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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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This is why PJP should be admin. He just saved everyone here tons of cash on crappy spider-man comics. Insert obligatory "Thank God for PJP" quote. It's not even that original a premise. They did this in "The Flash" a few years ago, right after "Underworld Unleashed" (except Neron's plan backfired) no, UU was about a decade prior to Flash's little mental wipe.
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Um...I was talking about "Hell To Pay," when Neron sends the dead Rogues' soulless bodies to Keystone City and has them cause death and destruction. They're also invincible unless the Flash bargains with Neron to give them their souls back in exchange for his love for Linda (and Linda is offered the same deal). They both accept to save thousands of lives, Neron pulls a double-cross, but Neron becomes infected by their love, making him all nicey-nice, and he begs Flash and Linda to take their love back. They blackmail Neron into undoing all the damage caused in exchange for their love back.
(It was Flash #127-129, to be exact.)
My reference to Neron should've been a Hell-pful hint.
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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oh, I thought you were talking about the recent mental wipe from 2003.
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Quack! 25+ posts
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Quack 
Listen, I've worked hard to gain a "career". No doubt. But, god, there are times when I just want to lay on the couch, smoke weed, and watch television until 4am... -Prometheus
I would like to thank my fathers and my mothers but most specially my parents Son of Mxy
smile. have fun. its good for you! puts hair on your chest. -Rob
Smoking money makes you stupid.-MisterJLA
"wait, this doesn't make sense... when will you not be gay?"-Rob to pjp
"Dead people can be such attention whores!"-MisterJLA
I swear to gob, in the end I'm either going to throatfuck you, or leave you to die in the desert. Maybe both.-Prometheus
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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No, unlike most current comic book writers and editors, I can actually remember older stories. The newer stuff has been keeping me away, though. Too many retconspiracy theories flying around. RET 
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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I have to admit though, it is a ballsy move for Marvel to make. Especially in not killing May. So what, is she going to be immortal now? Does this mean Pete is living at home? Was he de-aged? If Harry is alive, who else is? I will check out Brand New Day to check out the new status quo, but I won't be buying it.
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cobra kai 15000+ posts
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cobra kai 15000+ posts
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I have to admit though, it is a ballsy move for Marvel to make. what was? all they did was undo everything that was ballsy.
giant picture
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I Feel Pretty, So NeoCon Pretty 500+ posts
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I Feel Pretty, So NeoCon Pretty 500+ posts
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Sounds like Joey Q is having a vicarious midlife crisis, donnit?  I'd be worried if I was his wife... And Marvel got rid of the wrong guy when they fired Jemas.  At least with -him-, the Cho SHANNA mini would have stayed a Marvel MAX series, instead of the watered-down (read: boobiless) Knights crap.
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Who will I break next? 15000+ posts
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Who will I break next? 15000+ posts
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I have to admit though, it is a ballsy move for Marvel to make. what was? all they did was undo everything that was ballsy.  Jeremy for mod!
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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The problem is that Ballsy does not per se equal well written (see,eg, the clone saga, the Goblin fucking Gwen, Civil War, etc).
Marvel has botched Spidey for at least five, maybe ten, years.
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fudge 4000+ posts
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fudge 4000+ posts
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Well, I think that the idea behind this story was okay, really. But the way it was delivered left much to be desired
Last edited by Chant; 2007-12-31 9:08 PM. Reason: spelling
 Racks be to MisterJLA
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I'm just sayin' 10000+ posts
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I'm just sayin' 10000+ posts
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and then they had to reprint the wedding from the '86 annual for what reason I have no idea.I guess it was Joe Q's "Fuck you!" to the fans.
It's a dog eat dog world & I'm wearing milkbone underwear.
I can get you a toe.
1,999,999+ points.
Damn you and your lemonade!!
Booooooooooooooobs.
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Doog the MIGHTY 10000+ posts
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Doog the MIGHTY 10000+ posts
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aunt may is ancient. she was really fucking old when peter got bitten, and by now she's about 10 years older than that. this would be like me sacrificing my marriage and future happiness so my great grandmother could kick around for a few more years before getting alzheimers and dying anyway. fucking ludicrous.
