Ressurection of What Spider-Man Comic Have You Read Lately? -- Possible Spoilers

[matthewaos]

I recently read all the Avengers/New Avengers issues I lost, from #10 to current. You know what, Avengers is ok, fun and everything, but it is not Bendis' strong point. And it's good that Spider-Man and wolverine are not members of the team anymore (at least that's what I got). NA now is an amazing, very exciting and enjoyable book. The who thing with Osborn made me read more and more, though I think it ended a little funny, all this build up and it looked a little anticlimatic. However, Bendis has a problem: He is better if you are trade waiting, or even if you read all the issues of the year in one sitting. You can do it, they are read fast and not many things happen.

[whiteshark]

Amazing Spider-Man #684.
A great read,Spider-Man joining Silver Sable and Black Widow to fight Spider-Man in the desert looks like a idea of a comic book of the 60s (Well except Silver Sable apearing because she is a character of the 80s) even so i had as much fun reading this story as a classic marvel story.
And this story arc develops even more,can not wait to read the next issue.

[Xenon]

Amazing Spider-Man 378-380
Spectacular Spider-Man 201-203
Web of Spider-Man 101-103
Spider-Man 35-37
Spider-Man Unlimited 1 & 2

That's right, I read MAXIMUM CARNAGE.

The fabled story of yor hated by many, the story was, technically, part of my introduction to Spider-Man, as one day my father came home with a red Super Nintendo cartridge that contained the game of the same name (so I recognized some of the panels in the book from the game. =O) Mind you, I never BEAT that game, because it was hard.Still, my expectations were low considering how often it makes lists of worst Spider-man stories. So was it as bad as that? How was Maximum Carnage?

Eh, I thought it was ok. The hate it gets is overblown. That's not to say it doesn't have issues, because it most certainly does. It has too many characters, some of the characters are pointless, it's too long, it's not consistently executed, Venom is still annoyingly crazy (but right about Kassady), the ending kinda pops out of nowhere, and dramatically fails to foreshadow almost entirely. But it's not, as people always accused it of being, mindless. There is some thought behind Maximum Carnage. It is, at its core, a philosophical battle between...well, that's part of the problem. It's trying to be two slightly different but very close battles. The battle between the inherent nature of people; are they good or bad? And the battle between idealistic vs. pragmatic heroes, or put another way, order and chaos. It treats these as equivalents, but they're really not. You can be both idealistic and believe that people are inherently bad. You can be pragmatic and believe they're inherently good. In the end, Peter could have decided that his Dad was right about people, and still been idealistic. So that's the first problem.

Shriek gives us our second problem, because in many ways, this is a story about Shriek. But the comic is too busy to give the proper significance to the MacGuffin that she was. Carnage is the boss, but Shriek was the lynchpin (because she makes everything crazy). Now, it's fine if Cletus doesn't get this. That's exactly how it should be, but the comic book should do something to make that an actual mystery. As it was, people act crazy, then they blame it on her. Done. Too quick, too meaningless. That was something that, in the hands of the right writer, could have been the big mystery, the real problem. Not just them chasing after Carnage, but figuring out why the city was tearing itself apart. In short, the story needed to slow down just a tad, but it was too busy, cause they're were too many people.

Deathlok and Carrion should not have been in this book. I question whether even Morbius should have been (though he serves a probably necessary thematic purpose). You don't need them, they don't add anything. They just take up space and time that could be better spent elsewhere. Plus, Deathlok is a dumb character. That's right, I said it.

Believe it or not, for the most part I was ok with the guest stars on the whole, however. They did a very good job of mostly sticking to Spider-Man characters. I'll even count Firestar since she originated in his cartoon. Only Cap and Iron Fist were true outsiders, and they served an important purpose. Oh, Deathlok was too, but screw that guy. The guests did their job of moving the plot along and really did give it a big story feel. BUT, I think the key here is that it still mostly felt like Spider-Man's story. And that's important.

