Comic Book Resources

This series of interviews brings up my main beef with comics journalism (I mean no offense to any comics journalists, of course; I dig their work. I'm just saying...): Very few ask hard-hitting questions, or, at least, blunt enough questions. When they do, straight answers are never given, and they're left at that. Loki's non-involvement makes no sense with the rest of JMS's run, but they left it at that rather than chase it further...

In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter, and no one wants to create bad blood, so things are left as is. Alas.

I read it all, then skipped over to the Brand New Day scans and had all my worst fears confirmed. Here's one:

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4725610.html#cutid1

...check out those craaazy cliches! Looks like all of this was indeed done simply so they could immediately have Peter Parker proving his studly chops.

....and it gets worse.

Check out the numerous brand new day scans here:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141804&page=2

Every Spidey cliche you can think of (wait, mugger in an alley wearing a spider man mask? omg, MUST be spider man!!!!oneoneeleventy). Check it out - they turned peter parker into (what must be) a close-to-his-thirties guy with no job, lounging around in bed all day and demanding "wheatcakes".

Jesus Christ.

Oh, and don't forget the all important jackpot ass shot, which is a surefire winner of a "swiped from a porn shot" award if ever I saw one.

Great point, Bill.

I should have mentioned that. This day was not good for questions either. And yeah, the Loki question was probably the most striking example. There should have been a follow-up to Quesada's "why would Loki care?" with, "because he said he owed Spider-Man a favor IN Amazing Spider-Man!!"

Another thing:

I don't necessarily agree with the way JMS wanted to write the story, but he at least looked at it as a *story,* whereas Joey Q treated it as a means to an end. Bah.

To his credit, though, Joe does make a good case about this being a very "Devil" thing to do.

Cause when you think about it, if Spider-Man called in his favor and asked Loki to save his aunt, Loki would've just done it. There'd be no reason for him to destroy the marriage, which is the only reason they're doing this story. I mean, maybe for shits and giggles, but it would have made even less sense than doing it in the framework of a Faustian pact.

I agree with your second post, Bill - I dislike both stories, but at least JMS seems to have been interested in providing a more logical foundation and continuity for what was to come, rather than picking and choosing what aspects Mephisto's spell would change.

"please, just do it, don’t tell us how you really don’t want to do it - right before you do it. If you really didn’t want to comment on this stuff, you’d think you wouldn’t comment on it so much, no?"

This is really hard to do in real life (real life!), but I've been working on being extremely accurate with what I say. Yesterday, I was talking to a girl who was struggling in college. I started to say, 'I don't want to give you advice, but...'; however, I thought better and said, 'I know you're getting a lot of advice, but I'll give you some anyway because I think it will help.' The difference between the responses to those two approaches is amazing. Anyways, that's just for everyone's personal edification. I didn't read OMD.

I agree with Mr. Reed. In fact, it's uncanny how "journalists" will avoid asking the most obvious of questions.

I mean, are these "interviews" sort of like press junkets? Are you given a list of questions and instructed not to ask them; or if you do, you'll be forever boycutted by the company/creators/etc?

In any case here are two basic questions that I would ask JMS and/or Quesada...

1- Why introduce organic webshooters only to retconned them 2 years later?

2- Why do Sins Past and introduce "the Gwen Kids" only to try to get rid of them any which way you can? Wouldn't it'd been wiser to find a different vehicle for that type of story? ...like a one-shot graphic novel, or is your approach when it comes to Spider-man to basically throw everything at the proverbial wall and see what sticks?

And finally...

Isn't it obvious that the real problem with the Spider-man books has been the writer's inability to replenish the supporting cast after killing them off? I mean, you are not just saying that the MJ marriage was a mistake, you are also saying that every story since 1976 was a mistake. That killing the Stacy's and the Osborne's was a mistake. Why? Is the answer "because Marvel doesn't have decent enough writers" that will raise the stakes and come up with worthy, more intricate supporting cast? Did Marvel plateau when they introduced Eddie Brock/Venom as a worthy substitute to Flash Thomson? ...was that it, and everything else has been downhill ever since?

Comics journalism looked marvelously pathetic in this interview. How many softballs did CBR lob Joe Q's way in this one?

