Why does Spider-Man have some of the worst stories ever?

[DragonSJG]

I'm a huge Spider-Man fan as he's my favorite hero but I've got to say, he has some of the worst comic storylines of all time.I mean, take this for example

Just why is this even a thing? Who the hell asked for anything like this involving a young Aunt May's sex life? I mean, who at Marvel approved this?

 

[Weiss]

He's been in continuous publication in multiple titles a month for nearly 60 years. You're bound to get some stinkers.

 

[Aadiboy]

Is that cover a picture or an illustration? It looks really good.

 

[Khanimus]

He's been in continuous publication in multiple titles a month for nearly 60 years. You're bound to get some stinkers.

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This.

Not sure what kind of success rate you're expecting with a character that has had so many hands forming his world, at once, for over a half-century.

 

[Deleted member 198]

The same reason Bats and Supes have a ton of trash stories, it's inevitable for the length of time they've been around.

 

[Weiss]

This.

Not sure what kind of success rate you're expecting with a character that has had so many hands forming his world, at once, for over a half-century.

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It might be nice if so many people involved weren't creepily obsessive with Aunt May though.

 

[ZeoVGM]

You could say the same about Batman and Superman.

You're bound to have a good amount of stinkers when you're being published for 60 years.

 

[Z-Beat]

You forget about that time Superman got forced to make a sex tape with Mr. Miracle's wife?

Or when Batman painted everything yellow including himself to piss off Green Lantern?

Or Batwoman and the sex vampire?

Or that time Batman fucked Barbara Gordon?

Or that OTHER time Batman fucked Barbara Gordon?

 

[jph139]

It's true, Spider-Man has a weirdly high rate of actively terrible storylines. Clone Saga, Sins Past, One More Day, most of the 90s. And that's not even counting out of continuity stuff like Trouble and Reign, and runs that are more controversial than panned, like Slott or JMS.

Like, you compare that with Batman or Superman, and there'll be a lot of dud stories over the years, but I don't think they ever get as bad for as long. X-Men might be comparable.

Then on the other hand you have Daredevil who, outside of Shadowland and some dips in the 90s, has had consistently good-to-great runs for like 40 years.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Does he have more bad stories than Batman or Superman?

 

[deimosmasque]

Is that cover a picture or an illustration? It looks really good.

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It's a picture, of underage girls.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

I sat for about 1 minute trying to figure out if I'm getting the wrong image in the OP. The only thing that hint at Spider-Man is the Marvel logo in the upper left. Weird picture.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

He's been in continuous publication in multiple titles a month for nearly 60 years. You're bound to get some stinkers.

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One and done.

 

[Weiss]

I sat for about 1 minute trying to figure out if I'm getting the wrong image in the OP. The only thing that hint at Spider-Man is the Marvel logo in the upper left. Weird picture.

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It's a story by Mark Millar about Aunt May and Uncle Ben going at it over summer break.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

It's a picture, of underage girls.

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Ok that's what I'm seeing, and it looks messed up. Why the heck is that a cover, especially for Spider-Man?

 

[kurahador]

Mark Millar is a goddamn hack.

 

[Deleted member 2145]

alternatively, why does spider man have some of the best stories ever?

 

[Weiss]

alternatively, why does spider man have some of the best stories ever?

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Because he was invented by two legendary writers at the dawn of the modern superhero comic, and became a revolutionary piece of work for superhero comics and teen fiction.

He's been in kind of a rut for like thirty years though.

 

[deimosmasque]

Ok that's what I'm seeing, and it looks messed up. Why the heck is that a cover, especially for Spider-Man?

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Because it's not actually Spider-Man. It's a poorly written attempt to tell a comic story to appeal to pre-teen girls because it was a popular selling genre in novels at the time.

It's horrible, creepy, especially how preoccupied middle aged men are about writing sex lives for underage girls.

Fortunately it's not even remotely considered Canon anymore.

 

[hipsterpants]

Spider-Man is one of the most continuity important characters so the trash sticks out more, also being Marvel's #1 hero he gets the most editorial interference.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Spider-Man has had WAAAAAAY worse stories than Batman or Superman ever had, I don't know what you guys are smoking.

Like if we rounded up the most well-known superheroes and had to decide who's had the worst stories, period, it's Spidey. But I think it's a testament to how great a character he is that he's never been less popular or beloved even with bad writing.

 

[SamAlbro]

Speaking of terrible Spider-Man stories, here's a great video explaining how a perfect storm of marketing forces and editorial politics turned the Clone Saga from a pretty elegant clean-up to the problems the Spider-Man books where facing int the nineties to the nightmare of a convoluted mess we know today:

 

[Slayven]

Spiderman no more or no less stinker than others. Trouble was an altnative reality. Lets talk about mainline shit

Superman gets stomach cancer, gives birth to it and it starts calling him Father

 

[SOLDIER]

So far I'm not seeing any counter examples that are even half as awful as the worst Spidey stories.

normanorgasmface.jpg

 

[Slayven]

Oh before i go to bed.

Power girl's grandfather impregnates her as a backup plan he forgot about.

Teen Titan's writer inserts himself into the comicbook so he could marry Donna troy

Nightman's mother is a immortal cannibal druid that wants to sleep with him

Unthinkable, good lord.

Avengers Dissembled

The tie end for Chaos War with all the dead Avengers

Invinicble after issue 35, the whole damn thing

Angel sleeping with Husk in front of the whole X-men school.

Dream Queen from Alpha Flights Origin, that shit is fucked up.

Ultimates, and anything related to the Ultimate Universe that isn't SPiderman

The way they wrapped up Aztek in the Maggedon story, fuck you DC

Anything DC has done with Dr. Light in the last 10 years.

There are no words for how dirty Ryan Choi was done.

