― Martin Skidmore, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Daver, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
DeFalco? His Spidey run was pretty solid, as far as I recall (tho that's due to Ron Frenz & Brett Breeding); his FF run was supercrap, tho - I could tell just by the stench coming off the covers.
It's Shooter's fault, really.
― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Only 80s / early 90s Marvel writers worth a damn anymore: um ... Ann Nocenti (tho I know Dr. Funk will disagree), and ... um ... Frank Miller?
Gruenwald wrote Squadron Supreme = Gruenwald is a GOD = you are a monkey.
― Dan Perry, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Davo, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Of course, the death of Gwen Stacey was an all time great and pushed the comic book world into a more introspective trend of superhereos capable of making human mistakes. Like it or not, Gerry Conway had a huge impact on comic books and was a young prodigy in the business (he started with marvel at age 16...what were you doing at 16?)
Also, a lot of the sequences of the box office hit Spiderman were taken from some of Gerry's work.
My last piece of evidence that Gerry Conway was a comic book great is that if there is a web page dedicated to a heated debate about his work, well - then he must have done something right to catch our attention.
― beth, Wednesday, 13 November 2002 16:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
And re: bringing back the past to shove Spidey's nose in it - isn't that what the character's about? He became a super-duper dood because he indirectly killed his uncle! He STILL hasn't moved past that - Paul Jenkins has written a handful of great stories addressing this. That's already a set precedent - there's no need to cheapen such a powerful turning point in Spidey's life (the whole Goblin / Stacy death thing) by resorting to uninspired sci-fi tropes.
The fact that the movie folk used the Goblin death scene (AND the Stacy "death" scene, subbing in MJ for Gwen) only shows how lazy the writers were.
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 19:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 14 November 2002 00:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
If my points are so weak then why have you not addressed the fact that all three of you have spent a good deal of time trying to discredit Gerry. As I said before, that at least proves that his work has impacted the comic book world, so much so, that all three of you feel you have to prove that his is not as good as the rest of us realize he was.
Also, you have still not answered my question. Gerry started publishing his work when he was 16 - what were you doing at that age?
― Beth, Thursday, 23 January 2003 19:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
David R. - You are right that Peter Parker indirectly killed his uncle. However the difference between that and when Spiderman indirectly killed Gwen Stacey is that Peter Parker is just a normal guy and it is only normal for him to make such a human error. However when Parker takes on his role as Spider Man, he now has crossed over to super hero and therefore, traditionally, this role is suppose to be above human error. The fact that Spiderman indirectly Killed Stacey burst that bubble and took a way the safety net that super heros were perfect , aka could always save the day.
― Beth, Thursday, 23 January 2003 20:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
Yes, I ignored your points: this is because I did reply to your very impolite email, and you ignored what I said and posted virtually identical words here months later. I'm not planning to treat you with loads more respect than you treat me.
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 23 January 2003 20:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think I can take the '16' challenge! If Tom has any of the one-shot efforts from the far-off year of... 1994/5! They involved beatniks.
If Conway did Gwen Stacy dying (is that true?) then he did Harry Osbourne dancing through a giant maze of pills, which was ace and helped reduce the Comics Code to a toothless tiger. That said, the interminable clone madness - how do you fight the past when it has fists and hits you? Is what still keeps me from buying Spidey. Any Spidey. I think 'Mmm, Bendis, eh? Worth a look!' and then just crumble at the thought of the little webbed bastard.
Other rub Spidey-writers include DeMatteis, but his Dr Fate was worse, from its beginningless beginning to it's seemingly endless end.
― Al Ewing (Al Ewing), Thursday, 23 January 2003 21:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
Jim Shooter was selling stories to DC at the age of, I think, 13. Some of them, especially the Legion ones, were terrific. He also wrote one of the best ever runs of the Avengers, then came back years later and wrote one of the worst ever.
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 23 January 2003 21:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
Oh, and Al, I don't think Gerry Conway did the drug issues. That was two years before Gwen Stacey died. Also, the clones are gone - they've unofficially been written out of continuity.
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 23 January 2003 22:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 23 January 2003 22:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
The drug issues were Stan Lee's baby - Conway came onto the series sometime in the 100s, I think.
Al - the Bendis Spidey (Ultimate Spider-Man) is just a moderny recasting of old skool Spidey shenanigans, and has NOTHING to do with clones (eradicated from continuity or otherwise). I'm not sure I like what they're doing with Venom in this series, but everything else to this point (Kraven the Hunter as a Croc-Hunter-esque poseur, the Green Goblin as super-powered Hulk-like freak, Gwen Stacy as bitchin' bad girl, Aunt May as ex-hippie) has been done quite well, much better than I thought possible (given that I, too, was wounded by the excessive clone bullshit, & stayed away from all Spidey titles for a long, long while). Then, again, every little tweak made by Millar & Bendis et al for the Ultimate Marvel line has been marvelous, so I might be too biased to bother with. (Christ, I'm enjoying the Ultimate Owlman shenanigans - clearly I'm a lost cause.)
But, yeah - Bendis & Jenkins (not sure if he's still writing for Peter Parker, but issues #23-50 are golden - word of advice: the issues not involving villian fisticuffs are the best of the run) & Straczynski (sic) have been doing wonders to rehab Spidey's tarnished reputation. I think it's safe to come back now.
― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think I should start more threads like this to come to terms with what is turning out to be a troubling adolescence.
― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Friday, 24 January 2003 10:11 (twenty-one years ago) link