"Now, I’ve also read comments on message boards from readers who believe some of Peter’s actions were out of character in OMD. His attack on Iron Man, his defiance of Doctor Strange, etc., but it actually seems less out of character to me and more the actions of a desperate man hoping to avert a profound tragedy."

Uh, was that even a question?

There are also multiple instances where the interviewer offers up a decent question ("Why Mephisto and not Loki?") but then immediately accepts whatever half-baked answer is offered without any follow-up ("OK, that makes perfect sense").

Looking at it a second time, these are the type of questions you would write and answer *yourself* to make yourself look good, like in a press release.

Increasingly, it seems like these high profile sites (CBR, Newsarama) are too close to the interviewees to do their investigative duty.

Check it out - they turned peter parker into (what must be) a close-to-his-thirties guy with no job, lounging around in bed all day and demanding “wheatcakes”.

How is getting out the door by 7:30am and going to three job interviews "lounging around in bed all day"?

To his credit, though, Joe does make a good case about this being a very “Devil” thing to do.

It is indeed. It's what Mark Waid used when he wrote the same damn thing 10 years ago in The Flash.

"How is getting out the door by 7:30am and going to three job interviews “lounging around in bed all day”?"

He looks so disheveled, he probably spends the rest of his time playing Nintendo in his basement all day. Either that or he's fighting off spider-herpes from all those nightclub chicks.

Everything about those preview pages - unless I've missed some - paints a quick fill-in portrait of Parker as a general layabout in his "off duty from spiderman" hours...he's clearly desperate and jumping on as many throwaway interviews by that point *only* because his rents super late and (now) he'll do anything.

Would he (in normal circumstances) spend his days jumping through 3 interviews in a handful of hours? I doubt it, because with that high a hit rate he'd surely have landed something in a week or two and not have to worry about Amazing Spider Cliche #362 (rent late) coming down the pipeline.

I mean come on...he's going for at least one photography related job there with *pictures of spider man*. The writers are stretching things even further if they honestly expect anyone to believe Spidermans #1, always-on-the-scene photographer wouldn't be snapped up in days.

Rest of the time? Nintendo. And pining for wheatcakes, of course.

More "OMD" & Joe Q. bashing.

Hasn't this been done to death by now?

Furthermore, let's do some "BND" bashing.

I recall that, after Mackie/Byrne's attempt to undo the marriage (which, at least, they kept simple; MJ gets on a plane, and it blows up), Peter was eventually reduced to living on the streets.

Let's see if they can top it, eh?

I do, to some extent, sympathize with the soft-ball questions; yeah, I'm sure all these guys want to ask the tough stuff, but they also want to get another interview with Marvel's EIC someday before hell freezes over. It's a tough balance to strike, and not just in comics journalism; I can't count the number of times I've watched an interview with a political figure and seen soft-ball questions with very little follow-up. (But enough about Jon Stewart... *rimshot*)

The ultimate hardball question I'd like to see asked is, "You admitted that you planned to retcon away the unmasking of Spider-Man at the time you did it, even though you said it would have major, permanent ramifications. How can we take you seriously when you tell us that you're not planning on retconning away the undoing of Peter and MJ's marriage?" Or Captain America's death, or 'no more mutants', or...but I'd probably stop at the part in quotes.

On an almost unrelated note:

Is it me, or does Deodato's Harry Osborn look exactly like Adam Sandler, but with different hair?

Ya know, I was thinking about this last night (which is sad, but anyway...) and I realized something...

Quesada talks about how the old stories still count, but there just not married any more...

I think he thinks this changed things in the REAL WORLD.

He's so far gone, he thinks he can retcon reality...

If someone picks up an an old comic where Spidey is married, in Quesada's mind, OMD will somehow make that person read the comic thinking that Spidey is not married.

To paraphrase Morbo, "Retcon's do not work that way!"

Re: comic journalism criticism

As someone starting out as a journalist, to be honest, I have the same feeling about arts and entertainment journalism in general.

I find too many arts journalists shy away from tough questions as though they don't want to offend anyone, and end up with wishy-washy, "feel good" articles. I think the Joe Quesada interview is symptomatic of a larger issue.

