Progression VS Regression

Over Thanksgiving break, I have been thinking about this concept while choking down on turkey. I stated how the majority of people that don’t like Brand New Day Spider-man are not against change and have facts to back that up. I also think that maybe there are some that are enjoying Brand New Day Spider-man are afraid of change. I will explain that shortly.

Examine the characters pre-One More Day:

1. Peter acted responsible.
2. Aunt May was relevant.
3. Mary Jane was starting to become a full character.
4. Peter life move beyond his teenage years.
5. Spider-man was relevant to the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Those are some major changes from where the characters started. Sure, there were minor problems that a writer with a marginal talent could have fix like the supporting cast members and things like that, but those minor problems were deemed top priority by those that want Spider-man stuck in teenage angst forever. These changes were accepted by most readers and become part of the Spider-man Universe. They lead to better stories full of drama and brought the character forward to the 21st century and not stuck in the concepts of the 60s held. The characters grow beyond those simple beginnings and became legendary figures to which people can say that is the way life grows in the real world. Remove the superhero aspect of the book and that is what I am getting at. Spider-man fighting this month’s bad is cool and all, but the personal life of Peter Parker kept me coming back for more of the story. I want to see him grow and change as person that went from a shy teenager to a responsible adult. That is the real story here and not the freaking costume.

There is a major misconception at Marvel that this reboot needed to be done to tell these stories that are coming out now. Huh? Really? You guys couldn’t tell any of these stories within the marriage? Seriously? NWTD, 24/7, American Son, and Red Headed Chameleon story couldn’t have done with the marriage still being part of the book? Do you guys think the buyer is that stupid? I know we couldn’t have the drunken hook-up with Michelle or the friends with benefits with Black Cat, but I think most readers would be willing to say that those things should have never been written in the first place because it lessens Peter’s character. In fact, the writers are trying to back pedal on the drunken hook up thing in a recent issue. That is clear sign of a major mistake was made and confidence at Marvel is lowering with this group as writers and editors. To make this very clear, these are not “new ideas” these are old ideas from the previous runs of Spider-man that were done a lot better by people that really cared about the character and not just want to voice their political or sexual views. They use a feather touch on stories that dealt with controversial subjects and not hit you over the head with their view.

Change means something is different. How is Spider-man different than the character that was written, better I must add, in 60-early90s run? It isn’t really with the exception the increased sexual talk in the book. I just can’t believe that people want to read tired old storylines dress up in trash and call new. It isn’t different or even original. That is what bothers me the most about all of this talk. I am not against change and for something new being done on something I enjoyed reading. This Brand New Day isn’t new, original, or even good reading 90% of the time. They have made Mary Jane the bad guy in the relationship. They have made Peter a man-whore with Black Cat which in turn makes unlikeable to the people that used to have a connection with that character. Sadly, the writers have chosen to relive their youth through Peter and not try to write decent stories. Stories that will grab you on an emotional level or make you think about what is Peter going through in this arc. These are fanfic, poorly written fanfic, from the 90s done by people who don’t want to grow beyond their childish expectations of a single Peter Parker.

I will not deny that there are people that are enjoying Brand New Day Spider-man. I enjoyed the “Who is Ben Reilly” arc and thought it was the best story I read from this crew in a real long time. I always said that those are enjoying this book are lucky because they can enjoy reading Spider-man while I can’t do it. I remember too much of his full story. I remember all the development that was thrown away in the trash for this current status of the title. In other words, I remember my Peter Parker that I grew up with from a boy to an adult. Little known fact, I got married the same year Peter did in the book. I felt a connection to the character because I was the loner in High School and have very few friends. Life experience change how I view Peter’s life and dare say that these writers haven’t experience life enough to be called a writer. Is that harsh? Yes, because it is true. I have yet to see any of them treat fans like people that the need to win respect from and earn their trust in order to get them to read the book.

Regression is taking advancement and removing that progression for reasons to improve the quality of the characters. That is not, I repeat not, what happened here. The distribution numbers back me up on this due to one issue of Brand New Day Amazing Spider-man doesn’t not match the pervious run. I dare say that the regression has made thing a lot worst for the book due to fans being vocal, very vocal, about their disgust over it. It hasn’t gone away in 2 years, and I think it will not go away until the regression is done away with and a return to old status is return. In turn, that would validate 20 years of stories as printed and start the long path of winning those readers back which in turn increases the bottom line for Marvel Publishing. Sure, that is asking Marvel to say that they made a mistake and make a correction, but what is more important here? Walking around with the attitude that these readers don’t matter and will be replaced soon enough, or realizing that making money with a lot of happy readers discussion the story is more positive move?

An unexpected result is the misconception that those that have stop or criticize Brand New Day Spider-man are negative. That is wrong. I am a positive person. I want to believe in our President is doing the right thing. I want to believe that things are getting better every day. I believe people are basically good and that evil is a rarity that happens. If that makes me negative, paint me pink and call me Rufus. I tried to communicate in a way that explains fully my position. I go to great lengths to point out in a respectful fashion why I feel the way I do about things. With great regret, I have been insulted because of doing that by a writer. That is why this blog came into being, plus I want to write things that go through my head that has nothing to do with comics. My intention here is to make people to think beyond themselves and to make me think too. I hope reading these rants of mine makes you think beyond what you see every day and look at things in a slightly different way. Just if certain people at Marvel could see that, maybe just maybe there would have been a different view of them as a people. They need to stop thinking everything that a reader says is about them. The readers have paid for the right to bitch about something that they don’t like in ASM. It is time Marvel to wake up to that fact. Yes, I do read ASM still when I can get through it without shaking my head in disgust. In other words, dance for my pleasure Marvel...DANCE MONKEYBOY!!!