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thefutureghost asked: How do you feel about Spider-Man losing his "friendly, neighborhood"ness in the upcoming "Superior Spider-Man" title?
I think it sounds gimmicky. The pitch for the new series seems to be that this is a Spider-Man who operates differently, if he isn’t a different person altogether, which may justify the (quite literal) superlative of the title. But that version of the character won’t last. Things will inevitably, as they always do, revert to the classic characterization of Peter Parker, and he’ll be Amazing again, and there’ll be an Amazing #800 (I assume Marvel’s going to publish #700 before it dumps the Amazing title).
This is something I’m noticing with a lot of the Marvel NOW! titles. While it’s commendable that a big-media publisher is trying something different, concepts like Avengers Arena and Uncanny Avengers don’t seem particularly built to last. It’s tough to imagine that the characters who are getting shuffled around won’t fall back into their traditional boxes eventually.
I’m totally fine with Marvel digging into its toybox a little more creatively with its various characters to put them in new situations and pair them up with new partners/teams. Experimentation is good. But I think meddling with the core character of Spider-Man is fixing something that ain’t broke. Peter Parker is the best character in comics. Evolve him with the times, sure, but enough with the constant attempts to make him dark or ruthless. That ain’t Spider-Man.
