Spider-Man is Drunk

[cyberghostface]

 

This is from Amazing Spider-Man v2 #51. Peter had just gotten back with his wife Mary Jane and, needless to say, is a bit excited. He's also a bit tipsy.

Comments

[tsunamiwombat]

And then, Bendis happened.

[tsunamiwombat]

No, wait, Quesada. Sorry, I keep mixing my idiots up.

[xammax]

Bendis pushes Mary Jane like a drug dealer hard up. I still think this Gwen crap in Ult is Joe forcing him to.

[akodo_rokku]

Maybe Bendis just knows that if a relationship doesn't have its ups and downs it gets boring to read.

[roxrox]

That is true. No one wants to read about the world's most perfect couple.

[xammax]

And people question why I love Scott and Emma.

[valtyr]

I do. And they're Steve Rogers and Diana of Themiscyra.

[joysweeper]

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Though they'd have ups and downs too, of course.

[aaron_bourque]

Blah.

[bj_l]

Nah, I think it's more Bendis' love of soap-opera and playing with peoples expectations. And gives him a chance to flip off OMD by having Peter and Mary declare their love again in the future.

[sinisterlink]

Seriously. I always loved the New Avengers annual where Luke and Jessica announced that they were engaged and MJ was just like, "You're going to LOVE being married!" Nice to see that at least one of the main writers liked their relationship.

[twigcollins]

That was the first comic that got me back into mainstream. Until then I'd been sticking entirely with Terry Moore and other indies.

But I loved the teamwork aspect. I loved all of the Avengers trading banter. I liked the mix of action and happiness. I was really looking forward to reading more stories like that.

Six or so years later, I'm still really looking forward to reading another story like that. Someday. Maybe.

[bj_l]

I love JMS' run so damn much.

Although your cut 'quip'? Come on.

[cyberghostface]

What's wrong with it?

[bj_l]

I guess, personally, I'm just so completely burnt out on all the 'jokes' about Peter and his roommate and their experiences (or lack of) together. They're not funny anymore (not that they ever really were) and just seem overdone and more whiny than anything.

This isn't just directed at you or just SD, by the way.

[sinisterlink]

It's funny but I've seen a crapload of scenes over the years of Peter just chilling out by someone's apartment or whatever and doing something like talking to himself that annoys the crap out of them. No wonder they don't like him. :D

[lamashtar]

My favorite was the guy who gave him popcorn.

[dejadrew]

I love how all the New Yorkers in Straczynski's run are just COMPLETELY used to this shit. No shock, no disbelief, no freaking out. Just grumbling "Ah, dammit, that guy left grubby footprints all over the second story windows again. I tell ya, it's... Oh, fer... Hey! HEY! Daredevil! Off my lawn! The sign sez stay off the grass! Can't you... oh, right, yeah, but still! Third time!"

[ian_karkull]

Further evidence that Spider-Man always has been kind of a dick.

[autolychus2]

As much as I love him, I've been saying this for years.

[ian_karkull]

It's a package deal, I suppose. With great power comes great responsibility, but also years worth of the subdued revenge fantasies of a bullied nerd.
It's one of the many things that befuddles me about the post-BND Spidey critique. This is not a new development, Spidey's always been a douche, albeit a lovable one.

[cyberghostface]

I haven't read every issue of Spider-Man but I don't see how pre-BND Spider-Man was a douche. I mean, he rags on Jonah but the guy deserves it. And I guess his peers think he's a douche because he skips out on events while being Spider-Man, but that doesn't make him a douche. Not to say the guy's perfect, but I would say Batman or Cyclops are douches over Spidey.

Post-BND douchebaggery includes leering at his cousins(!), telling Black Cat not to look at his face while they fuck(!), mooching off his Aunt May like a bum to the point where she wants him to leave herself and only telling Michelle that she was taken advantage of sexually by a sociopath when her behavior towards him becomes a personal inconvenience to him and not for her wellbeing.

[ian_karkull]

Cyclops and Batman are arguably more douchey, but it's hardly a contest. My favourite moment of pre-BND Spiderdickery has him assaulting an incarcerated and obviously terrified Shocker for something he has no connection to whatsoever.
YMMV obviously, but there's many scenes that seemed to be intended as Spidey being snarky or goofy (and which i took as such when reading them for the first time), but that just came off as him being needlessly dickish or obnoxious at a second read.
I just feel that there has always been a somewhat dickish side to Spider-Man that is not exclusive to the post-BND phase.

[cyberghostface]

My favourite moment of pre-BND Spiderdickery has him assaulting an incarcerated and obviously terrified Shocker for something he has no connection to whatsoever.

What issue was that exactly, so I can see what the contect was? Was there a stream of Shocker-related attacks and Spider-Man assumed him to be responsible? Or was he doing that because he was drunk off apple cider?

Even if Spidey has been a dick in the past (no one can be perfect in 40+ years), he seems to be moreso one in BND with the aforementioned examples I mentioned. And what makes things worse is the powers-that-be consider BND!Spidey's dickishness to be perfectly normal, relatable behavior.

[ian_karkull]

I'm not interested in discussing whether Spider-Man is more or less of a dick post-BND, because frankly, I don't give a damn. My point is just that Spider-Man has been pretty dickish at several points of his life, not just post-BND.

But since you asked for context: The Beetle tries to free Boomerang from prison, but Spidey intervenes, so Abner accidentally blows a hole in the wall of Shocker's cell. Beetle escapes, so Spidey goes to rough up Shocker for information, who at this point is hiding under his bed, too terrified to do anything, since he's still traumatised from barely surviving a super-villain massacre. Instead of leaving the obviously harmless, innocent and scared shitless man alone, Spidey adds insult to injury (literally) before brashly rushing off. Incidentally, Spidey did have a run-in with Beetle's gang earlier, so he knows the Shocker's not working with them. Herman only gets involved because of this.
In conclusion: Dick move.

[cyberghostface]

Hmmm...is this what you're referring to?



Because it doesn't sound as bad as you're making it out to be--and even if it was, I don't think being mean to a criminal who has tried to kill him in the past is the same as telling someone not to look at his face while they fuck, or not telling his roommate that she may have been sexually violated until it becomes an inconvienence to him.

[superfangirl1]

Ceiling spider-man giving you a heart attack,while eating a hotdog?