Since the Internet has had bingo cards for every other form of online drama, death_worm had the excellent idea to create one for all of the storytelling conventions that the Spider-Man comic books have turned into tiresome old cliches over the years:



As Amazing Spider-Man kicks off its "Brand New Day" storyline, see how many bingo spaces you can fill up:

• In a single story arc!
  
• In a single issue!
  
• In a single page!

Because let's face it, it's the only entertainment value you're going to get from these books anymore, until the retcons of "One More Day" have been overturned.

And I'm getting to the point where I want the pro-Spidey marriage fans to stop whining. Captain America (my favorite character) is DEAD, and most of his fans aren't complaining as much, because

1. The resultant stories have been good

2. We know its going to be undone, somewhere down the line.

Let's see how these post OMD comics turn out, and keep in mind you know the characters will be back together at some point, before you start declaring jihad on Quesada (though I have no idea why JMS seems to be getting a lot more of a pass on this dumb idea).



EDIT: Looking back, I should apologize for using the term whining, as its people merely upset over something that matters to them. However, the extreme that some people across the internet are taking it (going so far as to refering to Marvel's EIC as "Al-Quesada" and Peter an adulterer because he's kissing some girl in the latest ASM preview is doing more harm to their cause than good.

...is that all the rabid fans chomping at the bit over BND have to buy the issues they don't support to use said bingo card.

I don't like what's happened either, but with all the buzz these events in Spider-Man have generated the fans are doing exactly what Marvel wants; discussing the books and generating interest in the product. While the bingo card is amusing, it gives the fans another reason to pick up the book rather than speak with their wallet.

And despite all the hate Quesada is taking, I don't like how so many people take personal shots at him. As EIC he doesn't want Spider-Man to fail, he's doing what he thinks is right to ensure the longevity of the character. Do I agree with his approach? No. But how often do we say that all we can ask of people is that they do their best?

~Hat~

Even if you set aside the large and growing number of fans who download illegally, there are countless communities like scans_daily where people can legally post up to half the pages of any given issue, which is more than enough to tell whether it's good or bad, and therefore worth being bought or not.

I've actually started buying some comics because I saw how good they were on scans_daily, and likewise, I've never purchased others after seeing how bad they were. In fact, this bingo card was created by a fellow scans_daily poster in direct response to my post of the first eight pages of "Brand New Day." The post with those BND scans, by the way, has generated roughly 300 replies so far, all but one of which have been totally negative.

Really, there's no excuse anymore for paying any amount of money for comics you might not like.

While I can't say that he deserves personal attacks on him, I can't find fault in people laying down heavy criticism on him and his editorial style (if he has any).

It's true that he doesn't want Spider-man to fail... however, that does not mean that telling a good story is ever his first priority. There are plenty of business men who will gut a product in order to sell more of it in the short term, as that's the only way they know how to do things. They're not looking to fail, they just don't equate a quality product with success... it's only a nice bonus, if possible, not something that's absolutely necessary. You yourself suggest that getting people talking about the story was a goal... I'd agree, and from what I've seen of Quesada, that's the highest goal he tends to have in mind. Over and over again they put out major "event" comics that have tortured plot twists and shocking moments that don't necessarily make for good stories, but certainly make for waves in fandom.

The early vibe I got from the Jemas/Quesada combo was a motto that "no attention is bad attention", and the lesson Quesada seems to have taken from his mentor is that negative reaction is the easist attention to get.

More to the point on this current Spidey thing, I think it's quite possible that Quesada was more than willing to tell a bad story in order to get the books lined up to his liking for the future. That might be acceptable to some, while others would say there's no excuse in not holding off until a *good* story was proposed that would get them where they want to be.