Post by superecwfan1 on Jul 25, 2014 8:59:49 GMT -5
I was debating on a new thread to post to show I'm back. My mind was debating on what to post about. Then it clicked. I have always had a special place for horrible storylines and like my other thread...(which I promise will have an update soon) this one will have me post about a particular storyline and I go full bore into why its a horrible arc. Then we can debate said arc. Til I post the next potential horrible story-arc and so on.
Given that comics has a long history I'm sure there is a ton of bad storylines we can discuss in this thread. So lets get this party started with an easy target to start the discussion.
The background - J. Michael Straczynski had came in a few years earlier and breathed new life into the Amazing Spider-Man title. The breath of fresh air injected sales back into the character after years of slipping sales and a number revamp failed . He also injected new villains and possible mystical type origin into why Peter Parker became Spider-Man.
JMS run is considered one of the best....until he ran into Sins Past and his run never recovered.
Sins Past -
The story was that a long delayed letter (5 years folks) somehow made its way to Peter Parker. This letter revealed a shocking change to the classic reason why Gwen Stacy died. Also 2 mysterious rogues appeared as well during this time. The revelation from the letter and from Mary-Jane (who kept this a secret for years) was that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborn and had his super aged babies. A girl named Sarah and a man named Gabriel. The 2 were the mysterious rogues who attacked Peter and blamed him for their mothers death. Peter managed to get to Sarah and convince her he didn't kill their mother and that it was Norman Osborn. Who was manipulating them behind the scenes. At the end Gabriel disappeared for awhile as did Sarah. Both would later appear in comics up til this year.
Why is it so God F---- Awful ?
Lets sit down and examine this horrible arc. The letter itself took 5 years to deliver in the US Postal service from Europe folks. Maybe back in the grand ole days when mail delivery was slow this happens. But not in the current era of mail delivery and the fact this storyline was supposedly 5 years ago.
Then we have Mary-Jane's role as the supportive wife in this. MJ would keep this an odd secret for years , knowing in the back of her mind the sainted image of Gwen Stacy in Peter's mind was a lie. So for years she kept this piss poor secret from Peter and tortured him in a way by never revealing this.
Gwen Stacy's death was a key moment in comics. One that beside Uncle Ben is considered a key early building block In Spider-Man's life. That her innocent loss at the hands of Norman Osborn showed him the price he could pay as a hero and to those he loved. In this piss poor series Gwen's death was the reaction of an angry spurned lover . Which makes the innocent tragic death that fans love today into a joke.
The children themselves was originally supposed to be Peter Parker's . That was JMS idea but the editors felt it would age Peter too much and decided again , it should be a plot for Norman Osborn. Who had been so over used that decade that editors didn't seem to mind him again taking part in a story arc that not many wanted to see. The children were drawn comically to look like Gwen Stacy (Sarah) and Peter Parker (Gabriel)
Its been joked online that , Mike Deodato Jr who drew the arc never was told to change Gabriel to look like Norman Osborn. Also another theory was Deodato saw the lackluster crap of a story this was and made a joke at Marvel . Either way to not miss the ship date , Marvel published the arc with what was there. <br><br>
At the end of this the sad fact is these characters were so darn scorned no one wanted to read them. So in Marvel's infinite wisdom , they continued to push and promote the characters. At last seen , fans have continued to send the message they don't care for this.
The Reaction - After the story had been ran , creators slammed the story and Marvel for this. Alex Ross himself detailed he no longer could do any work with Gwen Stacy since the stink of this storyline made the character look bad. Ross made his feelings known to Wizard about it.
Others mocked the story as a reaction to DC's more planned out "Identity Crisis" which was hitting at the same time and point that Sins Past was to come out. The critics asked if Marvel had seen what DC was doing and decided this story arc needed to be done to copy it in a sense.
JMS to his credit hated what was published and told online he wanted to make changes. He wanted Peter to be the father originally but was stopped. He also years later had the belief he could retcon this story away in One More Day. Instead was told he couldn't because again....Marvel wanted to keep it canon.
