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
Man that outcome annoyed me so much
Spidey's lawyer deciding to bring Peter Parker into the suit without consulting his client at all is amazingly unprofessional
Especially trying to sue a photographer for millions knowing he couldn't afford it - like actually, what a shithead
Yes!! This bothers me so much. Everyone loves talking about how Jameson is secretly a great guy and it's like no, no he absolutely isn't. I'm totally on board with him developing into a better person (USM was really good for that) but making him "good all along" is absolute horseshit for 616 (and something I'm not fond of adaptations doing either).
Reading here that it was Zdarsky who created the retcon that Jameson hired Peter to give him a break... that's disappointing, given Zdarsky's annual for Life Story, which portrayed the consequences of Jameson's actions much more realistically.
I think Zdarsky's run never really downplays Jameson's negative traits. It's the point that's brought up in the issue where he reveals his identity to Jonah. Peter straight up says that Jameson's wasting his life on this vendetta despite Marla's wishes.
I also think it's really interesting that like a decade earlier, Jameson had a much worse reaction to finding out Peter was Spider-Man, and sued him for everything. Like, he had to be at his lowest point to really understand Peter.
I've liked the idea since the Raimi movies that JJ is an ass with an irrational hatred for Spidey but he's not a monster.
Best shown when he kept Peter's identity as his photographer a secret when the guy was in ear shot of the Goblin.
Gives more nuance.
Side note I find it sad honestly that Ditko's original characterization of Gwen Stacy has been quite literally lost to time. It's extremely ironic reading Ultimate Spider-Man or Spider-Gwen with flashbacks of her defending Peter from bullies.....when she was his bully sicking Flash and Harry on him in college.
All because Peter dissed her. Impact is lessened because Peter by that point was Spider-Man and treated his peers as not worth his time.
It's just funny that out of Peter's three bullies only Flash stays consistent throughout each retelling or adaptation
Harry is typically Peter's rich best friend who is also picked on
Gwen typically shifts through geeky childhood friend (Spectacular), punk rock tomboy (ultimate and spider gwen) and popular but nice girl Peter crushes after (Movie)
The only time they kept something close to her mean girl self was the Disney animated series.
I guess they wanted to expand on Peter's social circle since he didn't have any friends back in the Lee-Ditko era so that's why Harry is turned into Peter's childhood friend who is also rich, and to give him more of a connection to Green Goblin.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"I also prefer J.J.J. as not a villainous person, just someone who detests Spider-Man and tries to badmouth him, rather than funding actual super-villains. I've always thought Jameson to be a parody of sensationalist chief editors who polemize the smallest controversy purely to get higher ratings, and I think making his pet peeve for Spider-Man irrational and specific to him takes a bit of that aspect.
oh hey how are you doing?![]()
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Betty was probably Peter's closest friend up until he goes to college. Slott remembered this, and a lot of his early tenure on his Spidey run was dedicated to having them act like friends again. It's one of the things I really liked on his run.
As Spider-Man, his best friend was definitely Johnny Storm, he even convinced Peter to get back into heroing, what a guy.
Never realized it until today, but someone made a point about how this godawful ASM storyline is a lot like
another godawful ASM storyline, Sins Past.
- Both have Norman in a substantial role.
- Both feature Peter's love interest (allegedly) getting it on with someone he can't do anything about. (Gwen getting it on with Norman in SP, MJ getting it on with Paul here.)
- Both feature said love interest (allegedly) getting kids that aren't Peter's. (Gabriel and Sarah in SP and Owen and Stephanie here.)
And remember those two awful pages where MJ ranted to Peter about how her thing with Paul was about responsibility? Someone pointed out
that now that it turns out the kids were always fake AF, that rant turned out to be all for nothing.
And Wells has officially made no effort in explaining how MJ would explain Paul and the kids
to people who aren't in her social circle.
Just misses. Misses everywhere.
Edited by TargetmasterJoe on May 29th 2023 at 7:16:03 AM
Meanwhile, Superman and Batman both have sons who are popular characters in their own right (though Superman's went through an age-up that nobody likes), and they're still as popular as ever.
Disney100 Marathon | DreamWorks MarathonImagine if we got a version of Mayday or Annie in 616.
But I have no doubt they'll make Peter a deadbeat dad.
At least we have something to look forward to with the new Spider-verse movie.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"As noted the Spider-Man office is run by some weird fucking people
The closest is the Black Panther office who are in their own process of assassinating the character due to wanting to make a....... political message for lack of a better description of what they are doing
One guy is stuck with editors with an extremally controlling and bizarre image of him, the other guy is stuck with people who borderline think he's offensive and needs to be replaced
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."Just figuratively so far and hopefully being in the avengers book will keep them from literally killing him off
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Plus the time he faked getting beaten up by Spider-Man