Marvel has officially announced who Spider-Man's New Girlfriend will be...
I'm sure some of you have been made aware of a comic book trailer Marvel has put out promoting the upcoming "Big Time" event in Amazing Spider-Man. This trailer just so happens to reveal who Peter Parker's new girlfriend will be and should come as absolutely no surprise that it's...
Carlie Cooper.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise for those who have been reading or following Amazing Spider-Man since the start of the "Brand New Day" era. It still hasn't prevented folks from reacting to this news, though. And what has been the reaction you may ask? With a few exceptions, the response has mostly been either less than enthusiastic at best to outright disdain. Even those who like the idea that Carlie will be Peter's new girlfriend have admitted they would have preferred Peter got together with Norah Winters or Ms. Marvel over her. And I'm not just talking places like CBR or Scans Daily, but Weekly Crisis, which has this news as a column.
Why the apparently poor reception? Well, obviously it's a consequence of "One More Day," specifically how that story ended the 20 year marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson not with death or divorce but with a deal with Mephisto, something which has now been compounded further thanks to it's sequel, "One Moment in Time." So, of course, it would be easy to say that no matter who the new girlfriend would be, there would be those upset by it, believing that Peter should be with MJ and no one else.
But the second reason for the reaction may have more to do from what appears to have been a deliberate, unsubtle effort on Marvel's part to try and convince readers that Carlie isn't just a good and decent gal for Peter to date, but that she is truly "special" and could actually be "the one." Some of you may remember an entry I posted back in March of this year (my first post actually) which briefly chronicled how Marvel was shilling Carlie as a love interest, including by having no less than Roger Stern sing her praises. There was a one-shot entitled "The Many Loves of Spider-Man" which featured Carlie Cooper on the cover alongside MJ, Black Cat, and Gwen Stacy, as if to imply she was on the same level as Spidey's more well-known love interests; furthermore, the issue contained a flashback story which not only revealed Carlie and Gwen were childhood friends, but that Carlie was cast as a gutsy and brilliant wunderkind, while Gwen was essentially her more timid, emotional sidekick. In other comics, various characters have also told Peter how wonderful she is for Peter, including Harry Osborn, Aunt May (who, even while possessed by Mr. Negative, thought Peter and Carlie would make a good pair) and, most recently, Mary Jane herself. The scene in which she essentially gave her blessing to Peter and Carlie getting together even made it as one of Weekly Crisis' Moments of the Week As one commentator on that site so eloquently put it:
I agree that Carlie is a nobody that Marvel wants us to like. Don't get me wrong, she isn't downright terrible, but there is no backstory or personality behind her which readers can connect to. For all intents and purposes, she is just another 2D cardboard cut-out filler character in the Spidey universe.
Plus, Marvel seem to think having other characters like MJ cram it down our throats with comments of how PERFECT Carlie is (like in this week's ASM 645) will actually convince readers that this is anything other than a painfully forced and contrived way of getting fans to accept a very unpopular scenario they've set up. This is talking down to the readers and blatantly insulting.
On a related topic, a thread over at Spider-Man Crawl Space was created, which talked how Carlie's look has changed over the years.
Any else notice Carlie looks different just about every time she shows up? She started out with long blond hair, then brown, then red, and blond again. Each appearance her hair has gotten shorted and shorter. A couple times I got her and Norah mixed up.
And this, I believe, is another reason why people haven't warmed up to Carlie. We must remember that comic books are a visual storytelling medium. This means that when it comes to comic book characters, they not only have to be distinct in terms of personality, but also visually. And when you have to keep making alterations to a character's physical appearance--especially if it's a new character you want your readers to warm up to--then you are not doing a good enough job in making that character stand out from every other character. Take a look, for example, at characters like J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Harry and Norman Osborn, etc. and how they are easily identifiable. Look at Gwen Stacy in her earlier appearances before John Romita settled on her long, straight blond hair, black hairband "girl next door" appearance that fans are familiar with today.
What is Carlie Cooper's defining physical characteristic? She wears glasses. Unfortunately, so did Debra Whitman. If you didn't have the word balloons to indicate otherwise, that first appearance of Carlie, I imagine, could have easily been mistaken for another appearance by Debra they look that much alike. And since that appearance, we've seen Carlie go through a series of visual "makeovers," including making her glasses more rose-tinted--none of which appeared to have stuck for very long. Even Carlie's appearance with her page-boy haircut is going to go by the wayside in favor of her having longer, flowing hair that's now a lighter shade of brown for Slott's upcoming "Big Time."
Also, anyone remember when the Spider-Man 2010 teaser came out, which showed Peter and Carlie kissing one another? Virtually every website I checked that showed that teaser image--including Comic Book Resources and Wired.com--either had no idea who she was or mistook her for Mary Jane wearing glasses until a poster on their comments section corrected them. All of this tells me is that the reason why various artists kept changing Carlie's appearance is that either Marvel didn't have a firm enough grasp on who Carlie was as a character other than what her assigned role was going to be in the comics, or that they realized the readers haven't warmed up to her even after almost three years like they had hoped.
There are some people who say that we just need time to warm up to Carlie and to give her chance, and that maybe Slott, once he becomes the main writer, will improve her. Can anyone honestly say the same thing about the other new characters like Norah Winters, or Jameson's father, or Mr. Negative, or, heck, even Michelle Gonzales? It's been three years--more than enough time for readers to form an opinion one way or another on Carlie. And if people haven't, then Marvel has nobody to blame but themselves.
