Tales of the Parodyverse >> View Post
Post By
killer shrike

In Reply To
CrazySugarFreakBoy!

Member Since: Sun Jan 04, 2004
Posts: 1,235
Subj: Right back atcha
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 05:24:45 pm EDT
Reply Subj: Nope, still not agreeing.
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 07:32:58 am EDT (Viewed 534 times)


> And here's why.
>
> > I think if you try to overthink something in a comic book you're just going to ruin it for yourself.
>
> Hey, I'm not the one who's writing Peter as a paparazzo to make him seem more "modern" or "realistic," so don't blame me for bringing these issues up in the first place.
>

I can blame you for repeatedly harping on a subject to the point you lose all perspective though, right?

They changed his job from one that doesn't really offer story opportunities other than "Oh my god, my favorite student is bing menaced by her abusive father/a street gang he was once part of/feelings of alienation/Venom! What do I do!" to one that worked for the character for decades, and putting an interesting new twist on it. I fail to see the problem.




> > Case in point: you accept the idea that its ok for Peter to let JJJ use his photos to villify Spider-Man because he's only libelling himself. However, when you think about it, by damaging his own reputation as a hero Pete's making it harder for him to his own job. The public is less likely to trust him, the police waste valuable man power tracking him down instead of going after real criminals, etc.
>
> I absolutely agree with you, which is yet another reason why I was glad to see Straczynski shitcan all of that bullshit during his run. I'll accept that it was "okay" when Peter was younger (and dumber), for the purposes of not having to retcon countless past stories, but bringing back such a contrived, cliche-ridden status quo in the current comics is nothing short of creatively bankrupt.
>


For someone who joneses so much for the Silver Age, you have a great deal of animus towards contrivance and cliches.


> > Who knows how many lives were lost by making Spidey a less efficient hero because Pete was willing to sabotage himself all for a story conceit? ;\)
>
> And now you see why I've had serious problems with that particular story conceit ever since I started reading superhero comics, although Spider-Man isn't nearly bad on that score as Superman, whose secret identity drama I found so totally intolerable that it made me quit ALL comics, superhero and otherwise, when I was EIGHT YEARS OLD, and I stayed quit so firmly that I didn't return to comics until college, when I glanced through a few issues and saw that Lois Lane had finally found out Superman's secret identity, which she SHOULD have known ALL ALONG.
>

Really, if such a simple plot point took you out of enjoying the genre of superheroics, I have to question what, if anyhting, you liked about it.


> > Simple: he's caught between the proverbial rock and hard place
>
> Except that NO HE'S NOT,

Sure he is. Its right there in its four color glory. You might not like how he got to that point plotwise, and can argue "Oh, his millionaire buddy could get him out of his money problems" but that defeats the point of the character.

Pete's a shmuck. He's not supposed to have money. He's not supposed to get the girl. He's the guy who has to do crappy things (like letting people down) in order to ultimately do the right thing as Spider-Man.