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Letters : To The Editor : Letters to the Editor [12]

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Letters : To The Editor : Letters to the Editor [12] (15-Nov)
 

From tonydianas

Mate, why waste your time writing reviews with zero webs all the time, if you hate spidey that much why do you bother reading them at all. I'm 36 years old, have a business degree, a wife and 2 adorable children but I have been reading spidey since 1977(absent from 1989 to 2003). It's just a comic, don't take it all so seriously,the oldies are classic fun, with great art and colors that the comics of the late 80's and 90's really failed to deliver on. With all the effort you seem to put in when writing your reviews why be so negative? (although I DO agree on the Aunt May criticism, god I wish they would kill her off for good, she is such a drag!)

Do you have any particular issues that you would give 4 webs or higher? Cos if yo do I want to read them.

Tony,

I think we have a misunderstanding here. If you are reading reviews of mine that have no webs, it is because I wrote those reviews before we started giving web ratings to older issues. One of these days I'll get back to them and put ratings on them. But in the meantime, they're out there if people want to read them. As for having fun with it, I thought that's what I was doing! The nitpicking and complaints are all in fun. Truth is, I love all of these issues, even the bad ones. And if you want suggestions for four-webs-or-higher stories, check out my From the Beginning series. I've been reviewing ALL Spidey appearances starting from AF #15 including reprints and the tiniest of cameos. I'm up to ASM #42 now. There are plenty of highly recommended issues in there.

Al

From John Harris

Hi! I've been searching for a series of about nine reprint collections that were released in Italy around 1992-1994, I think. They contain the Stan Lee/John Romita run of Spider-Man newspaper strips, originally published from 1977-1980. Romita contributed new covers for each edition, and I own his original artwork for one of them. It shows a large Spider-Man in the foreground, sticking to a building as a tuxedo-clad Dr. Octopus approaches from the lower part of the building. I've never seen a copy of the actual book, though, or even a scan of any of these reprint collections. I can send you a scan of the cover I own, if you send me an email address. I'm curious to see what it looks like in published form, so any guidance toward the actual books or even a scan of them would be appreciated!

We've never actually come across those nine volumes you mention. But we figured it was time we started trying to reconstruct the history of the Spider-Man newspaper strips. That's why we've added a new F.A.Q. Entry which we'll use to assemble information as we can dig it up.

Eventually, we'll incorporate it into our automatic cross-referenced database, but for now we'll just solicit input from anybody who can help. So please, if you do dig up those Italian reprints, we'd love any help you can offer in filling the gaps!

NOTE: We actually received three separate requests in the same week for information about finding the Newspaper Strip reprints. I guess that shows that it's definitely past time we started offering some decent information on the subject.

From Draws

What was the point of the Spider-Man / Loki team-up a year back in ASM? Peter was giving a golden box trinket that ultimately never was used or made a difference to the plot (probably lost in the shuffle of all the other pointless story arcs)?

Why did spider-man gain so many new organic powers from The Other plot, yet got a high-tech suit that trumps all those powers so quickly after!?! My only guess is he'll need them after dumping the new colors(?)

*BONUS* Since when did Spider-Girl become a better comic? It's so much closer to the old ASM that's seemingly lost it's way in recent years...

please provide some professional insight if you could, thanks!

Firstly, I saw no follow-up on the golden box plot thread. Sadly, it's in the very nature of comics that writers are obliged to place clues and plot seeds many months ahead. Then it's so easy for them to forget, or for other events to intervene, or for them to move off the title.

The Other was a massive cock-up. Marvel clearly had big plans, and then realised pretty damn quickly afterwards that the entire thing was a fizzer. Civil War on the other hand was a great idea. Not surprising that they used Civil War as an excuse to quickly forget about The Other.

Spider-Girl has a very loyal following, and I suspect they would claim that it has been a great comic since day 1! All the Spider-Girl stuff is available in very reasonably priced TPB format. Go treat yourself.

