To the Editor (11-Jun-2008)

 In: Letters > Editor > 2008
 Posted: 2008
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)
From Gonzo

Great website.....So i was wondering....do you think that the whole "Brand New Day" is just some bad nightmare that spider man is going through or is it all part of the Skrull "Secret Invasion"? I am wondering if anyone is kind of making assumptions that maybe spider man has been replaced by some skrull and he is actually in some holographic chamber in some skrull world. ...

We can only live and hope...

From SnowDog

It's May. Approximately six months after the Spider-Man we all know and loved was erased from existence when the Amazing Spider-Man series ended with issue number 545. And after six months, I am still irate beyond belief about the OMD/BND fiasco.

Maybe my collection isn't as robust as the esteemed Spiderfan.org staff, but I have pride in my collection of over 700 Spider-man comics that I've put together over the last 18 years. As a grown man in his 30's, I sit in my Spider-man themed room and wonder, "is it healthy to have such strong feelings for what ultimately amounts to just another form of entertainment?" However, it's not just another form of entertainment; it's is a love or a passion. With a loss for a passion such as the one I've experienced due to OMD/BND, there comes grief.

The 5 stages of OMD/BND grief: Denial: "This is just a side story and not really happening in 616." Anger: "What the hell were they thinking? Joey Q. is a selfish idiot. I'm never buying another Spider-Man comic again." Bargaining: "Ok, this is just Aunt May's weird coma dream, and it will be fine when she wakes up. Or maybe this whole mess is a Skrull plot to demoralize Peter. Either result would be a cool story." Depression: "I never thought that the tales of Spider-man could be worse than the Clone Saga. This is the way it will be forever." Acceptance: "Joe Quesada is a selfish idiot."

You're doing well to get to Acceptance. I'm still in "Bargaining".

From Xiomienavarro

Hello, i am concerned mother of an 11 year old which really believes in spiderman and saving people. For about 2 weeks now my son has this obsession on purchasing a spiderman costume sold at 925.0 which is alot of money for us. But he really believes that he can wear it under his cloths and ONE day become spider, he thinks he might one day shoot web and that his veins are getting bluer, i have spoken to him a few time about this being fiction and that he will not get the powers of spiderman, but as i speak with him of this, he has get a huge disappointed face and actually gets upset because i dont believe. He has always been a spiderman fan, and a younger child i found it cute. However he is now 11 years old and he can repeat and remembers scenes like you wouldnt imagine, and believes in him like you wouldnt imagine. I am not sure it this is a good thing or not. We have had passings in the family every two years, grandmother, uncle and now grandfather. And his obession has become stronger, specially with this costume sold on ebay which he believes is the replica from the movie and CAN give him these supernatural powers. I dont think his is normal, however he is still a child with a huge imagination and i dont know what to think. I would like to know what you think of this.

Hiya. I had a look on the internet, and found a GREAT website run by the National Organization of Rare Disorders. I found three likely diseases that your son might be suffering from. "Partially-Actualized Heroic Projection Disorder" and "Overlapping Personality Mismatch Syndrome" seem the two most likely, though a mix of "Cross-Functional Steffburger's Pallete" and "Transitive Psychotic ID Palsy with Partial Circulatory Arachnification" might also explain the symptoms you describe.

In my case, there options are far more open. I found twenty-seven different things I probably suffer from, and that was just in the "A" section. It's a great list!

And yes, I am qualified. They have these great online universities where you can get a completely legitimate degree for less then twenty bucks. Order now, and you receive a genuine mock-pine frame for free!

From Pearu Unga

The Spider-Man we've all grown to love since the Silver Age is no more. No - not because of One More Day. Not because of him unmasking. Not even because of Gwen sleeping with Norman. It's because I said so. The Classic Spider-Man ended ten years ago.

Towards the end of 1998, Spider-Man comics featured a story titled "The Final Chapter", which ended with Peter Parker giving up being Spider-Man. The following month, Spider-Man re-started with "Spider-Man: Chapter One". This eventually led to "Amazing Spider-Man (vol.2)", "Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (vol.2)". and "Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man". And this, my friends, was the beginning of a parallel universe.

