Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #13

[cyberghostface]

Disclaimer: This issue was double-sized.

As a bit of context, this issue was written by Ron Zimmerman, a television writer who was at time time known for his appearances on Howard Stern. Marvel (or more specifically Bill Jemas) tried to make him the next big thing to not much success. His most famous work for Marvel was the 'Rawhide Kid' MAX miniseries.

This issue in particular introduced Zimmerman's take on Alyosha Kravinoff, Kraven's son. Alyosha first appeared as a feral psychopath and then as a generic Kraven clone (not to be confused with the actual Kraven clone who is now the new Kraven). Zimmerman reinvented him as a suave Hollywood producer ladies' man nicknamed 'Al'. 'Al' later appeared in a miniseries called 'Get Kraven' which was basically a series of in-jokes based off Zimmerman's experiences in Hollywood with 'Al' functioning as a self-insert/wish fulfillment for Zimmerman. The series was so poorly received Marvel ended it an issue early. I ended up cutting out most of his scenes from this issue but if you're wondering who the guy with long hair is now you know.

Comments

[mazway_75]

That Rawhide Kid series was painful to read in 2002 and even worse today.

Blame it on Jemas wanting to expand Marvel to let non-comic writers in and cause these messes (see the near-disaster of firing Waid from FF to turn into "wacky suburban sitcom" and it took a fan revolt to hire Waid back).

[zachbeacon]

I didn't read Rawhide Kid (because I'd read enough of his other comics by then to know better) but from a distance it seemed like they were doing a series of offensive gay stereotypes while calling everyone who criticized them a homophobe. Admittedly a lot of them were. Considering the current state of comic discourse, they might have just been ahead of their time.

Also, I know this community has a complicated relationship with PAD but, as a Genis fan, the whole "U-Decide" stunt (which also involved Zimmerman) left a really bad taste in my mouth.

[cyberghostface]

From what I’ve seen here a lot of the Rawhide Kid stuff was actually harmless with him being flamboyant but not offensively so and not even referring to his sexuality beyond veiled references. The covers with the phallic gun imagery was as explicit as it got.

[tcampbell1000]

Yeah, I had no issue with Rawhide Kid... so he leans into certain stereotypes? That actually means he's pretty gutsy in the Old West, and the way he makes his sexuality both deniable and impossible to ignore is a pretty great challenge to the mores of the time.