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The sweet spot
🕑 Added 2019-05-29 22:39:15 +0000 UTCSo, when did Spider-Man become a sitcom?
You could argue that this is a natural evolution out of it being a soap opera, as a number of people approve of Peter and MJ settling down with each other, and not caring for soap opera-y plot devices like love triangles, cheating storylines, and the like. But reading Nick Spencer's run on ASM, it does seem like everything is played for laughs.
Spider-Man's mostly fighting D-list villains like Boomerang, they seem to barely put up a fight, and I don't know, it kinda diminishes the whole "I must be Spider-Man!" thing when it seems like Barney Fife could handle 99% of Spidey's 'destiny'.
Of course, it wouldn't be very cash money of Spider-Man either for, oh, Rocket Racer to beat him within an inch of his life. I guess I kind of want to hit a sweet spot in the middle. These threats are real, harmful, capable figures who the police cannot handle, but Peter is hypercompetent and powerful enough to take them on.
There's kind of a Reno 911 thing to the D-list supervillains--sort of a melange of Elmore Leonard style stupid criminals, that 'comic book writer funnyman' angle I described earlier, and sort of a police procedural angle that Spider-Man wouldn't be dealing with life-or-death stakes everyday, sometimes it would just be the Marvel Universe equivalent of guys trying to knock over a liquor store, or a drunk & disorderly conduct... noise complaint...
Admittedly, in the TPB I'm reading, these are all more background threats to Peter dealing with a Superman 3 plot (which is surprisingly Silver Age for 2018, but I'll get into that some other time). But it still almost comes off like the villains know they're pathetic and ridiculous, and they make quips too, which makes it less noteworthy that Peter does it. Making fun of Doc Ock when you're getting pummeled within an inch of your life? Badass. Making fun of the Ringer when the story itself is positioning him more as a punchline than as a physical threat? It's--oh, I have a link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1erlnyhhHA (skip to 7:00)
Comments
Zhilbar
I get what they're saying about the Monopoly Guy, but somehow I think 'Smug Tee-ball' describes the nature of the issue better. You set up the stand, got it set to just the right height, it's just WAITING for you to hit it... so why the hell are you so proud of batting a single!?
Zhilbar
Nah, JMS had separations, meaningful Aunt May dealing with Peter being Spider-Man, having interesting setups with secondary characters and challenging the base concepts of what he really IS... as well as some dangerous as hell setups where he stands a serious goddamn chance of death. In terms of tone, I do think JMS hit the sweet spot... If not necessarily in content. (Lot of good stuff, but when he missed he missed HARD.)
Jack Charlotte
If that's the tone to the current Spencer run, then I guess JMS's run nearly fifteen years ago had the exact opposite problem, where Peter was facing imminent death at the climax of every single arc and seemed to need to think his final thoughts and say farewell to his loved ones every other week.
