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Monday, February 17, 2014 

Dan Slott wants to stuff more mess into Spider-Man's origins

The AP/Miami Herald says Slott is "paying homage" to Spidey's origins, but he's only bound to clog in a lot more PC madness:
There's more to the story about how Peter Parker became the amazing Spider-Man than previously was known.

Starting in May, Marvel Comics will shed more light on how the transformation took place and how those early days of fighting crime, juggling school and coming to terms with the emotional blow of losing Uncle Ben helped turn Parker from a gawky teenager with a knack for cracking-wise into the hero and human he's become.

Dan Slott, who has been writing Spider-Man for Marvel since 2008, said the new story not only pays homage to the first 1962 appearance of the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko-created character, but peels back more layers of what was going on in the first volume of the 700-issue "The Amazing Spider-Man," which began in March 1963.

"When you're looking at things in those issues, you're going: 'Wait a minute! How did this happen? How did he get this? Where did this come from? Why didn't Aunt May ever wonder about that?'" he said.
I'm not wondering how this or that happened, I'm just reading them for a great moment of escapism. Besides, there have been other writers who've done this already, and with far better respect for the material than he's ever shown.
The five-part story titled "Learning To Crawl" starts May 7 with "Amazing Spider-Man" 1.1 and concludes in September with issue 1.5. Slott is writing the interlude with art by Ramón Pérez. Artist Alex Ross has painted each of the story's five covers.

Slott calls the story a chance to learn more about Parker the teenager and high school student, not just the recipient of a bite from a radioactive spider.
No, it's not a chance to learn anything I haven't already. Rather, it's a chance for Slott to stuff in more of his slimy, cynical ideas for what makes an entertaining story. It sounds very much like what J. Michael Stracynski said he was doing with Spidey, yet in the end, it was a mere exercise in his own brand of leftism, and cynicism.
"You start looking at it closer and closer and you go, 'There's a story here that we're not seeing,'" he said. "A very pivotal and crucial story that lovingly respects everything that went on but tells you more, so much more about Spider-Man and so much more about Peter Parker."

What is it that readers will learn? Slott is notorious about keeping a lid on his plans, preferring to let readers find out the day a book is out and not before.
That's exactly why it's not worth the effort - his ideas are obviously so bad, pedestrian at best, and disrespectful of everything Spidey, no matter what he says, that he'd rather not tell anyone much at all. One thing he did tell the AP is that there's a new villain he's shoehorning in:
But there are clues, hints even, such as a new villain never before revealed who may or may not be Parker's peer, inspired by newspaper and TV reports of Spider-Man's actions.

"Someone's running around trying to be just like Spider-Man and there's no way in Peter's mind that he's not responsible for everything that guy's going to do," said Slott of the Ditko-esque bad guy he would not name.

"He's got his first villain who is his own age, someone that he's inspired" instead of clashing with The Vulture or Doctor Octopus or the Lizard, all of whom were adults and authority figures.

"He's a troubled teen hero fighting a troubled teen villain!" Slott said.
I get it, just another attempt to set up a morally equivalent mirror image. And probably not the Chameleon, since he too was an adult, nor Flash Thompson, since he wasn't corrupt enough. But whoever this character is he's retconning in, he's not bound to be worth shelling out 4 dollars for either. What it does sound like is a blame-game, with Spidey the scapegoat for influencing a crook.

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It just sounds stupid. Why do they need to constantly tinker with the origins? Some are better left alone. I can understand having to update, say iron man's origin from Vietnam to Afghanistan, but it doesn't make sense for them to do this to Spider-Man. Plus, Slott is a hack and a douche, and I don't expect this to be any good at all, especially not after the Inferior Doctor Octopus nonsense.

Unrelated, but looks like Gail Simone's Movement has been cancelled, unsurprisingly:

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/02/dc-comics-cancels-the-movement/

(sigh) Yet another pointless and unnecessary retcon, purporting to reveal previously unknown secrets about the hero's past. You already know what the ads and blurbs will say: "You thought you knew the truth about Spidey? Well, you're WRONG!" If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Spider-Man's origin ain't broke. (P.S. As for Simone, she's obviously a victim of the Vast Right-Wing conspiracy.)

I liked this better when they called it "Untold Tales of Spider-Man."

You know, back when it had a better writer and cost under a buck.

"You thought you knew the truth about Spidey? Well, you're WRONG!"
LOL!! Precisely, Anon.

And Drizzt -- absolutely correct. Give me Busiek over Slott ANY day of the week.

I'd forgotten about the Untold Tales of Spider-Man. I can't remember if I've read those or not, but I'd take Busiek over Slott any day. I do remember reading "X-Men the Hidden Years" and thinking it was decent.

So Dan Slott is the guy who killed Peter Parker (twice) — had Peter go out like a punk — and now he's going to mess with his past. But he'll do so in a way that "lovingly respects" canon.

Does anyone believe that? You can't help but laugh.

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