It's also a problem with comics journalism specifically because there are so few mainstream outlets for it yet. As such, a lot of comic journalism is done online by fans, who likely have absolutely no training or experience in journalism, and do it because they like the subject matter. I mean, we may criticize Jonah Weiland for not conducting the interview as well as it could be, but does he have any sort of journalistic training? What's Rich Johnston's CV, or Heidi MacDonald's?

I'm even more perplexed that the retcon is that MJ and Peter weren't married, just living together. If you're going to take something out of continuity, why not go the whole hog?

I personally think the whole thing will end up the way the MJ "death" did a few years back. It's Quesada testing the waters to see if readers will bite the new status quo and if not things will end up pretty much the way they were before OMD.

I must admit, those Brand New Day preview pages...they're really not impressive. Just a pale imitation of a middling Spider-Man story from, say, 1983 or so. One written by Al Milgrom, perhaps.

You know what I think would be interesting at this stage? To ask fans and industry professionals alike to submit a "What I Would Have Done?" Given that the marriage had to be dissolved in a retcon-ish way and not a divorce / death, how would you have done the story?

Basically, do you think the premise could have come with a good story, or was it flawed from the get-go in your mind?

I'll get the ball rolling (I may be getting some continuity confused here, as there are some titles that I stopped reading around 5 years ago that I feel this would affect, so bear with me):

I would have had the sniper shoot, and kill, Aunt May. Peter wouldn't have seen it coming because even though he was next to May at the time, since he wasn't the one in danger his Spider Sense wouldn't have gone off. And, because of that, he would blame himself for the problem.

May is dead, here, Stark can't pay for medical bills so no use going to Iron Man. Instead, Peter goes to people whom he knows have a habit of coming back from the dead: the X-Men. But, all of their resurrections have been unintentional, and usually catastrophic in the long run. They can't help him.

So, he goes to the most powerful and most intelligent person he knows: Reed Richards. Reed knows that Franklin, in theory, could bring May back to life, but doesn't know how and doesn't want to place his son at risk. (This introduces the idea of risking a child to save a parent-figure.)

Peter is with the Avengers and remembers that Loki owes him a favour. He finds a way to contact Loki (probably through Thor) and tries to call in his favour. Loki asks if he is sure, and wants to show him something. Loki opens a scrying window and shows Peter the future: Spider-Girl. Loki says that he can "fix" things so that May is still alive today, but that will alter the time stream and that young MayDay may cease to exist.

Peter does some quick soul searching and decides that no matter how Aunt May dies, or even if she is still alive when MayDay is born, he would still name his daughter after May and would still raise her with the same values. He decides that this isn't a risk at all, and agrees to the deal.

Loki tells Thor to take Peter home and that he will travel back in time to prevent Aunt May's death. He also tells Peter that, in order to preserve the integrity of the new time stream, he will have to erase Peter's memory of this arrangement. Peter agrees, and Thor also agrees to never mention this again.

Loki searches the timestream for a point of divergence which would both preserve May's life and also be of "coincidental" benefit to himself. He finds the perfect point: Aunt May's marriage to Otto Octavious.

Things change so that May was married to Doctor Octopus. This forced Peter to be more secretive about his identity, he never shared his real name with Mary Jane, or Black Cat, or even Daredevil. Octopus's marriage tempered him, and he retired as a super villian, his petty schemes no longer mattering now that he has found love. Peter, on the other hand, resents Octopus's intrusion into his life. He becomes distant and the influence of the black costume consumes him a bit faster, although he still resists it and Venom is still created.

When Ben Reiley makes his appearance, Peter gladly gives up his life of paranoia and trades places with him. It is Ben who joins with Iron Man during Civil War, and who unmasks. It is Ben who gets the organic web shooters. And, with both Ben and Otto's protection, the sniper never even tries.

In the meantime, Mary Jane has gone her own way, as a fashion model. She's gone through three celebrity marriages, none of which lasted. She isn't a factor at all in the life of either Peter or Ben.

