Reading, spoilers about reading, popular reading, and comic books
I've come to the conclusion that I don't like it when the general populace reads something that I read. Most of the books I read aren't books that you'll find "average" people talking about. I hardly ever read anything that's truly popular when it first comes out, and even then you usually won't be overwhelmed with news articles about the latest "Song of Ice and Fire" book to come out.
There are only two basic instances I can think of where the general public is reading the same stuff I'm reading, and worse, won't shut up about it. This was most of the Harry Potter books, and the occassional "big story" comic book, such as the recent Spider-Man "One More Day/Brand New Day" stuff.
The reason I dislike it so much is that I like to go into a book, comic or otherwise, completely unaware of what to expect. I like to immerse myself in the world, make my own conclusions, and kind of let it be my own thing. It's rare that I'll try to go have a discussion about a book. With comic books I'll discuss them on occassion, mostly because the people I'd be discussing them with are comic fans like myself who tend to get the same level of enjoyment out of these books that I do.
But I never really engaged in any Harry Potter discussions, because quite frankly most people seemed to get wildly different things out of the books than I did. People were shipping characters that hardly ever looked at each other. People were bursting into tears when random-character-X died. People were having vicious arguments about how bad it sucked or how great it was, and I just didn't (and still don't, mostly) care.
With Harry Potter though, I was still mostly able to avoid stuff about it. I think that's because when it comes to a book, even an extremely popular one like Harry Potter, most people have a conscious understanding not to try and spoil it for your (excepting the dickhead who was shouting about what page a particular character's death occured on in an online game I was playing the night before my copy arrived). News articles aren't going to be printed with headlines that contain spoilers.
This is not the case for comic books. I didn't have to read the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man, because the ending was spoiled for me far in advance. I never got the chance to read and be shocked by Captain America's death, because it was spoiled for me before I got there. The Spider-Man thing in particular has gotten to the point where I can't get away from it. It's everywhere.
And what's worse is that I'm torn on the Spider-Man thing. I think Joe Quesada has done an incredible job in revitalizing Marvel Comics in the last few years. I've enjoyed pretty much every major decision that's been made since he's been on board, so part of me wants to trust that this giant "Superboy punches reality to DEATH"-esque retconning is not really intended to be the status quo for very long. If it's a story arc, even one that's intended to take a few years before the dramatic return of Mary Jane being married to Peter. Sure, Joe Quesada SAYS he doesn't ever intend for it to go back, but that could just be the kind of thing an EiC has to say to keep you reading. After all, they said there wasn't going to be any kind of reset button on Spider-Man unmasking in the first place.
One way or another, Mary Jane will be Peter's wife again someday. The question is really whether the marriage will return voluntarily under Joe Quesada's guidance as EiC, or if we'll have to wait years until some other EiC steps in and decides to bring it back. The only thing that never changes about comics is that everything eventually comes back.
So if I knew that there was going to be that intended dramatic moment where the two of them get back together again at some point in the future, I think I'd be interested to read the new stories about Peter as a single guy. Unfortunately I kind of suspect that Joe Quesada really does plan on avoiding the marriage for as long as he has final say. Considering that, and considering they'll be TEASING at the marriage without a doubt, I don't know that I feel like reading it at all. I've really only skimmed the last issue of the One More Day arc, and that's basically because the ending I figured was coming was spoiled to me before I could read it, and now I don't feel like reading the whole thing just to get to the "surprise" ending that I already know about.
I wonder how I would feel about the whole thing if I hadn't seen all the articles and discussions of people bitching about the idea. I think I'd probably still be wary of it, but it's hard to tell. My own reaction has been colored by seeing other people's reactions first.
In the end, I think I'll probably check out a few issues. The creative teams sound like they'll be good, but it's very possible Spider-Man is entering into another "Clone Saga" dark age.
Oh well. There's always Ultimate Spider-Man. Truth be told, I've been getting my Spidey fix from Brian Michael Bendis and Ultimate Spider-Man for years now. I've enjoyed that comic more consistently and to a greater degree than I ever loved regular Spider-Man, so I guess I can live with them pulling all kinds of ridiculous shennanigans over in regular Spider-man.
I do have to point out just one more time though what a stupid plot device it was to retcon the marriage like that. I used to laugh at how DC had Superboy's "reality punch" that retconned every damn thing in existence. Now Marvel has the psuedo-devil making a deal with Peter to save the life of his extremely old and frail Aunt (who's already died, what, twice now? Including dramatically and should-have-been-finally in issue #400) in exchange for his marriage? Not his soul? Not his life? Just his marriage? It's a ridiculous notion, and really the worst part about it is that the torment that Mephisto claims Peter will have in that he'll "always know he's missing something, but never be sure what it is" is the same nagging sensation that will be going off in every reader's head. We'll always be sitting there going "No, he's supposed to at least get some happiness with Mary Jane."
I'm digressing big time here (going from talking about how much I hate seeing stuff I read get discussed to actually discussing the things I read...trippy), but really, the idea that it's impossible to write good stories when the hero is married is just ridiculous. Yes, bad writers have a hard time writing a married character, because bad writers substitute drama with sexual tension and romantic relationships. When that tension is taken away, they claim that the thrill is gone and there's nothing interesting that can come of it anymore, except of course for the couple to have a baby.
It's just a dumb, dumb notion.
So anyhow, I'm looking forward to the dramatic return of Mary Jane at some point in the future, and I just hope it's not incredibly distant. It took about what, three years to go from "No More Mutants" to "We gotta save the new mutant!" so maybe that's how long it wil be before Mary Jane comes back as Peter's wife. I wonder what the odds are that Captain America will be alive by then.
