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

[Chris S.]

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.

I never cared for the extra powers, but more because they felt unnecessary. What good did spikes do him? He doesn't kill people... And they were never used. They we throw away add ons, and that's just what was done with them. If they'd had more use I might not have minded, but it was clear they weren't going to stick around.

[MrV]

I never cared for the extra powers, but more because they felt unnecessary. What good did spikes do him? He doesn't kill people... And they were never used. They we throw away add ons, and that's just what was done with them. If they'd had more use I might not have minded, but it was clear they weren't going to stick around.

Night vision, sensitive spider hairs and organic webbing were quite useful. Maybe the spikes didn't suit Peter but the others did, specially to get him out of sticky situations.

[ViewtifulJC]

-I thought in general, he did a lot of just great dialog between people. It made even his worst stories readable.
-He writes a fantastic, fully-formed, mature Peter Parker. Intelligent, God-fearing, loving, self-sacrificing, and a good man, all things considered.
-I like that he had Romita Jr drawing so much of it, with Scott Hanna's inks. That definitely helps!
-I love some of the new villains he created, like Morlun and Digger.
-I love that he writes the BEST Aunt May and MJ
-I enjoy his new supporting cast members in Ezekiel and LaMont.
-I'm forever grateful that he wrote some of my favorite Spidey stories in "Coming Home/The Conversation", "Doomed Affairs", and "Digger"(I think this one is very underrated).

[MrV]

-I thought in general, he did a lot of just great dialog between people. It made even his worst stories readable.
-He writes a fantastic, fully-formed, mature Peter Parker. Intelligent, God-fearing, loving, self-sacrificing, and a good man, all things considered.
-I like that he had Romita Jr drawing so much of it, with Scott Hanna's inks. That definitely helps!
-I love some of the new villains he created, like Morlun and Digger.
-I love that he writes the BEST Aunt May and MJ
-I enjoy his new supporting cast members in Ezekiel and LaMont.
-I'm forever grateful that he wrote some of my favorite Spidey stories in "Coming Home/The Conversation", "Doomed Affairs", and "Digger"(I think this one is very underrated).

That one is irrelevant in any form of fiction. A character can be great regardless of that.

I agree with everything else, except Digger because I didn't read that story. Let me look up Digger, maybe I did in the TPB but I don't recall...

EDIT: OH MY! I DID READ IT! I remember that guy, just didn't recognize the name you used, only other name Vegas Thirteen.

[E. Wilson]

He brought back MJ. Also, the New Avengers arc was pretty exciting.

...that's all I got.

[Chris S.]

Night vision, sensitive spider hairs and organic webbing were quite useful. Maybe the spikes didn't suit Peter but the others did, specially to get him out of sticky situations.

How often did he use these abilities though? Obviously the webbing pretty often, but any of the other abilities? They were just forgotten.

[The_Ronin]

I loved the fact that spider-man wasn't running around trying to hide the fact hes spider-man from Aunt May for the 999 billionth time.

[Mister Mets]

I liked how hard JMS pushed Peter Parker, Aunt May's increasing awareness of Peter's hobby, the first 22 or so issues of Peter's arc with MJ (it did get less interesting when they got back together), the Ezekiel mystery, trying to piece together foreshadowing to see where the story is going next and John Romita Jr's art with those colors.

[MrV]

How often did he use these abilities though? Obviously the webbing pretty often, but any of the other abilities? They were just forgotten.

Ugh, that doesn't mean they were bad abilities! In fact, creative writers with talent would have found use in them!

The night vision is not clear how often he used, because he could have used it whenever he went on patrol at night.

One of the reasons Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man, is interesting is because he has two powers the original Spidey never had: Venom Strike and Spider-Camouflage. After 50 years the original could have used something new too. The problem here was that editorial didn't push for it. When they push for something the writers are forced to do it.

Had they pushed for Spidey to use his Totem powers more often, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[Horizon09]

Almost everything. This run, Stern's, and Ultimate Spidey are a toss up for my favorite. Some great things:

MJ and Aunt May felt like real people, not caricatures like they so often are portrayed
The dialogue
The totem stuff wasn't a retcon, but a neat possibility that didn't take away anything from the origin
The humor
The teaching job
The idea that anything could happen, and that changes would stick (until he was off the title, anyhow)

But I mainly love it because the run had balls. Aunt May finding out the secret, Spidey's totem powers, etc. Even Sins Past. A lot of people hate it because Gwen seemed "out of character," but how many people do things out of character in real life?

It's too bad they played it safe with BND for that first year- going back to the old status quo, basically ignoring everything from JMS, etc. Sure, we got new characters, including a love interest that most fans didn't like, but the stories just felt old. Lucikly the book has been great again since #600.

[whiteshark]

Lets see,the dialogs usually were good,and John Romita Jr art in the stories he illustrated made for great stories visually speaking.
The focus in making some changes in the first stories was interesting for a while and the suporting cast being limited generally to just Mary Jane and Aunt My made for some cool new dynamics in the stories a bit limited stories dynamic storytelling in the long run though.

[nosocialize100]

Peter as a teacher was great, as well as the spiritual angle. Definitely original, which is a great thing for a comic that's been around for 50 years.

[yadadaimhollaing]

Not much. The art was good at times. I did like the 911 issue.

Just what I always wanted to see dr doom crying insert banned emoticon here. When I got through reading it I thouht it was decent but then when I thought about what I read I found the story rediculous in no shape or form would a villian help rebuild the city

[Chiasm]

Best Peter Parker and supporting cast ever written. . . . especially his Aunt May and Mary Jane relationships with Peter. Its the complete and utter loss of that hurt the most about OMD and why I to this day still can't read Spidey without bitterness. I'll totally agree that his created villains were pretty bad and Sins Past was the 2nd worst retcon ever after OMD but those were minor blips on the utter awesomeness of Peter Parker. What made his run so great is that it was about Peter Parker who happened to be Spiderman rather than the opposite. This same dynamic is what made Spiderman 2 so great.

[MrV]

Almost everything. This run, Stern's, and Ultimate Spidey are a toss up for my favorite. Some great things:

MJ and Aunt May felt like real people, not caricatures like they so often are portrayed
The dialogue
The totem stuff wasn't a retcon, but a neat possibility that didn't take away anything from the origin
The humor
The teaching job
The idea that anything could happen, and that changes would stick (until he was off the title, anyhow)

But I mainly love it because the run had balls. Aunt May finding out the secret, Spidey's totem powers, etc. Even Sins Past. A lot of people hate it because Gwen seemed "out of character," but how many people do things out of character in real life?

I can personally relate to this from experience.

It is sad they didn't keep even 5% of JMS's hard work post OMD.

It's too bad they played it safe with BND for that first year- going back to the old status quo, basically ignoring everything from JMS, etc. Sure, we got new characters, including a love interest that most fans didn't like, but the stories just felt old. Lucikly the book has been great again since #600.

That goes to prove Marvel has no balls! Makes sense the heroes overcompensate with their physiques.

Just what I always wanted to see dr doom crying insert banned emoticon here. When I got through reading it I thouht it was decent but then when I thought about what I read I found the story rediculous in no shape or form would a villian help rebuild the city

I have to agree Doom crying was ridiculous. That guy has been responsible for mass genocides without shedding a tear, but the deaths of the people at the WTC hit his soft spot? Come on!