Comic Book Resources

Sensational, Amazing, F’n. In that order.

Hey, I positively LOVE Friendly Neighborhood! Peter David
is singlehandedly saving the character from JMS long
reign of terror! He’s getting the old supporting cast
back (yes, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Parker knows
normal people BESIDES Aunt May and Mary Jane! Who
would’ve thought of that?), creating a NEW one, breathing
new life on old villians (the recent three Mysterios
storyline was great!) and making the character FUN again!

This is the Spider-Man I want, no matter if he is single
or married, totemical (is this even a word?) or not, lone
hero or avenger, at least PAD writes him like the
character I grew up reading. The other books aren’t about
Spider-Man, but that one is!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Friendly Neighborhood, by a country mile. Peter David is making a silk purse out of the sow’s ear that is current Spidey continuity, and I think he’d rather be writing ‘Spider-Man Adventures’, but he’s doing good work on a lost cause.

Wow, I sound bitter.

Amazing is the least awful to me. I actually think it’s a pretty decent little superhero book, just not great enough to warrant my money. The rest aren’t even that.

Can I cast my vote for option D and go with Ultimate Spider-Man? Really, Bendis should have stuck to his own little universe they set up for him instead of playing in the sandbox of the main Marvel U.

I think Sacasa is one of the most promising guys at Marvel.

If the art wasn’t Medina, it’d get a lot more attention.

The first arc ended with the villain being Stegronn, which I can appreciate on a geeky level. The second one ended with Aunt May beating the Chameleon in a pretty awesome manner. There’s been a really good MJ story and a slightly less good Aunt May spotlight after that.

It’s underrated. Are people reading this book and not enjoying it for some reason other than the art?

As for FNSM, I thought that the Mexican Wrestler arc was pretty bad, the Mysterio one was hardly anything to write home about, but that the current one is great. The most recent issue was probably the best issue of Spider-Man in years. Just a great use of the supporting cast.

If it wasn’t for the general direction and for JMS, this would be the best grouping of writers on Spider-Man in a decade. It’s certainly the best on paper (since JMS is a lot better on paper than he is in reality).

Definitely Friendly Neighborhood, which seems to be the only Spidey title that’s any *fun* these days.

Definitely FNSM. You can tell Peter David is trying to make the most with what he has to work with, given all the other baggage of the other titles. If he didn’t have to work in the ridiculous “unmasked” stuff it would be really great.

My vote would be for FNSM. It is not as good as some of Peter David’s other work, but it is slightly better than Sensational and way better than ASM.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man beats them all.

No interest in any of the three. Liked Straczynski’s as long as Romita was on art, but was sated after that. Would have been interested in David’s, but the initial crossover killed that.

Amazing. Everything else I’ve dropped.

FNSM, by far.

Amazing is pretty good right now. I haven’t read enough of Sensational to form an opinion but I like Aguirre-Sacasa. F’N Spider-Man is outright awful.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man beats them all.

That it does, Ryan. So much so that I intentionally removed it from the running!

I’ll have to agree with Ryan H and vote for D. Ultimate Spider-Man. A distant second would be Sensational Spider-Man, but it’s still not even close to making it on to my pull list.
-r-

E. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane

Curious is always so… catty.

I think Sacasa is one of the most promising guys at Marvel.

He definitely is. Marvel Knights 4 was his, too, and that was a book that… well, it wasn’t the best, since it had to compete with Waid/Wieringo, but it certainly justified its existence very well. It’s the ugly art that makes SSM not read-y.

And speaking of art, that’s the reason FNSM has just dropped way down (i.e., “off”) my reading list: the rotating cast of pencilers. Ringo and PAD just didn’t click, and I’m pretty sure all the crossovers and whatnot were a part of the problem.

So the winner, not by process of elimination but by just being good, is ASM. Go Joe!

Friendly Nieghborhood by far. It’s hardly Peter David’s best work — in fact, it’s probably one of the worst things he’s written, topped only by Marvel vs. DC and the very end of his Hulk run. Most of the is because of being at the mercy of the editorial staff’s constant inept tinkering that keeps the book from finding a solid direction without twisting the plot into a pretzel. The Green Goblin of 2297 didn’t help, but the book was already hurting.

Now that I’m done damning it with faint praise, it *is* still the most enjoyable Spider-Man book of the three. Sensational is a hideous 90s throwback, and Amazing is just plain dull. FNSM has touches of humor, wit, and good character moments that don’t involve Mr. Fantastic telling stories about about his blacklisted writer uncle. It’s weak, but of the 3, Friendly wins.

This question was excellently phrased for its intended audience.

“Sensational is a hideous 90s throwback”

Exactly what I was thinking before I could think of the words to say it.