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Letters : To The Editor : Letters to the Editor [13]

Next: Letters to the Editor [15] (Jan 16, 2008)
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Letters : To The Editor : Letters to the Editor [13] (11-Nov)

From Liliaeth

I just read your editorial (Spider-Man - Big Talk, No Action) about Spidey being a wimp and I have to say I both agree and disagree.
It's true that the current Amazing arc carries no weight for the mere fact that we already know from Daredevil and Runaways, which both supposedly play after this arc, that the Kingpin is not going to die [at Spidey's hands]. Which makes the entire arc rather stupid.
But, the fact that Spidey doesn't kill does not make him a wimp. Quite the contrary, it makes him strong, and it means that he's not the kind of wimp who needs to kill someone to feel like a big man.
Killing is a sign of weakness and the fact that Peter Parker does anything he can to avoid death, even amongst his enemies is a sign of his inner strength and character.
That aside, it wasn't aunt May who pulled away that curtain, it was her then boyfriend who did. And like her nephew, May resented him for doing this, since at this point in time, letting that man be killed was not necessary to save any lives.
The only time May ever agreed with the bad guys dying was when she teamed up with the Punisher.

I've picked this letter out of the many that I received about this rave. Thanks to all those who did take time to comment - but I won't print them all, they're basically variations on this theme.
Like this letter, the general consensus was that those who have the power and reason to kill, yet do not, are stronger than those who do cross the line into murder. That's probably true. Though don't count on it saving you if you come sneaking around my house after dark.
But really, that wasn't my point. In fact I've reworded the rave to clarify my point, which is simply this: "Don't shoot your mouth off if you're not going to follow through."
As the playwright Checkov famously said - "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." When Spider-Man starts yelling murder, I expect to see a corpse next issue.

From Jacqueline

Hello, my name is Jacqueline and I am supposed to write a persuasive essay. My topic is "Why Movie Sequels Almost Always Suck" (sort of, I haven't thought of an actual title yet).I am researching information on the internet, and I came across this article [on SpiderFan]. I have found many people feel the same why I do. I was hoping you could give some suggestions on reasoning why they actually "suck" and what should or could be done about it, help to "persuade" my audience.It would certainly be helpful if you could take the time. Thanks!

Well, that rave you refer to contains my reasons. But I think it's up to you to do the actual persuading!
If you're short of ideas, searching for "why movie sequels suck" in Google turned up LOTS of sites addressing that same subject.

From s_man_demon16

can i sell you my spider man legend of the spider clan #1?
or how about this i give you my comic and you give me the #2 edition?

You couldn't pay me enough to take that comic!

From Aimee

Hello! I run a fan site called Emma Frost Files. I've been looking for some scripts to run the site for latest issues, image gallery, etc. Would you possibly know of any that you use on your site? (If you do use any...)
Your fellow Marvel and Spider-Man Fan,
Aimee

This is actually on our F.A.Q. Page, surprisingly enough. The scripts are used a pretty complex Perl, developed over several years. However, they're not for the faint of heart - you need to be a Perl programmer to modify and maintain them.
I used a dedicated development server running a command-line only ubuntu install to run the scripts, and rsync the files up to the main www server which feeds out the static pages. Very efficient CPU-wise. But I could talk about this stuff all day, 'nuff said for now I think.

From guy

dear sirs, your company appeared on an american needle web-site, as i am a chemo patient who a few months ago purchased a brown amer. needle yankees hat in a gift store, cant find another like it, and the company wont help me as i am only a customer, not a distributor.i know this is an unusual request, but i am looking for this same hat, and wonder how you obtained their catalogue, and are there pictures of their products inside. this hat is very firm, and makes me feel better as i am going thru a difficult time. if there is anything--info wize-about this company you can give me, i would greatly appreciate it. thank you. guy.

Yep, I can give you some info about American Needle. For starters, they don't help people who aren't distributors.
Yes, we did feature a American Needle #15 catalog, it's from 1979. One of our staffers was doing a review for them 20 years ago. However, I suspect you might be well-advised to contact somebody who has been in touch with them in this decade.
A search of Google shows 1.47 Million hits for "American Needle Cap". Nearly all of the first few pages of search results give you a link to web sites that sell baseball caps made by American Needle. Why you would contact us I have no idea.
You've posed a difficult ethical dilemma here. If you weren't sick, I would be rude about your stupid question. But I feel that I should be polite because you are seriously ill. But why? Surely your stupid question is entirely unrelated to your state of health. Hmmm... that's a real hum-dinger. I'm gonna work on that next week in therapy.

From naydo

i just wanted to ask u is there going to be a spiderman 4

MovieWeb says MTV says Marvel Says There Will Be A Spider-Man 4.

From The Leather Sofa

i love you
wanna be BBF
god u r my god
i love you
ps. rock on

I can't get insurance for that kind of thing.

