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scans_dailySilver Surfer: Requiem was a 2007 "What If?" style miniseries by JMS and Esad Ribic, in which the Surfer discovers he'is dying and sets about putting his affairs in order. I cannot recommend the full issue or entire series enough, whether or not you're a Silver Surfer fan.
In the second issue, Surfer is coming to terms with his death and mulling over one last good deed he might do for his adopted home of Earth before he goes back to Zenn-La to die. After running into Spider-Man, he asks him for his perspective as a human (telling him only that he's leaving Earth for good, not that he's dying). Spider-Man tries to brainstorm, but he can't think of any single deed that will have the kind of lasting beneficial impact Surfer is looking for, due to all of the political and economic factors, and the nature of human society itself. Stumped, he ends up in a discussion with Surfer about the way Surfer perceives the universe, and Surfer offers to give Spidey a temporary boost of the power cosmic and let him find out what it's like for himself. Spider-Man declines, but asks, "[W]ould you mind letting someone else experience this?"
"Assuming, of course, that the effort doesn't kill him first."
One perfect moment for the Silver Surfer's endless compassion; one perfect moment for Peter Parker's integrity and insight; one perfect moment for Mary Jane Watson, his inspiration.
In the second issue, Surfer is coming to terms with his death and mulling over one last good deed he might do for his adopted home of Earth before he goes back to Zenn-La to die. After running into Spider-Man, he asks him for his perspective as a human (telling him only that he's leaving Earth for good, not that he's dying). Spider-Man tries to brainstorm, but he can't think of any single deed that will have the kind of lasting beneficial impact Surfer is looking for, due to all of the political and economic factors, and the nature of human society itself. Stumped, he ends up in a discussion with Surfer about the way Surfer perceives the universe, and Surfer offers to give Spidey a temporary boost of the power cosmic and let him find out what it's like for himself. Spider-Man declines, but asks, "[W]ould you mind letting someone else experience this?"
"Assuming, of course, that the effort doesn't kill him first."
One perfect moment for the Silver Surfer's endless compassion; one perfect moment for Peter Parker's integrity and insight; one perfect moment for Mary Jane Watson, his inspiration.
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Date: 2010-08-01 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-08-02 12:24 am (UTC)Been a while.
thanks for posting.
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Date: 2010-08-02 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 09:53 pm (UTC)I actually never cared about the Silver Surfer before reading this, but the pathos, the almost poetic quality of it really did me in.
And then at the end, when Galactus comes to say goodbye to Norrin Radd, and those last lines from Uatu. Man, comics don't get much better than that.
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Date: 2010-08-03 07:20 pm (UTC)In a way, this mini was almost too good, because it's become my standard of comparison for Silver Surfer writing and, well, it's hard to beat!
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Date: 2010-08-02 01:14 am (UTC)...I must go and buy this now.
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Date: 2010-08-02 10:00 pm (UTC)As I said, Galactus saying goodbye to Norrin Radd, and creating a star to honour him.
Spidey taking his mask off to say thank you for the scene that was posted, there.
The Fantastic Four trying to help the Surfer figure out why he was dying, and to save him.
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Date: 2010-08-02 10:11 am (UTC)Really awesome for MJ though :D
Also, the art here was just wow. Really lovely rendering of The Silver Surfer.
For a second, I got the impression of the U.P. Oblation.
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Date: 2010-08-02 01:43 pm (UTC)Googled the UP Oblation, now can't unsee. XD
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Date: 2010-08-02 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 01:37 pm (UTC)Is that one of Spiderman's ex-girlfriends/hook-ups?
Sorry, I'm new to Spiderman and much more of a DC person.
I hope this isn't current because if Carlie Cooper heard about this, she would kick this Mary Jane lady's butt.
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Date: 2010-08-02 01:39 pm (UTC)I honestly can't tell whether or not you're being satirical.
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Date: 2010-08-02 01:55 pm (UTC)I guess this is the same redhead he dated in the movie?
Anyways, I thought he had better chemistry with his roomie Michelle and people liked him with her better than redhead girl, but I guess they won't develop that.
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Date: 2010-08-02 02:28 pm (UTC)Yes, this is Mary Jane Watson, who was Peter's love interest in the movies (in which her character was a horrifying travesty, so don't take the films as a guide to what she's like in the comics). She was one of Peter's on-and-off love interests since the 60s and they got married in 1987. In 2007, Joe Quesada retconned their marriage by having Peter make a deal with Mephisto (the Devil, essentially) to exchange the existence of his marriage for Aunt May's life. Which, unsurprisingly, a lot of people find incredibly stupid, especially since JQ said that he didn't have them get divorced because that would set a bad example for the children. (But dealing with the devil is fine? Uh.)
Michelle, Carlie, Norah and Lily were all created after the retcon to add more love interests for Peter; I haven't heard anyone say they like Michelle/Peter, to be honest with you, since most folks I've talked to either find her really annoying or a racist stereotype, or both. Recently the writers were pushing for Carlie Cooper but it looks like MJ and Peter might be getting back together again, though not married. And no, MJ and Peter don't really have any chemistry in the Brand New Day era (but then, I don't think Peter has chemistry with anyone in BND).
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Date: 2010-08-02 02:46 pm (UTC)Huh, I thought Spiderman just used women for sex and moved onto his next conquest--like a superhero James Bond. I just like his villains, actually, not him.
Can't believe he got married. He must've needed access to her trust fund to help Aunt May with her mortgage or something? Tricked her into marriage to get access to her supervillain father/brother? *shrug* Guess I'll google it later.
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Date: 2010-08-02 03:01 pm (UTC)Gwen Stacy, the Lost Love. Tragically slain by the Green Goblin and one he is still haunted by to some extent. She was his first great love and there was a hole where she left.
