New Amazing Spider-Man team announced

[cyberghostface]

 Amazing Spider-Man is being relaunched in April with Peter Parker returning as Spidey and the new creative team is... Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.

I got a chuckle when Marvel's press release described Zeb Wells with "His 'Shed' storyline is considered one of the best Spider-Man stories of all time". You know, the story that tried to reinvent the Lizard by having the Lizard eat his son as a way to 'kill' Curt Connors and then using his new abilities to make New Yorkers rape each other (via their 'lizard brain' taking over)? The same story that both Dan Slott and Nick Spencer immediately spent the next decade trying to undo? Not doubting that someone out there considers that to be "one of the "best Spider-Man stories of all time" but I don't think it's a commonly held opinion.

In all fairness, Zeb has written some genuinely good comics (see: his Tangled Web output) so... fingers crossed.

Here's a tease at what's going to be happening. Apparently Peter does something bad.

Comments

[iamrman]

Always happy to see John Romita Jr. on Spidey.

Hope this doesn't mean Ben gets fridged again.

[cyberghostface]

‘Timeless’ implied he’s moving to Los Angeles.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/ben-reillys-future-teased-in-marvel-comics-timeless-1-spoilers/

[angelophile]

This looks vaguely familiar...

[atj99]

Just read up on this. Talk about a dark Iron Man (2020) story...

[angelophile]

Yep. They really went there with Arno in the 80s.

[dragontail]

I had exactly the same thought.

[donnblake]

I know Peter has had some trouble with his powers in the past, but he's not usually the "Blast a crater in the ground," type. Maybe he finally gave into the Mad side of science?

[llordllama]

Are we entirely sure this isn't 'What DID Peter eat?'

[bradygirl_12]

Are we entirely sure this isn't 'What DID Peter eat?'

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater!

[zachbeacon]

Seriously, did an editor lose Chip Zdarsky's contact info?

(Or Kelly Thompson ... since I thought she was the most promising of the small army of current Spidey writers even though I've yet to read one of her Amazing issues)

I've said it before but I think Zeb Wells is all over the place in terms of writing quality so this just seems like a coin flip.

Conversely, I feel like fandom has turned on John Romita Jr and I just don't get why. He's easily among my top five Spidey artists. Maybe top three.

[thumbs13]

Zdarsky didn't wanna take over the main book because all the pressure would be on him to undo OMD when he couldn't do that, from what I remember him saying.

[bravest_spinja]

I do think it's because he, like a lot of artists, leans more and more into his stylistic quirks as he gets older, and as this will be what, his third return to the character? So it makes the comparisons more and more obvious.

Also, he was giving characters mullets as recently as 2010.

[tinygaylaura]

I know Endless Misery is practically Peter's middle name but I do feel like it'd be nice if Marvel just cut the guy a break for a few years

He's been dead, had his body stolen, lost his step-father, had his best friend turn out to be a clone/bug demon/some fucking thing, been hunted for sport, been betrayed by another of his friends on top of the one who was a bug demon, been put in a coma....

I think the last time I saw Peter happy for an uninterrupted period of time was some time in the 90's

[zachbeacon]

I think the Parker Inc stuff was an attempt to give him a break ... if only because they were running out of things to take from him and kinda had to build him back up a little. Likewise with Big Time and the Avengers stuff before the unmasking in Civil War.

[tinygaylaura]

I mean when I say give him a break I mean more just let him be happy with his friends and family and loved ones and not constantly have the people he loves dying on him

I think its important to still keep him as very much a grounded street level hero rather than trying to turn him into a Spidery Tony Stark like that whole "Parker Inc" thing did

I do find it very in character that Peter is the only billionaire in perhaps all of human history to go broke tho

[stubbleupdate]

Is it my imagination, or is his leg messed up?

[zachbeacon]

Weird unnatural poses are just a perfectly normal Spider-Man thing.

[stubbleupdate]

There is an angle in his shin bone. Or he has two knees.

[zachbeacon]

I've seen weirder Spider-Man poses so, yeah, sometimes I think the spider-bite must have given him extra joints.

[shakalooloo]

No, his left hand is messed up - that is NOT how one holds their fingers whilst THWIPPing!!!

[super_fly]

He's got WAY too much thumb there

[bravest_spinja]

I think he looks like he's turning into Spider-Eugene Levy.

[jkcarrier]

Going for a Ditko-ish look, and not quite pulling it off:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/538813542913172086/

[lordultimus]

Hellions was really good, so maybe he's improved?

[mindsweeper]

It was great. If this Spider-man thing goes to crap, I hope Wells comes back the X-books.

[deh_tommy]

On the one hand, I loved his Carnage miniseries (miniserieses?) and Hellions was a blast. On the other, Brand New Day.

I hope this is good...

[zachbeacon]

He also wrote some stories in Peter Parker Spider-Man series that were mostly* good but he got overshadowed by the regular writer (Jenkins) and JMS over in Amazing.

*Even there he's all over the place. The villain team-up and bounty hunter issues were hilarious. The Sandman MTV two parter was bizarre social commentary that probably hasn't aged well. The follow-up to that Sandman story is unreadable garbage.

[janegray]

"His 'Shed' storyline is considered one of the best Spider-Man stories of all time".

And this is why, when I ask for recs, I always ask people in communities and such. NEVER the press. Those sellouts would give warm praise to a literal pile of shit.

[tinygaylaura]

Now now

All waste starts out as food and drink that our bodies consume. So at one point it was something good that we enjoyed

So don't compare Shed to a pile of shit. That's an insult to shit

[zachbeacon]

Aren't shit Spider-Man stories mostly just used as fertilizer for Nick Spencer retcons?

[ap0cryphal]

Goddamnit, I'd actually managed to forget about Curt's cannibalism phase, and that it was under Zeb Wells' watch.

My offhand opinion is that folks who liked Shed probably also liked Reign's punchline with the radioactive sperm. They're both about the right level of overwrought self-seriousness.

I still remember him most for that post-dark reign Elektra Mini - Clay Mann was on art, I think - which was a well-told, grim bit of work. And, you know, Hellions has actually been pretty great. So maybe this time, it'll be better?

[tinygaylaura]

"My offhand opinion is that folks who liked Shed probably also liked Reign's punchline with the radioactive sperm"

"What killed MJ?

Listen chum

It was Peter Parker's radioactive cum

OH NO

Here comes Spider-Tragedy"