Spider-Man has to change

Interestingly enough, I don’t write about nerdy stuff on this blog enough. That was my original intention. To write about whatever I really wanted, but to focus on nerdy stuff. When I wrote for my college’s newspaper, check out Bing’s Pipe Dream by the way for yours truly, I would always write about nerdy stuff. Maybe 90% of the time. Lately I’ve been writing a lot of self-reflection, mental health, or interpersonal relationship type content. It’s nice. It’s a great way to get my thoughts out. It feels good. Let’s change that for today. I wanna talk about my favorite superhero.

I love Spider-Man, and have loved him for my entire life. I grew up reading the comics, playing the games, watching the movies and shows, all of it. Lately, ever since about 2022, the newer Spidey comics in recent memory have been… how do I say this? Pretty awful. There are a multitude of reasons for this. I want to tackle this from the perspective of a fan but also give context to people who aren’t. I’ll do what I can. 

So, in 2007, there was a Spidey story called One More Day. This is really confusing, but this essentially reset Spidey’s story and universe, and it involved him and his then wife, Mary Jane, making a deal with the devil to help them in return for undoing their marriage. Deadass. Stupid as hell. It’s not confirmed, but widely speculated that the editor in chief at the time hated the fact that Spidey was married, and thinks he’s a better character if he’s single and constantly dating or hooking up. Stupid. I get it, but come on. MJ and Pete are made for each other. Splitting them up was not the move. 

Flash forward to 2022, we’ve had tons and tons of Spidey comics since, but they’ve always played with Pete and MJ getting back together. Then they did in 2018, but four years later they split up again. Again, another stupid reason I’m not even going to touch. Not only did they split these two up who are MADE for each other, but Peter Parker’s characterization wasn’t exactly on point. A lot of times in modern Spidey comics nowadays, Pete is a manchild. He can’t hold a job, a relationship, he’s incompetent as a superhero, he’s getting his ass beat a lot and he can’t do anything right. It’s frustrating as hell as a fan of the character to see him being written like this. It feels like he’s in circles.

Peter can’t grow up and change. Superheroes need to have status quos. I get it. Superman is always gonna be super strong and wholesome, Batman’s parents are always going to be dead, and Spidey is always going to be relatable. But characters MUST change. Superman has been a happy husband and father in the comics for years now. Batman has had a son in the comics for a while too. Spidey? He should be able to grow and change. He did. He got married and there were talks in the 90s of him having a baby with MJ. That story was thrown away eventually, but still. Peter isn’t growing. He’s not being allowed to grow. 

And honestly, it’s the writer’s and editor’s fault. It’s most likely the editor’s because Spidey editors are known for being crazy controlling. Spider-Man is unequivocally Marvel’s most popular character, you’d think they’d put more effort into their flagship mascot. But they don’t. His current comics have been so puzzling. The stories are just so iterative and mind-boggling. One recent story had Peter turning evil, and recreating “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, one of the best comic stories the character has ever had. As I write this, he’s turning evil AGAIN. Are you kidding me?

I can’t make this shit up. I don’t even enjoy reading these comics because they’re just so bad. It’s kinda funny how bad they are. There are some side comics that aren’t though. Spectacular Spider-Men is a fun team up book that takes my mind off of how bad the main Amazing Spider-Man book is. Ultimate Spider-Man is a new series that takes place in an entirely different universe and is 1000x better than the current book. It’s kind of embarrassing. I’m glad there’s still some good Spidey stuff in the comic realm, but come on. The main comic for the character should be great. And it’s not. It hasn’t been for years. What a damn shame. If I was in charge, Peter would be growing up. He would be with MJ, and going on new adventures that both challenge him and show him why he’s one of the greatest fictional characters ever made. Hopefully one day soon Marvel wakes up.