Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-man is back! And I couldn’t care less. Really. I could not care less. Superior Spider-man is still going on and I couldn’t even be bothered to read the solicitation for The Amazing Spider-man. Somebody tried to explain to me that it’s a flashback to what happened “immediately after Amazing Spider-man #700 and before Doc Ock becoming Spider-man.” I thought I remembered Ock being Spidey in nearly all of #700. I knew I was resoundingly against it in #699. Editorial claims that Peter Parker will not ever be back and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this will only last as long as the staff gets to keep their current jobs. Creative teams change and new ideas get followed. It’s all a part of the process of a monthly serial that has a fifty plus year history. Shake ups are necessary to keep a story of this length from becoming stagnant or stale and there have been plenty over the years. My problem with this one, though, is that for years now, comic books in general have grown up and the writing has become more sophisticated, but in the case of Spider-man in particular, this is the second time now that we’ve gone back after several years to clarify a storyline (the first being One Moment in Time, to explain what happened between One More Day and Brand New Day). I would think that common sense dictates that if you don’t know how to tell a story right now, don’t. Don’t bother telling a story and then hoping that somebody else can fix it later. My money’s worth more than that lack of respect. I did read a letters page from Superior Spider-man recently and the editor responded to a letter saying that we as readers really shouldn’t spend our money on books that we don’t like. Fair enough. I’ve even said that often enough.
Getting back to my problem with this particular shake up of Spider-man, I’ve taken my money elsewhere. Even though I have zero interest in a Peter Parker, Superior Spider-man flashback, by the time Doc Ock’s back in his own cloned, regenerated, super-serumed, Black Hand raised, whatever body I may be far enough removed from Peter Parker and now invested, both monetarily and emotionally, in a new character that I fear Spidey and I may only have our history ahead of us. For anyone who knows me, that’s a big hurtful statement. Unfortunately, that’s out of my hands.
Here’s a look at what may interest you this week starting with Batman Black and White #2 (of 6), $4.99, from DC Comics. I was really impressed with the first issue of this series and it took me completely by surprise as I’d never experienced a Batman Black and White before. Are they all short stories of this caliber? I’d like to add this hardcover to my collection. The second issue includes work by Rafael Grampá, Dan DiDio and J.G. Jones, Rafael Albuquerque, Jeff Lemire and Alex Niño, and Michael Uslan and Dave Bullock, and Jim Steranko…
Valiant Entertainment’s Quantum and Woody #4, $3.99, by James Asmus and Tom Fowler has been the topic of much discussion over here and it all sounds good. That’s easy to accomplish when the quality of the book produced is this high. This is also where you’ll find the first appearance of the goat…
There’s not a lot I’m looking forward to this week, but honorable mention goes to DC’s Earth 2 hc volume two, $24.99, Hinterkind #1, and Witching Hour #1, $7.99, Marvel’s All New X-Men #17, $3.99, Marvel Knights Spider-man #1, $3.99,Thor Season One hardcover, $24.99, and Valiant’s Shadowman #11, $3.99.
And there are plenty more that are not listed. For a more complete list, feel free to visit your local comic store or favorite site. If you’re interested in more of what I think, follow me on Twitter at Mycomicstore001 or like my Facebook page.
Michael R. Murray is a full-time Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service who isn’t nearly as excited about the New York Comic Con as he should be and until tonight didn’t even realize it was next weekend.