Marvel Wants to Hear From YOU!

In the letter page of Amazing Spider-Man #565, Spidey editor Steve Wacker filled the page with nothing but negative letters from readers that hate Brand New Day. Who says Marvel doesn't listen to the fans? And what's more, Mr. Wacker has even asked us to write in and tell them how we feel. Can you believe that? It takes class to run nothing but angry letters and a couple of those to the right are pretty nasty.

My mother actually suggested I write to the editor and state my feelings on the molestation of Spider-Man in ASM. I'd been meaning to write them, but I just never sat down to do so. With the editor of the Spidey books kindly saying that the letter's page is "the place to vent," I think the time has finally come for me to express myself. I don't know if it will get printed since I've stopped reading ASM, but if they take my letter and many others that are outraged by BND to heart, then that's all that matters.




Dear ASM Staff,

Do you know what the worst thing you can do to a comic character is? Make the reader stop caring about him. I've been a fan of Amazing Spider-Man for years and I've always had concern over Peter and his supporting cast even though they are fictional characters. The last 6 months of ASM have been a chore to read. The only emotion I can muster up for Pete and the gang is a shrug because I've stopped caring about every single one of them.

I'm all for new characters showing up in ASM, but the new supporting cast are so soulless they may as well be coffins. And aunt May in not knowing Spider-Man's ID has reverted back to the clueness old fool she was decades ago. She's like an very old piece of furniture that has long outlived its usefulness. You have no idea how much that depresses me.

Peter himself is the biggest offender in BND. I know he's a guy that screws up, but most of Peter's mistakes in BND are ridiculously out of character. I'm a regular reader of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and Ultimate Sider-Man and both those versions have a Peter Parker that behaves with more maturity and common sense than the one in ASM. I can relate to those versions of Peter. The one in the flagship Spidey title is a complete stranger to me and quiet frankly, he comes off as a jerk.

BND overall does not feel brand new. When Joe Quesada said they were going to move forward, I thought the book was going to do just that. ASM has instead regressed. I didn't grow up reading '60s or '70s Spidey books, but I have collected the runs from those eras through the Essential TPBs. I love old-school Spidey as much as the next guy, but come on, this isn't 1972 anymore. The stories in ASM feel like very pale imitations of Spidey eras gone by.

Carlie has had "love interest" stamped on her forehead since she appeared at the end of OMD. The question isn't "When will he she and Peter get together?" The question is "When will the writers hit the kill switch on the relationship?" Since editorial doesn't want Peter married, any type of relationship for Peter in the long term or in serious nature seems out of the question and as a result, every single one of them will fail. I have no desire to read these kind of relationships in ASM because I've read about them dozens of times in the past.

I keep hearing the word "young" or words associated with it tossed around a lot lately when it comes to ASM. I don't have a problem with Peter being young but I'm under the impression that editorial is so bent on keeping him that way that its given them tunnel vision. I've read posts on the net from Spidey fans that are in their 40s and 50s. These guys don't read Spider-Man because he's young, they read about him because he's ordinary and Peter being married never changed that or limited stories.

I know you guys are working hard and have put a lot of effort into ASM. Unfortunately, I won't be reading the book because I feel it is no longer worthy of the title name.

Reggie White Jr.