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1 Millionth Customer 10000+ posts
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1 Millionth Customer 10000+ posts
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she had a great death back in Amazing 400. they should've left it at that.
Bow ties are coool.
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I'm just sayin' 10000+ posts
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I'm just sayin' 10000+ posts
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It's a dog eat dog world & I'm wearing milkbone underwear.
I can get you a toe.
1,999,999+ points.
Damn you and your lemonade!!
Booooooooooooooobs.
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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she had a great death back in Amazing 400. they should've left it at that.
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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How to do a retcon: I've been sitting in front of the computer for about 30 minutes now, trying my best to come up with something. I have to tell you, I'm having a hard time. The only thing that keeps running through my head is One More Day. One More Day... the story so infuriating, it nearly brings tears to The Supernaut's eyes. The story that kind of makes me feel like it's time to stop reading the mainstream superhero titles altogether. Maybe just pick up trades or something from here on out. But Savage Henry Lee already wrote about One More Day, and if I've got anything to add, I'll just do it in his comments section. And if you haven't read his thoughts on the subject, you probably should go ahead and do that right now... Somebody once said "With great power comes great responsibility." I'm sure you've heard it. Not sure what part of that involves making deals with the devil. But I digress. When I started writing this blog a little over a year ago, I thought I'd try to be the positive guy on the internet. The guy who says "Hey, if you don't like it, don't read it. There's plenty of good books on the shelves!" rather than the guy who says "Blech! I'm done with comics forever!" The guy who recommends good books, or looks for the silver lining, rather than being the guy who slams everything. Of course, that's tough to do when you have to read stories like One More Day... but I digress. With great power does come great responsibility, so I'll try to talk a bit about that. About the responsibility that writers have to characters. Immediately after reading OMD in my local comic shop (yeah, I know it's not a library, but no way was I paying for that!), I phoned fellow blogger The Superfist to discuss. He brought up a very good point, and since I know he's not going to write about it, I'm going to go ahead and do it. The Anatomy Lesson. That's how you do it. In Swamp Thing #21, Alan Moore took a failing title and completely reinvented it, revived it and it basically led to the creation of the whole freakin' Vertigo line. Haven't read it? Here's the nutshell version: Up to that point in the series, Swamp Thing was a scientist who had been transformed into a shambling, muck-encrusted monster made of vegitation. Pretty much the whole point of his existance was attempting to return to his human form. Alan Moore took over and revealed that Swamp Thing was not, in fact, a former human. He had never been human - he was simply a shambling, muck-encrusted monster made of vegitation that thought it had been human. Big difference. Now, here's where I get to the point. This big change, this story that turned the character of Swamp Thing on his ear by revealing that everything you ever knew about him was false... it didn't contradict anything that had been previously written. Sure, there had been a story or two where Swampy had briefly returned to human form through a magical spell or something like that, but that's easily explained - it was magic! My point is this: Moore recreated a character from the ground up, and he didn't have to rewrite history to do it. He didn't have to have Superboy punch a wall, he didn't have to make a deal with the devil and he didn't leave behind a million continuity errors. All those old Swamp Thing stories? They happened. All the villains and heroes he encountered? They remembered him. There were no longtime fans left scratching their heads and feeling cheated or like they'd been lied to (well, maybe there were. I was a bit too young to be reading Swamp Thing at that point, though I remember the older kids on my bus absolutely loved it). No one felt like the character they'd loved had never existed, because he had existed. Only now he was different. Moore completely altered the character, but didn't have to change a thing to do it. Now, I guess it's pretty clear that I'm not particularly fond of Joe Quesada's feeling that Spider-Man has to be single, and I'm even less fond of the way he went about it, but to some extent, I can understand his motivations (although, if people want to read about an unmarried Spidey, they could just read Ultimate Spider-Man... isn't that supposed to be the point of that book?). If Joey Q wants an unmarried Spidey, he gets an unmarried Spidey, and nothing I say will change it. And who knows? Maybe Spider-Man will be reinvigorated and Quesada will be proven right? But are you seriously going to tell me they couldn't come up with a better way to do it than simply saying "It never happened" after the hero makes a deal with the devil? Couldn't they have come up with a story that doesn't contradict 20 years worth of continuity, not to mention throws a massive monkeywrench into their current storylines? Civil War is barely over, and now they're telling us that the most pivotol event in the story didn't even happen?!?! But I digress... now I'm getting back into that territory I didn't want to venture into. The angry rant. The point of this post was to be positive. To remind people that it can be done. A good story can be told, and a character can be reinvented without trampling on the past. And my point certainly wasn't to steal Savage Henry's thunder by writing about the same topic he just wrote about... so if you've got a comment regarding One More Day, please go over to his blog (right here on C2F), read it and leave yer messages there. And if you haven't read Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing, do yourself a favor and pick up the first trade. Or just go ahead and buy them all - after the first, I'm sure you'll be back for more. You can find 'em on Amazon, and you can usually find 'em for 1/2 off at comic cons. Trust me on this one. And now that I'm done writing, I'm off to bed, to go to sleep next to my wife, whom I would not trade for anything, not even my mother or favorite aunt... which is another f***ed up can of oedipal worms that One More Day has unleashed. But I digress...
