spiderman to have sex and download porn...

ztoical

.......well at least if Joe Q has his way. At Chicago Wizard World Joe Q was taking questions at an X-men panel and somehow end up spending 25mins of a 60min panel taking about MJ.

It seems Mr. Q wants her gone cus, according to him, you can't write interesting stories about a married spiderman - He needs to be single so that he can do fun things like "have sex and download porn" Gosh those are just the stories I've been dieing to see in the pages of spiderman, thank you Joe!

There's a good report over yonder from somone actually at the panel cus it seems to the main news outlets are under reporting the panel.

Fysh

Goddamnit, my first reaction on seeing this thread title was "Oh great, spam".

Then I saw who posted and thought "Weird, someone must've hijacked ztoical's account to post up spam".

I kind of wish it had been, really, because then I wouldn't have read another post about someone high up in a mainstream superhero comics publisher showing the exact kind of thinking that keeps comics as a niche "hobby" in the western world. Steven Grant expressed similar sentiments in a recent Permanent Damage column (that stories of day-to-day married life are the antithesis of what superhero comics are built on) but then again Steven Grant says that as a writer and columnist, not as one of the top dogs in a whole company. And, well, if Joe & co. can't find a writer who can come up with interesting stories for Spiderman to have when he's married, that's a problem with either the editorially-defined direction of the character or the writers they're using - not the premise as a whole.

Jack B. Badd

I'm confused. Isn't Spiderman about a superhero who (apparently) kicks ass and has uber-emo moments or is it about said superhero's sex life? Has Spiderman turned into the greatest romance of our generation? Is it now being published by Mills and Boons?
So many questions about a comic I care so little about!

ztoical

Jack B. Badd wrote:

So many questions about a comic I care so little about!

I too have very little interest in spiderman books having stopped collecting them after the whole clone thing, I was just greatly amused that when asked what spiderman could do as a single man that he couldn't do as a married one Joe Q answers with "have sex and download porn". Now while I'll hold my hand up and admit to dowloading porn, I'm pretty sure I haven't had sex since I broke up with my last boyfriend so single does not = sex unless Joe Q plans to turn spiderman into a manwhore.

Jack B. Badd

ztoical wrote:

I'll hold my hand up and admit to dowloading porn

:eek: Girls don't download porn, silly!

Fysh

Jack B. Badd wrote:

:eek: Girls don't download porn, silly!

For that matter, girls don't have sex as active participants, according to the mentality Mr Q seems to be representing. They're just, how to put this politely, recipients. Ambulatory systems for vaginas, if you will.

Wow, I can't wait to read stories about spiderman as a divorcee, angsting it up about (yet another) night of unbridled but emotionally meaningless sex with whatever random cheesecake they decide to hook him up with. Oh, wait...

MikeHoncho

I kind of get his point though. Spiderman was always as much about Peter Parker as it was Spiderman. When Peter Parker is married it very much limits the stories that they can telll about Peter himself. While he probably shouldnt have put it the way he did I can see how splitting up Peter and MJ could give them years worth of stories by just taking MJ out of the picture. It would open the flood gates for more interesting stories to come out and lets admit it 616 Spiderman has sucked donkey balls for a while.

Fysh

I don't read it so I couldn't claim any real authority on the matter, but as far as I can tell the concensus is that 616 spidey has sucked balls since the whole sorry nonsense of the clone saga. And there's a lesson in that for both readers and publishers.

Readers : if something sucks for an extended period of time, stop buying it. Nothing sends publishers the message that their product isn't popular quite as much as sales dropping by 80%.

Publishers : if your editorial direction has your character develop to a stage where he is, in one or more respects, no longer an adolescent, find a writer who can tell interesting stories with that new character. Don't just roll back the changes so that the character is back to being an adolescent again; that alienates all but the diehard fans.

Ah, f*ck it. I don't care about Spiderman any more than I give a rat's ass about any other ongoing series, because I don't honestly believe that consistently interesting tales can be told subject to those constraints.

My points above are still valid, though.