As for "professional", the only profession we follow here is the second oldest one, "criticism"!

From v3n0m'S allie

i would like to say that i am a huge fan of venom and i think ur page is very detailed and great, but i have a suggestion, that u put up more venom pictures on ur page, ty, and nice job

Thanks, that's very kind.

From v3n0m'S allie

if it is said venom has such a passion for hating spidey than why in some instances do they work together?
Think George Bush and the Democrats after the 2006 mid-terms.

From v3n0m'S allie

has venom ever defeated spiderman in a fight?
No. Spidey is far too k3wl to ever loose.

From v3n0m'S allie

hey.. can you please tell me exacly with numbers of spiderman venom an carnage i with in please.. then i would be very happy thank you

1, 2, 3 and 4. Obviously that's not in chronological order.

From v3n0m'S allie

i was wondering if peter parker has ever fought eddie brock without the suit or brocks symbiote in effect?

Oh, just GO AWAY! NO! Go bug yer mother... I'm trying to watch TV here! Damn! I just missed the goal! GO AWAY, kid!

From v3n0m'S allie

*sob*

Awwww... man. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at ya. It's just, your mom and me, we've been... well, it's grown up stuff. You'll understand yourself one day. Just, take my advice, and if some girl tells you she's on the pill, don't trust her. You'll end up having to marry the... look, forget I said that. Here's ten bucks, go get yerself some candy. And umm... let's go to the park some time. What? No, not now, the game's still on. But some time soon, OK kid?

From D McClean

I just wanted your opinion of Marvel's treatment of the Spider-Man character in recent years. Is it just me, or is Mr. Parker being written as an amateur superhero by almost every writer?

Normally, this wouldn't bug me, but it contradicts 30+ years of stories as Spider-Man is one of the most experienced superheroes in Marvel next to Captain America. The same character who once K.O.ed Firelord, wore out the Hulk, held his own against whole superhero teams (i.e. the X-Men, Avengers, New Warriors, etc.), single-handedly stopped the Juggernaut, charmed more women in college than even HE can recall, defeated multiple armed mercenaries using only webbing and a flick of his finger, defeated Titania to the point where she feared him for years...TWICE!...is now being bested by the likes of Wolverine, the Green Goblin, Captain America, and a host of other characters who shouldn't be able to lay a finger on him.

This is not to say the writing is bad. On the contrary, many stories flesh out the character of Peter Parker in ways that have never been done before. But the explanations, when they're given, as to why Spider-Man receives so much punishment at the hands of his inferiors is just not satisfactory, especially now that his powers were supposedly "upgraded".

You're not alone in voicing this complaint. There's many Spidey fans out there who feel the way. I guess the problem is of course that a big part of Spidey's special nature is that he doesn't always win - and he often comes out as the underdog.

Overtime, of course he has become more powerful and better equipped. That makes it even more challenging for writers to offer stories showing him being defeated. Not everybody finds that easy, and obvious a few of the more recent writers have failed to convince people. Hence your letter.

From Nick, Die-hard symbiote fan

I was wondering if it would be possible for you guys to list a definitive list of all the comics that Spider-Man has had a symbiote in. I understand it's a rather large task and if you can't for whatever reason, I understand. Thanks for your time!

Sure, send the list through and we'll have a look. I'll help you get set up with the page and you can create a profile.

From James Boulding

I have a book / record " The Amazing Adventures of Holo-man " Did you ever make or publish more , and if not how many copies did you make. Is my copy only one of a few ?

Thank you for your help

Oh my god! I made that so many years ago! I was just a kid at the time, and y dad said to me, "Son, let's make a record together". We only made the one copy, and we sold it for a couple of quarters, to a Zimbabwian travelling kazoo-salesman. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Now my dad is gone, and you won't believe how many times I've thought of that holo-man record! I'll buy it from you, for a million dollars!

 
By The Editor (E-Mail) & Al Sjoerdsma (E-Mail)
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