So, going forward, we have two Spider-Men. One who is with the Avengers, Aunt May, and Doc Oc. And, one who is underground, poor and struggling, and has a faint buzzing at the back of head telling him that something is wrong (similiar to how he was the only one who knew that Kullen Gath changed the world back in the 80s.)

Next year, we have a crossover with Avengers, Spider-Man, Thor, and all other solo titles of people in the Avengers where Peter has to fix the wrongness in his life. He has to reunite with his true love, Mary Jane. His memories of her have been leaking through. Maybe we could get the X-Men involved by having him ask one of their telepaths to try to break through the mental block that Loki installed.

The crossover concludes with Spider-Man admitting that the world might be better off with the changes Loki made. He admits that the only real sacrifice was his own life and his own happiness. But, he says that he's spent his entire life looking out for other people's happiness and other people's lives. And, that every time he's tried to make a stand and live for himself it has backfired, so why would he think this would be any different. But, that this time it isn't just him. It is also his wife and their unborn children. And, if he has to sacrifice his Aunt, his clone-brother, and the countless people that a villianous Octopus might kill in order to have his family back, then so be it.

After the crossover, the book would be back at the status quo of people knowing Spider-Man's identity, Peter married to MJ, May dead, etc.

That's how I would have done it, if I'd have had the opportunity.

Theno

I actually like any idea about Peter asking Loki for a favor that is owed....because that's what SHOULD have happened. Too bad Loki was busy having a sex change at the time, yet another bombshell from the House of "Stupid" Ideas.

Doesn't Parker know the whole dealing with the Devil thing never works out. Ask Johnny Blaze.

In the end...if you dislike what happened so much...don't buy the books. That's the only thing these guys are in it for nowadays anyway. MONEY. They can care less about what came before, or the fans that spend their hard earned money on their books. They just want big sales...now! "Let somebody else fix all these problems while I'm drinking Corona's on a beach in a few years."

Recent events at both Marvel and D.C.make the dismal 90's era of comics seem like golden age classics.

"That’s how I would have done it, if I’d have had the opportunity."

I'd have gone for a 96 page special edition, with Aunt May being killed on each and every single page.

Just to be sure.

The problem with that, Thenodrin, is that Peter never revealed his secret identity to MJ. She found out on her own.

Am I the only one who was supremely creeped out by Joe using his mom's cancer as a justification for "One More Day?"

From the part of me who isn't a heartless bastard comes this response:

Joe, I wouldn't wish the hurt of losing a parent on anyone, especially since I'm not looking forward to the inevitability of it in my own future, but your mom? She made the wrong choice, and you learned the wrong lesson from it. You say, "The truth of the matter is that she was right," but she wasn't, and maybe you don't want to hear that, because you don't want to feel like you're blaming your mother for her own death, but the place you should be working this out is with a counselor, and not with characters that belong to way more than just you.

From the part of me who is a heartless bastard comes this response:

We already know that Quesada is projecting himself onto Peter, so if he's seriously projecting his own mother onto Mary Jane, it's no wonder he wanted to split apart their romantic relationship at all costs. It's like a Bizarro World version of an Oedipus Complex.

Let's see...

What would've I done?

Week one

MJ makes a deal with the Devil to bring back Aunt May.

Week two

Peter makes a deal with Loki to bring back Uncle Ben.

Week three

Wheeling and dealing MJ and Peter make a deal with Galactus in order to bring back Peter's Parents... only shinier!!!

Week four

Why stop a good thing! Let's then have Peter Parker become President of the United States!!!

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

I was understanding it more like all those events really did happen, but just now all the characters remember them differently. But what is up with the status of Harry? Would all the characters remember him being involved/around during all those past events when he was actually dead? It would make more sense to me just for him to suddenly be alive again.

Also I like how people keep bringing up Johnny Blaze, isn't he an angel or something now?

also I think JMS looks more like the jerk over all of this. "I'm not gonna take my name off, just tell everybody I want to." "Complain about editors messing up my Sins Past story when I could have chosen just not to write it in the first place."