Edited to fix broken tags because I'm an idiot and don't notice these things for days on end

ztoical

MikeHoncho wrote:

It would open the flood gates for more interesting stories to come out and lets admit it 616 Spiderman has sucked donkey balls for a while.

stories about him downloading porn?

I'm not saying its a good or bad idea to get rid of MJ, like I said I've long given up on the spidy books - its the fact that the only thing Joe Q could think that spiderman was missing out on by being married was sex and downloading porn.

Alot of reports of Chicago said that the number of young people attending was very high, large amounts of 12 and unders wandering around and someone mentioned that when Joe Q made his comment about sex and porn that some parents stood up and removed their children from the panel. Given that Marvel made sure their Spiderman films were made kiddie friendly, its not smart to alienate the very demographic your aiming for.

Also a number of people pointed out during the panel [now I wasn't there so am only going on the several reports I read online] that there is a young single spiderman in ulitmate spiderman so why not let him shag everything that moves and download porn till his pc explodes?

I don't buy the "we can't write decent stories because he is married" line. You could argue that he hasn't been interesting since finishing highschool/college. The thing I liked about spiderman [before all those clones drove me mad] was that he was the most realastic superhero. He went to school, took care of his aunt, had a part time job etc on top of being spiderman. Graduating highschool, going to college, dating, getting more serious with MJ and finally getting married, it was believable. Sure the x-men went to school but it was their own private school so they were locked away in a little bubble most of the time.

If the writers can't write interesting stories for him now because he is married then they aren't trying very hard. If they wrote a good [and I mean really good incharacter]breakup/divorce storyline that would be fine however listening to Joe Q it sounds like he just wants her to disappear or worse yet turn into a woman in a fridge.

Fysh

Ahhh, Women In Refridgerators. Possibly one of the greatest contributions to superhero comics around, and a worrying signifier of exactly the mindset that Joe Q is trying to pander to. Interesting stories about being married are all very well, but no use if you're trying to cater to hormonal male teenagers.

the Shades

I wouldn't see a divorce on the cards for MJ, they split up about 2 years ago and eventually got back together. The whole 'One More Day' event for November kind of makes me think that MJ is going the way of Gwen Stacy (although she'll probably be ressurected through Peter's computer while he's generating some cyber-virtual-reality porn).

MarkHall

This event makes me sad. Even sadder knowing how it's all going to go down.

Also as a to be married man. I have sex and sometimes purchase porn.
I hope to continue these activities long after I'm married.
As long as she lets me that is.

spooydermot

I stopped buying Spiderman a couple of months back, and I can safely say that Joe Q's "bold new direction" will not have me picking up the book any time soon.
I put down Wolverine at the same time because it's become painfully obvious to me that interesting stories with the same character just become unsustainable over time.

The inherent whineyness of Spiderman has been continually dialled up and after the fumbled "ending" of Civil War I've been giving Marvel a wide berth.

Faustus

Fysh wrote:

Goddamnit, my first reaction on seeing this thread title was "Oh great, spam".

Then I saw who posted and thought "Weird, someone must've hijacked ztoical's account to post up spam".

I kind of wish it had been, really, because then I wouldn't have read another post about someone high up in a mainstream superhero comics publisher showing the exact kind of thinking that keeps comics as a niche "hobby" in the western world. Steven Grant expressed similar sentiments in a recent Permanent Damage column (that stories of day-to-day married life are the antithesis of what superhero comics are built on) but then again Steven Grant says that as a writer and columnist, not as one of the top dogs in a whole company. And, well, if Joe & co. can't find a writer who can come up with interesting stories for Spiderman to have when he's married, that's a problem with either the editorially-defined direction of the character or the writers they're using - not the premise as a whole.

If more of the spider-man writers had some talent they would be able to build on the character without doing a wipe and start over like they do with everything.
Its not like they cant do a humanized comic with intelegent character design, look at the last issue of friendly neighborhood and you can see it. If they are dismantaling the mary jane marrage to only have him, downloading porn and having sex as filler and means to an end they are making a mistake.
I mean if it came from the point of view of the sorrow and inherent failure associated with spider-man it might be handled well. This is going to be dire.

qwertplaywert

Alot have people has dissed Joe Q and paid the price!

