What Did You Love About JMS's Amazing Spidey Run?

[ShaggyB]

Were all the Spider Totem events really retconned, or are they just being ignored by current writers?

Unknown. We know Ezekiel (sp?) still happened as we see chameleon dress as him to mess with peter. Kaine also has the spikes.... but peter hasnt talked about it or popped those spikes. He has also lost or stopped using his organic webs from disassembled.... he doesnt talk about night vision or any of the other things he got during that time period.

[protege]

I didn't read JMS' run, but I did read the latest Spider man hardcover history. I kind of liked Ezekiel, and wish he had been a good guy. He could've been a good mentor for peter.

[Chris S.]

I'm actually in the middle of re-reading some of JMS's run. I picked up right before The Book of Ezekiel and was reading through Sins Past since it has been so long and I was just curious.

JMS might be one of my favorite, if not my favorite, writers of Spidey. Now that is not coming from someone who is not a well read Spider-Man fan either. I've read a majority of ASM. What I like (as that's the thread):

1) Peter and MJ- JMS knew how to write a young married couple. As a young married couple struggling to get by, Peter and MJ really worked. MJ struggling to find work as an actress and Peter supporting her just feels real. JMS might not have had a huge supporting cast, but anyone who has been married knows that you don't have a supporting cast in life. Your wife and family make up a huge portion of that, and JMS did it so well.

2) Peter as a teacher- loved it. Nuff said.

3) Peter as Spider-Man- He was honestly laugh outloud funny at times. JMS knew how to write witty banter that didn't come across immature or corny. It just worked and worked very well.

4) JMS just got Peter- I think JMS understood Peter as a character. He made him feel genuine and like the person I think Peter would grow into.

5) He saved the title- Howard Mackie gets sh@t on a lot. I think his stuff pre the relaunch when he was on adjectivless Spider-Man was actually very good. It may have been JRJR's pencils, but it worked. After the relaunch it was god awful. When JMS came on the title I'll never in my life forget reading that first issue. It was like a breath of fresh air. All the crap and baggage that was weighing the title down just evaporated. I remember when Peter smashes up that building in frustration. That moment was just perfect. JMS's timing on the title was perfect.

Now all of this isn't to say JMS didn't have his rough spots. He did, but so did every run on the title.

[Kevin Nichols]

Man, after reading through this thread I just want to go back and reread the whole JMS run. What did I love about it? Everything. Beginning to end I think it is one of the strongest runs in ASM history, right behind Lee and Stern. (Dan Slott's run isn't finished, so I don't count it yet.)

The synergy between JMS and JRJR was outstanding. I thought every one of their issues together was a stroke of brilliance. And in my opinion, no one has ever written MJ or Aunt May better. I'm not as much a fan of Deodato as I am of JRJR, but I loved his portion of the run too, as well as the last bit with Ron Garney. In fact, the only part of JMS's run that I didn't care for was 'The Other' and even that wasn't a total bust - we got those awesome Mike Weringo variant covers out of the deal!

[OrpheusTelos]

Loved Peter Parker as a High School teacher.

[ShaggyB]

Loved Peter Parker as a High School teacher.

That and the magic totem stuff were my absolute most hated parts. Peter as a teacher forced night patrols.... which made peter feel more like batman, which I didnt like at all. Then the times he wasnt doing night patrols he was coming to class late or injured. That made me feel like he was short changing his students.

[Scott Taylor]

1) The franchise felt energized. Lots of stuff was going on, much of it controversial, but all of it made me want to read and see what was going to happen next.

2) Everything in the Happy Birthday story. Peter reliving his greatest moments all the way to the brief "return" of Uncle Ben drawn by JRsr.

3) Jrjr's art.

4) All the new characters that he introduced, especially the villains.

5) Peter felt smart and seemed to actually be competent rather than the lonesome idiot loser we have seen way too often

[Chris S.]

That and the magic totem stuff were my absolute most hated parts. Peter as a teacher forced night patrols.... which made peter feel more like batman, which I didnt like at all. Then the times he wasnt doing night patrols he was coming to class late or injured. That made me feel like he was short changing his students.

As a teacher, it was not feasible that Peter was a teacher. As a first year teacher I was putting in 11-14 hour days all week. Not to mention all the grading on the weekends.

Now thats not to say I didn't love the idea. It made sense for Peter to give back like that. One issue would be that if you go back and read the issues from his TA days he hated the job. He even quit being a TA because he disliked it. Thus it wasn't a likely progression for Peter.

I loved the moment when Aunt May suggested it to Peter though. That is a good example of solid writing by JMS.

5) Peter felt smart and seemed to actually be competent rather than the lonesome idiot loser we have seen way too often

I think Slott has done a nice job staying away from portraying Peter as a lonesome idiot loser too.

[Scott Taylor]

I think Slott has done a nice job staying away from portraying Peter as a lonesome idiot loser too.

Oh certainly.

[Mr. Holmes]

I always felt the totem stuff was just teasing an idea, not actually retconning the nature of his powers.

[Kevinroc]

That and the magic totem stuff were my absolute most hated parts. Peter as a teacher forced night patrols.... which made peter feel more like batman, which I didnt like at all. Then the times he wasnt doing night patrols he was coming to class late or injured. That made me feel like he was short changing his students.

Peter did the night time patrols during the old Ditko days. Complaining about it seems pretty silly, IMO.

[MrV]

That and the magic totem stuff were my absolute most hated parts. Peter as a teacher forced night patrols.... which made peter feel more like batman, which I didnt like at all. Then the times he wasnt doing night patrols he was coming to class late or injured. That made me feel like he was short changing his students.

What I loved most was when it ended.

This thread is about what you LOVED about JMS's run. This isn't a hate thread, ShaggyB.

Go troll somewhere else, TheAltarOfMyEgo!

[Chris S.]

I always felt the totem stuff was just teasing an idea, not actually retconning the nature of his powers.

Totally agree with this sentiment. It was even introduced to Peter as simply an idea. Nothing forced him or the reader to believe it. I'll never understand why it angered people so...I guess that is just internet comic fans though.

And I liked the totem stuff. It was a neat idea. Having just read The Book of Ezekiel I do think the ending of it all felt off. It was very rushed.

[MrV]

Were all the Spider Totem events really retconned, or are they just being ignored by current writers?

I have only read a bit of his run. I wasn't too fond of Morlun or the Spider Totem stuff, and Ezekiel felt like one big cliche, but his run was a massive breath of fresh air after Mackie.

It's been left ambiguous. The only time I saw the Totem events referenced were in Grim Hunt and Spider-Island, but it was Kain who used those powers not Peter.

[Scott Taylor]

And I liked the totem stuff. It was a neat idea. Having just read The Book of Ezekiel I do think the ending of it all felt off. It was very rushed.

The ending of the totem stuff pretty much straight out said that its significance was ambiguous. I, too, don't see why people get pissed. If there were a Spider-God running around somewhere, chances are that its going to take an interest in a Spider-Man at some point.

I was not a fan of the totemic powers, but not because they were somehow sacrilegious to the mythos. This is a mythos, remember, that has included Spidey-Hulk, Six-Arm Spidey, clones, Captain Universe Spidey, future Spidey, time-traveling Spidey, Secret Wars Champion Spidey, the Spider-Mobile, and so on. The powers just were extraneous, like a third nipple.