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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Inglourious Basterd!!! 15000+ posts
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Inglourious Basterd!!! 15000+ posts
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I'll admit, I don't regularly read Amazing Spider-Man. I haven't in a long time. And I followed this storyline only in the most casual way - if an issue was there for the flipping, I'd flip through it. I can honestly say, if I was on the fence about picking up Spider-Man after One More Day, that storyline killed any chance that I would. It was lazy, hack writing at its worst. I saw the devil's deal coming a mile off and knew who Peter's "guides" were immediately. I agree completely that there are better ways to do what Donkeyfucker wanted done which wouldn't have created the continuity problems that One More Day created. Most of all, it's one more insult to the collective intelligence of its fans and readers. Personally, it left a bad enough taste in my mouth that'll make dropping Marvel titles from my pull list a HELL of a lot easier (She-Hulk [a Skrull sidekick???], Mighty/New Avengers, Ultimate X-Men, and X-Factor...I'm looking squarely in your direction.). After all, if Donkeyfucker can pull this shit with the fans of one of the company's flagship titles, what would he do to the fans of the mid-line titles?
Uschi said:I won't rape you, I'll just fuck you 'till it hurts and then not stop and you'll cry. MisterJLA: RACKS so hard, he called Jim Rome "Chris Everett." In Him, all porn is possible. He is far above mentions in so-called "blogs." RACK him, lest ye be lost! "I can't even brush my teeth without gagging!" - Tommy Tantillo: Wank & Cry, heckpuppy, and general laughingstock ![[Linked Image from i6.photobucket.com]](http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/JoeMama13/RedSoxBanner05.png)
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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she had a great death back in Amazing 400. they should've left it at that. Agreed. Like Joe, I haven't read the regular Spidey titles in bit, but I think someone here mentioned that now that they've done this one more day crap that they are getting rid of Ultimate Spidey. Can anyone confirm this? If they are it would totally suck. Ultimate Spidey is the only Marvel title I read anymore and if that goes, then its bye bye Marvel for me...
 Dear, sweet Harley Kwink...I'm madly in love with you. Marry me! We can go to Canadia. Or Boston or something. It'll be grand...You know the cookies are a given. They are ALWAYS a given. You could dump me tomorrow and you'd still get the cookies. Boston..shit, wherever dyke weddings were legalized. And where better to rub their little piggie noses in how bad they suck than right on their doorstep? What are they gonna do? Be jealous of you? Stare furiously at your tah-tahs? Not willingly give you cookies, but instead begrudgingly give you their cookies? Woman, time to wake up to the powers you wield - Uschi
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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I have to admit that I am tempted to pick up Spidey now, just because of Dan Slott, whom I think is a good writer. But then I remember that it doesn't matter who writer a Marvel title these days because it will be so full of cross overs and editorial edicts that the book will ends up effectively written by committee.