With that said, I appreciate the way they divided them up into three factions, sort of. They did effectively give Spider-Man his "third way" that he was searching for, and I think this was effective. But I think it would have been more effective if the Shriek thing hadn't been already reveale.d That would have been the "slow down" moment, where they figure it out and then set about tackling the problem.

That weapon at the end....they really just built that in the 20 minutes Spider-Man fought? Really? Come on. This is where foreshadowing is useful. Peter Parker's opening scene should have been him finding out about that kind of research. Or him doing research and then finding out about something else that he can combine to create the weapon. I know a lot of people have a problem with how it ends, but I think the real problem there was not the superweapon, it was that the superweapon came out of nowhere. Chekov's gun is a trope for a reason. Because it works. And you don't have to be obvious about it. But something would be helpful.

The actual ending is ok, and I actually like how it came down to the three of them, stripping away all the other characters. But I would have liked it better if Spider-Man won physically as well as mentally. That's the thing I was missing. Yeah, they're stronger than him, but he's strong enough to hurt them, and smarter than both, so I would love to see him actually just win a stupid fight. He still "won", though he won like a statesman more than a hero. Maybe Peter's next job should be taking over for Jonah as mayor. =p

A sort of meta-problem, I think, was the fact that the fourteen parts were written by four different guys. DeFalco, Michelinie, DeMatteis, and Kavanaugh. If you gave it to JUST DeFalco or DeMatteis, I think you would have had a WAAAY better story, and even Michilinie by himself I think would have turned in a more cohesive tale. That's not to say that any one of the four made a huge mistake, but it just fits together better when you've got one guy doing it all. Two max. Four....is too many.

It's in the end an ok story, certainly not great, but not really that bad either. If I was going to shore it up, I'd remove Dethlok and Carrion, push back Shreik's reveal, slow down the pace of the story a little bit while cutting some stuff to reduce the number of parts. But really, I don't think it belongs on a top ten WORST list, well, unless there's just not much bad stuff in the comic as a whole.

You may now commence throwing the tomatoes. =o

[Aziz Abbasi]

Wolverine vs Spider-Man (that one by Larsen)
When did MJ date Flash?
When did Gwen date anyone but Pete?
At least I know who this Critical Mass Logan asks Spidey about in Web of Shadows. 4th grade bully turns kidnapper

Story is kinda messed up, but I liked it enough to grade it a 'B'

Dude, this run is golden!!

I know, I love it

I didn't know there WAS a Spider-Man Unlimited #2 at the time. I was hitting all the "Maximum Carnage" headers, but there were parts 3 and 4 and 2 and such, but it wasn't until I reached the end of the Amazing Spider-Man issue right before Maximum Carnage that I learned such a book existed. I was trying to avoid the trade because I don't like those collected trade styles, for the most part (I like them by series in chronological order with no gaps =p).

LOL, those trades are supposed to do that

[Aziz Abbasi]

Ok, I miss Jim Thompson and his appreciation of Erik Larsen, where'd he go?

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 01, and Flashbacks. Brilliant work

[Aziz Abbasi]

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 05: Everyone's -but Sally- reaction to Jason being a jerk about Peter's clothes are cool. Too bad I didn't see Jason's reaction to Peter with his clothes on. Vulture was defeated twice before that issue by Spider-Man, but he decided to prove to himself and to Spider-Man he's superior, that made him fail badly, and I like
Ross is a d***, Spidey warns him about something for nothing in exchange, Ross kept saying "You want something in turn, spill it", so he gave Spidey the idea, and when Spidey said he could use the money Ross wen to a fit. No wonder he keeps chasing the Hulk like a lunatic,he's a maniac, I guess becoming a Hulk and a fellow Avenger is the best thing to happen to him, but I wish he was another color instead of red

Amazing Spider-Man 037: It's awesome, those panels with Spidey in the car of the guy who wanted to kill Foswell with the hitman head on Spidey's head alone made the issue one of my favorites

[LEADER DESSLOK]

Currently reading random comics I got from a convention but what's primed for next are:

ESSENTIAL AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #7 aka The Original CLONE (Groan) SAGA and it really isn't that bad as it shows Pete and MJ's budding romance, including the now classic "First" Dance (cheek-to-cheek, that is) and their first kiss!

and MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR vol 2 (a real joy: fun, quirky and still showing echoes of previous super-team comics but slowly overshadowing them!)