Basically, "Chapter One" establishes the origin of the "Modern" Spider-Man, and "Amazing Spider-Man (vol.1) #1" skips years ahead to a time where Peter has given up being Spider-Man. Later in the issue, though, he dons the costume once again. Spider-Man is back!

Why would I want to think of the beginning of the reboot craze as the creation of a parallel universe? To protect Spider-Man, mostly. No Gwen sleeping with Norman. No Spider-Totem. No crazy "Other". Definitely no unmasking. And no stupid "One More Day". Sure, there would still be the "Clone Saga", and "The Final Chapter" ain't such a great send-off, but at least it would end somewhere.

What about the other books? During the same time Spider-Man started its numbering from #1, so did others - Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk...they're all part of this parallel universe, I'm afraid. But what of "Brand New Day"? How can Peter be in both this world 20 years ago, and the present? That's for MARVEL to explain.

Meanwhile, I'm not going to be bothered that 20 years of Spider-Man got erased. It's the NEW Spider-Man - it's the Spider-Man from the parallel universe. My Classic Spider-Man is somewhere out there, living in peace, together with Aunt May and Mary Jane.

Well, of course it really started going down hill when Ditko left!

From Brian

I see and understand your worth - sell - buy disclosure on top of youe e-mail page but i'll be dambed if i can find this anywhere!!

My father was the personal body guard for Ron Pearlman who owns Marvel. Mr. Pearlman commissioned the production of 5000 numbered watches with holograms of spiderman turning into venom. I searched ebay, watch stores and comic book shops everywhere i can think of. My local store can't even begin to put a price on this. I also have a x-men watch with the seal of the xavier institute on its face. I am happy to send to send pics to anyone who can help me value these what i believe to be, rare collectables, or anyone interested in buying them.

You'll notice that this page features no such collectibles, and that nobody on this site claims any experience in this area. You'll get a better estimate walking into a random antiques dealer's store.

But here's my 2c.

  1. Ron Pearlman was a scumbag who nearly destroyed Marvel.
  2. The 90's was a terribly over-marketed period for Marvel comics.
  3. 5,000 isn't a particularly exclusive run for a niche collectible.
  4. There are hundreds of different styles of Spider-Man watches.

Basically, it's worth what you can get for it. I'd guess that it's "collectible" value is pretty close to zero to 99% of Spidey fans. It's worth whatever it is as a watch. If it's really nice, maybe it's worth $100. If it's crappy then you may get $10 on eBay.

I could be wrong. But we both agreed up front that SpiderFan doesn't touch this stuff.

From dylan

dear jonathan couper.If you made spider - man I like your work.I watched all the spider - man movies I think they are great. And the cartoons fantacisc.Has spider - man ever teamed up with the fantacisc four? I love spider - man 3.Are you going to make a spider - man 4?One more thing. Who is the toughest villen? love, your number 1 fan dylan.

Yeah, I made Spider-Man. Glad you liked it! I was going to make Spider-Man 4 last week, but I got busy. I might do make it for Christmas. Toughest villen is me! LOLZ!

From STWA

I have an idea of a little joke in the SpideyFun thing (or whatever it is you call it) that I think you should look at. Spider-man 4 has been confirmed, right? But its not coming out until 2010 I think. And they've already been saying stuff about wanting to do SM5-6 too! And Brand New Day isn't over yet, and they're talking about the next arc "New Ways to Die". Now you should try making a joke about how they're talking about what they're gonna do, but not actually doing it yet. Something like the creators talking about a story arc and then going out and getting drunk and forgetting the idea or something, lol.

Actually, in the case of the movies, I'd say it was a pretty good bet that if the finance stacks up then they will make the movies. Films of that magnitude take at least a couple of years to make, that's just how it is. Check out some of the "making of the movie" books, e.g. The Spider-Man Chronicles.

Similar with the upcoming comic story arcs - the big ones are always planned several months in advance, though the details may change of course as the actual creation is done.

