The Amazing Spider-Reboot

So there were a lot of announcements made at San Diego Comic con International, and many that I want to comment on, but, as always, the uncertain state of the Spider-Man comics is my top priority. And the Spider-Man announcements were big and plentiful, but far more interesting was the stuff that was all but confirmed. Here are some comments from Newsarama's roundtable discussion with the new "thrice monthly" Amazing Spider-Man writers:

Bob Gale: "(Also - Joe assured me we would not be bringing Gwen Stacey back to life. That would have been a deal-breaker for me.)"

Dan Slott: "But now it's time for some pure, New York City, can't pay the rent, can't get a date, crackin' wise, kickin' butt Spider-Man. And taking that Spidey to new and surprising places."

I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that if Slott is talking about Spidey not being able to get a date and Gale was worried that Marvel intended to bring back Gwen Stacy, we've got our confirmation of a mystical reboot, which conveniently only wipes out Spider-Man's marriage, Aunt May's probable death, and possibly the whole secret identity reveal. Is it too much to ask that it wipes out all the Civil War crap. Why not just turn the whole Marvel Universe back to 1986? That would be awesome. We could have Jean Grey back.

*sigh*

At least they aren't bringing back Gwen Stacy. I was really afraid they were going to do that, and the fact that Bob Gale had to be assured they weren't going to do that makes me think that my fears weren't unfounded. I bet it was under serious consideration. Please note that if they want to bring Harry Osborne back, I'm okay with that. Why yes, I am a total hypocrite, but 1) Harry's death was hardly the groundbreaking and character defining event that Gwen Stacy's death was; and 2) I'm still bitter that everyone but Harry got a resurrection in House of M: Spider-Man.

I'll admit that I am really happy about a lot of the things the writers are talking about, like an increased focus on supporting characters, the creation of new characters, and new villains. I just don't really get why they need to completely undo years of continuity in order to get that. They didn't even try to do any of that without rebooting the character. That pisses me off, because I've been saying that they needed to do that for years, and without once ever thinking that the Spider-family dynamic needed to change. As any regular reader well knows, I love Peter and MJ's marriage.

Anyway, I am pretty lukewarm about the writers that have been announced. I don't know Bob Gale's work. Dan Slott's Free Comic Book Day issue was good, but didn't rock my world. I don't think I've liked anything by Guggenheim that I have read (and the fact that he continually reinforces the idea that Wolverine is nigh unkillable in that series will always piss me off about him), but he apparently quit a career in law to write comics, so at least he has good common sense. Finally, the only thing I have read by Wells is Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways. It was okay, but I think I will enjoy anything with those characters. My no shot in hell picks were Jeff Parker and Matt Fraction. I wanted Parker because I now believe he should write everything (at least he's doing Spider-Man Family), and Fraction because the Sensational Spider-Man Annual was the best Spidey comic in years. Of course, the Sensational Spider-Man Annual was all about how great the Peter and Mary Jane marriage is, so that alone probably ruled him out.

The artists are way cooler. Jimenez was something we already suspected because of the Free Comic Book Day issue, but it's nice to have that confirmed. Bachalo and Larroca had preview art leaked prior to the announcement, so that was already out there. As far as I know, McNiven was a surprise though. His preview art looks amazing. Look at this:

I'm really happy about the artists. And at the end of the day, whatever misgivings I have about a reboot, if the stories are good, the art is good, and I feel like I am getting my money's worth, I will keep reading. It is Spidey after all.

I still have a lot of fears though. I don't know what to make of Jackpot, other than Jimenez's version is a lot prettier than Larroca's. (It's the hair. I love the hair.) I have no doubt that Mary Jane will continue to be the primary love interest in Peter Parker's life, even if we get a lot of him dating other people for a while. Unfortunately, I don't really like the idea of Peter being with a superhero, at least not in the long term. He belongs with a civilian. He's just that type of character. If they plan on making Mary Jane a superhero permanently, I'm not going to be happy. She was already a really cool character. She didn't need superpowers. Also, I think the story would have been a lot more fun if it was done with a married Peter and MJ. I am still hoping it's all some goofy Silver Age Lois Lane kind of riff (Basically, there are two ways I would buy Mary Jane suddenly getting powers and becoming a superhero: 1) to completely freak out, try to avoid it, but finally embrace what she knows, that with great power comes great responsibility; or 2) to just make a goofy costume and treat the whole thing like a lark. Look at that costume. She totally went for option 2.), but Larroca's preview art seems to indicate more broodiness than crack:

Also, if they are going to do a reboot that wipes out the marriage and the secret identity reveal, I would really like them to do some stories where Mary Jane knows that Peter is Spider-Man, but he doesn't know she knows. I doubt this will happen, since they will probably wipe out MJ's knowledge of his secret identity too. (Writers seem to be far more inclined to clueless females needing to be told as opposed to figuring things out for themselves lately, which sucks.) According to Parallel Lives, which was supposed to be official canon, Mary Jane had known since the night Ben Parker was killed, but since that was a retcon, we never got to see what that really meant for her character. There was one really great issue of The Untold Tales of Spider-Man, but that was it. There's good stuff to be mined there. Unfortunately, there's not many single Spidey stuff I can think of that I haven't seen before.

Finally, what's the deal with Dan Slott's "can't get a date" comment? Did he actually read the Lee/Ditko and Lee/Romita eras? Is he talking about before the spider bite? Betty Brant and Liz Allen. Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson. Dude had girls fighting over him. It was keeping the dates that was the problem.

Hey, do you think they will get rid of the organic web shooters? I could get down with that too.