Mary Jane was the girl that pulled him out a depression and supported him. She was the wild girl who settled down and it was love. They were married for a long time because they deeply cared for each other. They dated for a long time while he was in college.
When Parker was single, his luck with women was terrible but he has normal relationships. He is the joe average who's relationships crash and burn because of his responsibility as Spiderman and the Parker luck. A ladies man, he is not. He was supposed to be stand in for us as Nerds, which I suspect is why the cursed Editor got rid of the marriage.
In Summary, manwhat I don't even.
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Date: 2010-08-02 03:15 pm (UTC)Guess it makes sense though that, of all the women he could've married, Spiderman would pick one who was a supermodel *eyeroll*. It's not like he would go for the 'mousy librarian' persona. Still, that's just not "joe average" at all. Seems like even his monogamous phase was kinda superficial and sleazy.
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Date: 2010-08-02 11:07 pm (UTC)Well, if those are the three choices, I'd pick Michelle. At least when she's not being annoying. (About her being a racist stereotype, I'd say she's just this side of being a stereotype, but she's close. She's got "fiery," but not "sexpot" or "sassy." Unless I've missed those. ) Granted, she's annoying most of the time, but there were a couple of moments when I liked her. The fact that most of the plots she was involved in seem to be taken from 80s teen movies doesn't help, though.
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Date: 2010-08-03 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 08:45 pm (UTC)Let me guess how Robbie got written out. Spider-Man is supposed to be "about youth," and they already had too many old people that were prominent in the story with JJJ, Aunt May and Mr. Aunt May,never mind that Robbie should be an important part of Peter's world; the rational older father-figure who's friendly toward Peter. (It strikes me that George Stacy played the same role, which brings up a question: Did they ever make it explicit that Robbie knows that Peter is Spider-Man?)
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Date: 2010-08-03 08:59 pm (UTC)I wouldn't be surprised if you're correct about Robbie's disappearance! As far as knowing Peter's secret goes, no, they never did, but during the Civil War arc Robbie made a few comments for which the only plausible explanation is that he knew beforehand. (I'm thinking particularly of his speech to JJJ about how Jonah had been in denial because there was no other way he couldn't know who Spidey was.)
I miss George Stacy, and his friendship with Robbie. I think I miss George more than Gwen, actually.
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Date: 2010-08-03 10:00 pm (UTC)But the basic point is valid, that "It's just a joke, I'm not really a racist" doesn't mean much to the person the joke's about. I suppose if Norah's in her early twenties, she might not have figured that out yet. It actually might make for a decent story where she does figure it out, but I don't see that happening.
To go on a tangent from this tangent for a minute: I'm reminded an ancdote about Genya Ravan when she produced the Dead Boys. Being good punks, they were all wearing swastikas, this being 1977 and them being from Ohio,they didn't know more about swastikas than that punk rockers wore them. That didn't go over well with Ravan (born in Poland around 1940. See where this is going?), and she...explained...what swastikas meant.
George was a great character, though underused, which I guess is understandable, since aside from Gwen, there wasn't any reason for him to have any interaction with Peter. I can imagine him becoming something of a confessor to Peter, but Stan Lee decided to go a different way. Unlike with Gwen, I'd actually like to see George in the occasional flashback. But then we'd probably find out that Gabriel and Sarah are really his children. (though on that subject, I refuse to believe they're anything other than clones until they explain why Gabriel looked like Peter.)
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Date: 2010-08-04 11:29 am (UTC)I would love to see a Norah story where she learns better, but as you said, it seems unlikely. What makes it even worse is that for a while she was dating Randy Robertson - you know, the guy who was introduced as a civil rights activist? Of course they have stopped dating without any fanfare, so he's completely absent from her storyline in American Son, etc.
In a way I think George made things too easy for Peter, at least by the standards of the day. If you've got a father figure who knows your secret and is on your side, you're not alone against the world anymore. So I get it, but I still wish we'd had more of him. And as far as George being a confessor goes, you should definitely check out Paul Tobin's run on Marvel Adventures Spider-Man - #53-61 of "Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man," then #1-present of "Spider-Man" under the Marvel Adventures imprint. Yeah, I'm confused too. Anyway, that's exactly the role he plays in that series; it's a very interesting relationship because George is both his confessor and someone who comes to him for help.
One story in my "Pipe Dreams: Getting to Write Spider-Man!" mental folder is a flashback story called "Sunday in the Park with George." Yes, I would totally go there.
Re: Gabriel, in fairness, Peter is a brown-eyed guy with short-cropped brown hair and a muscular but average build -- that's not exactly distinctive. I fanwank it as Peter and Gabriel looking vaguely similar but Mike Deodato not being great with faces (which, much as he's improved since the Sins Past era, is kinda true).
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Date: 2010-08-02 03:41 pm (UTC)Good work.
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Date: 2010-08-03 01:25 am (UTC)One perfect moment for the Silver Surfer's endless compassion; one perfect moment for Peter Parker's integrity and insight; one perfect moment for Mary Jane Watson, his inspiration.
Perfectly summed up, too, I should think ;P
All in all, this is absolutely lovely. Thank you for sharing it!
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Date: 2010-08-03 07:38 pm (UTC)Perfectly summed up, too, I should think ;P
Haha, thanks! Glad you enjoyed.
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Date: 2010-08-03 04:09 am (UTC)Thanks for posting it. :)
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Date: 2010-08-03 02:16 pm (UTC)See Marvel? This is the Spidey we love - insightful and sweet and pretty damn noble to top it off.
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Date: 2010-08-03 07:41 pm (UTC)And yeah, just as much as MJ (if not more) I miss that Peter was a very ordinary kind of person you could aspire to be like.