Spidey The Other (spoilers)

Post by **Best First** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:25 pm

just starting a sep topic to teh comics one for spoiler purposes.

er, anyay - what was teh point of that 12 issue run? so spidey could get a new costume and some kewl wolverine stingers?

is that it?

and the earlier, better Morlun story could be cheapened?

am i missing summit?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:38 pm

Okay. Just read the summary on Wikipedia.

Sounds:
a) Far too long and drawn out
b) Crap

Post by **Best First** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:14 pm

it was more a) than b) it had some nice character bits (having Peter and Mj hanging about with the avengers makes for a lot of nice interactions) but in terms of anything of significance actually happeneing (apart from the least convincing death ever) there was nowt.

Plus - Pat Lee.

who is just a sh*t artist, regardless of the other stuff.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:16 pm

Best First wrote:Plus - Pat Lee.

who is just a sh*t artist, regardless of the other stuff.

I dunno. He did a cracking job with your avatar.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:01 pm

The Other was pretty bad. No explanation of how Morlun returned, all the art save 'Ringo's stank, and now he has a horrible costume. Some good moments, like when Pete and MJ think they are spending their last moments together, but mostly crap.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:48 pm

To me, the costume is the least of the problems with "The Other." We all know it's temporary, it's a good visual symbol of how Peter is now under the House of Stark, which I ALSO think is a decent substory.
I mean, Tony Stark is the science geek who chose money over family, and Peter is the science geek who chose family over money. And it's all set-up for Civil War, anyway.
Hell, I can even look past the spider claws.

But what I didn't like AT ALL was the retconning, and the Spider animism.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:53 pm

The one thing I can say for Pat Lee's issues (which I shameless downloaded and read online with absolutely NO intention of ever buying them) is that they featured some of the nicest color work I have ever seen in a Marvel book. When I flipped (well, hit "pgup" a bunch of times) to the front of the book to see who'd done it, the name was listed as simply "Dreamengine." Nice goin', Pat. Not even CREDITING the people who make part of your work seem like it doesn't belong scratched into a urinal somewhere.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:55 pm

Shanti418 wrote:To me, the costume is the least of the problems with "The Other." We all know it's temporary, it's a good visual symbol of how Peter is now under the House of Stark, which I ALSO think is a decent substory.
I mean, Tony Stark is the science geek who chose money over family, and Peter is the science geek who chose family over money. And it's all set-up for Civil War, anyway.
Hell, I can even look past the spider claws.

But what I didn't like AT ALL was the retconning, and the Spider animism.

the thing is,, the spider animism was really nice as a year and a half or so arc, but i thought they left it nice and ambiguous so you could ignore it if it wasn't your cup of tea...

and then they just repaetedly smacked us round teh face with it in the other.

shame.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:27 pm

Yeah, when JMS talks about it now, he stills falls back on that Incan explanation of "You say the sun will rise because of science. I say the sun will rise because it was meant to rise. I see no contradiction."

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:46 am

Yeah, the only good bits in the Other are the character work with Peter and his relationships to his family, real and extended-hero type.
The best work is with Iron Man, agreed. The Peter/Tony stuff is great and is really going to pay off in Civil War, I hope.
I don't mind the suit thing at all. I think it looks like ass, but the story has sold me on it, so that's all groovy.
However, knowing that the Peter/Tony stuff was bulked out after the storyline had been committed to sours the pill a little.

The rest of it is bad. The spider-animism stuff is getting out of control. Now we have spider-related powers that come from spiders that haven't actually evolved yet. I call shenanigans.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:02 pm

I don't so much mind if they dick around with the origin. As long as the writers provide me with stories I feel are worth my 12 dollars a month, I'm satisfied. The spider-god stuff is not much more ludicrous than being bitten by a radioactive spider.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:11 pm

It's not that it's ludicrous, it's that it's making Peter Parker into The Chosen One of the Spider, with the Spider Gods and the Spidermen throughout history, which is different from Peter Parker, the average schoolboy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:42 pm

Shanti418 wrote:It's not that it's ludicrous, it's that it's making Peter Parker into The Chosen One of the Spider, with the Spider Gods and the Spidermen throughout history, which is different from Peter Parker, the average schoolboy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don't see how that effects the stories a whole lot, though.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:31 pm

Shanti418 wrote:It's not that it's ludicrous, it's that it's making Peter Parker into The Chosen One of the Spider, with the Spider Gods and the Spidermen throughout history, which is different from Peter Parker, the average schoolboy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Id say more like the right place at the right time. I wanna be a badass.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:47 pm

I liked Straczynski's stuff with the animism until "The Other." I just thought he was done, that he had moved on to stuff like "Sins Past."

I can think of a thousand arcs that would have been more original and more fun than "The Other." Well, one anyway.

This could be fun. Imagine you're in an elevator with Avi Arad and Joe Quesada trying to sell them your Spidey story before you reach their floor. Now.. pitch!

"Spidey is just becoming comfortable with the people who know his secret identity when someone spills the beans to Jonah Jameson. Jameson determines to destroy Peter's job, friends, and life out of his anger."

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:42 am

sprunkner wrote:
"Spidey is just becoming comfortable with the people who know his secret identity when someone spills the beans to Jonah Jameson. Jameson determines to destroy Peter's job, friends, and life out of his anger."

Interesting pitch, but I doubt it would go that far. If Jameson knew that Parker was Spider-Man, he would probably end his crusade against the wall crawler. It would be another awesome "talking" issue like the one between Aunt May and Peter.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:23 am

Ah, but what if he didn't? What if he tried to destroy Pete's life?

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:49 am

sprunkner wrote:Ah, but what if he didn't? What if he tried to destroy Pete's life?

He's probably the only one of Spider-Man's enemies that actually could do it.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:59 am

Right, I've finally tracked all of this down.

I thought it was pretty dull until halfway through - that massive Spidey/Morlun fight was tres cool.

The later issue when he ate Morlun... again tres cool.

Art ranged from good to rather bad.

Personally I don't like Peter, MJ and May living with the Avengers. I prefer Spidey as a loner.

I also thought the issue when Spidey risked MJ and May's lives to sneak into Doom's HQ to go back in time just to see his parents was total gash.

It also seems whenever anyone other than JMS writes MJ she comes off as a total drip.

Why did Morlun come back????

Don't mind the new costume... nice to have a change, hopefully he'll have it for a couple of years.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:04 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:Don't mind the new costume... nice to have a change, hopefully he'll have it for a couple of years.

When they'll have a massive Marvel Universe crossover and the entire thing will be rendered null and void because the new writer doesn't like it.

Just like Charles Xavier will always be in a wheelchair, Bruce Banner will never really be in control of the Hulk and Magneto will never actually die.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:14 pm

I'd like him to have it long enough for it to make it's mark...

I'm quite nostalgic of the black one. The first Spidey comics I bought as a kidling had him in it.