old and new
What I find interesting about Ultimate Spider-Man is that Bendis does such a good job at doing old stories in a new way.

I just got the Clone Saga TPB a couple of days ago, and I thought it was funny how much of a departure it was from the original story. Same premise, a couple of the same surprises along the way, but soooo much was different. Different villain, different dilemmas, it was definitely a new story. I enjoyed it a lot.

Posted by CodeGuy on 2007-11-12 17:56:11
I hear video apes are going extinct. Sad really...



Posted by S Thompson on 2007-11-12 18:15:40
"Spider-Man is about youth. The Hulk is about rage. Fantastic Four is about family. These examples all seem really cut-and-dried and obvious"

Are they really that obvious? Maybe for the FF and Hulk examples, but most people I know would cite responsibility as the central theme of Spider-Man.

Posted by CylverSaber on 2007-11-12 18:43:52
Amen to S Thompson's comment. Power Pack are about youth.

Posted by theazor on 2007-11-12 22:10:00
Themes
No, I think it is that easy to boil them down. Spider-Man is about youth, and youth is about learning responsibility.

I certainly agree with the concept of keeping each comic fresh and referential to each new reader, making sure no one is completely lost in the middle of some massive storyline and finds it too complex to continue. It's quite necessary, even if it upsets older readers. And it's true, pretty much everything has been done before in some form or another.

I think I already mentioned this on the blog here but I was reading old FF comics a while back and found a strange story from the 80s (or so) where the FF went to court to fight against the process of registering superheroes and making them official police. They shot it down, but of course now we have it all over again with the FF surprised all over again and split down the line instead of all on the side of keeping the status quo. It's just that these days there's so many people with access to all the other comics - as well that there is so many of them - and so the status quo can't keep refreshing by the end of 22 pages.

As for the article itself, video apes aside, what's with all the typos, Tom? In a bit of a hurry?

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2007-11-13 10:49:21
Well, that's what I thought the Ultimate Universe was for.

Posted by Maestro on 2007-11-14 02:37:00
Youth isn't always about learning responsibility. The Impulse series certainly wasn't about that. I could see someone saying that Spider-Man is about growing up, but I don't see it as specifically about youth. If anything, Peter was an atypical youth, having to take so much responsibility at an early age.

Posted by CylverSaber on 2007-11-14 16:30:43
Re: Renewal
Qoute:"If you've been reading the adventures of these characters for as long as I have, and they're starting to feel a little bit played out, certainly some of that's the fault of the creators involved--but a good part of it is you, as well.

More later.

Tom B"

He's got a lot of nerve, if he blames the lack of immagination in Marvel on the readers. We rite in, and say we want new ideas, but They don't listen to us. T

Posted by Aarcee on 2007-11-14 16:53:56
Say What?
Quote: “If you've been reading the adventures of these characters for as long as I have, and they're starting to feel a little bit played out, certainly some of that's the fault of the creators involved--but a good part of it is you, as well.”

I don’t know where this statement is going. It almost sounds like I should stop reading the comics of my favorite characters because “I “have made the mistake of reading them for so long. Therefore “I” cannot rely on Marvel to write interesting and intriguing stories about my favorite characters to keep my interests any longer because it’s anywhere between 51-99% my fault for reading them in the first place.


Good to know.


Posted by Ebonyblade on 2007-11-15 08:58:24
ditto
Qoute:"If you've been reading the adventures of these characters for as long as I have, and they're starting to feel a little bit played out, certainly some of that's the fault of the creators involved--but a good part of it is you, as well.

More later.

Tom B"

He's got a lot of nerve, if he blames the lack of immagination in Marvel on the readers. We rite in, and say we want new ideas, but They don't listen to us. T


Posted by Ebonyblade on 2007-11-15 14:44:05
Seems pretty reasonable, given everything else he said in the post. If you decide to keep reading stories about the same guy for several decades, you should expect to see some repetition.

And yeah, people write in and say they want new ideas. People also write in and complain when a comic starts having so many new things that it doesn't resemble the comic it used to be.

Posted by CodeGuy on 2007-11-15 15:10:25
Comic Fans
I've said this many times before. Can't keep em happy. Keep the status quo for too long you bore them. Deviate too much or change "their favorite thing" about the character you anger them. I don't think they're happy until they have something to complain about really. What's the easiest way to feel superior? To feel as if someone's committed a heinous act against you at which you can be justifiably angry.

