Erik Larsen shares his thoughts on One More Day, and doesn’t really hold back:
I thought the actual story that saw print was incredibly stupid. There were occasional nice lines in there, but the basis of the Devil stepping in and monkeying with this marriage was just ridiculous… The issue itself was a jumble. Joe Quesada seemed to go from tracing photographs of ugly people or apple dolls to trying to draw characters “on model” and the end result was like stringing together a bunch of scenes from various 007 movies and trying to pretend all of the actors that portrayed Bond were the same guy, ignoring all of the physical changes that were only too apparent. It was often over-rendered or poorly lit or simply uninteresting and the story was all over the place. How sad it must have been when J. Michael Straczynski realized that his last official act was to undo everything he’d contributed over the previous six years.
To prove that he’s not entirely negative, though, he also offered commentary on the new status quo:
The biggest problem — in the future — would be that it would be hard to play some of these same notes again; that “Aunt May is too fragile to handle the truth about Peter being Spider-Man” or that “Peter needs to protect his secret identity in order to protect his loved ones” when we’ve seen both of those played out in print. In the latest issue — out this week — there’s a bad guy who is on the trail of figuring out who Spider-Man is. How much suspense is there when, just two weeks ago, Spider-Man’s identity being public knowledge was the status quo? After the marriage and the efforts made to undo it, why should we, as readers, believe any relationship he has in the future will ever lead to him getting married again? They’re pretty much told the readers that Peter’s life is never going to progress past a certain point.
And don’t get me started on the ‘80s-style, red-haired, super-heroine “Jackpot.” Her name is taken straight out of MJ’s first on-panel appearance and her voice over throws the word “Tiger” in there just in case you didn’t figured it out. She’s either MJ or the least-subtle ruse ever put into play — either way, it’s pretty goddamned stupid.
…Okay. He’s kind of negative.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
If his version of Amazing Spiderman was being written into the story instead of what the did with One More Day I’d still be reading the comic.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I agree on the criticism of the soulless “realistic” art that Marvel has been pushing over the last few years. Photoshopping over photographs and models and just filtering in backgrounds and cars into the panels is just the most uninspiring thing to ever happen to comic art. I don’t want “big screen” action. I want comic book action and the personal touch that a Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, or even a Jim Lee or Darwyn Cooke (or Erik Larsen!) can bring to a story.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
To be fair, though, a lot of this is just a rehashing of the points against the format of DC & Marvel’s comics that Larsen has made before (no lasting changes to status quo, repetitive storylines). And, speaking personally, I’ve always found Larsen’s art to be fugly. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Uh huh…I’m still not convinced that the marriage ought to be undone at all, but I agree with Larsen at least this far: if it needed doing, it shouldn’t have been done this way.
And as for Lois and Clark, the same skepticism applies to Mr. Didio’s arguments on that front. I don’t think it needs to be undone in that instance either.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Erik Larsen needs to keep his trap shut, he’s made a career out of ripping off other people’s properties in his moronic pastiche and drawing like a 4 year old.
Savage Dragon is about the least original, dumbest comic book I’ve ever read. Not to mention the ugliest. I don’t get the appeal of Larsen at all, his art is painful, his stories read like they were written by a hormonal 14 year old, and his characters are other people’s characters.
So, y’know, why he gets a ‘say’ in anything is beyond me. He’s the nadir of ‘creator’s rights, as he hasn’t created jack shit. He’s stolen, and done it poorly.
The popularity of Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon is proof positive that fandom is dominated by morons.
Was that too harsh?
January 18th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Seems like ElCoyote (a.k.a. Joephisto) has to jump into every Spider-Man/One More Day thread, eh? He just can’t help himself. Always with the defense of Joe Quesada’s indefensibly lame retcon that undoes twenty years worth of story or, in this case, snark-laden attacks on anyone who has the temerity to question Quesada’s decison. I bet you loved Civil War too, right?
But hey, don’t let my comments (or anyone else’s) stop you from loading up, week in and week out, with sub-par Marvel comics. It’s your money, not mine. I’m voting in the only way Marvel would notice: boycotting Spider-Man comics from here on out.
And just for the record, I read comics from different publishers. I don’t have allegiance to one publisher over another. My only allegiance is to good stories combined with good art (nothing more and nothing less).
Oh, and here’s a suggestion (which I expect you’ll ignore): chill out, dude, and repeat after me: it’s only a (lame) comic, it’s only a (lame) comic.
That is all. Class dismissed.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Jackpot is this girl Carlie. Bet on it
January 19th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
“written by a hormonal 14 year old, and his characters are other people’s characters.”
Didn’t you just describe every mainstream superhero comic book?
January 20th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
TehCoyote seems angry.
Larsen was right.