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
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Sure, sales probably aren't what Marvel would prefer. I imagine there were people who dropped the book because they weren't enjoying the story. Even among the people who dropped the book, though, I'm inclined to think most of them don't want a petty crusade against Paul or a retcon erasing the entire run or any bullshit like that. They want a new run by a new creative team that does its own thing.
The people going on and on and on about how horrible Paul is and how terrible it is that Peters been "cucked" and blah blah fucking blah are vastly outnumbered by the people who spend absolutely no time thinking about each issue after they've finished reading it. Most of the audience reads an issue, and then forgets about it. And honestly, of those still reading the book, I would guess that there are more who are enjoying it than not.
All the vitriol about it online is a drop in the bucket. It's maybe 5% of overall readership, tops. The other 95% either enjoys it or is vaguely disappointed by it and hopes it gets better. And no, "Paul being horribly murdered and MJ dancing on his grave" is not what those people think of as better.
Sure, I guess. I can't really comment on either of those books. But there's no shortage of examples out there. Long-running comics have periods where they kinda suck, they get shitty stories, and then other writers come along and tell better stories and people just go along with it. Like, for all that Chuck Austen was an abysmal writer, none of the shit he worked on was actually ruined forever. As soon as he left a given title, people gave the next writer a fair chance.
I mean, shit, Spider-Man isn't even ruined right now! People still give a fair chance to Spider-Man comics outside of ASM! And as soon as Wells leaves ASM, people will give the next creative team a shot, and forget about the Wells run.
The hyperbolic animosity towards Wells' run on here is, frankly, tedious. The comic sucks, fine, I get it. But damn, the way people talk about it here, you'd think Wells ran over their dog, slept with their wife, and ate their last candy bar. Like it's the worst thing that has ever happened in the entire history of comics, as opposed to just being a run that sucks and which fails to hit the emotional beats it's going for. It happens.
But I promise you, Paul can't hurt you. He's not real. He's a fictional character, a drawing on some paper, that's all.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.Two things can be true at the same time: that the editorial direction for Spider-Man is bad and regressive, and that the character has a rabid fanbase (who themselves want to revert the character to an earlier status quo) who want complete capitulation from the EIC on down regardless of the quality of the books.
I see this run the same way I see a bad wrestling storyline. So Paul is a crap wrestler that can't cut a promo, has no charisma and can't even be carried to a half decent match by a solid worker.
So I'm asking why the hell is this talentless mid carder on my screen and why is the booker (Wells) trying to push him as the next big thing when he just another Terry Long.
Hey everybody!
Want to talk about how much we hate Paul?
No! Good.
What are Any Corazon's current powers, and is Spider-Gwen still using the Venom symbiote?
One Strip! One Strip!I’m pretty sure Gwen is yes. She lost her original powers permanently so far
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI'm still surprised that she's been Gwenom longer than she's been Spider Gwen. But it's kinda easy when she can just use her Venom to make her look like her old suit.
#IceBearForPresidentI don’t think so.
It hasn’t come up so the carnage was probably killed in the musical face off they had
Forever liveblogging the AvengersBy that logic she would have lost the symbiote after the first Spider-Verse film, but she didn't.
Besides, the Spider-Verse films are made by Sony, not Marvel Studios. The comics only seem to want to synergize with the MCU. Otherwise we might have gotten married Peter in the comics because of Spider-Verse.
Early Spidey spoilers
Peter beats Norman to a bloody pulp and tells him he smiles at the idea of tossing Paul off the bridge just to see if MJ can catch him. Later he attacks several people, MJ and Paul included, hurling Spider-Bombs at them. Queen Goblin arrives to stop Peter
The letters pages have Nick Lowe address an upset fan and verifies that MJ and Paul are romantically linked (this despite no evidence of it in the actual issue)
People can raise families without being in love.
They weren't romantic around one another when they first decided to look after the children, and in all the scenes of them raising them together in ASM#25, MJ only really showed affection towards the kids.
The artwork has also never shown them being romantic, other than that one Spa date issue where MJ flirtatiously credits Paul for having better underwear than Peter. Every other scene has depicted them to be as miserable as humanly possible, even when the kids were around them in the present day.
And this is still just the letters pages, from the guy who admitted the two being married was an editorial mistake. Lowe at this stage of the game is an unreliable narrator.
Edited by Zarius on Sep 18th 2023 at 3:07:06 AM
Yeah, you can but I got the impression that living together and raising kids was meant to be a very strong clue that, "yes, Mary Jane moved on. As you do in a time shifted alternate dimension."
I thought her not marrying Paul was just an editorial walkback.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Mary Jane didn't move on by choice, she was chained to the kids by Rabin's magic
A few other spoilers
Norman advised Paul and MJ to take the tunnel out of the city, but Paul drives to the bridge where Peter ambushes them with Spider-Bombs and kidnaps Paul, taunting MJ to come after him
So it's looking like next issue is Peter vs MJ
Edited by Zarius on Sep 18th 2023 at 4:55:51 AM
Are Spider-Bombs any different than Pumpkin Bombs?
Edited by lalalei2001 on Sep 18th 2023 at 8:33:20 AM
The Protomen enhanced my life.

"It would be stupid of Marvel to spend any time worrying about how to satisfy the vindictive anger of a small number of readers"
All they HAVE are a small number of readers.
And don't give me a sales retort....that's only 3% of available data. Retailer testimony and photos of many unsold ASM copies in stores all over social media speak higher volumes than that ever will.