[ImmortalIronFist]

I'm currently working my way through all of Ultimate Spider-Man, and it's quite good. I never read the original clone saga, but the Ultimate one I really liked.

The series is making me wish Spider-Men involves Ultimate Peter comes back.

[Aziz Abbasi]

Amazing Spider-Man 523-528: Hydra
It's awesome, can't believe I never read it before. JMS is a great storyteller when it comes to handling Spider-Man, I'm glad he stayed as long as he did

I'm going to read The Other, I remember enjoying it first read, might be just as enjoyable

[oldschool]

Currently reading random comics I got from a convention but what's primed for next are:

ESSENTIAL AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #7 aka The Original CLONE (Groan) SAGA and it really isn't that bad as it shows Pete and MJ's budding romance, including the now classic "First" Dance (cheek-to-cheek, that is) and their first kiss!

and MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR vol 2 (a real joy: fun, quirky and still showing echoes of previous super-team comics but slowly overshadowing them!)

Oh, that first Clone Saga (1970's) was a great story! It was just the right length and had enough real threat/drama for Spidey. A superb story and pretty daring for the era as well.

[Aziz Abbasi]

Read the first two parts of the Other, I can't get over the fact Morlun being alive was never explained, I remember it that way from that time I read the story in
But it's fun to read imo

[Venomous Mask]

Sooooo.... since my last post, I've read....

Amazing Spider-Man 370-377
Spectacular Spider-Man 194-200
Web of Spider-Man 95-100
Spider-Man 29-34

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 26
Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 1992
Web of Spider-Man Annual 1992

That's....29 books.

In Amazing....

The ending to Venom is stupid. Back when I read "Life of Reilly", I honestly didn't quite understand the big objection to Spider-Man making a deal with Venom. Now that I've read 900 Spider-Man comics, I completely get it, and it's completely bunk. It'd be one thing if it was approached as a character growth moment, where Spider-Man finally learns he can't take responsibility for every single thing that happens, but that's not the case. He makes the deal on a whim, without much thought, and then Venom leaves. Truly, now that I've seen the entirety of the first Venom "saga" (so to speak), I think I can safely say that he was a victim of his own popularity, because those attempts to make him an anti-hero were misguided and weird. Eddie Brock is not a likeable enough or cool enough human being to carry his own series. He's completely insane, to the point where I honestly think he really could get off on an insanity defense in real life (not like Batman villains who are all "insane", I'm talking real world legal testing insanity). But he's not insane in a funny way or anything, just insane.

And where did the whole cannibal thing come from? WHYYYYYY? What purpose did it serve? Especially if you're trying to make this guy redeemable, why would you do that? I assume it's cause they were trying to make him scary, but he was way creepier in his first appearances. The brain eating thing just took him over the top into comedy land.

Has Michelinie ever talked about his intentions with the parents at the beginning? I know how it ends, of course, but I wonder if that's what he always intended it to be, or whether that was just some plot idea that was jettisoned after it didn't take. It seems like it could go either way, and when you consider that it took so long to sort itself out (I think I heard two years), it doesn't seem like something that was intended to go like that. But maybe that was always the plan. I know this is a subplot I wish I didn't know the answer to, though, since I wish I was getting into it without preconceptions and with the analysis I'm doing.

Mary Jane's smoking, which is intertwined throughout the books, seems like a decent idea that was not handled well. I was pretty down on it until in one issue Spider-Man saw her lighting up as he swung off and began to think of the reasons behind it. It could have been a clever thing, but they turned it into just another character trait and made her do it all the time (which lessens any dramatic meaning it could have had) which just made it seem kinda dumb. If they'd just done little things, like have her put it out as soon as Peter got back form being Spider-Man, it would have gone a long way to making the point.

