lydamorehouse (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lydamorehouse) wrote2009-07-30 11:24 am
lydamorehouse) wrote2009-07-30 11:24 am
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The Best Spider-Man EVER
To continue an argument I had with Pat Rothfuss at CONvergence, I have to say that really smart writing never gets the credit it deserves. I’m not talking about myself, for once, either.
The panel was entitled "How to Publish and Not Perish," and Pat mistakenly made the point that the first thing a writer needed to do was "write a good book." To which, I immediately countered, "No, sorry. That's not going to save you. Plenty of good books perish, while bad books flourish." At some point during the extended argument, Pat casually brought up the TV show "Firefly," and I pounced: "You mean the show that was cancelled???" I asked, "Doesn't that PROVE my point?" He had to admit I might be on to something there.
"Firefly" is cancelled and reality shows flourish. And Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is no more either. And you know what? That's a crime. That's a bloody, freaking crime.
Yesterday I stopped by HalfPrice books again because the deadline for turning in the "Feed Your Brain" scorecards to get $3.00 coupons is either today or tomorrow, and I happened to also have a free cat food coupon for PETCO, which is only a few blocks further west. Once again in the used bin at HalfPrice, I found a couple Straczynski SPIDER-MANs. For a whopping seventy-five cents, I got AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #502, which I now consider to be one of the best Spider-Man issues of all time.
In a nutshell, it's the story of the Jewish talior to the superheroes/villians. It's also a story about a core Spider-Man theme, ie "you have a responsiblity to do the right thing when when it sucks to do so." In this case, not just when you have "great power", but also when you have NO POWER. Straczynski also returns to one of his favorite tropes to play with, which is what does it really means to be "the friendly, *neighborhood* Spider-Man." It's a story that's very much about being a New Yorker. I love those.
Tailor: "Hey, Mr. Bug Guy on the roof!"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "What, you see another Bug Guy on the roof?"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "Yeah, I'm talking to you."
I don't know. It's cheap, but it totally amused me. Plus, I loved that the talior instantly recognized not only that Spider-Man was local to New York, but also that he was from Queens. There were a ton of fun bits like that, including a brief questioning of Thor's manliness based on the kinds of magazines he likes to read while the tailor fixed his costume (gardening and bridal), which I could imagine irritated some. Spider-Man has a favorite diner to go to in costume... tons and tons of things what made me do the happy dance. I loved it. I thought the whole concept and excuition was absolutely brilliant.
I'm just gutted that the time will come when I will run out of Straczynski AMAZING SPIDER-MANs to read. And everything is different now. And Straczynski deserves better. I was a fan of "Babylon 5," but I'm a FANATIC for his Spider-Man issues.
I also picked up AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 39/480 "Meanwhile" and Mason got Marvel Adventures All-Ages SPIDER-MAN #53 "A Sense of Responsiblity" (Tobin), which I'll review at some point. Today I just wanted to whine about how great writing doesn't get no respect!
The panel was entitled "How to Publish and Not Perish," and Pat mistakenly made the point that the first thing a writer needed to do was "write a good book." To which, I immediately countered, "No, sorry. That's not going to save you. Plenty of good books perish, while bad books flourish." At some point during the extended argument, Pat casually brought up the TV show "Firefly," and I pounced: "You mean the show that was cancelled???" I asked, "Doesn't that PROVE my point?" He had to admit I might be on to something there.
"Firefly" is cancelled and reality shows flourish. And Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is no more either. And you know what? That's a crime. That's a bloody, freaking crime.
Yesterday I stopped by HalfPrice books again because the deadline for turning in the "Feed Your Brain" scorecards to get $3.00 coupons is either today or tomorrow, and I happened to also have a free cat food coupon for PETCO, which is only a few blocks further west. Once again in the used bin at HalfPrice, I found a couple Straczynski SPIDER-MANs. For a whopping seventy-five cents, I got AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #502, which I now consider to be one of the best Spider-Man issues of all time.
In a nutshell, it's the story of the Jewish talior to the superheroes/villians. It's also a story about a core Spider-Man theme, ie "you have a responsiblity to do the right thing when when it sucks to do so." In this case, not just when you have "great power", but also when you have NO POWER. Straczynski also returns to one of his favorite tropes to play with, which is what does it really means to be "the friendly, *neighborhood* Spider-Man." It's a story that's very much about being a New Yorker. I love those.
Tailor: "Hey, Mr. Bug Guy on the roof!"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "What, you see another Bug Guy on the roof?"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "Yeah, I'm talking to you."
I don't know. It's cheap, but it totally amused me. Plus, I loved that the talior instantly recognized not only that Spider-Man was local to New York, but also that he was from Queens. There were a ton of fun bits like that, including a brief questioning of Thor's manliness based on the kinds of magazines he likes to read while the tailor fixed his costume (gardening and bridal), which I could imagine irritated some. Spider-Man has a favorite diner to go to in costume... tons and tons of things what made me do the happy dance. I loved it. I thought the whole concept and excuition was absolutely brilliant.
I'm just gutted that the time will come when I will run out of Straczynski AMAZING SPIDER-MANs to read. And everything is different now. And Straczynski deserves better. I was a fan of "Babylon 5," but I'm a FANATIC for his Spider-Man issues.
I also picked up AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 39/480 "Meanwhile" and Mason got Marvel Adventures All-Ages SPIDER-MAN #53 "A Sense of Responsiblity" (Tobin), which I'll review at some point. Today I just wanted to whine about how great writing doesn't get no respect!
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Are the Straczynski Spider-Mans (Spider-Men?) available in collected volumes? Which ones?
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The Great Comic Writing for me was the Simonson run on The Mighty Thor. Just found that they're available in collection and put them on my Wish List.
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The Amazing Spider-Man trade paperbacks
Volume 1: Coming Home (#30-35)
Volume 2: Revelations (#36-39)
Volume 3: Until The Stars Turn Cold (#40-45)
Volume 4: The Life & Death of Spiders (#46-50)
Volume 5: Unintended Consequences (#51-56)
Volume 6: Happy Birthday (#57-58, #500-502)
Volume 7: The Book of Ezekiel (#503-508)
Volume 8: Sins Past (#509-514)
Volume 9: Skin Deep (#515-518)
Volume 10: New Avengers (#519-524)
Spider-Man: The Other (#525-528 plus others)
Civil War: The Road To Civil War (#529-531 plus others)
Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man (#532-538)
Back in Black: Amazing Spider-Man (#539-543)
One More Day: Amazing Spider-Man (#544-545 plus others)
Amazing Spider-Man by JMS Ultimate Collection Book 1 (#30-45)
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Agh. I'm depressing myself.
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The pieces of Marvel I have seen in the interim have on occasion looked cool, but mostly seemed filled with WTF, OW!, and FAIL!
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And then recognize that there are a thousand definitions of "good book" and the ones you live and die by may not be the ones that are being used by the people who are going to decide whether your book should be published or not.
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