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1 Millionth Customer 10000+ posts
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1 Millionth Customer 10000+ posts
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she had a great death back in Amazing 400. they should've left it at that. Agreed. Like Joe, I haven't read the regular Spidey titles in bit, but I think someone here mentioned that now that they've done this one more day crap that they are getting rid of Ultimate Spidey. Can anyone confirm this? If they are it would totally suck. Ultimate Spidey is the only Marvel title I read anymore and if that goes, then its bye bye Marvel for me... ultimate titles are still selling. marvel isn't going to kill a cashcow when it's proven the ultimate and mainstream titles can coexist.
Bow ties are coool.
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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she had a great death back in Amazing 400. they should've left it at that. Agreed. Like Joe, I haven't read the regular Spidey titles in bit, but I think someone here mentioned that now that they've done this one more day crap that they are getting rid of Ultimate Spidey. Can anyone confirm this? If they are it would totally suck. Ultimate Spidey is the only Marvel title I read anymore and if that goes, then its bye bye Marvel for me... ultimate titles are still selling. marvel isn't going to kill a cashcow when it's proven the ultimate and mainstream titles can coexist. I would think so, but seeing that there is no difference now wouldn't that make the Ultimate title mainstream?
Dear, sweet Harley Kwink...I'm madly in love with you. Marry me! We can go to Canadia. Or Boston or something. It'll be grand...You know the cookies are a given. They are ALWAYS a given. You could dump me tomorrow and you'd still get the cookies. Boston..shit, wherever dyke weddings were legalized. And where better to rub their little piggie noses in how bad they suck than right on their doorstep? What are they gonna do? Be jealous of you? Stare furiously at your tah-tahs? Not willingly give you cookies, but instead begrudgingly give you their cookies? Woman, time to wake up to the powers you wield - Uschi
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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I only look forward to four Marvel books.
Thunderbolts, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, and The Punisher.
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Kneel! 10000+ posts
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Kneel! 10000+ posts
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I only look forward to four Marvel books.
Thunderbolts, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, and The Punisher. ill roll with that. Daredevil is my fav marvel book right now...
big_pimp_tim-made it cool to roll in the first damn place! Mon Jun 11 2007 09:27 PM- harley finally rolled with me "I'm working with him...he's young but, there is much potential. He can apprentice with me and then he's yours for final training. He will remember the face of his father... Some day, Knutreturns just may be the greatest of us all...."-THE bastard
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1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
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1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
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K-nutreturns & Ultimate Jaburg53 - what about Captain America?
That's easily my fave Marvel book!
I think it's the best it has ever been in the 25+ years I've been reading it!
Me No Rikey Rob, he's a banana queer!
I shit on Hogan!
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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K-nutreturns & Ultimate Jaburg53 - what about Captain America?
That's easily my fave Marvel book!
I think it's the best it has ever been in the 25+ years I've been reading it! I've only read the last two or three issues.
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Kneel! 10000+ posts
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Kneel! 10000+ posts
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waiting for the trades. im sure itll be worth it...
big_pimp_tim-made it cool to roll in the first damn place! Mon Jun 11 2007 09:27 PM- harley finally rolled with me "I'm working with him...he's young but, there is much potential. He can apprentice with me and then he's yours for final training. He will remember the face of his father... Some day, Knutreturns just may be the greatest of us all...."-THE bastard
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
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1. You do not talk about snarf. 7500+ posts
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I wouldn't want you guys to miss out!
The Winter Soldier/Bucky is a great character!
And it's good to read Falcon being written so well!
Me No Rikey Rob, he's a banana queer!
I shit on Hogan!
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Feared by the RKMB morons 3000+ posts
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Feared by the RKMB morons 3000+ posts
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I have to admit that I am tempted to pick up Spidey now, just because of Dan Slott, whom I think is a good writer. But then I remember that it doesn't matter who writer a Marvel title these days because it will be so full of cross overs and editorial edicts that the book will ends up effectively written by committee. I like Dan Slott too (his work on Avengers Initiative has been outstanding) but after I saw this-  I'm not sure Spidey will be his thing. Here's more- http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?p=4948804#post4948804
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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cookie monster 7500+ posts
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"and New York's official sanctioned hero, Jackpot."
From bad to worse in one sentence.
