Why You Should Be Reading Spider-Man
Post by From the Booth member: Ken
Do you stay away from Spider-man because of all the hype and hoopla surrounding Brand New Day and its repercussions? You’re not alone.
When Peter Parker made the deal with Mephisto to cancel out what had happened to him dating back to Civil War and beyond, many people cried foul about this Dallas-esque turn of events.
The fact that this turned into a “re-boot” for many in Spidey’s rogue gallery upped the groan factor that much more. Even within the group of the From The Booth guys, I’m the only one who has stayed true to the title for several years. So with all this negative news about the title why should you bother to pick it up again if you’ve been gone since Brand New Day or maybe even before? I can think of at least three reasons.
1) Updated/New villains. Although this update could have been easily screwed-up, the majority of the updated villains seem more vicious than ever while staying true to their origins and motivations. Kurt Connors is The Lizard again but he stays as The Lizard full-time, no more transformations back and forth (or at least not yet) and he even ate his own son. The Vulture, once a geriatric with a beak nose, is now a once-low-level-thug turned feral monster with wings. Doctor Octopus is still a pudgy German but now all the more dangerous now that he knows he has mere months to live (yes, I know my grandkids will still be reading about Doc Ock but let’s suspend reality for a second) and is encased in life supporting full body armor. No more webbing up his glasses and ending the fight with a punch to the face. Of course, the Green Goblin is also now alive and well in case you didn’t pick up Siege. Brand new enemies like Mr. Negative and Overdrive also add some variation to the mix and keep Spidey occupied while the classic villains are busy busting out of prison yet again.
2) No more marriage to Mary Jane. I loved Mary Jane as much as the next webhead but Peter wasn’t cut out for marriage. You rarely saw Mary Jane long enough for her to be of any importance other than provoking Peter’s nagging feeling that he wasn’t paying enough attention to her (likely the case since he traded his marriage to her for his Aunt’s life because he made a dumb life decision, hi-o!). With both her and Aunt May knowing Peter’s secret, his interaction with either one seemed uninspired, lacking in tension, and interchangeable. Even now, she’s still around even after Peter inadvertently left her at the altar in the new reality. She also still knows Spidey’s secret but Aunt May forgot. Hopefully she’ll be around enough to be more than a bit player in Spidey’s life but not enough to make you wonder why they are shoe-horning her in. Without Mary Jane as his wife, Peter has lost one of the most stabilizing forces in his life and his personal life has definitely taken a toll. Bad for Peter, good for readers who are looking for a more dynamic tale.
3) New Publication Schedule. We all know the names, Spectacular Spider-man, Sensational Spider-man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, Peter Parker Spider-man, Amazing Spider-man. Well now there is just Amazing Spider-man and it comes out three times a month. Although this is probably the same number of Spider-books per month as before, since they are all in one series this makes the stories move much quicker and lets the writers do some interesting things with story telling. Of course, this also means the artists sometimes decide to illustrate the comic with nothing but their Crayola 12-pack, but that seems to not be as prevalent recently.
Like it or not, Spider-man is the flagship marvel book and his adventures often plant the seeds for universe-shaking events (such as and Siege). Every Marvel fan should have Amazing on their pull list.
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