From John

Ok mate my names andi john 30 years old and from south wales in the UK,had my farther come around my house the other day with a bunch of my old stuff from when i was a kid,lookin through it i came across this old record that i loved when i was a nipper,its the lewis sharples 60s spiderman tv theme 45 single code lbs 001.Found your write up on it really good took me back to good memories of when i was a five or six year old webslinger running around my house in my mums home made spiderman costume.Like you said in your write up its gonna be hard work for me to play it as its a record as much as i would like to,never mind just have to put it away and never know they might come back into fashion..lol thanks again for the info you put on the web it helped me remmeber some good memories and heres to the TRUE BELIEVERS.
CHEERS

Yeah, that Lewis Brown Sharples: 60's Spider-Man TV Theme is one of my prize vinyl Spidey collectibles. You can not beat the classics, and that's just plain fact!

From ukram912

I agree with the fact that Batman has the ability to punch Carnage's lights out. You have to remember that Batman is master of several martial arts and has honed his body to physical perfection. Adding to that a mind of a genius. Carnage is a force in his own right but is plainly outclassed by Batman.

You are, of course, talking about Spider-Man/Batman #1.
I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree. Carnage has a host of potent powers and a massively enhanced strength and resilience that make him tougher than Spider-Man. Certainly Batman is smarter and has access to a huge range of resources. I'm sure that if Batman put his mind to defeating Carnage, he could certainly come up with a strategy that would defeat him.
But we're talking about a one-on-one fight. I wouldn't take 1000:1 odds on Batman if I was using somebody else's credit card. Psycho-super-powered-killer > martial-artist-in-tights any day of the decade. Sorry.

From John

i woudl like to respond to the latest rave on this site, I am a devoted Spider-man fan for a number of years now(13), and even before then I knew of Spider-man and still respected his character. But to say that the current Back in Black storyline is like "Disney does 'the Ring'" , then that person should look at the current issue of Amazing and rethink their analogy. I have never seen Spider-man so dark and cold, there are no quips, no puns, no fun use of webbing, well what he said he would do, i think could be fun for all except Fisk of course. But the fact of the matter is, he has changed. Will this be a permant change, I don't think so, but I think Peter's life will never be the same. I just wanted to let my observation be known to all and maybe, just maybe, next time we won't be so quick to judge.

Heya John. That rave was mine. And in case you didn't notice, I was being deliberately just a little provocative.
But my complaint at the time was that, despite all the tough-guy "dark" talking, Spidey had actually done nothing. My fervent hope was that he would actually get around to living up to his big-man talk. Which, perhaps indeed he does. But even so - my personal philosophy is that you earn the right to brag by doing the deed. You don't talk big before you deliver the goods. As one famous philosopher said "Talk softly, and carry a beagle."
On another note, I'll like to point out that Disney is pretty scary ya know. I cried when Bambi's mother died. And when the Evil Witch in Snow White turned up with the apple... I crapped myself! Well, I crapped in my diapers, at least. I was pretty young at the time.

From JustJKA

I know that at the time of this article you had not read 542, but in it Peter claims he still wont kill because Aunt May is still alive. He would rather beat up the Kingpin and let him live because now he has been publically humiliated in front of cell mates. I would like to know your opinion on Back in Black after the storyline is done.

And you shall most certainly have it!

From Matt

Okay, just for fun... do this right now. Download Christina Aguilera's 'Reflection' (from the Mulan movie) on mp3. Turn it up loud, pretend you're Peter Parker and scream the lyrics at the top of your lungs, replacing key words with 'clone'.
Example:
"Who is that clone i see, staring right back at me, why is my clone someone i.... don't know?"
Do this immediately and try not to crack up half way through. Try it.

I don't need to. I can't even look at a Christina Aguilera album cover without already cracking up into hysterics! And one time, I actually saw some kid BUY an album at the CD store. It was so funny I wet myself.

From CyberSam

I have noticed that some of the comics have all sorts of different spidermans being chased by pumpkin bombs and doc ock's tentacles. e.g: amazing bag man, symbiote spiderman, peter parker, iron spider, spidey armour, spider ham or just spiderman. What is the main story?

Will you be showing an 'astonishing spiderman' comic list and will it have any reviews?

Do you know if Venom or Carnage are appearing again soon in any comics?

I collect Astonishing Spiderman and Spectacular Spiderman. Have you read them?

What came before Amazing Fantasy #15?

The main story? Ummm... probably the one that's just Spider-Man. Yeah, probably that one.

Astonishing Spider-Man is a UK reprint, and hence is Not Included.

Congress recently failed to overturn the president's veto on a recent act banning Venom and Carnage from not being excluded from future appearances. Under these circumstances, clearly nobody can guarantee that neither will not be barred from failing to be blocked from a lack of such appearances.

No, I haven't read your Astonishing Spiderman and Spectacular Spiderman. I came around last weekend and tried to, but you had locked the cupboard you keep them in, and I couldn't find the key.

Amazing Fantasy #14.

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