Dear, sweet Harley Kwink...I'm madly in love with you. Marry me! We can go to Canadia. Or Boston or something. It'll be grand...You know the cookies are a given. They are ALWAYS a given. You could dump me tomorrow and you'd still get the cookies. Boston..shit, wherever dyke weddings were legalized. And where better to rub their little piggie noses in how bad they suck than right on their doorstep? What are they gonna do? Be jealous of you? Stare furiously at your tah-tahs? Not willingly give you cookies, but instead begrudgingly give you their cookies? Woman, time to wake up to the powers you wield - Uschi
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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One More Donkey. . .Brand New Donkey. . .
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We already are 15000+ posts
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OP
We already are 15000+ posts
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so he may not even be spiderman anymnore?
what about ezekiel.....morlin?
That creepy spider witch?
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Ignored by 3 users and 2 moderators 4000+ posts
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Ignored by 3 users and 2 moderators 4000+ posts
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the G-man User Lawyers, Guns & Money
15000+ posts Thu Jan 03 2008 10:24 PM Making a new reply
Forum: Comic Books
Thread: Re: Spiderman....One More Day
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Putting aside whether Pete should be single, what don't you like about that preview?
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Feared by the RKMB morons 3000+ posts
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Feared by the RKMB morons 3000+ posts
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Putting aside whether Pete should be single, what don't you like about that preview? The dialogue is too Ult. Spider-man/Valley girl esque. Seems very forced too
Last edited by Halo82; 2008-01-04 2:40 AM.
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Ignored by 3 users and 2 moderators 4000+ posts
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Ignored by 3 users and 2 moderators 4000+ posts
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britneyspearsatemyshorts Moderator Gob's, Gob 15000+ posts Thu Jan 03 2008 10:40 PM Viewing a private message Ooooooh, kissy kissy! 
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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From NEWSARAMA- There’s no doubt whatsoever that “One More Day” has been the most controversial Spider-Man story for fans in decades, dwarfing even the reaction to 2006’s unmasking at the end of Civil War #2.
As readers who’ve followed the story behind the story know, that controversy even extends to the story’s creators. On December 4th, “One More Day” writer J. Michael Straczynski posted a response to questions about his involvement with the story to rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe (which was archived at the JMSNews site).
Responding to questions about the quality of the story, and reconciling the story with JMS’ larger body of work, Straczynski wrote:
Speak of the devil and he shall appear....
For whatever it's worth, the situation is not as clear cut as one might hope. The reality of any writer working for any company, DC or Marvel or Image, is that when you're handed a franchise character, you're basically entrusted with something that the company owns, and the company has final say in what happens to that character, because as a writer, you're only there for a certain amount of time and then the next guy has to come in. Spider-Man belongs to Marvel, not to me, and at the end of the day, however much I may disagree with things, and however much I may make it very CLEAR to all parties that I disagree, I have to honor their position.
In the Gwen storyline, yes, I wanted it to be Peter's kids, Joe over-rode that, which is his right as EIC. I got the flack for that decision, but them's the breaks.
In the current storyline, there's a lot that I don't agree with, and I made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel, especially Joe. I'll be honest: there was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the OMD arc. Eventually Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don't want to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those. As an executive producer as well as a writer, I've sometimes had to insist that my writers make changes that they did not want to make, often loudly so. They were sure I was wrong. Mostly I was right. Sometimes I was wrong. But whoever sits in the editor's chair, or the executive producer's chair, wears the pointy hat of authority, and as Dave Sim once noted, you can't argue with a pointy hat.
So at the end of the day, all one can do is try to do the best one can with the notes one is given, and try to execute them in a professional way...because who knows, the other guy may be right. The only thing I *can* tell you, with absolute certainty, is that what Joe does with Spidey and all the rest of the Marvel characters, he does out of a genuine love of the character. He's not looking to sabotage anything, he's not looking to piss off the fans, he genuinely believes in the rightness of his views not out of a sense of "I'm the boss" but because he loves these characters and the Marvel universe.
And right or wrong, you have to respect that.
Straczynski’s message added gasoline to a smoldering fire of fan expectations and concerns about the ending to and ramifications of the story, and was interpreted in a variety of ways by readers.
