Marvel NOW Comics - Amazing Spider-Man #700

I think comics painted themselves into a corner. There was a time where you could pick up an issue and get one or more self-contained stories. It didn't matter that you didn't read issues for half a year because the characters hardly changed at all. These days most comics are permanently ongoing stories, often tied to several other titles. Every few months there is a cross title event that means you have to collect anything from 10-100 issues to just make sure you got everything covered. If you read an issue of a certain comic and pick it up six months later you get the feeling you are stuck with two pieces of a very large puzzle.

In order to get in new reader most titles are rebooted on a regular basis by introducing a new creative team.

So the end result with most comics is that the long term reader doesn't get a real continuity in the series because it is regularly interrupted by other book's events or rebooted on a regular basis. And the new reader has to jump while the train is still running or hope there is a title reboot soon.

And then there are the company wide events and reboots. These reboots are skewered because they invariably are a confusing mix of the old and new, not daring to actually reboot a character, but merely retell the old story with a few contemporary embelishments (Oh, Captain Slaughter had gay parents or the Grand Wizard is black now ...) cherry picking the old continuity as they go along, usually reverting to status quo after a certain period. It doesn't help that because of the mixed continuity you don't have a clue to what events/defining moments really happened or not.

Comics are pretty much damned if you do, damned if you don't. I get suckered into reading them for a while until I remember why I stopped last time.
 
Yup. I was kinda on board when I got into the reboot of Green Lantern (Where Hal came back from being the Spectre), and was digging it up through Blackest Night. I read Infinite Crisis, and that was kind of interesting, too. But when I heard that they were rebooting DC again, it reminds me why I buy TPBs if I buy anything at all, and why most of my TPBs are from older storylines.
 
Stopped reading Amazing Spider-Man after One More Day and though many liked the early story lines of Brand New Day, I just couldn't bring myself to read them. Dan Slott's writing has been getting lot of praise in the last few years, but I guess another major drastic change to the character was inevitable. I stopped reading Marvel and stopped buying comics in general after OMD. I plan to slowly get back to self contained independent stories and titles, instead of the endless crossovers and title reboots from Marvel and DC.

OMD killed it for me, too. I was actually quite interested in the new direction Peter Parker was about to face (married, having outed himself to the public like a jacka**, Aunt May no longer alive) and they pulled that stupid "deal with the devil" move. I was never really able to get into it after that, which as a lifelong Spider-Man fan was a real shame.

And now they're doing this..? I read ASM 698, didn't like the direction of the arc, and I will certainly check out 699 & 700, but it is stupid. Not death threat stupid, come on, they're just stories, but it feels like a careless cash grab. That said, it probably lasts as long as the death of the Human Torch (which, granted, I haven't bothered to wiki so I don't really know the facts about that, but what did that last -- 6 months? A year?) Marvel editorial doesn't inspire confidence. And it looks like the Mouse is handing over the reins of Star Wars comics from Dark Horse's excellent stewardship over to them... :rolleyes
 
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I so wish I would have not even wasted my time reading the spoilers on this. Sigh, what an original ending. Pure, 100% crap.
 
Pretty awful resolution, but almost everything is temporary in the comics universe. By the time the next Spider-man movie comes out, things will have been reset in the comics again...
 
That's partially why I stopped collecting years ago. Got caught up in it when they broke Batman's back. Then brought him back. Sometimes I wish I did still collect though. Some of the art is amazing now.
 
I wish I could still get into the serial stuff but I guess I'm too old. I still enjoy the occasional graphic novel. I REALLY enjoyed the book by Jim Butcher SPIDERMAN THE DARKEST HOURS.

Part of me understands their motivation in a reboot to try to attract new readers, but I don't see many kids reading comics now. I don't think kids think print media is cool.

Comics aren't in 7-11's like when I was kid. Few if any are in grocery stores. Even book stores carry very few if any serializations. It's like if you want comics you have to go to a comics shop and I haven't seen anyone under 16 in a comic shop in years...but maybe I just have bad timing. I think kids would rather watch the animated movies being cranked out rather than read the books.
 
I haven't seen anyone under 16 in a comic shop in years...but maybe I just have bad timing. I think kids would rather watch the animated movies being cranked out rather than read the books.

I'm not sure if most comics nowadays are actually targeted at kids who are younger than teenagers. Everyone I ever see at the comic shop I go to is in their 20s or 30s. But I guess to be fair, I only happen to go when schools are still in. I'll ask the guy who owns the shop next time I'm there and see what he thinks.
 
Yup. I was kinda on board when I got into the reboot of Green Lantern (Where Hal came back from being the Spectre), and was digging it up through Blackest Night. I read Infinite Crisis, and that was kind of interesting, too. But when I heard that they were rebooting DC again, it reminds me why I buy TPBs if I buy anything at all, and why most of my TPBs are from older storylines.

On the bright side Green Lantern was mostly untouched by the reboot. The New 52 book picks up right where the story was pre-Flashpoint.