Carlie Cooper.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise for those who have been reading or following Amazing Spider-Man since the start of the "Brand New Day" era. It still hasn't prevented folks from reacting to this news, though. And what has been the reaction you may ask? With a few exceptions, the response has mostly been either less than enthusiastic at best to outright disdain. Even those who like the idea that Carlie will be Peter's new girlfriend have admitted they would have preferred Peter got together with Norah Winters or Ms. Marvel over her. And I'm not just talking places like CBR or Scans Daily, but Weekly Crisis, which has this news as a column.
Why the apparently poor reception? Well, obviously it's a consequence of "One More Day," specifically how that story ended the 20 year marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson not with death or divorce but with a deal with Mephisto, something which has now been compounded further thanks to it's sequel, "One Moment in Time." So, of course, it would be easy to say that no matter who the new girlfriend would be, there would be those upset by it, believing that Peter should be with MJ and no one else.
But the second reason for the reaction may have more to do from what appears to have been a deliberate, unsubtle effort on Marvel's part to try and convince readers that Carlie isn't just a good and decent gal for Peter to date, but that she is truly "special" and could actually be "the one." Some of you may remember an entry I posted back in March of this year (my first post actually) which briefly chronicled how Marvel was shilling Carlie as a love interest, including by having no less than Roger Stern sing her praises. There was a one-shot entitled "The Many Loves of Spider-Man" which featured Carlie Cooper on the cover alongside MJ, Black Cat, and Gwen Stacy, as if to imply she was on the same level as Spidey's more well-known love interests; furthermore, the issue contained a flashback story which not only revealed Carlie and Gwen were childhood friends, but that Carlie was cast as a gutsy and brilliant wunderkind, while Gwen was essentially her more timid, emotional sidekick. In other comics, various characters have also told Peter how wonderful she is for Peter, including Harry Osborn, Aunt May (who, even while possessed by Mr. Negative, thought Peter and Carlie would make a good pair) and, most recently, Mary Jane herself. The scene in which she essentially gave her blessing to Peter and Carlie getting together even made it as one of Weekly Crisis' Moments of the Week As one commentator on that site so eloquently put it:
I agree that Carlie is a nobody that Marvel wants us to like. Don't get me wrong, she isn't downright terrible, but there is no backstory or personality behind her which readers can connect to. For all intents and purposes, she is just another 2D cardboard cut-out filler character in the Spidey universe.
Plus, Marvel seem to think having other characters like MJ cram it down our throats with comments of how PERFECT Carlie is (like in this week's ASM 645) will actually convince readers that this is anything other than a painfully forced and contrived way of getting fans to accept a very unpopular scenario they've set up. This is talking down to the readers and blatantly insulting.
On a related topic, a thread over at Spider-Man Crawl Space was created, which talked how Carlie's look has changed over the years.
Any else notice Carlie looks different just about every time she shows up? She started out with long blond hair, then brown, then red, and blond again. Each appearance her hair has gotten shorted and shorter. A couple times I got her and Norah mixed up.
And this, I believe, is another reason why people haven't warmed up to Carlie. We must remember that comic books are a visual storytelling medium. This means that when it comes to comic book characters, they not only have to be distinct in terms of personality, but also visually. And when you have to keep making alterations to a character's physical appearance--especially if it's a new character you want your readers to warm up to--then you are not doing a good enough job in making that character stand out from every other character. Take a look, for example, at characters like J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Harry and Norman Osborn, etc. and how they are easily identifiable. Look at Gwen Stacy in her earlier appearances before John Romita settled on her long, straight blond hair, black hairband "girl next door" appearance that fans are familiar with today.
What is Carlie Cooper's defining physical characteristic? She wears glasses. Unfortunately, so did Debra Whitman. If you didn't have the word balloons to indicate otherwise, that first appearance of Carlie, I imagine, could have easily been mistaken for another appearance by Debra they look that much alike. And since that appearance, we've seen Carlie go through a series of visual "makeovers," including making her glasses more rose-tinted--none of which appeared to have stuck for very long. Even Carlie's appearance with her page-boy haircut is going to go by the wayside in favor of her having longer, flowing hair that's now a lighter shade of brown for Slott's upcoming "Big Time."
Also, anyone remember when the Spider-Man 2010 teaser came out, which showed Peter and Carlie kissing one another? Virtually every website I checked that showed that teaser image--including Comic Book Resources and Wired.com--either had no idea who she was or mistook her for Mary Jane wearing glasses until a poster on their comments section corrected them. All of this tells me is that the reason why various artists kept changing Carlie's appearance is that either Marvel didn't have a firm enough grasp on who Carlie was as a character other than what her assigned role was going to be in the comics, or that they realized the readers haven't warmed up to her even after almost three years like they had hoped.
There are some people who say that we just need time to warm up to Carlie and to give her chance, and that maybe Slott, once he becomes the main writer, will improve her. Can anyone honestly say the same thing about the other new characters like Norah Winters, or Jameson's father, or Mr. Negative, or, heck, even Michelle Gonzales? It's been three years--more than enough time for readers to form an opinion one way or another on Carlie. And if people haven't, then Marvel has nobody to blame but themselves.