This thread's for the Spider-Man comics and spin-offs, whether they're decades old or brand new.
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Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
Yeah. I think that's where things went wrong.
We all love Stan, but the direction he took Gwen in wasn't the best for her.
He apparently based her off his wife, didn't he? I think he also did the same for Sue Storm.
One Strip! One Strip!Yes and Gwen going from tsundere bully to loving sweetheart would have worked if given over more time.
But that characterization like Peter's Ditko ego has been lost to time
Adaptations of 616!Gwen just take Stan's characterization of pretty blond genius girl with cop dad and improve upon the foundation. Giving her more to do while making her more understanding of Peter or knows his identity like Emma Stone's version in TASM.
I loved GIANT SIZE GWEN STACY by Christos Gage and think it's one of the best comics in the past decade. It was meant to be a miniseries but sadly they only did two issues. Her and Harry Osborne solving crimes!
Yuri Watanabe and Jean Dewolfe guest star!
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Nah @Handsome Rob just kill Norman even in life story Peter calling the cops on the guy and having him arrested didn't help. Clone Saga still happened with Gwen dying via Harry this time.
Norman is just one of those guys that needs to die for Peter to have a less miserable life.
Yeah, part of what makes Spider-Girl so enjoyable is Norman's gone. There's still Goblin threats (Normie and Fury) but they're manageable (and in Normie's case, without Norman or Harry around he's quickly redeemed).
Norman does manage a comeback towards the end of the run but he gets his ass kicked by everyone, even Aunt May's ghost.
Edited by Zarius on Jun 18th 2023 at 2:59:57 AM
And now he’s Peter’s boss because the writers are in full fuck the fanbase mode lol.
Funnily enough, his interactions with Peter in the Slott run are way better than anything in the main comic.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"It's why I was firmly against the decision to end the Red Goblin arc with Norman arrested and just thinking he's Cletus Cassidy.
Some villains are just better off dying with that last run defining their legacy.
Kraven had that with Last Hunt and I will always stand by it was the worst idea to resurrect him.
Ehhh with Norman, there’s a lot of great stories with him back and him coming back was the only good part of the Clone Saga.
Kraven is the type of villain who is better off dead since they haven’t done anything good with him and he’s nowhere near as good a villain as Norman.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Nah Norman's had more bad than good stories where it's gotten to the point where he's become an out for bad writing.
How do we explain The Clone Saga and Peter's miscarried child: Norman
We can't have Peter be the father of these adult children of Gwen: Norman's
We gotta give Peter his body back readers are getting annoyed: Norman
We gotta return Otto to a regular villain now: Norman and Mephisto
Now we have Peter working for the man who killed his lover (Gwen), daughter (Mayday), clone brother (Ben Reiley) and friend (Flash) all because wrtiter insist that Peter can't get rid of Norman no matter what and they've currently ran out of villain ideas for him. So it's weird Gold Goblin time.
Even though the smart thing was to have killed Norman off after Gwen's death and never looked back.
Yeah as Linkara said would have made sense.
Gwen was caring for the recently relapsing Harry.
Gwen and Harry had a relationship prior to her and Peter.
Gwen's and Peter's were strained die to Captain Stacy's death and Spider-Man
Could have been a simple mistake both regretted.
Or just have Gabriel and Sarah be little kids no more than 8 to not "age up" Peter too much. Because Normie, Harry's son with Liz, is literally in that age range.

The original Gwen was at her most interesting when Ditko was writing her as she was an antagonist for Peter in the popular mean girl way. But at the same time she was antagonizing because she secretly liked him and was hurt he snubbed her.
When Stan Lee got back to writing after the falling out with Ditko there was a huge 180 of Gwen was mean girl to smart nice girl but is a worry wort.
It's really ironic given Spider-Gwen's backstory was defending a powerless Peter from bullies when in 616 she was sicking them to him. Granted Peter had powers and brushed them off.
Edited by FKJ10 on Jun 17th 2023 at 8:25:16 AM