I'd say pretty good.
Happy reading.
There are only two basic instances I can think of where the general public is reading the same stuff I'm reading, and worse, won't shut up about it. This was most of the Harry Potter books, and the occassional "big story" comic book, such as the recent Spider-Man "One More Day/Brand New Day" stuff.
The reason I dislike it so much is that I like to go into a book, comic or otherwise, completely unaware of what to expect. I like to immerse myself in the world, make my own conclusions, and kind of let it be my own thing. It's rare that I'll try to go have a discussion about a book. With comic books I'll discuss them on occassion, mostly because the people I'd be discussing them with are comic fans like myself who tend to get the same level of enjoyment out of these books that I do.
But I never really engaged in any Harry Potter discussions, because quite frankly most people seemed to get wildly different things out of the books than I did. People were shipping characters that hardly ever looked at each other. People were bursting into tears when random-character-X died. People were having vicious arguments about how bad it sucked or how great it was, and I just didn't (and still don't, mostly) care.
With Harry Potter though, I was still mostly able to avoid stuff about it. I think that's because when it comes to a book, even an extremely popular one like Harry Potter, most people have a conscious understanding not to try and spoil it for your (excepting the dickhead who was shouting about what page a particular character's death occured on in an online game I was playing the night before my copy arrived). News articles aren't going to be printed with headlines that contain spoilers.
This is not the case for comic books. I didn't have to read the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man, because the ending was spoiled for me far in advance. I never got the chance to read and be shocked by Captain America's death, because it was spoiled for me before I got there. The Spider-Man thing in particular has gotten to the point where I can't get away from it. It's everywhere.
And what's worse is that I'm torn on the Spider-Man thing. I think Joe Quesada has done an incredible job in revitalizing Marvel Comics in the last few years. I've enjoyed pretty much every major decision that's been made since he's been on board, so part of me wants to trust that this giant "Superboy punches reality to DEATH"-esque retconning is not really intended to be the status quo for very long. If it's a story arc, even one that's intended to take a few years before the dramatic return of Mary Jane being married to Peter. Sure, Joe Quesada SAYS he doesn't ever intend for it to go back, but that could just be the kind of thing an EiC has to say to keep you reading. After all, they said there wasn't going to be any kind of reset button on Spider-Man unmasking in the first place.
One way or another, Mary Jane will be Peter's wife again someday. The question is really whether the marriage will return voluntarily under Joe Quesada's guidance as EiC, or if we'll have to wait years until some other EiC steps in and decides to bring it back. The only thing that never changes about comics is that everything eventually comes back.
So if I knew that there was going to be that intended dramatic moment where the two of them get back together again at some point in the future, I think I'd be interested to read the new stories about Peter as a single guy. Unfortunately I kind of suspect that Joe Quesada really does plan on avoiding the marriage for as long as he has final say. Considering that, and considering they'll be TEASING at the marriage without a doubt, I don't know that I feel like reading it at all. I've really only skimmed the last issue of the One More Day arc, and that's basically because the ending I figured was coming was spoiled to me before I could read it, and now I don't feel like reading the whole thing just to get to the "surprise" ending that I already know about.
I wonder how I would feel about the whole thing if I hadn't seen all the articles and discussions of people bitching about the idea. I think I'd probably still be wary of it, but it's hard to tell. My own reaction has been colored by seeing other people's reactions first.
In the end, I think I'll probably check out a few issues. The creative teams sound like they'll be good, but it's very possible Spider-Man is entering into another "Clone Saga" dark age.
Oh well. There's always Ultimate Spider-Man. Truth be told, I've been getting my Spidey fix from Brian Michael Bendis and Ultimate Spider-Man for years now. I've enjoyed that comic more consistently and to a greater degree than I ever loved regular Spider-Man, so I guess I can live with them pulling all kinds of ridiculous shennanigans over in regular Spider-man.
I do have to point out just one more time though what a stupid plot device it was to retcon the marriage like that. I used to laugh at how DC had Superboy's "reality punch" that retconned every damn thing in existence. Now Marvel has the psuedo-devil making a deal with Peter to save the life of his extremely old and frail Aunt (who's already died, what, twice now? Including dramatically and should-have-been-finally in issue #400) in exchange for his marriage? Not his soul? Not his life? Just his marriage? It's a ridiculous notion, and really the worst part about it is that the torment that Mephisto claims Peter will have in that he'll "always know he's missing something, but never be sure what it is" is the same nagging sensation that will be going off in every reader's head. We'll always be sitting there going "No, he's supposed to at least get some happiness with Mary Jane."
I'm digressing big time here (going from talking about how much I hate seeing stuff I read get discussed to actually discussing the things I read...trippy), but really, the idea that it's impossible to write good stories when the hero is married is just ridiculous. Yes, bad writers have a hard time writing a married character, because bad writers substitute drama with sexual tension and romantic relationships. When that tension is taken away, they claim that the thrill is gone and there's nothing interesting that can come of it anymore, except of course for the couple to have a baby.
It's just a dumb, dumb notion.
So anyhow, I'm looking forward to the dramatic return of Mary Jane at some point in the future, and I just hope it's not incredibly distant. It took about what, three years to go from "No More Mutants" to "We gotta save the new mutant!" so maybe that's how long it wil be before Mary Jane comes back as Peter's wife. I wonder what the odds are that Captain America will be alive by then.
I'd say pretty good.
Happy reading.