• Death threats sent over ending of The Amazing Spider Man Issue 700
    57 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Poor Spider-Man. Five years after the webslinging superhero was forced to retroactively erase his marriage to Mary Jane in a desperate deal with the devil (true story), things are about to get even worse for Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #700, a issue so controversial that it inspired numerous death threats against the book’s long-time writer Dan Slott. So what could happen to Spidey that would make his satanic retroactive divorce look tame in comparison? [b]Warning: Spoilers follow.[/b] Simple. In Amazing Spider-Man #700, a finale issue illustrated by Humberto Ramos that concludes the long-running series launched in 1963, Spider-Man dies, and supervillain Doctor Octopus secretly takes over his body to become the new Spider-Man. After a climactic confrontation where Peter Parker forcibly transfers his memories — and apparently, his morality — into the mind of his body-stealing enemy to make him a better man, the physical form of Doctor Octopus expires, taking Peter with it. Reborn as a hero, but still somehow a pompous jerk, Doc Ock declares that he will become a superior Spider-Man, a turn of phrase that segues neatly into the January launch of the comic book Superior Spider-Man, starring Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man. When the news about Spidey’s demise reached the internet, the reactions from readers were swift and often deeply emotional — par for the course in the passionate fandom of superhero comics. But now that social media has all but dissolved the distance between creators and fans, the outrage once vented on the letters page months after the fact now arrives immediately — and loudly — on the personal Twitter feeds and Facebook pages of comic book creators. [b]In Slott’s case, this meant a long series of Twitter death threats where readers actually tagged the writer in their tweets.[/b] “Did I know fans were gonna be passionate about this? Sure,” Slott told Wired. “When we started dropping hints about what was coming up in Amazing Spider-Man #700, I was the first to make the jokes that when the issue came out I was going to have to pull a ‘Salman Rushdie.’ But let’s be honest about this. Comic fans have always been this passionate. They just haven’t always had a place to put their knee-jerk reactions that was instantaneous as the internet.” Slott says he’s been in contact with Gerry Conway, the writer who scripted the infamous death of Spider-Man love interest Gwen Stacy in 1973, and the creators involved with the 1992 “Death of Superman” storyline, who expressed both their sympathy and relief that internet fandom still hadn’t developed the ability to deliver the full brunt of its anger to creators both instantly and en masse when their stories made headlines. “I think this is just part of the comic book fan landscape from now on,” said Slott. “That’s just the way it is.” Be Careful What You Pretend to Be According to Slott, the story that summoned a thousand internet ragefaces has been in the works for 100 issues — over eight years — and offers a conclusion that is fairly shocking: at their core, Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus are not truly that different. “[Doctor Octopus] is the bespectacled nerd caught in an radioactive mishap that made him an analog of an eight-legged creature. Sound familiar?” asked Slott. “When we first met Otto Octavius, he was just like Peter Parker at the start of [his debut in] Amazing Fantasy #15.” Steve Ditko, Marvel Comics “The difference is, [Octavius] was older, set in his ways, he never had someone like Uncle Ben in his life and he [never] learned the lesson of ‘great power and responsibility.’ Now that Peter Parker has set him on the right path, this is his second chance.” The conceit of the new title, Superior Spider-Man, also involves a reversal of expectations that fundamentally changes the relationship between the reader and the hero. In the traditional Spider-Man stories, Spidey was forever on the run from policemen and angry, mustachioed journalists who thought he was a menace, while readers cheered him from the sidelines because they knew he was actually a hero. “Now all of that is flipped,” said Slott. “The people, police, and Avengers see him as a hero. They think they know the whole story. And the readers think he’s an undeserving menace. The readers are now J. Jonah Jameson! That makes this Spider-Man the most meta Spider-Man of them all! If he can win over the audience by becoming a hero in their eyes, that will truly be an astounding feat!” But despite the operatic high drama of Spider-Man’s “death,” it’s also important to keep the story in perspective; major “world-changing” events have become something of a semi-annual occurrence in the world of superhero comics that tend to involve more fanfare than staying power, from the 2007 death of Captain America (since reversed) to the 2008 death of Batman (since reversed) to the 2011 death of the Human Torch (since reversed). It’s unlikely that the death of Peter Parker will be permanent simply because superhero comics are not a world of permanence; they’re a world of enduring myths that are often elastic enough to stretch into temporary new configurations, but always seem to contract back into their original shapes. The point of stories where prominent characters die isn’t that they die (they don’t), but the potential for innovation that those temporary absences offer, and whatever the writers and artists manage to do with it. Superior Spider-Man #1 hits comic book shops and digital retailers on Jan. 9.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/12/spider-man-700/[/url] [sp]Peter Parker dies, Doctor Octopus becomes Spider-Man for a new series. Fans enraged.[/sp]
Overreacting 101.
what a twist
-some people don't understand sarcasm but will probably dumb this post anyway because everybody else did (bandwagon fun!!!)-
What would be the point of ending it like that? Why wouldn't he expect fans to be pissed off?
