February 12, 2007 5:20
Spider-Man: We Always Hurt the One We Love
Bookslut points me to this -- to all appearances -- justifiably savage review of Spider-man: Reign #3. The Reign mini-series is set 35 years in the future, with a middle-aged Spidey -- yaar, spoilers -- mourning the death of his beloved Mary Jane. (There's a 10-page preview from the first issue here.) What killed Mary Jane? Cancer. From? From prolonged exposure to Peter Parker's, ulp, bodily fluids. The review quotes actual dialogue from the comic: "Loving me killed you!"
This is A) the very definition of bathetically bad comics writing. B) a limp rip-off of Niven's original take on Superman and Lois Lane's love life, "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" ("Superman would literally crush LL's body in his arms, while simultaneously ripping her open from crotch to sternum, gutting her like a trout..." C) Implausible, no, nonsensical, in so many ways. Yeesh. It's just amazing what gets perpetrated in the name of a once-proud franchise.
Meanwhile I've been reading DMZ. It's a little in love with its own darkness/political revelance, but it's almost totally free of radioactive semen.
About Nerd World
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
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Reader Comments (4)
No one complained when Alan Moore did the same with Dr Manhattan in Watchmen.
Posted by Rich Johnston | February 13, 2007 8:40 AM
IIRC, that actually turned out not to be the case -- that was just propaganda cooked up by the government.
And anyway, it would have made sense with Dr. M -- he didn't get bit by an irradiated spider, he got blasted by a huge nuclear blast thingummy.
Posted by Lev | February 13, 2007 10:27 AM
:rolleyes:
It's funny 'cause Lev needs others' opinions to fill the bulk of a post bashing Kaare Andrew's (a talented artist) latest work (essentially a vanity project). He even throws in the old Larry Niven reference, a treatise which could be applied to a great majority of superheroes.
It's also funny 'cause in the history of Spider-Man comics, there never really has been a great story since Gwen was thrown off the bridge. Well, until Lev finishes his Spider-Man story.
Figures he's a fan of played out mainstream 'indy' book like DMZ.
It's 'time' to hire a new nerd, Time!
Posted by Amy Racecar | February 18, 2007 4:08 AM
Sorry kids, Reign was awful before the killer spider semen was reveled. It was pitched as marvel's Dark Night Returns but i didnt expect it to literally be a rip off of DKR. Kaare is a great artist but from what I've seen he's a horrible writer.
Posted by ripvanruben | February 18, 2007 3:03 PM