“That’s right, get off my lawn!”
The New Mutants #1
Marvel Comics Group (March, 1983)
“Initiation”
WRITER/CO-CREATOR: Chris Claremont
PENCILER/CO-CREATOR: Bob McLeod
INKER/NOT A CO-CREATOR: Mike Gustovich
COLORIST: Glynis Wein
LETTERER: Tom Orzechowski
EDITOR: Louise Jones
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Go back through my own reviews of Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man and you’ll see that I also love Chat as Peter’s love interest. Paul Tobin and Jeff Parker both made this and Marvel Adventures: The Avengers (one of my favorite comic series ever) must read comics no matter what age group it was intended for. They tell good stories and why I don’t buy kids stories are supposedly inherently bad, as claimed by people who hate kids stories. It’s why I’d rather watch the Disney Junior Spidey show over reading the current comics. More on that tonight.
However, Chat only had one writer: Paul Tobin, and he clearly loved this character he was writing. Mary Jane Watson had numerous writers, some who outright hated the character and were trying to get rid of her. It took until Joe Quesada, an editor-in-chief who also hated her, to finally ruin her character and the Spider-Marriage. Go back and watch NerdSync’s video on why Mary Jane was so perfect they got rid of Gwen Stacy when MJ was originally intended to be a challenge to their relationship. Because nobody was fighting against Chat and don’t think the current writers wouldn’t ruin her out of this crazy idea that Peter’s “relatability” comes from being a loser with no long term love interest because of Spider-Man, she and Peter were able to better grow as a couple. Except that they’re teenagers and any concerns Mary Jane had was from an adult’s perspective. Adults feel less immortal and the thought of growing up without the love of her life bothered her. Under a good writer who doesn’t hate her, MJ is perfect. Would Chat survive a similar problem with a writer who hates her? We thankfully don’t know because Paul Tobin knows what the hell he’s doing with Spider-Man.
I love Chat despite reading these comics as an adult, but a properly written Mary Jane has proven herself better for Peter in the long run.
Our previous chapter was a bit short. So all we got to see was Jean Paul Notbatman get talked about when Bruce got home. I spent more time talking about a later comic than I did the chapter as a result.
As noted in previous parts, the only major failing of this book, if indeed the idea is to show that a more violent Batman is a bad thing (something that apparently is being ignored in current Batman titles from what I hear) we haven’t seen it on display in this novelization, and this is written by the editor who came up with it…after being forced to because Superman’s death was such a moneymaker for DC that someone said “okay, what can you do to make Batman suffer?” and O’Neil and the Bat-Writers had to come up with a theme, must as Death & Return Of Superman focused on what Superman meant to Metropolis and the world.
However, the theme of Batman goes hardcore hasn’t really been present thus far outside of the Bane battle, mentioned but not really shown. The closest we’ve come is seeing that there is an internal struggle between honoring the Bat symbol and the remaining programming of The System put on Jean Paul by the Order Of St. Dumas. It’s been the only weakness in the novel thus far. Let’s see if the next chapter does a bit better on that front.
I didn’t even know turtle hunting existed.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #12
Mirage Studios (October, 1987)
“Survivalists”
WRITER/ARTIST: Peter Laird
LETTERER: Steve Lavigne
Unless for some reason you count Void Rivals because it had a Jetfire cameo and started the so-called “Energon Universe” with an original title. He splits the video between non-spoiler and spoiler sections so you get both.
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My response after watching the video: So everything I don’t like about modern comics and most of what I don’t want in Transformers (plus what they did to my boy Bumblebee) they did. I was hoping this would be closer to Super Dinosaur than The Walking Dead but sucks to be me. Not shaming anyone for liking it but it’s a hard pass for me personally.
Now everything else Rachel Ziegler’s complained about, that’s just lame.
Consider how many performers dressed as Snow White in the hot California or Florida sun for hours, walking around a giant theme park with at best lunch and bathroom breaks and Zeigler complaining that she should get extra “hazard” pay for wearing the Snow White dress is just pathetic.
Over at The Clutter Reports this week I’m done organizing the Comics For Sale section. I still have more comics to list but at least now it’s easier to find something you’re interested in.
More of the same coming up this week. We’re concluding phase 1 of Beast Machine Hunters with the last part of Marv Wolfman’s confusing story treatment before moving to the actual Season 1 guide. Plus the continuing Chapter By Chapter review of Batman: Knightfall is still going on. In between depends on what grabs my attention. Have a great week, everyone!
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 
Even Spider-Fan Writers Aren’t Into Modern Spider-Man
Spider-Man is Marvel’s flagship character. That’s why they fought so hard to get him in the Cinematic Universe, even if he’s only Peter in physical design, with maybe a few good quips. That’s on Sony but that’s another discussion. Created by Stan Lee and designed by Steve Ditko, Peter Parker’s first appearance was in the last issue of horror anthology Amazing Fantasy, all the way back in the 1960s. Lee had tried to get his bosses to let him do the character but they weren’t into him…until Spider-Man got such a strong response that they suddenly loved the idea and Amazing Spider-Man #1 soon hit shelves.
However, there are a lot of problems with modern Spider-Man. There are some things you can trace back to the 1990s but it’s in the 2010s and 2020s that the characters has really started suffering. Recently, Avi Green of Four Color Media Monitor, a comic critique and commentary site that sometimes has articles on Bleeding Fool, located a commentary on the Spider-Man fansite Spider-Fan. At least it was a fansite. While still up as of this writing I can’t find a review after 2015 of the main books and the contributors (that’s plural) only seem to post something once a month to the blog. In June, contributor Adam Winchell posted a commentary entitled “Spider-Man Ends: Or Why It’s Time For Marvel To Hang Up The Webs”, which you can read here for full context as I go over the commentary. With a title I don’t think I have to tell you what it’s about, or how hard it was for someone who writes for a Spider-Man fansite literally called Spider-FAN to make such a statement. So what does he say and how much sense does he make?
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on October 10, 2023 in Marvel Spotlight and tagged commentary, Marvel Universe, Peter Parker, Spider-Man (Peter Parker).
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