Try a slap in the face to the fans, Joephisto.

Everything that there is to say about this, regardless of which side you’re on, has pretty much been said about it. But as for Joey Q’s yearning for new readers, here’s a news flash: I’m a relatively new reader who came back to comics around the time Civil War started and started buying ASM with the unmasking who’s definitely OFF the Spidey bus now.

I knew the unmasking might end up coming back to haunt Marvel in the long term, but in the short term it was an intriguing twist that I was eager to see play out. In part due to Joey’s promise that it wouldn’t be quickly undone by some kind of memory wipe. Weeell… That’s more or less what happened anyhow, isn’t it? You lied, Joephisto.

I’m enjoying Captain America and (to a lesser extent) both Iron Man and New Avengers right now, so I’ll stick with those. But that’s it as far as my Marvel buying goes. I am curious to see how ASM’s sales play out, once people who drop the title end their commitments and after the initial interest of the first BND arc levels off.

I would think, between the anger many fans are feeling and the added burden of having to buy three issues a month to keep up, the numbers will drop. But will they be higher, lower, or about the same as the combined sales each month for ASM and the other two, recently cancelled Spidey books? It’ll be interesting to see.

One more thing though… Since there are so few kids reading comics now, it seems incredibly unlikely that there will suddenly be this big upswing in kids buying and reading ASM (especially at $10 a month). And with the images that have been previewed, is it really being aimed at kids anyhow? Macking at a club and pulling a gun for money? I think Joephisto’s fibbing us yet again.

You are going to drop all Marvel comics because you dont like what is happening in the Spider-man titles?

I honestly really cant understand why people are abandoning all sense because of this silly thing

Fernald, no offense… But that’s way oversimplifying why so many readers are upset about the OMD/BND events. You probably know that, but whatever. If the marriage was ended in a logical way, that’s one thing. But that’s not what happened. Me, I’m mostly just bothered that all the hype over the unmasking ended up being a big ruse on Joey Q’s part. And that he lied about, pure and simple.

But anyhow, it’s not that big a deal to me. So I”ve dropped a title I’ve been buying for less than two years anyhow. I wasn’t that attached to it, and I’ve never read anything else JMS has written prior to the CW crossovers. At least it saves me a few bucks.

I did get the complete collection DVD-Rom for Xmas though. I’ll go back and read all the good old stories though, since that beats reading the rehash that BND appears to be. I’ll just stop at about the point where JMS’ run begins.

Zeitgeist:

Because I learned a long time ago that when I don’t like something in comic books, I vote with my wallet.

And this is just the latest thing that Marvel has done with its characters that I don’t agree with. I used to get probably 10-15 Marvel titles a month and now I’m down to about 4.

I’m hardly abandoning “all sense,” I’m voicing my protest in the most effective way I know how. As for the reason why? The sickness in my stomach I get whenever I think about the marriage being undone. It’s fine if you don’t agree with me, and I’m sorry if you don’t understand it, but that’s how it is.

Actually I’ll be dropping all but Captain America because I’ve learned over the years that when somebody acts like an a-hole to me it’s usually best to ignore them.

I have absolutely no dog in this hunt, my active Spider-Man reading days having ended somewhere in the Ross Andru years, (wait, Spidey got married?) but I think it’s wonderfully perverse on a number of levels that Joe is giving fans a lesson in “reality” over the events of One More Day.

Cole,

The only reason Quesada wanted them un-married in the first place was because, in his words, marriage “aged” Peter, and as far as Joe is concerned, ANYTHING is better than an “aged” Peter.

Moreover, Quesada has flat-out stated that divorce would, in his opinion, be even WORSE than keeping them married (even considering how much he HATES the marriage), because a divorce would “age” Peter even MORE.

So there you have it. Spider-Man is being retconned because Joe is having a midlife crisis.

Just buy Spider-Girl, the way I do. Or stick with Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, another fun title. Those are the Spidey titles I buy. I don’t bother with the others, especially since I hated Civil War. I’ve been reading comics for more than 40 years. I read what I want to, I don’t let publishers and EICs tell me what I should read. And BTW, kids DO read comics; they do in my school library, and they did in the public library where I used to work. Give ‘em comics to read, they’ll read them; the big hits in my library now are Bone, Little Lulu, and Goosebumps Graphix. And some of the boys like the Marvel Adventures versions of Spider-Man and the Avengers. My son has been reading comics since he could read (just like ol’ mom) – he’s now 13 and comics are his preferred reading choices. He’s a DC boy, though.

I’m not buying anything from Marvel for the foreseeable future. I was really enjoying a large number of series of both comics and trades, but there’s kind of a “fuck you” attitude that I don’t really want to reward with money. I am very happy to continue to buy DC Comics, and now I will have more money in my comics budget to do so. At least when DC changes continuity, it’s done with respect for long- and short-term readers, previous work on those characters, and for DC itself. This was a cheap stunt that removes one of the most important parts of the character, an aspect that has existed for 20 years. After years of terrible Spider-Man comics, J. Michael Straczynski made Peter Parker interesting again, and part of the way he did that was reinvigorating Peter’s relationships with Aunt May and Mary Jane. Now those adult relationships are gone, and so is my money.