The reaction of this arc would impact JMS work the rest of the way on Spider-Man. His work would never measure up to the great stuff he had done earlier. Many point to Sins Past as the moment his Spider-Man work "jumped the shark" and would never recover.
Given that comics has a long history I'm sure there is a ton of bad storylines we can discuss in this thread. So lets get this party started with an easy target to start the discussion.
The background - J. Michael Straczynski had came in a few years earlier and breathed new life into the Amazing Spider-Man title. The breath of fresh air injected sales back into the character after years of slipping sales and a number revamp failed . He also injected new villains and possible mystical type origin into why Peter Parker became Spider-Man.
JMS run is considered one of the best....until he ran into Sins Past and his run never recovered.
Sins Past -
The story was that a long delayed letter (5 years folks) somehow made its way to Peter Parker. This letter revealed a shocking change to the classic reason why Gwen Stacy died. Also 2 mysterious rogues appeared as well during this time. The revelation from the letter and from Mary-Jane (who kept this a secret for years) was that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborn and had his super aged babies. A girl named Sarah and a man named Gabriel. The 2 were the mysterious rogues who attacked Peter and blamed him for their mothers death. Peter managed to get to Sarah and convince her he didn't kill their mother and that it was Norman Osborn. Who was manipulating them behind the scenes. At the end Gabriel disappeared for awhile as did Sarah. Both would later appear in comics up til this year.
Why is it so God F---- Awful ?
Lets sit down and examine this horrible arc. The letter itself took 5 years to deliver in the US Postal service from Europe folks. Maybe back in the grand ole days when mail delivery was slow this happens. But not in the current era of mail delivery and the fact this storyline was supposedly 5 years ago.
Then we have Mary-Jane's role as the supportive wife in this. MJ would keep this an odd secret for years , knowing in the back of her mind the sainted image of Gwen Stacy in Peter's mind was a lie. So for years she kept this piss poor secret from Peter and tortured him in a way by never revealing this.
Gwen Stacy's death was a key moment in comics. One that beside Uncle Ben is considered a key early building block In Spider-Man's life. That her innocent loss at the hands of Norman Osborn showed him the price he could pay as a hero and to those he loved. In this piss poor series Gwen's death was the reaction of an angry spurned lover . Which makes the innocent tragic death that fans love today into a joke.
The children themselves was originally supposed to be Peter Parker's . That was JMS idea but the editors felt it would age Peter too much and decided again , it should be a plot for Norman Osborn. Who had been so over used that decade that editors didn't seem to mind him again taking part in a story arc that not many wanted to see. The children were drawn comically to look like Gwen Stacy (Sarah) and Peter Parker (Gabriel)
Its been joked online that , Mike Deodato Jr who drew the arc never was told to change Gabriel to look like Norman Osborn. Also another theory was Deodato saw the lackluster crap of a story this was and made a joke at Marvel . Either way to not miss the ship date , Marvel published the arc with what was there. <br><br>
At the end of this the sad fact is these characters were so darn scorned no one wanted to read them. So in Marvel's infinite wisdom , they continued to push and promote the characters. At last seen , fans have continued to send the message they don't care for this.
The Reaction - After the story had been ran , creators slammed the story and Marvel for this. Alex Ross himself detailed he no longer could do any work with Gwen Stacy since the stink of this storyline made the character look bad. Ross made his feelings known to Wizard about it.
Others mocked the story as a reaction to DC's more planned out "Identity Crisis" which was hitting at the same time and point that Sins Past was to come out. The critics asked if Marvel had seen what DC was doing and decided this story arc needed to be done to copy it in a sense.
JMS to his credit hated what was published and told online he wanted to make changes. He wanted Peter to be the father originally but was stopped. He also years later had the belief he could retcon this story away in One More Day. Instead was told he couldn't because again....Marvel wanted to keep it canon.
The reaction of this arc would impact JMS work the rest of the way on Spider-Man. His work would never measure up to the great stuff he had done earlier. Many point to Sins Past as the moment his Spider-Man work "jumped the shark" and would never recover.
