guess that goes to show everyone has their own taste. The thing I'm most curious now, is out of all the people who like JMS' Spider-Man were Spider-Man fan's before he started writing, and vice versa?

[Dustin]

Aunt May discovering that Peter Parker is Spider-man

[alextron]

Him getting a teaching job was a great idea. It seems that JMS's stories don't go anywhere that often. Just look at the stories leading up to this unmasking. There's like four major things going on and you get half a story out of it, no middle of end. Why does he have the armor again? What's the plot significance of it? I'm not even mentioning the House of M, New Powers, Peter Parker is reborn in cocoon stuff.

How does JMS get to do all this and other writers have to fight editorial for years and years. He doesn't seem to have an idea of where to take this stuff.

[Sean Whitmore]

Hum, I find it interesting that so many people picked "Aunt May discovering Peter is Spider-man," didn't that happen way in Amazing Spider-Man #400 also? or was that not the real Aunt May, or was that the real Aunt May we thought wasn't the real Aunt May but then turned out to be real Aunt May, only to find that is wasn't the real Aunt May.....


That, Marvel would have us believe, was a paid actress, genetically-disguised to look like Aunt May.

Bleeeegh. :mad:

And it was such a nice story, too. I actually prefer the idea that she'd always known. "I'd have to have been an idiot not to know," I think she even said. :)


SEAN

[Bobster777]

I like the Aunt May discovery. Great moment in my book.

[Micro]

That, Marvel would have us believe, was a paid actress, genetically-disguised to look like Aunt May.

Bleeeegh. :mad:
SEAN


Well, maybe it was the real Aunt May all along, and Norman Osborn(since he was behind the Clone Saga all along...right) was working behind the scenes to clone Aunt May, and then posioned the real one, and convinced Spider-Man she was the fake one. And now the cloned Aunt May is running around thinking she is the real one, only until Norman Osborn comes around and reveals that the Jackel from the Clone Saga was a Clone and the real one has been working secretely working all these years to make an army of Aunt May's so that they can kill 100's of them infront of Peter so he will have to suffer through her death 100 times. Oh, and Mary Jane didn't "really" die in the plane crash a few years ago that was a clone too. And the one running around now, well she's a clone also, the real one is being held captive with Norman Osborn, who plans to drop her and baby May off the Brooklyn Bridge before Spidey can save them. This will then make Quesada so happy because Mary Jane and baby May will both be dead, and he believes he can then tell stories about Spider-Man hooking up with Blackcat, and Jessica Jones...You know it will happen;)

[Sean Whitmore]

Well, maybe it was the real Aunt May all along, and Norman Osborn(since he was behind the Clone Saga all along...right) was working behind the scenes to clone Aunt May, and then posioned the real one, and convinced Spider-Man she was the fake one. And now the cloned Aunt May is running around thinking she is the real one, only until Norman Osborn comes around and reveals that the Jackel from the Clone Saga was a Clone and the real one has been working secretely working all these years to make an army of Aunt May's so that they can kill 100's of them infront of Peter so he will have to suffer through her death 100 times. Oh, and Mary Jane didn't "really" die in the plane crash a few years ago that was a clone too. And the one running around now, well she's a clone also, the real one is being held captive with Norman Osborn, who plans to drop her and baby May off the Brooklyn Bridge before Spidey can save them. This will then make Quesada so happy because Mary Jane and baby May will both be dead, and he believes he can then tell stories about Spider-Man hooking up with Blackcat, and Jessica Jones...You know it will happen;)


You're a bad man. Seriously. Like, deep down inside.


SEAN

[Micro]

You're a bad man. Seriously. Like, deep down inside.


SEAN

It's true, I know:(

[Dark Soul # 7]

It's true, I know:(*picks up a baseball bat*
Boy you're going to be absent from school/work/haning out with your friends tomorrow.

[The Sentry]

I think Aunt May learning the secret has been the best single event that JMS has brought to Spider-Man, though I agree with Michael that his consistent characterization of Peter, MJ, and May have been tops.

Second would be his becoming a teacher, like Dark Soul said. I really dig that. Though I'd prefer we actually see more of it than we do lately. The last time I remember seeing the school was when they introduced Flash as the new coach, and before then...? I don't even remember.


SEAN

What he said ! :)

[Kevinroc]

I may have to check that out. I've only read the first issue, and I wasn't a fan, but maybe it deserves another shot.


SEAN

You say that now... When Marvel just announced that #25 is the last issue. :(

[Will.S]

Second would be his becoming a teacher, like Dark Soul said. I really dig that. Though I'd prefer we actually see more of it than we do lately. The last time I remember seeing the school was when they introduced Flash as the new coach, and before then...? I don't even remember.
It seems as if everytime they try to go towards the school setting something gets in the way. Hopefully Peter David gets to do it with Flash as Gym teacher and once things settle down more, I think that's why the current issue of Sensational was so interesting since it continued ground that was still pretty fresh like the students perspective of this adult Parker whereas we were so used to him during his younger self.

[kel25]

I picked Aunt May finding out but I still think she should be dead. Him becoming a teacher was second. The Iron Spidey costume is ugly but it is nice when he gets a temporary costume.

The worst things are the new powers (I can talk to insects) and the mystic background.

Him being an Avenger really does nothing for me but it’s about time. They seem to have the lowest standards for membership so I never understood why he wasn’t recruited by them earlier.

[Bromoc]

Its his useof umimportant charecters. spends one or two pages to show some gaurd telling a dumb joke.. or even a gaurd critizing Babylon 5.. its those little touches. Gives the world a sense of the everyday.

As for the second question.
I've been a spidey fan since the late 70's early 80's That really crappy (crappy now as i see re-runs) Peter Hamilton TV show was what brought me into the comic

[Cash Lone]

I went with Ezekiel. Silly mystical crap aside, he’s an interesting take on the classic “Spider-Man gone wrong” archetype that gave us Doctor Octopus, Venom, Kaine, ect. Until the end, he wasn’t presented as a villain so much as a person who hadn’t “gotten around to” being a hero yet.

I hated pretty much everything else which goes a long way toward explaining why I haven’t bothered buying it since they killed Ezekiel.

I also went w/ Ezekiel. Ezekiels presense in Spidey was mysterious, intruiging and adventureous. I liked everything JMS was doing in Spidey at that time period - introducing Lt. Lamont and all sorts of new threats like Digger and the new Doc ock.

I was saddened to see Ezekial go and his final issue didnt hit as hard as it should have at the end - but it really made for a great overall read.

To me, everything after that has not been worth purchasing.

[Kirayoshi]

I'd vote for the rebuilding of Peter and MJ's marriage. Which, no doubt, will be scuttled by the end of Civil War, as part of Quesada's masterplan to make sure Peter Parker is miserable for the rest of his life(or at least until Quesada is no longer EIC at Marvel).