In a series of interviews with Quesada about “One More Day,” Comic Book Resource’s Jonah Weiland asked the Marvel Editor-in-Chief about Straczynski’s posted comments, noting that, “In the end, we didn't publish the story he wanted to write.”
Quesada went on to explain that Straczynski’s original conclusion for “One More Day” wasn't what Quesada and Marvel were expecting and would have negatively affected the upcoming “Brand New Day” issues of Amazing Spider-Man, which were already underway.
Quesada also explained that he wasn’t comfortable with Straczynski’s method of retconning the marriage out of existence, saying: “Also, the science that Joe was going to apply to the retcon of the marriage would have made over 30 years of Spider-Man books worthless, because they never would have had happened. We would have also had a "Crisis" in the Marvel Universe because it would have reset way too many things outside of the Spider-Man titles. We just couldn't go there and in the end we weren't expecting that kind of story.
“I also think fans are misreading what Joe meant by disagreeing with the story. When we came up with the idea and methodology behind "One More Day," Joe was a part of the group that came up with the story. When we were done and felt we had it nailed, Joe told me that he was going to cycle off of Amazing Spider-Man and that he wanted to move on to other stuff. I told Joe that it was his call: He could close out his Amazing Spider-Man run however he wanted, or he could end it with the story we all created for "One More Day." He said he really wanted to write "One More Day." So Joe never said anything that indicated he disagreed with Peter and MJ's marriage being dissolved. If he had disagreed with the idea, he certainly would have told us and he certainly would not have asked to write the story. So like I said, I think people were reading into his on-line comments as opposed what I believe he was saying.”
Earlier in the week, Newsarama had contacted Straczynski to see if he would be willing to talk about “One More Day,” now that the storyline had concluded. He declined.
Yesterday, in part three of CBR’s interview with Quesada, the E-i-C further discussed the changes that were made to Straczynski’s original storyline, saying that when he, Axel Alonso and Tom Brevoort received the script for part four: “the script we had just received was not the one we were expecting, and the events that were being set forth in that issue were going to conflict with the work that was already being done on “Brand New Day.” I thought that perhaps Joe had forgotten some of the stuff discussed at the summit meetings and the subsequent e-mails and discussions that followed, but that didn’t seem to be the case; this was the story he wanted to tell. In his story, Mephisto was going to change continuity from as far back as issues #96-98 from 1971. In Joe’s story, Peter drops the dime on Harry, and that helps get him into rehab right away. Consequently, MJ stays with Harry, and Gwen never dies and never has her affair with Norman, etc., etc. And in the end, Peter and MJ are never married.”
To Quesada, that solution discounted every issue of Amazing Spider-Man since that 1971 story arc, and by doing that, would have caused far-reaching and unmanageable changes throughout the larger Marvel Universe. “In other words, there was just no way to tell Joe’s story without blowing up the entire Marvel U and every Spider-Man’s fan’s collection,” Quesada said.
“What we originally discussed with Joe and the group was much simpler and cleaner: The wedding? Something happened on the wedding day that prevented it from happening. The unsmasking? Mephisto makes people forget it; much like the Sentry, it happened -- it’s just no longer remembered. And Harry? Well, there’s always a price to pay when you make a deal with the devil. Is it a perfect solution? Absolutely not. Does it get us to where we want to be? Yes.”
Quesada ended his explanation of the changes made by publicly apologizing to Straczynski for having to change his original story.
Thursday morning, Newsarama received an unsolicited e-mail from Straczynski, in which, he wrote:
Having seen Joe's third interview on OMD, I think he raised a lot of fair issues. I think most of it represents accurately our conversations. It does, however, omit some of the main concerns I had with the resolution...concerns not mentioned therein, most probably as an oversight. As you know from my prior email, I was content not to respond to the prior interviews because I don't need to have the last word. (Newsarama Note: this last was in reference to Straczynski’s earlier e-mail mentioned earlier in which he declined a “One More Day” post mortem conversation.)
But there are some vital omissions in the interview, including the primary reason I finally threw up my hands on the book, which had mainly to do with how the resolution was handled.
