Sigh. As long as this farce they call "Brand New Day" continues, I guess I can't help but say something about it from time to time.I finally got around to going to my comic shop last week, Friday to be exact. I did my usual rounds of Byrne-stealing for Amazing Spider-Man, reading issues #559-560. #559 actually started off good, but quickly went down the toilet when they had Peter play the part of a papperazo. Now I know Peter is a guy who makes mistakes. He's been making them since 1962. However, this one is just plain stupid as it goes against his character. Peter has always detested papperazos and seeing him as one just to get some money (a lot of money actually) is just bad writing. It was good to see Robbie and Harry pointing out to Peter that what he was doing was bad, but he shouldn't have had to get put in his place by them at all, because he knows better. But hey, Peter hasn't been written in character for a while now so I guess I shouldn't have been too repulsed.
Dexter Bennett was offering a truck load of money for a picture of Bob Carr with his "mystery" girl. Was anyone really shocked or surprised to see the last page of ASM #560? I mean, really, it was so pathetically predictable and telegraphed that anyone could have seen it coming 10 miles away. Yes, Mary Jane is back and she's dating Carr. Now why in the world she's dating a sleaze bag like Carr, I don't know and I don't think I really care all that much. If Peter is being portrayed so horrendously, why should MJ be written in character? And then there's her line at the end, which could be a jab at the fans who detested One More Day (of which there are legions). The fact that they've got her dating Carr could be a jab similar to the one in ASM #546 where Peter's locking lips with some random chick. Like I said, I wasn't surprised to see MJ at all and I actually found her line funny so if this was Marvel's attempt at another slap in the face, it really didn't bother me so I shrugged it off.
The stories in ASM are light hearted but that doesn't make them better, at least not to me. Yes, I enjoyed #560 better than the previous issue, but on the whole, I'm pretty sick of this crap Marvel is trying to pass off as the flagship comic/character. I don't know if I can bring myself to Byrne-steal it anymore. (Yes, they let us do that at my comic shop. They even give us 10% off all comics and 25% off all graphic novels, manga, and TPB, so there. Best comic shop ever.) Maybe this is how some fans felt during the '98 reboot. I wasn't reading the books at the time, but from what I hear it was pretty bad. The only reason I've been reading these stories is so I can discuss it with my fellow fans on the boards and I do give credit when it is due, like the Wells/Bacholo arc, so far, the only good that's come out of this train wreck.
At the CBR forums there's a thread where they call the "new" web-head "Quesada's Generic Spider-Man," a title that seems to fit the character. This is Joe Q's Spidey and he flipping sucks. Where are all the new readers and these gang buster-like sales Joey keeps talking about? Unless down is the new up for sales, I don't think this is what Marvel had in mind when they threw a monkey wrench in the gears.
Comments
It's hard to believe, but that's the way it feels with me.
I'm leaning towards MJ's current relationship being pure superficial, but even then, the only good point out of it, is to prove just how screwed up Pete and MJ are without each other, even though this series pushes it a bit much.
There's a certain way I'd see Pete and MJ being, even if they weren't together. Pete's the kind of guy that keeps doing what's right even when he's got bad things happening in his personal life.
I'm pretty sure Mary Jane would know that any guy she would date wouldn't go anywhere, unless the guy was a real mensch.
Unless she went back to having fun to avoid the pain after the non-marriage to Pete, I figure she'd have put more focus on her acting, but at the same time, keeping in touch.
If done right, there might have been a new dynamic that way, but I still have a hard time not seeing Mary Jane slapping Pete around going for what she wants, despite the dangers.
This isn’t Spider-Man but an incredibly bad simulation.
The Perfessor
And the writers of BND are bent on making Peter a loser. He can't catch the average criminal and when he's up against super villains or mob bosses, he STILL looks like a scrub! ARRRGGGHHH!!
OK, I'm good now. =)
I know many of Spider-Man loyal fans consider he's already dead, but I'd like to know if any of you want him a dead motionless body and stays that way?