Marvel Comics Tries And Fails To Hide Negative Twitter/X Replies From Fans Unhappy That Next ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Run Is Yet Another Reset
In the latest example of the stunning disconnect between the publisher and their customers, rather than admit that absolutely no one wants to read another story about Spider-Man’s life being reset to square one, Marvel Comics has attempted to hide any and all negative replies to their Twitter announcement regarding their decision to do return to that exceedingly dry well once again for the upcoming volume of Amazing Spider-Man.
And in a hilarious twist, even with their attempts to avoid such criticisms, the replies to said tweet were overwhelmingly filled with fans who are fed up with their continued abuse of the wall-crawler.
Between such creative decisions as turning the hero into a goblin via his own ‘Spider-Man Who Laughs’ arc, heel-turning Ben Reilly into Chasm (as done due to editorial’s admitted desire to give his narrative role as the ‘second-and-happier-Spider-Man’ to Miles Morales), and introducing Paul as prop with which to keep Peter and MJ from rekindling their romance, by the time Zeb Wells’ recent run on Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6 came to an end, fans were dying for a change in the web-head’s creative direction.
No ‘Peter is unemployed’ nonsense, no more contrived excuses to keep him and MJ broken up that would make a Spanish soap opera blush, no attempts to make the reader think that the Green Goblin, or any other major villain for that matter, is actually, truly reformed. What fans really wanted was just to see Spider-Man being allowed the chance to live, grow, and develop as a human being instead of having the rug pulled from under him for the umpteenth time.
Unfortunately, while the subsequent handing of the book to iconic Marvel Comics scribe Joe Kelly – perhaps best known for penning Deadpool Vol. 3 and the only good arc of the Brand New Day era of Amazing Spider-Man, American Son – for its current Eight Deaths of Spider-Man filler arc suggested that the publisher might be looking to hand the reigns of Amazing Spider-Man to a competent writer, it seems the Spider-editorial office has other plans.
On December 19th, Marvel officially announced they were planning to be relaunch Amazing Spider-Man for its seventh volume, with Kelly providing scripts and art duties being shared by long-time Spider-illustrator John Romita Jr. and Blood Hunt series artist Pepe Larraz, but unfortunately would be doing so in a way that doubled-down on all the worst traits of Wells’ run.
“The new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN will deliver classic Spidey storytelling with bold new horizons for Spider-Man; his supporting cast (including the recently redeemed Norman Osborn and Peter’s new girlfriend Shay), and the greatest supervillains in all of pop culture,” reads the book’s official solicit. “The new run finds Peter without a job and looking for gainful employment, but his job search is interrupted by a rampaging Rhino who is but the tip of a sinister iceberg. What major Spider-Villain is working behind the scenes weaponizing other Spider-Villains including one we haven’t seen in OVER SEVEN YEARS?! Also, what is that Goblin-free Norman Osborn up to these days?”
Reached for by Polygon’s Matt Patches for comment, Kelly himself teased of his upcoming work, “Humility is a good start. Even though this is a new #1, I don’t think of it as a ‘restart’ per se. I’m writing the next chapter of the story of one the world’s greatest characters, lucky enough to follow in the footsteps of the folks before me.”
“After that sinks in, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I love about Spider-Man and his cast, what stories resonated with me at different times of my life, and how I can synthesize all of that into something that works with what came before but breaks new ground,” he added. “I’m fascinated by the internal lives of these characters and exploring new territory there — Peter’s youth is interesting, for example, the days before he was ‘puny Parker’ in high school. At the same time, I feel a drive to take bold, unexpected swings in order to see how Spider-Man deals with Marvel-sized curve balls. Pressure makes diamonds.”
Unsurprisingly, this news went over with fans about as well as Peter attempting to genuinely wear the symbiote suit again would with MJ – in other words, not well at all.
Case in point, when the official Marvel Comics HQ Twitter account made a promotional tweet regarding the upcoming run of Amazing Spider-Man, their replies were inundated with tired fans expressing disappointment both at their favorite hero being once again run through the mud and the publisher’s insistence that this is the story they really want.
Sharing the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse recreation of Peter and MJ’s iconic ‘upside down kiss’ from Spider-Man 2, @JacobUmar8 begged, “Someone please, put Spider-Man and his wife Jackpot aka MJ Watson back together”.
“It’s honestly sad how Marvel continue to destroy their flagship character,” wrote @AdamWhe75138379. “I’m officially giving up on ASM, nothing seems to change. Ultimate Spider-Man is the main Spidey comic for most people now.”
“So,” asserted @animehunt. “Peter & Mary Jane are still not back together. “Paul” & Shay are still around. Once again the clocks been reset on Peter, again with no growth for his character. Nick Lowe is still editor. And again, another BND writer, with no clue of who Spider-Man really is, is taking over as the main writer. You just can’t help yourself from making the same mistake, again, can you?”
Yet, while these reactions were unsurprising, what was surprising was the fact that these three comments, along with dozens of others, most of which simply shared a negative reaction GIF in response to the news, were actively hidden from the Twitter thread by Marvel themselves.
Hilariously though, their social media team could ultimately do little to stem an absolute torrent of fan criticism from crashing upon them, as despite Marvel’s attempts to manipulate the tweet’s optics, its still-visible negative replies far outnumber those that are even remotely positive.
“Not a single new or interesting thing announced so why should I care?” asked @spidyneon. “There is still no solution to the MJ situation, same jobless homeless plotline for peter? Anyone who supports this book just proves they like wasting their time and money.”
@SimplyDango decried, “Can y’all stop ruining Ben Reilly and fix him already! I just want to read Ben Reilly comics with him written well as a HERO how is that so difficult for you to pull off?”
“Jesus Christ,” exclaimed @nichard101, “you know things are dire when a character like Spider-Man can’t even reach 100 issues between reboots. This is so pathetic.”
For those masochists who want to check out Spidey’s latest kick in the d–k, the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 7 is currently set to swing onto shelves on April 9th.
More About:Comic Book News
Read this Next
