Image via Marvel.com
[Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #698-700 and The Superior Spider-Man #1].
Dear Dan,
(Can I call you Dan? The only reason I ask is that these open letters usually start that way, with the writer asking if it’s okay to be on a first-name basis with the recipient. And I hate to buck a trend.)
You probably know why I’m writing. I’m writing because you have thoroughly desecrated, trashed, maimed, and destroyed Spider-Man. Trust me — even before I read The Amazing Spider-Man #700, I knew you had done it. Heck, I didn’t even need to read #698 to know that you were the Worst. Spider-Man Writer. Ever.
So, when I actually read those issues, my worst fears were confirmed. You had no idea what you were doing. You were a hack writer doing a hack job with my favorite character, and there was no way — okay, I can’t keep this up. I also didn’t want to buck the trend of the “Fake Outrage But Actually Enjoyed The Issue” letter, either.
Let’s get down to brass tacks. Like you, I like Spider-Man. I mean, I’ve liked him ever since I was a little kid, watching reruns of the 1960′s cartoon on TV. I’ve been a fan ever since I sat on Santa’s lap one December and asked him for a Spider-Man doll. I’ve been a fan ever since I was in Kay-Bee Toys in the 80′s, thoroughly convinced that I had seen Spider-Man webshooters on sale, but neither my mom nor the salesperson could find them. (I obviously had imagined that they existed, but that didn’t stop my mom from eventually buying the suction-cup webshooter some time later).
When I got into high school, this guy named Todd McFarlane got me into buying comics other than Transformers. I bought every single issue of every single Spider-Man comic out there for years.
Until the Clone Saga. When Peter finally said goodbye and Ben Reilly took over, I stopped reading. It pained me, but I stopped buying Spider-Man comics. I was part of that Internet group of Spider-Man fans who were boycotting the books until Peter returned. (I forget what our name was, and Google hasn’t been helpful.)
When Peter returned in Peter Parker, Spider-Man #75, so did I. And I’ve enjoyed Spider-Man comics off-and-on ever since.
So, when you said that Peter wasn’t going to be The Superior Spider-Man, my first instinct was to boycott.
Well, no. My first instinct was to say “Huh. Well, that could be interesting. Because it can always be fixed later on.” You see, I have mellowed since my Boycott The Clone days. I realize that these are stories that can have a myriad of paths to follow, and one of those paths will always be back to What I Love.
So, I eagerly read The Amazing Spider-Man #698-700, and I was thoroughly thrilled to see how Otto Octavious was now Spider-Man. It actually worked.
Until I read other people’s reviews and comments, and I had this bad feeling that they were right. There’s a bit of a very creepy-in-a-bad-way feeling to see Mary Jane and Peter Poctavious (see what I did there?) talking and rekindling their (well, not really his) romance. There’s something unsettling about having Otto pretend to be Peter and mislead MJ. And there’s something very wrong about having a murderer being the #1 hero of Marvel.
Yes, I understand that the entire point of The Superior Spider-Man might be that of redemption. But these past couple of weeks have left me feeling quite uneasy reading Spider-Man again. I decided I would give the new character a few issues to see if my mind could be changed. Or else, I would drop the title and boycott Spider-Man again.
And now? I just read The Superior Spider-Man #1.
Dan. Dan, Dan, Dan. You got me. That last page. I figured out that there would be a way to get Peter back, especially after seeing how #698-700 played out, but never did I think you’d start the fight immediately.
Bravo, Dan, bravo. You have got me fully on-board with Otto in the driver’s seat, because now we know that Peter just won’t let a murderer besmirch his good name for long.
I’m ready to see where this goes. Thanks for making it worth the time so far.
(Just don’t drop the ball. I still know how to boycott. :) )
Your Spider-Friend,
-Phil
Well Phil, this didn’t end how I was expecting it to. Especially from how it started. I applaud you for it too. Not many would be willing to give the chance that you are considering there are many that feel the same as you do in the start of this letter.
I was never a huge Spider-Man fan growing up. I just never got into the character. He didn’t click with me. But lately I’ve been reading more and more Spider-Man book and I finally get it now. I finally clicked with the character. So after reading the end of ASM, I too was a bit in awe. A big disgusted.
But I know, there is now way Marvel would keep it this way. There is no way we would have Spider-Man without Peter Parker. No ifs ands or buts about it.
So I too look forward to where Mr. Slott is going with this. It will be interesting, because it is only a matter of time before the Peter Parker we all cherish, returns to being the web-slinger again.
Jason
Well, here’s the thing. I still am a bit skeeved out by what Otto may do between now and when Peter comes back. It’s a tightrope that Dan has to walk, and there may come a time when he crosses over into an area where redemption is extremely difficult to come by, if not impossible. Still, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, simply because Peter is still there, fighting for control. And as we’ve seen, he’s been able to stop Otto so far.
“So far” — if he doesn’t stop him at some point, then the character may truly be lost.
I just wish they’d get the character back on track. OMD left a horrible taste in my mouth. I liked the idea of a married Spider-Man…then again I’m a married man myself so it was like the character grew up with me.
I admit – I hated One More Day, simply because I, too, loved the Peter/MJ marriage. One of the first Spider-Man comics I ever purchased was Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, the wedding issue. (I had seen it advertised on the back of that month’s issue of Transformers, and I wanted to read it.) So for pretty much all of my comic collecting life, Spider-Man and Mary Jane were married.
Until OMD.
I didn’t like the idea, but I gave it a chance, and I have to admit, it kept me reading. Now, there’s a lot those stories that I barely glanced through when I was going through a busy time in my life (moving, getting married), but Dan’s stories have been pretty good. I love the idea of Peter at Horizon Labs, and Ends of the Earth was great. (Spider-Island… eh, some of it’s kinda murky in my memory.)
So, I’m giving Dan the benefit of the doubt here. I mean, we know Peter’s going to be back at some point (probably around the time Andrew Garfield returns in theaters), and maybe there will be a Peter and MJ couple again after that happens….