Posted by doncorswhazie on 2007-11-15 22:21:54
i don't write them
i read them & i couldn't b happier

Posted by toddg on 2007-11-17 04:50:19
Well you're clearly easily satisfied and unable to accept the truth. Marvel's doomed. Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo*breathe*oooooooooooooooooooomed. Doomed. :P

Posted by deworde on 2007-11-17 16:10:38
deworde
"We rite in, and say we want new ideas, but They don't listen to us. T"
yes, because with that spelling ability, your letter clearly screamed, "pass me on to editorial." Oh, and "We want new ideas" is a little like "I want my computer to work." A little guidance is appreciated.

Posted by deworde on 2007-11-17 16:12:48
Renewal Say What???
Sayeth Mr. Brevoort: "If you've been reading the adventures of these characters for as long as I have, and they're starting to feel a little bit played out, certainly some of that's the fault of the creators involved--but a good part of it is you, as well."

To Mr. Brevoort: I think that it takes lots of nerve to blame your own customers for the shortcomings in your current products.

I have stated in other forums that I do not care for what has happened to Captain America and Spiderman. I am also not happy with the recent cancellation of the GIT DVD comic products.

In this paragraph, I am representing what I would like to see; I do not speak for the fans. Please: Bring back Steve Rodgers; don’t let Aunt May die; don’t breakup Spiderman’s marriage. I also hope that the DVD comics are continued in one fashion or another (preferably with GIT). Thank you.


Posted by koltsrule45 on 2007-11-17 23:02:59
DUDE!
DUDE! I want to sign up for these COOL Marvel Digital Comics, however, it keeps coming up with this dumb error stating that I provided the wrong state....which I KNOW I did not enter the wrong state.

You guys have some serious problems with the site right now.

Posted by aimeeish on 2007-11-18 20:48:22
Core Values
Quote From Cooperation: “I think writers work best when they're able to tell the truth as they see it (which is a slightly different thing than telling the absolute truth, since nobody can be perfectly unbiased.) And I think it's a mistake to put the larger cosmology of the interconnected Marvel Universe ahead of its individual stories. I didn't always feel quite this way—and it's not an absolute with me even now. But on balance, the history must serve the stories more than the stories must serve the history.

Given the sheer number of points of view who have worked on these characters and within this universe over the last six and a half decades, expecting every opinion, every attitude, every decision each character makes to be absolutely consistent is absurd. We all care about the stuff we care about, and the rest is negotiable. So yes, that means sometime Iron Man approaches Nova nicely, and sometimes Iron Man approaches Thor more aggressively. As long as the writers on those stories are approaching their work genuinely, each story can work—or at least has an equal chance of making the reader buy into it. Nobody is going to enjoy every comic book we put out, and a bad story is a bad story, but trying to be overly militant about some of this stuff is like creating a police state around the characters, and isn't going to allow anybody the luxury of doing anything interesting with them.”


Quote from Renewal: “But that repetition is part of the process in a way as well. Certain characters are about certain things, and whenever they wander away from those roots for too long, you run the risk of eliminating the very factors that made them popular in the first place. Spider-Man is about youth. The Hulk is about rage. Fantastic Four is about family. These examples all seem really cut-and-dried and obvious, and yet I can point to extended runs in each one of these titles where, in an attempt to do something different, this wasn't the case. And while they were all successful to one degree or another, at a certain point, there's going to be an inevitable pull back towards the core of what makes the property work. (Well, that or extinction, even temporary extinction.)

If you've been reading the adventures of these characters for as long as I have, and they're starting to feel a little bit played out, certainly some of that's the fault of the creators involved--but a good part of it is you, as well.”