To explain, here's the conversation I had with Marvel, in sum:
"So what does Mephisto do?" I ask.
"He makes everybody forget Peter's Spider-Man."
"Uh, huh. So Aunt May's still in the hospital --"
"No, he saves Aunt May."
"But if all he does is save her life and make everybody forget he's Spidey, she still has a scar on her midsection."
"No, he makes that go away too."
"Okay...:
"Then he wakes up in her house."
"The house that was burned down?"
"Right."
"But how --"
"Mephisto undoes that as well."
"Okay. And the guys who shot at Peter and May and were killed, they're alive too? Mephisto can bring guys back from the dead?"
"It's all part of the spell."
"And Doc Strange can't tell?"
"No,"
"And the newspaper articles? News footage?"
"Joe, it's been forgotten."
"I'm just asking is that stuff there or not there?"
"Not there. And Peter's web shooters are back."
"Is this the same spell or a different spell?"
"Same spell."
"How does making people forget he's Spidey bring back his web shooters?"
"It's magic, okay?"
"I see. And Harry's back."
"Right."
"And Mephisto does this too."
"Yep."
"So is Harry back from the dead, or has he been alive? If they ask him, hey Harry, what did you do last summer, will he remember? And the year before? And the year before? If he says they all went on a picnic two years ago, will they remember it?"
"It's --"
"Because if he now has a life he remembers, if he's not back from the dead, then you've changed the continuity you said you didn't want to change. Those are your only options: he was brought back from the dead, and there's a grave, and people remember him dying --"
"Mephisto changes THEIR memories too."
"-- or he's effectively been alive as far as our characters know, so he's been alive all along, so either way as far as our characters are concerned, continuity's been violated going back to 1971.
How do you explain that?"
"It's magic, we don't have to explain it."
And that's the part I had a real problem with, maybe the single biggest problem. There's this notion that magic fixes everything. It doesn't. "It's magic, we don't have to explain it." Well, actually, yes, you do. Magic has to have rules. And this is clearly not just a case of one spell making everybody forget he's Spidey...suddenly you're bringing back the dead, undoing wounds, erasing records, reinstating web shooters, on and on and on.
What I wanted to do was to make one small change to history, a tiny thing, whose ripples we could control to only touch what editorial wanted to touch, making changes we could explain logically. I worked for weeks to come up with a timeline that would leave every other bit of continuity in place. It was rigorous, and as logical as I could make it. In the end of OMD as published, Harry is alive and he's always been alive as far as the characters know...so how is that different than he was alive the whole time?
It made no sense to me.
Still doesn't. It's sloppy. It violates every rule of writing fiction of the fantastic that I and every other SF/Fantasy writer knows you can't violate. It's fantasy 101.
It troubled me that it's MJ and not Peter who is the one to actively make the decision.
I'd originally written the first issue of OMD to take place directly after May gets shot, and in fact turned in the first script directly after she gets nailed. Editorial decided to build in a block of issues for One More Day...meaning May would be in that bed for almost a *year* which I thought was just too long to make work.
And yes, I wanted to retcon the Gwen twins out of continuity, which was something I always assumed I could do at the end of my run. I wasn't allowed to do this, and yes, it pissed me off. I felt I was left holding the bag for something I wanted to get rid of, and taking the rap for a writing lapse that I had never committed. Why this aspect was not brought up in the other interview, you'd have to ask Joe.
Mainly, the book was rewritten in the editorial offices to a degree that the words weren't mine any longer, to a certain degree in three, and massively in four. If the work represents me, I leave the name there and take the rap; if it doesn't, then that's a different situation. There's just not much of my work there, especially once you get to the last dong of midnight...everything after that was written by editorial.
Whether my work is good or it sucks, it's mine. What came out of the end of OMD wasn't, hence my desire to omit the writing credit. Joe graciously offered to share it on the last issue. I think that helped. Credit where credit is due.
What I don't want is for this to turn into a public pissing match. Joe did what he did because he thought it was the right thing to do, and as EIC that's his call, not mine. I respect and admire him. I hope this will be the end of the matter.
I just felt that there were some important bits not addressed, that needed to be.
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