Razgriz-Specter, this is for you. Justice League Elite. Fuck you again DC for that trash

The Establishment, The Monarchy, and anything related to those books. Fuck you Wildstorm

Black September, fuck you Marvel AND Malibu

Killing Nomad during Onslaught's 3rd resurrection, that shit was uncalled for

Killing Synch

Shifting Mondo to limbo

Killing Mimic in Exiles

Bring Barry Allen back for no goddamn reason

Bringing Hal Jordan back for no goddam reason

Killing Tim Drake's dad for no damn reason, thats for you Pau

Killing Eric FUCKING Masterson for no reason

The One True Starro bullshit


Damn let me go to bed, I will be here all night

 

[hipsterpants]

hmm

- robot parents
- multiple moments in the clone saga
- gathering of the five / final chapter
- mj dies in a plane explosion, OR Mackie's entire tenure honestly
- sins past
- attempts to give peter organic webbing to line up with the movies
- one more day
- one moment in time, the actual worst of them all

that's a good list of infamously terrible ones I think, I'd struggle to think of a single other character which a line up of such undeniable trash

 

[Lord Vatek]

Comic book characters have to be judged on a ratio of good stories vs. bad stories.

Also for the purposes of said theoretical ratio, One More Day counts as seven.

 

[Slayven]

Oh let me squash some bullshit before it happens. Spiderverse is ok, but "Leah" destroys it in the feels department. Like just thinking about it makes me want to cry

 

[Chaotic-Strike]

Because 60 year old long running comic books tend to have bad writers.

 

[Cuburger]

Mark Millar

 

[Slayven]

Mark Millar

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The man was paid legal tender for this

 

[Pau]

Killing Tim Drake's dad for no damn reason, thats for you @Pau

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It resulted in Bruce officially adopting Tim, and that's enough for me.

 

[Slayven]

It resulted in Bruce officially adopting Tim, and that's enough for me.

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Top ten Era betrayal.

As a comic fan how can you find joy in Identity Crisis?

 

[Imperial Bishop]

What the fuck am I looking at?

*sees Mark Millar's name on the cover*

Oh.

 

[Man God]

He probably had more ongoing books for longer than any other single Superhero. With that much paper on the lad the law of averages says he should have the worst of the worst.

Batman and Supes are in a similar bind.

 

[Pau]

Top ten Era betrayal.

As a comic fan how can you find joy in Identity Crisis?

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The way it happened was stupid, but I was happy with the end goal. I know, I'm the worst.

True story: I was asked to interview Brad Meltzer for my high school since I was the only student who had ever read any of his work. But I wasn't allowed to be negative or critical. I don't even remember what I actually said or asked. I wish I hadn't been such a goody-two shoes. :P

 

[Slayven]

Superman's long walk across america

 

[Slayven]

The way it happened was stupid, but I was happy with the end goal. I know, I'm the worst.

True story: I was asked to interview Brad Meltzer for my high school since I was the only student who had ever read any of his work. But I wasn't allowed to be negative or critical. I don't even remember what I actually said or asked. I wish I hadn't been such a goody-two shoes. :P

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If I could interview one writer, it would be Grant Morrison. By Interview I mean get my 5 dollars back for Superman 3d, he owes me

 

[ElBoxy]

When you have a popular long running series where every story has been told, some writers are gonna want to do some risky stuff. It's a massive achievement in comics to leave your mark on a popular character. You gotta have people remember your run for something.

 

[KtotheRoc]

Spider-Man falls victim to "Status Quo is God", so attempts to recapture what Marvel considers THE status quo result in terrible messes like The Clone Saga, One More Day, and One Moment in Time.

 

[KtotheRoc]

Oh let me squash some bullshit before it happens. Spiderverse is ok, but "Leah" destroys it in the feels department. Like just thinking about it makes me want to cry

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Spider-Verse's real problem was it seemed more concerned with fitting in another cameo appearance than its story. The villains were also completely and utterly boring.

A smaller, tighter story with a small team (Peter, Miles, Gwen, Mayday, and a few others) taking on fewer, but more fleshed out, villains could have been amazing.

 

[Dalek]

Is that cover a picture or an illustration? It looks really good.

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👀

 

[Slayven]

Same time Trouble was being published

 

[TheMadTitan]

The way it happened was stupid, but I was happy with the end goal. I know, I'm the worst.

True story: I was asked to interview Brad Meltzer for my high school since I was the only student who had ever read any of his work. But I wasn't allowed to be negative or critical. I don't even remember what I actually said or asked. I wish I hadn't been such a goody-two shoes. :P

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But it never needed to happen. Tim breaking convention and actually having his parent being alive was one of the best things about him, especially with his dad knowing he was Robin. They could've mined the Bruce/Jack conflict for years.

The best thing about Miles Morales right now is that he has his parents. Tim could've been the same.

 

[Finaika]

What about Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman?

 

[TylersProphecy]

For me, spiderman, my favorite marvel character, has ALWAYS had these crazy amazing elevator pitch ideas that can be just as amazing until the end BUT, in the end, the very final outcome must be complete and utter shit.

I'm sorry, dems da rules. As a spiderman fan, it's something I had to come to terms with decades ago. Gotta love that Parker luck.

 

[Slayven]

What about Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman?

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The trinity was a terrible book from a horrible idea

 

[Unicorn]

Same time Trouble was being published

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uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh this is a 'shop..... please?

 

[Slayven]

uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh this is a 'shop..... please?

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Nope, 2 marvel editors bet each other who could write the better book. The contestants

Marville, where that panel is from

Ultimate adventures which I don't think even the writer read

And Captain Marvel

Guess which one won the right to be continued?

 

[Vonocourt]

Same time Trouble was being published

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I went looking for some context, and ooh boy that's some rough stuff.