I really liked the invasion of the Spider-Slayers. It was a good way to revamp Alistair Smythe and a much better winter event plotline than last year's should be in Moon Knight story. The various enemies were fun, and Felicia played a good role in it (though her totally 90s super V costume kinda made me role my eyes), even though her new "powers" are kinda meh. Again, they're seems to be a whole bunch of different ideas of what to do with Felicia, but no one idea seems to be winning out. And this has been going on for five years worth of books now.

In Spectacular....

Death of Vermin was a good tale, though being focused on Vermin was still kind of a let down. The X-Men story wasn't bad either, though it's nothing to write home about.

Spectacular 200.....was not as great as I was hoping. It's still a good story, but it very much feels like he's taking what was gonna be four to six issues and condensing it into what is essentially two (yay for large anniversary issues). It just seems like he ran out of time before 200 and they wanted to do something big for 200, so they fit the whole plotline there. And while he was sick before, I think they could have telegraphed him dying a bit better, maybe they coul have had Spdier-Man discover that the formula was flawed. I know if I hadn't known he died, I would have been surprised and confused, though that may have been part of the point. That it's surprising. It's still a well-written tale though, and I enjoyed it (though this is one time I wish it hadn't have happened in the middle of the smoking subplot. seeing her walk around with a cigarette is distracting).

In Web...

A Ghost Rider crossover....crap. That means I only read half of this story. I did like how it started right from where the end of the last story left off, and everyone fighting down in the sewer was interesting enough, but missing half the story kinda kills it for me. =p

So...I don't know what to think of the whole Blood Rose part two thing. Like, it seems like it was a retcon story, but based on how you never saw the Blood Rose's face before, it was planned that way? So Alfredo was always Richard Fisk? maybe that explains his dramatic differences, but it doesn't explain how "Richard Fisk" was acting before. This...probably goes in the bad column.

In No Adjective....

Meh. Return to the Mad Dog Ward was ok if nothing like the first one, though Mary Jane's sudden feminist fit (that is immediately forgotten) is a little weird, especially considering who she is. And they still manage to work in some guy trying to get her naked. The Vengeance plotline was pretty good, and Bob McLeod is a very good artist, so I got a good tale with some great art. Also Spider-Man was appropriately dismissive of Punisher's threat level.

In the Annuals...

I miss the old style annuals, where it was a big story that sort of acted like the movie to the monthly's TV Episode. This stringing the story across all the annuals doesn't sit well with me, but what makes it even worse is that they do it with about four stories. Each book contain a third of four stories. -_- A shady way to sell the others is all that is. And what caps it off worst of all, of course, is that the ending of the main story is in the New Warriors Annual. Meaning all that and I still don't know how it ends. BAH!


So, astute readings keeping track will notice my stopping point for all the books matches up. But only two of them end in 00s, you say? That's not the thing I'm talking about (though that's cool too). Nope. It's time for...Maximum Carnage.

As soon as I find a Spider-Man Unlimited #1. -_-

While I do agree with you that the way Venom was made an anti-hero was a bit forced and rushed, I have to disagree with you on the cannibal part. I mean, he looks like he's going to have you for dinner, so why not make threatening disembowlment part fo his schtick? It just removes him that much more from typical anti-heroes.

[whiteshark]

I have read #

.Amazing Spider-Man#685. (Another great chapter in this epic event.And Spidey teaming up with Black Cat and Silver Sable was cool.Silver Sable and Spider-Man relationship was interesting to read.Now i have to read older stories featuring Silver Sable to see if this is a new development or if it was something that was in older stories)

.FF#17. Just a fun read.And Hickman wrote a done in one issue story that was made of win.One of the few things i disliked about previous stories of Hickman was that he wrote story arcs that took to many stories to be resolved.Good to see that Hickman writes cool stories done in one issue as well.And that last page may very likely to be the funniest ending of a marvel comic book this year.

[Huree]

Started reading ASM 618-620 the Mysterio arc by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. The artwork by Martin is really top quality, I wish he would do more Spider-Man stuff.

[Aziz Abbasi]

Spider-Man: The Other
I love it, not fond of the death and resurrection plot, though I like how it was done