[Pai Pai Master]

Anyone else big into comics? I'm looking forward to the new direction Amazing Spider-Man is taking at the end of this year.

If anyone's been following the book lately, Aunt May is on her death bed, caught by a sniper's bullet intended for Mary Jane. Joe Quesada and the rest of the Marvel team are planning on completely reworking the current form of the Amazing Spider-Man books and universe, shifting around the roles of some major characters (it's rumoured that Mary Jane will die soon as well).

Sensational Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are being cancelled, and Amazing Spider-Man is going to be released thrice-monthly starting at the beginning of 2008. In addition, the new team of four writers (from the likes of Avengers: Initiative, Back to the Future, Runaways, and Blade) will be joining five artists to create a newly imagined New York City for Peter Parker, complete with new supporting characters and new villains, by the likes of "Menace" and "Mr. Negative." The team says they want to quit focusing on the same old villains used for the last 40 years and create a new list of "classic" Spider-Man villains.

Granted, Marvel's tried to take Amazing to a twice-monthly release and the quality dropped enourmously, but they didn't support the team the way they are now. Quesada says they want to take as much influence from the Golden Age of Amazing and recreate what was most important about those stories. Following the old to create an entirely new direction for Spider-Man, I'm really excited about what's coming up in December with the One More Day one-shot book. It'll be followed by the Brand New Day story-arc, which will begin the new era of Amazing Spider-Man.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Oh God, I thought you were about to say they were starting over from issue #1 again. I hate the way they did it last time. Yeah the Clone Saga sucked and the death and resurrection of Aunt May was tasteless, but you can just keep going and patch holes in the story later.

Worked for Metal Gear Solid 3. Worked for "New Costume" Superman.

[Legal Fish]

If Peter doesn't kill Kingpin, I'm going to be disappointed. I'm probably going to stop reading it due to lack of interest either way, but I'd like to see him actually deliver on what he has been threatening to do.

[Pai Pai Master]

Have you read #542 yet?

[Legal Fish]

Maybe, I haven't been following that closely. Is that the one that ends with him meeting with Kingpin?

[Feba]

Joe Quesada

Dammit, now I wish taco john's was open.

[BurningPanther]

I hope so dearly that Peter deals with Kingpin in a fatal manner. I'm tired of seeing that smug tubby bastard show his face everywhere. And yes, I think Peter is overdue to deliver on his promise.

I've been looking forward to the "One More Day" event for quite some time now. I'm interested in seeing what sort of wedge is driven between Peter and Mary Jane. I'm also very pleased that the Spider-team is doing something original and refreshing in trying to create some new idea(i.e. brand new villains). It's something most writers/creators seems to fear doing, and it's good to know they aren't afraid to try and make history.

[Pai Pai Master]

I don't want to spoil anything, but read the latest issue (#543) to find out how Peter deals with Kingpin. It doesn't suck. He's already killed one person, so it's not out of the question at this point for him to eventually kill Fisk.

I'm also very pleased that the Spider-team is doing something original and refreshing in trying to create some new idea(i.e. brand new villains). It's something most writers/creators seems to fear doing, and it's good to know they aren't afraid to try and make history.

Marvel has proved many times in the last year or so that they're not afraid of doing that, and I love them for it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Isn't killing Kingpin like killing off Lex Luthor? The difference being that just a little every now now and then, Kingpin proves he's not totally 100% evil like Lex always is. At least not back when I was still keeping tabs on Spiderman, KP had a wife and that's what kept him from being too evil and only moderately so

At any rate, I'm not a fan of my favorite comic book heroes killing people off. Unless its like Wolverine, then I somewhat expect that.

[BurningPanther]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Isn't killing Kingpin like killing off Lex Luthor? The difference being that just a little every now now and then, Kingpin proves he's not totally 100% evil like Lex always is. At least not back when I was still keeping tabs on Spiderman, KP had a wife and that's what kept him from being too evil and only moderately so

Until you read the Frank Miller/John Romita Jr. work of art Dardevil: The Man Without Fear, then you realize that, wife or not, the Kingpin really is evil.

And Lex Luthor is no more or less evil than Kingpin. I actually liken him to Dr. Doom: two people who feel that they should run things because they think the world will be better off that way.

[Brayden]

I left Spider Man way back in the "clone" days. Good to see the franchise is still trying to do new things I suppose. Killing MJ and introducing a new woman for Peter would be typical in today's society I suppose. I'm against it.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Isn't killing Kingpin like killing off Lex Luthor? The difference being that just a little every now now and then, Kingpin proves he's not totally 100% evil like Lex always is. At least not back when I was still keeping tabs on Spiderman, KP had a wife and that's what kept him from being too evil and only moderately so

At any rate, I'm not a fan of my favorite comic book heroes killing people off.

Unless its like Wolverine, then I somewhat expect that.

Pfft. Original TMNT, long before they became cute for mainstream, used to carve people up left and right in the original comic books. It was glorious!

That said, most of the major comic book publishers are deathly afraid of killing off major villains because it turns off readers who actually like those villains.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Kill off a B Villian and no one really cares, Kill of the A List Villians or cast members and you turn off fans usually.

Except Jason Todd, readers wanted that. And now he's back and mad at the world thanks to Superboy-Prime

[BurningPanther]

I'm on the other side of that camp. As much as I like a villain--or hero--there has to be an resolution to the conflict at some point. And while I may dislike that villain--or hero--being killed, I think it opens room to create a newer original character. Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen that way, and the character just ends up being brought back.

Come to think, just about the only character that has stayed dead is Doug Ramsey. Poor dead Doug... I hope he stays that way.

[IfritnoItazura]

I'm for killing all of Spider-Man's regular cast of villains. And, get rid of Spider-Man while they are at it.

If after more than 40 years they still haven't done everything they should with the Spider-Man story, there's no point in trying further. His and other superheros' endlessly meandering stories, the multiple rebirths / return-from-deaths / re-conceptions / re-decorations / re-whatever turn me off like nothing else. It's one thing to put Spidy in different medium which allows telling of his world in a different way, but the comic books have been done to death.

I'd like a story, thank you. A beginning. A middle. An end. Then, done--no more.

Comic franchise sucks.

* * *

I love comic books, BTW, but for every treasure like Batman: Year One, there are zillions of entirely forgettable junk booklets filled with stupid references to previous issues in freaking DIFFERENT offshoot of the same series with "different" comic books featuring the same cast of characters but labeled slightly different on the covers. They just drag these ancient superheros on and on like it's some sort of TV soap opera.

Much better to pick up a set of manga; used book stores often bundle an entire series together, so you can walk out the store knowing you have the whole story. Heck, many manga are even translated to English now.

Hajime-chan ga Ichiban, Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa, Maison Ikkoku, Boku no Chikyuu o Mamotte; now, those are stories I can get behind and care about.

Heck, I'll take a total fluff like Imadoki! over a box full of Spider-man or X-men--at least it's a proper story.