This thread's for the Spider-Man comics and spin-offs, whether they're decades old or brand new.
- Apart from the main Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man "What If?" stories, crossovers, guest appearances in other books, Alternate Universe tales and things like Marvel's manga adaptations are all on-topic here.
- Spider-Man 'family' books are on-topic (as are their own crossovers, guest appearances etc.) - e.g. Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Venom, Carnage, Black Cat, Red Goblin and Spider-Verse.
- Characters and comics that originated in Spider-Man but are no longer directly connected to the spider-franchise (e.g. Punisher, Silver Sable) are not on-topic, unless you're discussing historical connections and crossovers. If in doubt, check before you write a long post. If this isn't the right place, there's a more general Marvel Comics thread
which covers them.
Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about their Spider-Man stories here.
Discussions that are only about Spider-Man adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.
Please follow the spoiler policy rules
- tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics. When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).
Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
Oh, the inability of sections of the fanbase to embrace new things is a huge problem. That is, I would argue, one of the core problems with groups like Comicsgate - they want comics to provoke the same feelings in them as when they were kids. They fail to realize the problem is that they are no longer kids. They latch onto "wokeness" as the problem, bitch about writers only getting hired because they're women or POC or queer. And bitch about characters only getting pushed for those same reasons. They think it must be something wrong with the comics, rather than the simple truth that they've gotten older, and their ability to just enjoy things has changed. Since they can't accept that, they instead turn to sexism, racism, and queerphobia.
Nostalgia is a downright dangerous emotion.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.Well, the tone and feeling of the comics has unquestionably changed over time as well, so it's not *just* readers who have changed. But that doesn't seem to get talked about as much as more overt changes like new characters or large changes in status quo.
(Not to excuse Comicsgate at all, they're obviously just bigots)
True, there have been a lot of changes to superhero comics as a genre, by and large. Fewer pages, to start with. Writing for the Trade became the norm. Comics used to fluctuate between short and long story arcs, now most comics try for five-issue arcs, sometimes as part of longer stories broken up into chapters. Thought bubbles were replaced with thought boxes, which largely replaced third-person narrative captions that used to describe events. A wider variety of art styles developed, with some being more complex and detailed than anything from 40 or 30 or even 20 years ago. Writing also became more diverse (even at times when they lacked diverse writing line-ups), with a lot of different styles. The writing also became more adult in some ways, dealing with some very complicated themes, with more natural-sounding dialogue.
Truth be told, I think that, for the most part, modern comics do have better craft than most older comics. Because the modern creators learned from the ones that came before, and trying to move the genre forward. Peter David never could've written Immortal Hulk. Chris Claremont never could've written the Ms. Marvel: No Normal. Stan Lee certainly never could've written Secret Wars. I enjoy a lot of classic comics. There were some amazing stories back in the day, stories that still resonate. But I also think modern comics do some amazing things, and I think it's great that Marvel has finally realized there are amazing writers from different walks of life.
And I also think it's a shame just how often writers get caught up on re-doing stories they grew up on, and I think it'd be neat if more of them were willing to move characters forward, rather than always going back to wells that have already been visited.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.As always, you have to wonder if it's the writers, or the editors who are doing that? Or if it's a symbiotic relationship?
Symbiotic, I would assume. Editors looking for writers who share their desire to tell stories that have been old before.
Should note this is mostly a Spider-Man issue
I've seen this pointed out a lot that Venom has underwent more character development than Peter has.
Like beyond the whole God thing, Eddie's matured as a person, recognizes the symbiote as its own individual and an equal companion, and discovered he has a son who he's currently trying to raise.
Venom is actually allowed to progress unlike Peter.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."@Raven Wilder: No, the marriage lasted twenty years in 616, and was dissolved at the end of 2007, so it's been fifteen years, the post-OMD era has yet to eclipse those twenty years in terms of longevity.
If you count all the alternate universe books, newspaper strips, and recent side series set in the past like Lost Hunt, the marriage has remained active for about 35 years, so post-OMD has a lot of catching up to do before it will ever truly overtake it.
And yes, I know some people think none of these other stories 'count' so long as 616 Peter and MJ aren't married, but I'm simply not the age anymore to fuss over what is the 'end-all/be-all', 616 lost the right to be that for me with OMD, I think Spider-Girl's timeline is pretty much what ACTUALLY happened with Peter and there's no changing my mind
It would be just like Peter to cause that to happen.
Liz would hate him because of the shit with Harry.
Deb Whitman would hate him due to accidentally driving her insane, and then unintentionally gaslighting her.
Felicia would still be in her Queenpin characterization.
Gwen would be the zombie who blame her for her dad (and her own) death.
I feel like we need one more person. Anyone got a suggestion?
One Strip! One Strip!Doesn’t Liz have a goblin identity because of Norman? Carlie Cooper too. Deb released a tell all book about dating Spider-Man so she attacks his reputation instead of physically. And MJ turns into Red Sonja, as sometimes happens to her
Forever liveblogging the Avengers![]()
It did give him the absolute lowest rating for former hosts.
Like I believe there was a rating of 1 -5. Peter's the only one to get a 0, and only Eddie got 5/5.
Guess we can slap it on Zombie Gwen and get a two for one deal.
Edited by HandsomeRob on Jan 15th 2023 at 11:11:17 AM
One Strip! One Strip!No, but he did have a thing for her, and early in the comics history, she kinda competed with Betty (who was also supposed to be a teenager who'd dropped out, but got retconned into already being an adult) over him.
In fact, Betty and Liz were the first two of the cast to meet MJ. Her face was obscured from the readers, but they saw her and immediately thought:
Well, SHE'S hot, but you get the point.
One Strip! One Strip!

But to be fair, when some writers try something new with the characters relationship-wise, some fans hate it as well.
Now, this may be because the new relationship is done poorly, or it may be that people don't want it. That's gonna vary.
One Strip! One Strip!