Any love for JMS' Amazing Spider-Man run?

[Ubik]

Am working my way through the JMS run on ASM. Just finished up the Books of Ezekiel story line. Great stuff, and I think JMS really nails the snappy one liners that Spiderman is known for.

Also really enjoyed the 'Happy Birthday' issues, which had some cool time travel shenanigans.

Lots of nice little B5 references here and there. A cool 'Sleeping in Light' reference with MJ in a 'half empty' bed, rolling over to embrace the person that isn't there.

From what I've read the run decreases in quality towards the end, and of course there's the 'One More Day' debacle. Will stick with it though, as I'm enjoying it greatly.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I thought Straczynski's started very well, culminating with Peter's long (why have we never had this discussion before?) exchange with Aunt May. JMS was obviously trying to create a new mythology that added to and expanded the original continuity, but once he got stuck with all the big crossover events like Civil War, that really began to unravel. I think Joe did as best he could despite the editorial dictates, but his first year on the book is far better than his last year.

[Ubik]

Must admit some of the cross over stuff was quite glaring (especially when read in isolation from the event itself). JMS did well to keep a good strong Spidey yarn going throughout it all though.

I just hit issue 510 (the Gwen Stacey stuff) and am ploughing on, I really like the Deodato Jr art. Fits my tastes more than the Romita stuff.

I always get the feeling JMS has yet to produce his comic book masterwork. Rising Stars was good, but really suffered from the artist change ups in the later issues. Maybe now he's doing Studio JMS he'll have another stab at a creator owned property.

I still don't see why he hasn't been approached to do B5 comics in a similar vein to what Joss Whedon and Dark Horse have done with Buffy. He could do a lot there.

[JoeD80]

I always get the feeling JMS has yet to produce his comic book masterwork.

Did you read Midnight Nation?

I still don't see why he hasn't been approached to do B5 comics in a similar vein to what Joss Whedon and Dark Horse have done with Buffy. He could do a lot there.

Well that stuff is up to WB in the case of Babylon 5.

[Ubik]

Did you read Midnight Nation? Well that stuff is up to WB in the case of Babylon 5.

Doh! Sorry... Yes, I did. That was a rather fine comic. Definitely his best creator owned work by a long shot.

In terms of B5 comics, of course, and I doubt the uptake would be anything like the Buffy comics. BUT, if Trek can still have regular comics, I don't see why B5 can't. WB need to pull their finger out!

[Jan]

Midnight Nation was great, no mistake. But my fave of JMS' creater-owned works is still "The Book of Lost Souls", short though it was.

In terms of B5 comics, of course, and I doubt the uptake would be anything like the Buffy comics. BUT, if Trek can still have regular comics, I don't see why B5 can't. WB need to pull their finger out!

I wouldn't hold my breath. WB owns DC so it would make all kinds of sense for the two parts of the company to cooperate and make this happen. Unfortunately, that's not the way WB operates - all of their divisions compete, not cooperate.

sigh....

Jan

[Ubik]

Midnight Nation was great, no mistake. But my fave of JMS' creater-owned works is still "The Book of Lost Souls", short though it was.



I wouldn't hold my breath. WB owns DC so it would make all kinds of sense for the two parts of the company to cooperate and make this happen. Unfortunately, that's not the way WB operates - all of their divisions compete, not cooperate.

sigh....

Jan

If I held my breath regarding new B5 material I'd have suffocated long ago!

Not read 'Book of Lost Souls', I'll give it a look. Was that a Rising Stars spin off or am I confusing it with something else?

[Jan]

If I held my breath regarding new B5 material I'd have suffocated long ago!

Not read 'Book of Lost Souls', I'll give it a look. Was that a Rising Stars spin off or am I confusing it with something else?

No, BoLS was entirely a new character and scenario. Art was by Colleen Doran and it was really wonderful. I've picked up a number of original art pages from her. JMS has hinted that there's a possibility that he might revisit it (it was a casualty of his no longer working for Marvel and so ended at 6 issues even though a 7th was written and drawn already) through Joe's Comics.

Jan

[Jan]

Chiming in to answer to topic: I enjoyed the JMS run for most of his run. I didn't enjoy the story where Peter's old classmate ended up in an impervious covering of some sort and I really disliked the end of 'One More Day' and thought it dragged on entirely too long. But I was really perfectly fine with 'Sins Past'. Maybe it's because I was a child of the 60s? Dunno. I think it would have been far more powerful if it had gone as JMS intended, with Peter as the twins' father, though. And I loved the way JMS updated Aunt May!

Jan

[David Panzer]

I didn't read JMS' entire Spidey run. I stopped when Spidey joined the Avengers. So I missed out on that, the Other crossover, the big yearly mega-crossover, and then One More Day. I don't think I missed out on a lot. But what I was reading up to that point was all enjoyable, even the Sins Past storyline.

If those crossovers didn't have to happen, I definitely would have kept up.

[Ubik]

Chiming in to answer to topic: I enjoyed the JMS run for most of his run. I didn't enjoy the story where Peter's old classmate ended up in an impervious covering of some sort and I really disliked the end of 'One More Day' and thought it dragged on entirely too long. But I was really perfectly fine with 'Sins Past'. Maybe it's because I was a child of the 60s? Dunno. I think it would have been far more powerful if it had gone as JMS intended, with Peter as the twins' father, though. And I loved the way JMS updated Aunt May!

Jan

The Gwen Stacey / Norman Osbourne love child(ren) thing felt a bit off to me too. As you say, it would have made far more sense had Peter been the father. I donÆt buy that Gwen would go in for sexy time with Norman, no matter how æmysteriousÆ he was.

I also wish more had been made of Ezekiel. It felt like his character could have been far more fleshed than it was. I get the idea he was intended to be one of those conflicted characters, perhaps somewhat like Londo, who chooses a dark path to power but redeems himself in the end. It could have had more dramatic impact, if weÆd grown to like him more. Anyhow, thatÆs a very minor gripe. The rest has been solid.

And yes, it's great to see Aunt May depicted as an ACTUAL PERSON.

I will give Book of Lost Souls a look when IÆm done with the ASM run.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I thought Ezekial was an interesting part of the Spider-totem mythology that JMS was trying to build, and I would have loved to see where that went. As for the Norman/Gwen relationship, that was not Joe's idea but an editorial edict he was stuck with. It always felt creepy and preposterous to me, whereas the Gwen/Peter storyline was at least feasible.

[Ubik]

I thought Ezekial was an interesting part of the Spider-totem mythology that JMS was trying to build, and I would have loved to see where that went. As for the Norman/Gwen relationship, that was not Joe's idea but an editorial edict he was stuck with. It always felt creepy and preposterous to me, whereas the Gwen/Peter storyline was at least feasible.

Yep, when will people learn that inserting stupid ideas at an editorial level just isn't good?!

[David Panzer]

At the big 2's superhero lines? Never.

[Ubik]

I can now confirm the quality really does start to drop in the lead up to Spiderman's 'rebirth' (a nice idea...) and Civil War. A real shame. If this had all been cross over free, I can imagine it would have been very enjoyable. As it stands, all the other threads are jarring and feel forced.