Spider-Man can be about what ever you want him to be as long as it does not deviate from the core of the character. For instance Spider-Man does not kill, he has a deep rooted responsibility to his family, witty, smart and has the worst luck it seems on the planet. I started really reading Spider-Man in the 80’s when I was about ten. At that point Peter Parker was in college had an apartment, trying to pay the bills and keep a steady girlfriend. Now I was ten, I had no idea what that kind of life was like but somehow I could still relate to the character oddly enough. Mostly because Parker/Spider-Man had powers but was an ordinary guy with the same ordinary problems. In other words it was not exactly about youth as with the Ultimate Spider-Man.
I could go on about the Hulk and F.F. in a similar fashion but the point is that if you go away from what the character is truly about you lose that character. Like the Captain America controversy. Some people hated that Cap died other people loved how he died and site that he died a hero. Unfortunately how Captain America was portrayed was not how Captain America was portrayed in the past or what his core was about. Sure he was guy out of his era but Cap was smart and resourceful and always did the right thing. Not what he felt was right and the heck with everyone else but the right thing for the right reasons on the side of the law. If Captain America goes to jail for committing a crime he’s no longer at that point who or what Captain America is much like if Peter Parker kills someone or shirks his responsibility to his family is no longer who he is.
The problem with Toms comment is that he says that the writer should have as much leeway as possible and then says that the core of the character is important. House of M, Civil War, Captain America, Iron Man, New Avenger, Mighty Avengers, all show that the writer can pretty much do what they want as long as the story is genuine to the writers and not to the characters as aforementioned. Thus Tony can become a political figure which in the past would have been unheard of and a conflict of interest considering he sells arms to the government. Hawkeye is killed and brought back as a non-relatable character to his former image and the Scarlet Witch is a manic depressant schizophrenic with godlike powers that rival cosmic beings such as Galactus.
I’m not complaining that Marvel should change back the characters or change the whole time line again, and make the characters what they were before. That’s Tom’s and Joe’s call because the bottom line is making a profit at the end of the day and like a true capitalist by any means possible. Just don’t tell me that A. The stagnation of the characters is my fault. B. That the core of the characters is important because as you have shown it is not. Fortunately I have plenty of back issues and with Marvel re-releasing all there old comic’s online means I can read the best of what Marvel had in the past that made them the greatest comic company on the planet and hope that one day Marvel will go back to making the core of the characters important again and not blame me when comics don’t sell as part of the equation.


Posted by quantumfield on 2007-11-19 09:23:24
Ultimate Spidey
Ultimate spider-man is an amazing book because it takes old stories like Clone Saga and makes them new and modern. In realitie, all ultimate books are that way. Wich is why I love them so much.

Posted by Addicted2comiX on 2007-11-19 11:42:42
Can anyone find a correct upload?
Apparently the old post of the "spike scream awards" has not been updated.

Since it was in October of 2007 and we are in the third week of November, I thought to ask.

Thank you for your time and support.

Posted by Celestial on 2007-11-19 19:51:39
Youth
Since Tom mentioned the thought in one of his newer posts, I feel obligated to peek back and see what was said, especially in response to my post. Such as:

"Youth isn't always about learning responsibility. The Impulse series certainly wasn't about that. I could see someone saying that Spider-Man is about growing up, but I don't see it as specifically about youth. If anything, Peter was an atypical youth, having to take so much responsibility at an early age."

Well, if your ideas of youth come entirely from comics...ahem.

Youth is a process of "growing up," and can't be seperated from that. Everything we do in youth is a mimicry of our parents/authorities in an attempt to learn how to handle life as an adult, which is another way of saying "taking responsibility." Peter Parker's powers are an obvious allegory (metaphor, whatever) for every person's feeling of burgeoning power and uniqueness that clashes with outside authority and the real world - i.e. the world outside of our heads.

Clearly when Peter is busy hiding his secret greatness and balancing that with doing homework/keeping a job, he's letting us play out our childhood fantasies of being above the tedium of those responsibilities, yet suffering through them none the less.

As for his weight of responsibilities: no child feels that what they are asked to do in the service of growing up is simple and easy to handle. Nearly (I'm being fair as I'm not a mind reader) everyone feels like having to do homework and find work is equivalent to fighting raging psychopaths. If the comic was just about the boring stuff, it wouldn't be worth reading, which is the point of fiction.

And anyone who doesn't feel that way, undoubtedly, doesn't want to read Spider-Man and therefore isn't relevant to the discussion.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2007-12-03 14:01:05
Uh...Der!
What I don't like is the dumbing down of the characters in their comics everytime a movie about them is released.

I also can't stand how the characters in the comics suddenly have to visually look like the ones in the movies.

I like how you are trying to attract these new readers but you treat them like they are too stupid to understand the comics as they normally written.

Anybody remember paint by numbers?

Posted by MegoGeek on 2007-12-04 09:34:38