From Chris

Did you ever get the Venom script by David Goyer mentioned in the Venom Movie rave on your site?

The man is great at writing scripts but I'm sure by the time he wrote Venom he knew the worlds of changes and deletions that go between the scripts and the final products. If you have it I would love to read it.

Nope, nothing ever came of this as far as I know. And if Goyer did have anything to do with the abysmal Ghost Writer movie, then I'm afraid I must disagree with your assessment of his talents!

From Kevin

INFORMATION TO PETER PARKER FOR ME I AM BIGGEST FOR HIM IS MY FAVORITE TV SHOW OF SPIDER MAN WE TO MEET TOBEY MAGUIRE IS SPIDER MAN FAERWELL TO MARVEL PETER PARKER OF SPIDER MAN FROM TO NEW YORK CITY OF SPIDER MAN IN TO CIVIL WAR OF SPIDER MAN FROM TO NEW YORK CITY WE TO ASK MARVEL SPIDER MAN FOR ME I AM BIGGEST FOR YOU WE TO ORDER FAREWELL OF SPIDER MAN VIDEO AND DVD TO ME WE TO ORDER SPIDER MAN FAN CLUB FOR ME I LIKE A NEW COMICS OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET MARVEL BLADE THE VAMPIRE HUNTER OF SPIDER MAN IN TO THE SHOW OF SPIDER MAN IN TO FOX KIDS THE ANIMATED SERIES ON FOX KIDS SPECIAL UPDATE OF SPIDER MAN PREVIEWS OF SPIDER MAN FROM TO NEW YORK CITY WE TO ASK TOBEY MAGUIRE FOR ME I AM BIGGEST FAN FOR YOU WE TO ASK MARVEL COMICS OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET WESLEY SNIPES FROM HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS OF SPIDER MAN AT MGM STUDIOS OF SPIDER MAN IN TO THE SHOW TO END OF SPIDER MAN FAERWELL TO PETER PARKER IS REAL CLONES OF EVIL SPIDER CARANGE OF REALY REALLY HATE CLONES ON DVD

PLEASE TO ORDER DVD OF SPIDER MAN FOR ME I NEED SOME VIDEO OF SPIDER MAN NEOGENIC NIGHTAMRE ON DVD AND VIDEO OF SPIDER MAN IN TO 1990 ON FOX KIDS SPECIAL UPDATE FOR TOBEY MAGUIRE IS SPIDER MAN NO MORE PETER PARKER EMPIRE STATE UNIVERSITY FROM TO NEW YORK CITY IN COLOR PHOTO OF VAMPIRES OF TOMB OF DRACUAL WE TO MEET MARVEL BALDE THE VAMPIRE HUNTER OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET MORBIUS IS REAL EVIL VAMPIRES OF SPIDER MAN AND X MEN TO END OF STORY OF SPIDER MAN WE LIKE TO LOOK LIKE MARVEL COMICS OF TOMB OF DRACUAL I AM BIGGEST FAN KEVIN STRILCHUK FROM CALGARY PS WE TO SEND THE COMICS FOR ME I LIKE A NEW VAMPIRES OF SPIDER MAN COMICS OF THE VAMPIRES OF TOMB OF DARUCAL IN TO THE SHOW OF TOMB OF DRACULA OF LORD OF VAMPIRES OF TOMB OF DARKNESS IN TO THE SHADOWS CASTEL OF TOMB OF DRAUCAL WEB PAGE OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET MARVEL TOMB OF DRACUAL IN TO MARVEL HUNTED HOUSE OF DRACUAL IN TO THE SHADOWS OF SPIDER MAN WE TO MEET THE STARS OF TOMB OF DRACUAL OF LORD OF DARKNESS FROM TO NEW YORK CITY EMPIRE IN MARVEL COMICS OF SPIDER MAN I AM BIGGEST FAN KEVIN STRILCHUK FROM CALGARY

Does this freak me out? Nah, I used to work night-shift in a petrol station in a bad suburb of Adelaide, Australia. This kind of thing doesn't worry me at all.

 In: Letters > Editor > 2008
 Posted: 2008
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)