[QUOTE=binkow;38999349]What would be the point of ending it like that? Why wouldn't he expect fans to be pissed off?[/QUOTE] He states several times in the article that he fully expected it, and it even talks a bit about why it ends like that.
When I read the ending I could've sworn Casey Hudson wrote it. He's known for writing shitty, plotfucking endings and pissing off hordes of loyal fans.
I am sorry, but I find the word meta being overused amongst writers / philosophy majors really annoying. I didn't know they had trending words in the supposed intellectual world, but what do I know. Yolo
[QUOTE=blacksam;38999400]I am sorry, but I find the word meta being overused amongst writers / philosophy majors really annoying. I didn't know they had trending words in the supposed intellectual world, but what do I know. Yolo[/QUOTE] thats so ~~meta~~
That ending sounds really goddamn stupid. Not death-threat-level stupid, but still. Really, [i]really[/i] stupid.
they should have ended with spiderman being stepped on by a giant shoe or something i was getting sick of his shit
[QUOTE=Forumaster;38999360]When I read the ending I could've sworn Casey Hudson wrote it. He's known for writing shitty, plotfucking endings and pissing off hordes of loyal fans.[/QUOTE] Well Spiderman did pick the green ending.
[video=youtube;NAj26rVWK14]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAj26rVWK14[/video] [highlight](User was banned for this post ("dumb video reply" - Orkel))[/highlight]
It sounds like Marvel is caught in a sticky situation.
[img]http://images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/d/d1/Monster_ock.jpg[/img] This NEEDS to happen.
For fucks sake. Why can't they just give spiderman a good anniversary issue? One more Day and now this? Go back to the first spiderman Annual, he travels to Eastern Europe to fight the Red Skull. Simple, awesome stuff. None of this wank.
[QUOTE=binkow;38999349]What would be the point of ending it like that? Why wouldn't he expect fans to be pissed off?[/QUOTE] Frankly any writer who isn't prepared to make put their characters in positions that make their fans sad isn't a good writer
it's like the ending of neon genesis evangelion all those death threats
It's probably more that it's a dumb as fuck twist that'll be undone in a year, tops.
[QUOTE=Reds;38999810]It's probably more that it's a dumb as fuck twist that'll be undone in a year, tops.[/QUOTE] The thing is though that [sp]the character may be dead but also technically isnt, and half of his personality was shot into doc ock before he died.[/sp]
They should ask for a free last couple pages with a different ending instead worked last time
That is a really uninteresting, dumb and haphazard way to end a series/lead on to a new one.
I thought Spider Man was being replaced with that black kid?
for you people that dont understand what happened, [sp]Doctor Octopus is dying from several different diseases, so Peter Parker sacrifices his life and switches bodies with him, so instead Peter Parker dies. Although, some of Peters personality is given to Doctor Octopus, giving him the motivation to become the new spider-man.[/sp] Quite a good way to end the series imo.
[QUOTE=Timarley;39000007]for you people that dont understand what happened, [sp]Doctor Octopus is dying from several different diseases, so Peter Parker sacrifices his life and switches bodies with him, so instead Peter Parker dies. Although, some of Peters personality is given to Doctor Octopus, giving him the motivation to become the new spider-man.[/sp] Quite a good way to end the series imo.[/QUOTE] Not really, sounds really cheesy and something that my main man would come up with: [img]http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012018/300.lucas.ls.11812.jpg[/img] but yeah imo's everywhere.
[QUOTE=Maloof?;38999615]Frankly any writer who isn't prepared to make put their characters in positions that make their fans sad isn't a good writer[/QUOTE] Sad =/= mad. If he were making fans sad then yeah, it would definitely be considered by many as a sign of good writing or at least good character development. Making them angry only really shows that he fucked up and destroyed their perception of the character, and not in a good "added more depth in an unexpected and unprecedented way" sort of way either. But death threats are stupid.
[QUOTE=Timarley;39000007]for you people that dont understand what happened, [sp]Doctor Octopus is dying from several different diseases, so Peter Parker sacrifices his life and switches bodies with him, so instead Peter Parker dies. Although, some of Peters personality is given to Doctor Octopus, giving him the motivation to become the new spider-man.[/sp] Quite a good way to end the series imo.[/QUOTE] Wow. That is quite possibly the dumbest way to end that series I've ever heard.
I guess it would be frustrating for those who are subscribing to this particular series to see something they don't want to care for. Though the solution there is simple- just cut your subscription and/or don't buy the issues.
Meanwhile, I'm the only one who likes the ending. Death threats over an ending though, lmao. Sounds fucking great. To me it's like threatening to murder someone at Subway because they messed up your Sandwich a little by adding like a sprinkle of salt. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED!!! I'M GOING TO FUUUCKING [b]KIIILLL YOOOU![/b]"
[QUOTE=AaronM202;38999533][img]http://images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/d/d1/Monster_ock.jpg[/img] This NEEDS to happen.[/QUOTE] [I]FUCK[/I] that part scared the shit out of me when I was little.
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