What Roger Stern Says About Spider-Man's Love Life (first entry)

[stillanerd]

Hello ladies and gentlemen.  Since this is my first post, you'll have to forgive me if I make any particular spelling or grammatical errors, not mention that this is probably going to be a little crude in terms of format.  With that advanced apology out of the way, I'll get down to business.

In today's interview with Comic Book Resources (March 19,

Comments

[pinkhairedcutie]

Okay, this is an honest to god question about Carlie's fanbase...

Does she even have fans? I've never, ever seen people talk about her, at least not in a way to say, "Wow! I enjoyed Carlie in this comic!" or "Yeah, I love her!" At least I've never seen that come from actual comic readers... It seems only the Marvel writers have been speaking fondly of her.

[stillanerd]

Oddly enough, there are some you can find on the Comic Book Resources forums (who are also tend to be NuSpidey supporters, of course) but for the most part, yeah, it's only the braintrust/webheads who seem to rave about Carlie the most. Which is odd when you realize that, even though she's been a prominent supporting character since the start of Brand New Day, she didn't really get all that much development until Dan Slott's Mysterio story. Plus, it seems that whenever the question of which girl Peter should date aside from Mary Jane comes up, you usually get The Black Cat, or Betty Brant, or Norah Winters instead of Carlie. Heck, even Michelle Gonzales gets thought of as a potential love interest moreso than Carlie does.

[pinkhairedcutie]

Thanks! I figured it was something like that.

Honestly, from what I've seen/read of her, she seems very bland to me. And I don't like how she's being shoved down our throats now either. If we have to be told she's a 'geek like Peter but without the lack of social skills', then there's a problem here...

What made MJ interesting and relatable was that she started off as a girl who hid her insecurities and sorrow behind a 'party girl' facade. Hiding how you really feel is something a lot of people often do. Eventually, she grew as the series progressed, like Peter did.

[janegray]

I don't understand what's the point of introducing new romantic interests for Peter, when they have already said that they won't let Peter form any meaningful romantic bonds.

If, by some miracle, people actually grew to love Carlie and shipped her with Pete, then Marvel would find a way to get rid of her so Peter could keep being a "relatable" (AH!) loser. The whole thing is completely pointless.

[empty_tea]

"I don't understand what's the point of introducing new romantic interests for Peter, when they have already said that they won't let Peter form any meaningful romantic bonds."

This. They've as good as told their readers that all this is just filler, don't expect it to count.

[skalja]

Exactly.

[box_in_the_box]

This is a good post, and you should feel good for making it.

[stillanerd]

Thanks.

[foxhack]

I don't see this Carlie character ever getting recognized unless she gets shoved into a Spider-Man cartoon or movie, to be honest.

[angelophile]

Well, at least somebody loves the character?