Re: Spideyfic, Marvel outside the X-titles has never had strong fanfic bases. X-Men developed a strong 'Net fandom in the mid-90s, and even now, a lot of the Xfic is still rooted in that time period. X-Men had a lot of advantages from the start, with a large female fanbase and of course lots of people crossing over to comics from watching the animated series.
I think Spider-Man never had a big enough cast (lots of supporting characters, but no team dynamic like on the X-titles) to really attract lots of ficcers, and in the 90s when the 'Net fandoms were being born, the comics themselves were in a slump. Now with the movies and the Mtv series we're seeing a little more fic, but I think a lot of established ficcers (i.e. X-and-Bat fans) aren't familiar enough with the character to want to write him. Which I think is a terrible shame; if more people would give Spidey a chance, I think they'd discover he's a joy to write. He's got a strong supporting cast, great villains, lots of humor and pathos, and he knows and/or has teamed up with practically every other superhero in Marvel. You want het, there's MJ and Gwen and Felicia. You want slash, well choose your poison: Harry, Matt, Johnny, Tony, etc. etc.
Since there isn't an established fandom, there isn't a lot of the backbone (archives, betas, lj comms, etc.) for new ficcers to lean on. But I'm extremely excited by the momentum I've seen in the past year for Spidey fic -- when I got into comics fandom, back in '97 or so, there was seriously zilch nada nothing forget it jack for Spidey. Now we're actually seeing comms and fanfic slowly appearing.
I think Spider-Man never had a big enough cast (lots of supporting characters, but no team dynamic like on the X-titles) to really attract lots of ficcers, and in the 90s when the 'Net fandoms were being born, the comics themselves were in a slump. Now with the movies and the Mtv series we're seeing a little more fic, but I think a lot of established ficcers (i.e. X-and-Bat fans) aren't familiar enough with the character to want to write him. Which I think is a terrible shame; if more people would give Spidey a chance, I think they'd discover he's a joy to write. He's got a strong supporting cast, great villains, lots of humor and pathos, and he knows and/or has teamed up with practically every other superhero in Marvel. You want het, there's MJ and Gwen and Felicia. You want slash, well choose your poison: Harry, Matt, Johnny, Tony, etc. etc.
Since there isn't an established fandom, there isn't a lot of the backbone (archives, betas, lj comms, etc.) for new ficcers to lean on. But I'm extremely excited by the momentum I've seen in the past year for Spidey fic -- when I got into comics fandom, back in '97 or so, there was seriously zilch nada nothing forget it jack for Spidey. Now we're actually seeing comms and fanfic slowly appearing.
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