I largely agree with JQ's take on the marriage. I don't mind the deal with the devil. What drives me nuts is that thousands of people have read the issue AND the interview and no one has the same take on how the retcon works. That's a huge bloody hole. If it's not obvious how can we reconcile it and accept? Mephisto said "all else will remain the same" I get that it's addressed to us so we understand how it's going to work. Fine. Got it. I can work with that. You can't do that AND THEN stick Harry and the webshooters (sounds like a rock band!) back in because then it's not the same.... And BND isn't going to explain it for a year or so (apparantly).

I felt fine about OMD until these interviews started. Now I feel mad about it.

I don't want to get into a long diatribe about it, but OMD was unpleasant, and I yanked Spider-Man from my pull list. I also made a point of giving it's spot to a DC book. I chose LoSH, and was quite impressed.

I feel much better now.

How would I have handled the retcon? Honestly, I wouldn't have done it. Not because I have strong feelings about the marriage, but simply because I believe that the fanbase is already so jaded and cynical that retcons just don't work anymore. You just have to suck it up and lie in the bed you slept in, and that's all there is to it. Don't like the Spider-Marriage? Find an editor who does, and let him get on with his job of finding a writer who does. Because it's no coincidence that all of the worst Spider-Man stories of the last 15 years have been ones focusing around retcons and continuity shifts, instead of just sitting down and trying to tell good stories with the status quo you have.

I will caveat the above paragraph by saying that since I wouldn't have done the retcon, I also wouldn't have revealed Peter Parker's secret identity; Quesada apparently only approved that because OMD was in the works. I would have had Peter cut a deal at the beginning of Civil War with Tony; I'll register, I'll join the Initiative, but hero-hunting is O-U-T. Find a job for me somewhere that I can ignore all this stuff going on. Then, as the "war" went on, Peter would realize that not taking a stand and letting conscientious people suffer for their principles is something he's tried before, and it didn't work. So even as "Spider-Man" continued to work for Tony Stark fighting super-villains, "the Scarlet Spider" would help Captain America and the resistance.

So even as “Spider-Man” continued to work for Tony Stark fighting super-villains, “the Scarlet Spider” would help Captain America and the resistance.

That's actually very cool!!!
I would've bought into the Civil War Fiasco if only to read that story!

If my Aunt May had been ruthlessly gunned down before my very eyes, I would spent my formative years studying to become the world's greatest detective, vowing to use my new found skills to avenge her death. Then, one night, while silently brooding in my study,

and so on...

"I’m sure all these guys want to ask the tough stuff, but they also want to get another interview with Marvel’s EIC someday before hell freezes over."

I disagree strongly with this. As it is, the interviews Quesada gives are almost entirely worthless fluff, so the idea that the sites would be losing anything by not getting the interviews, I dismiss entirely.

On the other hand, Quesada himself loves to be in the spotlight and loves to promote his shit. there aren't enough places for him to be interviewed that he could refuse them all if they all decided to ask him tough questions -- especially since Wizard is no longer dealing exclusively with comics.

There are two sites I know of that interview him, but let's even say as high as five. Five sites that have enough readership that he considers it worth going to them to be interviewed... if they all refused to softball, and said, "Look, Joe, your answer is cute and pat, but it dodges the actual question, and your straw man is insulting to your readership," maybe he would actually listen.

And, if he didn't listen, what would the sites lose? Does anybody respect CBR for that interview? How can the interviewer even hear what the fans are saying about OMD with his head that far up Joe's ass?

I disagree strongly with this. As it is, the interviews Quesada gives are almost entirely worthless fluff, so the idea that the sites would be losing anything by not getting the interviews, I dismiss entirely.

Take issue with how the interviews are conducted all you want, but your proposition is completely wrong.

These exclusives deliver tremendous amounts of traffic, which, you might imagine, websites want to have.

If you wish to argue "websites shouldn't care about making money," then fine, whatever, but to dismiss the idea that websites would lose something by not having these interviews is quite unfounded.

So even as “Spider-Man” continued to work for Tony Stark fighting super-villains, “the Scarlet Spider” would help Captain America and the resistance.

John Seavey is my hero.

"2- Why do Sins Past and introduce “the Gwen Kids” only to try to get rid of them any which way you can? Wouldn’t it’d been wiser to find a different vehicle for that type of story? …like a one-shot graphic novel,"

...or an issue of "What If?" That's where Marvel used to dump stories like this (and many of them were excellent) so they could play and not mess with "the real world."

