On the Death of Spiderman

Yup. You read correctly. I did, in fact, title this one "On the Death of Spiderman". Why you ask? The answer is simple, because Marvel has just killed the character. Oh I don't mean that literally. Spidey is still swinging New York with the best of them. No. No I mean that, for many fans, they've killed twenty years of history. Retconned out of existence because their people decided that controversy would sell better than good stories. It speaks volumes that J.M. Stracynski wanted his name removed from the last two issues he wrote.

I haven't bought Marvel comics for years. Not since the "Spider-Clone" disaster, and every time I consider going back Marvel reminds me why I quit in the first place. They just don't get it and they never will. They've taken ever opportunity to screw job their characters and its just old. This is just the last nail in the coffin for me. If this continues I may end up not even going to the new Marvel movies. I can't bring myself to support their nonsense anymore. Which is a shame because I thought that Ironman looked like it might be pretty good.

To my fellow geeks that are, to put it bluntly, mightily pissed off at Marvel I'd like to offer my suggestions for better reading material.

Firstly: PS238, Nodwick, and Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams. The man is, in my opinion a genius. PS238 is what a superhero comic should be. Granted its about children who go to a superhero elementary school, but the heart of the stories is what's important. Nodwick is just a classic, and again an example of great story telling.

Aside from that I'd reccomend looking to other independent publishers. Track down copies of Cerberus, Poison Elves, anything really. Just take the time to look. You might be surprised what you find.

I'd also reccomend looking into manga. Yes it reads differently but in a lot of cases its better written and has far more compelling characters. Off hand I'd reccomend Rurouni Kenshin, Buso Renkin, Naruto, Revolutionary Girl Utena to name a few. Like with the independant publishers there's a massive amount of manga out there. You're likely to find at least one or two that might interest you.

And Marvel. Well Marvel Comics can kiss my geeky butt. I'm done with them.

That's all for now. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen.

End of line.