On topic, if I hadn't already stopped buying Marvel books after One More Day I'd certainly stop now. Actually I was contemplating starting to read All New X-Men but this crap with Spidey made the decision for me. Marvel doesn't deserve my money for their comics any more.
 
Re: Amazing Spider-Man 700

WORST. COMIC. EVER.

I'm not gonna post what happened in it, cuz I don't want spoilers. But having read it, I can say that I have almost lost confidence in Marvel... I don't know how they agreed to end the Amazing title that way after 50 years. I'd love to hear what you guys think of it, if there are any supporters of it out there.

So mad at Dan Slott :angry

I thought it was a GREAT comic, one of Slott's best writing efforts. Despite fanboys hating the ending (and most often, anything that's not formulaic is met with fanboy rage), I for one look forward to seeing new stories and what this new direction will bring. It's been 50 years, I applaud Marvel for moving in a different direction and breaking new ground. The dynamic the new Spidey will have both as 'Peter' and as Spider-Man will be interesting to read for sure.

And before everyone gets their underoos in a knot, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is already casting and on schedule. Peter will be back behind the mask in the comics by the time the movie comes out, guaranteed.
 
It's funny. People complain when they change things. So then they retcon and change it back to what people expect it to be. And then people complain about them constantly retconning everything.
 
Eh, I think he has an interesting idea with the whole parallel with Doc Oct and Peter. Doc Oct became a criminal after his accident. Peter was a bit of a potential bully prior to the spider bite, but turned out differently almost entirely due to Uncle Ben. It's an interesting question, but to me seemed like a better question answered in those "What If?" comics they did occasionally. Especially if the 'new' Peter, which is just Doc Oct, plans to try to bed Mary Jane, which would be akin to a rape or at least fraud sleeping with her.
 
i loved 700. martyrs make a bigger impact with me in a story line than just regular heroes do. and this is a great twist to put on it, because there is a butt load of meta craziness with the martyr in this plot. there arent any spoiler labels on the thread title, so ill stop there with that. on top of that this is a way to have a fresh take, without rebooting the story. from what ive read, its still the exact same universe in the Superior line. The same people are alive that were alive in amazing and the same people are dead that were dead before. im thinking of it more like a spider-man 2 than a relaunch. im definitely interested to see this unfold.
 
It's funny. People complain when they change things. So then they retcon and change it back to what people expect it to be. And then people complain about them constantly retconning everything.

Personally, I don't have a problem with major large-scale retcons once in a while. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths was designed to clean up a LOT of really confusing continuity issues in DC's multiverse, and condense it. That held for about 20 years or so, after which they had Infinite Crisis and changed the continuity again.

So far, I have no problem. Where it starts getting irritating is when they retcon the retcon of the retcon every 3-5 years. If you have to keep hitting the "reset" button on your continuity, maybe your comics just suck.

They used to gin up interest by large, company-wide "events" every year or so, and that was ok, provided it was contained to the summer issues. E.g., the Evolutionary Wars and Atlantis Attacks during the late 80s and early 90s at Marvel. Or the Inferno or Mutant Massacre events. Where it got bad was when tehy were doing 27 different titles at once, and you had to follow ALL of it, every year.

Tack on repeated retcons, and it just gets stupid. There's a reason they're losing their audience.

I don't have a problem with characters developing or growing. But *****, whatever happened to just telling a good adventure story? You don't need to have UNIVERSE SHATTERING CONTINUITY IMPLICATIONS to everything, nor do you need to totally reinvent the wheel.

Eh, I think he has an interesting idea with the whole parallel with Doc Oct and Peter. Doc Oct became a criminal after his accident. Peter was a bit of a potential bully prior to the spider bite, but turned out differently almost entirely due to Uncle Ben. It's an interesting question, but to me seemed like a better question answered in those "What If?" comics they did occasionally. Especially if the 'new' Peter, which is just Doc Oct, plans to try to bed Mary Jane, which would be akin to a rape or at least fraud sleeping with her.

Exactly. "What If?" was an awesome comic for examining just such things. You didn't want to screw with the established continuity, but you got to explore sort of an "alternate universe" scenario. One of my favs was "What if Elektra Had Survived?" (of course, she was later brought back ANYWAY...)
 
A big problem with Marvel is the editors are people who shouldn't be editors. All the really good talent now freelance as opposed to working with the 2 big dogs (not to say there isn't good talent there but the well known ones are freelancers now) and Marvel painted themselves into a corner in the 90s with 5 different x-men and wolverine related titles and crossovers that made you buy 6 different books. I mean seriously the Age of Apocalypse storyline had like 7 different books tied together.
 
Ben tells him that he has done well, and that after he accomplishes one more thing he can rest. He’s earned it. He’s fulfilled his great responsibility. Someone else can be Spider-Man now.

Umm. How old is Peter Parker in this issue?
 
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