Am I the only one who would prefer a Superboy punch (TM) to this?

if they all refused to softball, and said, “Look, Joe, your answer is cute and pat, but it dodges the actual question, and your straw man is insulting to your readership,” maybe he would actually listen.

Then again, he might just say "fine, we're not going to give you any of those nice previews or exclusive creator interviews any more."

Newsarama & CBR need Marvel a lot more than Marvel needs them.

I FEEL QUESADA HAS A INABILITY TO FIND THE MAGIC OF THE HOUSE THAT STAN AND JACK BUILT. QUESADA IS DESTROYING EVERYTHING THAT MADE MARVEL #1 WITH TRYING TO REMODEL MARVEL IN HIS IMAGE. QUESADA HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MEDIOCRE WRITER. HIS BOOKS ARE BLAND AND CANNOT COMPARE TO EARLY MARVEL. TO KEEP REWRITING MARVEL HISTORY SHOWS THAT QUESADA CAN ONLY SELL MARVEL BOOKS ON SHOCK VALUE. MAKES READING MARVEL DULL AND BORING. A TRUE STORY TELLER SHOULD BE ABLE TO WEAVE A STORY THAT CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION, SO THE CHARACTER AS SPIDERMAN IS LEFT TO AN UNREAL ENDING, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO WITH GREAT POWERS COME GREAT RESPONSILITY. YOU MAKE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL WOW WHY DIDN'T UNCLE BEN COME BACK. I COULD GO ON AS WITH CAPTAIN AMERICA, CIVIL WAR AND SO MUCH MORE BUT I THINK IT IS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO MARVEL FOR ME.

Thanks Joe. I've been in love with Comics for years. I couldn't bring myself to break it off with Comics, however, now, thanks to you and extremly disrespectful ass rape of my love for Spiderman comics, I will never bring myself to purchase another comic. You SUCK. THANKS FOR NOTHING.

There are also multiple instances where the interviewer offers up a decent question (”Why Mephisto and not Loki?”) but then immediately accepts whatever half-baked answer is offered without any follow-up (”OK, that makes perfect sense”).

I loved the 'that makes perfect sense'.
I read it as if it were a Captain Marvel story.
After they gave some ridiculous reason for Capt. Marvel not being able to stop the crime there and then, Billy would say 'that sounds perfectly logical', when of course, it wasn't.
So that's what I think Jonah was going for there.
Ether that or he was banging his head on the keyboard, and it somehow just spelt that out.

I dunno.... I STILL feel kinda sorry for Marvel. Sure, stuff like this is a really chintzy redo for the book; but since the 80's fans have wanted more depth and character from their comics. And when you add depth and character you add consequences. Consequences change things.... which you CAN'T do in a perpetual comic. So you get resets.

I wonder how many folks who complain about resets would likewise complain about "villain of the month" stories. I bet a lot; even though they probably don't realize it. "A good story is a good story...." I can hear them shout. Yeah; but what MAKES a good story? Nobody thinks of that.

Historicly the way around this was to tell the story of the BAD GUY. The hero is perpetual; they don't change... but the bad guys can. And the book works as long as you keep coming up with interesting bad guys. But like I said; how many folks would see that as "another stupid bad guy comes out of the woodwork and they fight.... I wanna see some character development! I want to see some story arc! I wanna see whatever the catchphrase of the month is!!!" Like I said; I ALMOST feel sorry for them.

Almost.

I think the REAL problem is the fans. The current "educated" fan base knows all the schticks; and how to write, and what makes for "good" art, and anything different is JUST BAD! So while they clamour for new, they ensure new doesn't actually sell.... Nobody accepts what happens in a story; they're too aware of what goes on "behind the curtain." Too caught up with it. And even when it's excrutiating for them to do so, they KEEP READING THE DAMNED BOOK!

Never understood that last part.

Don C.

zero premium life insurance...

skins Gloria,ore delving?cynically storming ...

joyland nuovo casinò con 10 euro gratis senza...

Sheila Scarborough Geiger minimizing corded astrophysics:...

auto contest insurance...

carving translucent grammars,bulging ...