Fysh

Yeah, but an equally large number of people have shelled out cold hard cash for comics that he's had involvement with (either as a writer or as an editor) and then found out that the guy's idea of a decent story or characterisation can, sometimes, suck ass.

And, well, if the guy is going to turn around and announce that he wants Spiderman to be divorced because that will lead to better stories being told with him, then he should be prepared to answer questions on it. Remember, this is the company that, about 10 years ago, dragged out the Clone saga to last nearly 3 years because it sold well. Given the amount of rubbishy "big event" crossovers they've churned out since, I'm not sure that it's justifiable to turn around and say "oh, I'm sure they'll do something worthwhile with the idea" if the only justification provided for it thus far is "but this way he can have sex and download porn". (Because, you know, married people don't have sex or look at porn. Oh no. NEVER. NEVER EVER EVER.)

Even if this whole move turns out to provide fans with great spiderman stories, it was still a stupid and poorly thought out way to announce it. Kind of like how DC announced the whole Zuda project...

5x5

Wow!:eek:

The guy was obviously making a joke, not giving away the actual upcoming plot of spider-man!
It remains to be seen what, if any change is made to Pete and MJ's relationship so all of this seems a bit....premature.

And whatever they have decided, Joe Q can't discuss the actual details of upcoming storylines so...he made a funny!

qwertplaywert

Joe Q doesnt make funny's-he makes **** comics!

Fysh

5x5 wrote:

It remains to be seen what, if any change is made to Pete and MJ's relationship so all of this seems a bit....premature.

And whatever they have decided, Joe Q can't discuss the actual details of upcoming storylines so...he made a funny!

Nah, "funny" implies humorous content. And, well, if he can't discuss upcoming storylines why mention them at all? It's still down to him being an idiot, either for offering up a frankly stupid justification for a crummy story idea, or for making a joke so unfunny it probably needed signposting to make sure people knew about it. But, you know, don't let that stop you from jumping to the defense of a guy who's in the job long enough (and probably paid enough) to know better than to make such pronouncements.

As someone else said above, if the story was going to be done properly then it could be an interesting examination of how common it is for marriages to break up in today's society. Given the kind of "characterisation" that has been involved in some of the big event comics Marvel's churning out recently, I seriously doubt that's going to happen. Which is a bit of a shame, but hey - we can all look forward to hearing Spidey's opinion of the Suicide Girls now...

Fysh

Oh, good god, this cover that's been previewed...it burns! Ze goggles, zey do nothink!

Jack B. Badd

Speaking of crotches, it appears that Spidey do be lacking in that department...maybe this divorce is MJ's idea!

ztoical

5x5 wrote:

Wow!:eek:

The guy was obviously making a joke, not giving away the actual upcoming plot of spider-man!
It remains to be seen what, if any change is made to Pete and MJ's relationship so all of this seems a bit....premature.

And whatever they have decided, Joe Q can't discuss the actual details of upcoming storylines so...he made a funny!

after the MJ statue and the heros for hentai cover mess it was a very stupid comment for someone so high up in the company to make. No matter what context he meant it in you don't make those kind of comments at a large comic con panel with not only children present but their parents as well.

Banjo

To be honest, I can't help but feel that the stories would be more interesting if he was downloading porn and having sex with other women while still married. How many times would MJ fall for the old "no honey, that's just web fluid all over the keyboard" or "that wasn't me, it was my clone" lines before it got old? "Doctor Doom said he'd blow up chicago if I didn't have a threesome with those two groupies". Endless possibilities.

chopperbyrne

In fairness the clone saga wasn't that bad and the books recovered. It was the stupid ret con of his origin that put the nail in the coffin for me.

Mystical powers.

If I want that, I'll read Dr Strange.

Eamo71

ztoical wrote:

after the MJ statue and the heros for hentai cover mess it was a very stupid comment for someone so high up in the company to make. No matter what context he meant it in you don't make those kind of comments at a large comic con panel with not only children present but their parents as well.

hmmm statue.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh