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Time’s Up: One More Look at Spider-Man’s One More Day

With Dan Slott’s monumental 10-year run on Amazing Spider-Man finally coming to an end this month, it’s a good time to look back at the event that kicked off this strange new era for Spider-Man, the immensely controversial and divisive “One More Day” anti-saga. In the Fall of 2007, Marvel serialized the storyline in Amazing Spider-Man #544-545, Friendly Neighborhood #24, and Sensational #41. Hyped for nearly a year, the exact details of the story were not made specific, but fans were aware it was going to accomplish three things: end J. Michael Straczynski’s tenure as writer of the flagship title, set up the new “thrice-monthly” shipping Brand New Day status quo, and somehow change Spider-Man’s world dramatically. Rumors were flying left and right, to the point where even the most naive fan went into the story arc aware that it was likely going to somehow result in the ending of the marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. And end, it indeed did. Continue reading “Time’s Up: One More Look at Spider-Man’s One More Day”

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New ‘Venom’ Trailer Breakdown

Sony has unleashed a new trailer for Venom, and there’s a few interesting things to look at. Here ’tis:

It looks as if they are indeed adapting the “Lethal Protector” series where Venom is the hero/protagonist, and it appears that Spider-Man will make nary an appearance, let alone the Tom Holland version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This seems to be its own thing, like those odd standalone Fox Marvel movies from a decade ago. Is anyone else getting strong Ghost Rider vibes from this trailer? “I’m the only one who can walk on both worlds; I’m Venom/Blade/Ghost Rider/Constantine.” Here we seem to be getting investigative journalist Eddie Brock uncovering a conspiracy about the suit, manufactured in a lab rather than catapulted from space, and after he steals it wacky hi-jinks ensue, or something. There isn’t much to go on but that big tongue right out of the ’90’s comics at the end looked pretty nice at least! Continue reading “New ‘Venom’ Trailer Breakdown”

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Carousel: The Circular Nature of Comic Books

In the first season finale episode of Mad Men, Jon Hamm’s dapper Don Draper is trying to sell a version of Kodak’s Carousel home slide projector, which was ostensibly a product in 1960. Making a pitch while he rifles through pictures of his family and himself in better times, Don delivers a monologue so moving that even hapless Harry Crane wheezes tearfully from the room. He narrates, “In Greek, nostalgia literally means pain; the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge, in your heart. Far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place, where we ache to go again. It’s not called ‘The Wheel,’ it’s called ‘The Carousel.’ It lets us travel in the way a child travels. Round and round, and then back home again. To a place where we know- we are loved.” Continue reading “Carousel: The Circular Nature of Comic Books”

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Teenage Wasteland: The Ultimate Legacy of Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, ran for 160 issues from September 2000 to June 2011, of which Bagley illustrated 116 (plus change) of those issues, with a few interim artists and relaunches lumped in-between. It was a fascinating, widely beloved comic of its time that was practically the face of “Nu Marvel” and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada under his regime, remaining well-regarded even today. Both one of the first “reboots” of a character attempted in the modern era, and not at all as much of a controversial gamble as revisionists would lead you to think, USM (as it has become known) explored Peter Parker in his formative high school years, along with his cast of friends and villains updated and refurbished for the new millennium. Extremely decompressed, the greater story spanned about two years’ comic book time over eleven real years and launched the eponymous Ultimate Universe, to become one of Marvel Comics’ preeminent series. It was a fan favorite, a top seller, and won numerous awards. And it had almost nothing in common with the youth of the day it was supposedly created to appeal to, nor has it had any real permanent legacy beyond being fondly remembered and kind of/sort of leading to Bendis’ creation of Peter’s successor, Miles Morales. That is all, of course, besides one important lasting influence that the series left on Spider-Man, one which may not have changed him for the better at all. Continue reading “Teenage Wasteland: The Ultimate Legacy of Ultimate Spider-Man”