Re: The return of Amazing Spider-Man (Slott/Ramos)
Yeah, I know WHY they are doing it. Obviously it's working for them sales-wise. Maybe it's because people stick with it just because they love Spider-Man like Cap. Canuck. I wasn't confounded as to why they kept him on, I just find it interesting that they are at one of their all-time creative highs, and the main book of their biggest and most imaginative character is complete crap.
Obviously I an't tell people how to spend their money, but if we stopped buying books that we didn't like they would get the message and improve them.
Well, two things:
First, not everyone thinks it's complete crap. I don't either. It's just not great. But Amazing Spider-Man hasn't been great probably since JMS was writing it, and even that had it's low points. And before that it was crap for over a decade (which I guess is your point, you just stated it more strongly than I did). The only consistently good Spider-Man we've had recently has been Ultimate Spider-Man
Second, I've actually talked to a lot of people that really liked Superior Spider-Man. And while I didn't love it, I can understand why they liked it. Superior Spider-Man showed why Spider-Man is a great hero by having Ock do things completely differently than Spidey and fail. But on top of that, it's sort of an interesting concept to see a villain try to be a hero using villain tropes. Ock was cold and calculating about who helped. He was arrogant. He had a lair and henchmen. His methods were pretty sketchy/immoral/illegal.
So, over all, I agree that Marvel could do a better job with Spidey, but I don't think it's fair to suggest that Amazing Spider-Man is "complete crap" and people only buy it because it's Spidey.
ASM #1 was a set up issue. There are things I'm looking forward to in the comic issues: the fall-out with Anna Maria, Electro, and Black Cat.
I don't mean for this to sound judgmental or condescending. It's good to have something you can enjoy like this.
But... by your own admission you aren't really enjoying it. Do you not see the correlation between supporting Marvel's bad decisions in regards to this book (especially at $4 a pop) and it continuing to be bad? Or do you just not care? That's an honest question; I'm not trying to be facetious. You might not care, and that's fine.
I still read the book because I like Spider-Man and want to know what's happening with the character. But I download it; I don't like the idea of "supporting" (for lack of a better term) a bad book. I'm not trying to say I'm right and everyone should do it that way, it just surprises me when people pay money (continually) for something that they don't like, completely or not, and then complain that it's not good.
So a) as I mentioned above, I don't think it's crap. I want to read it, even if it's not all I hope it would be.
and b) I want to have the physical copies of the issues because I collect them. I could wait and buy them on ebay, just so I'm not directly giving my money to Marvel, but that ends up being more expensive in the long run. (I did that with Superior Spider-Man, as I mentioned above)
but most importantly c) I don't like downloading comics. If I care enough that I want to read it, I'm going to pay for it one way or another (whether through buying the comic/tpb or through my subscription to Marvel Comics Unlimited). That's just my conviction on what's right. I've downloaded comics in the past, but decided I should stop.
