Amazing Spider-man # 50

[Ariamus]

Is anyone else surprised that JMS got Spidey and MJ back together?

 

I figured the only reason they hadn't divorced yet is because of the movie; divorce is bad for the box office business. Now JMS brings them back together. I was truly surprised. Great book, BTW.

[dam60]

Do you think ASM is better than USM?

 

DAM

 

[Ariamus]

Great question...

 

...Bendis is a great writer...a GREAT writer. Powers is a phenomenal book; Alias is excellent; his work on Daredevil has been a lot of fun. Still, with USM, he's just rehashing things that were done before. His imagining of Spidey's early days is great, but it's hardly original. If he were to do a completely original story, then I might put it up there with JMS.

 

Straczynski on the other hand has done nothing but break new ground in his 21 issues of ASM. The first storyline, with the villain Morlun and the introduction of Ezekiel were excellent. Peter's interaction with Aunt May after she discovered her secret was great. And the storyline with Shathra was a great deal of fun. And, of course, I couldn't properly discuss JMS's run on ASM without talking about issue 36. Issue 36 is, in my opinion, the most significant comic book written in 30 years. It was such a touching and well written tribute to the heroes of New York that I personally put it up in my personal hall of fame of great single issues of comic books (along with Avengers 266, X-men 137, ASM 121, and Thor 353).

 

So, in a word, Yes, I prefer ASM to USM.

[dam60]

Cool. I read USM right now, but not ASM. Maybe I otta make the switch!

 

DAM

 

[Illiterati-migration]

Yeah, ASM (particularly this month's issue) is truly a great book. I'm not a huge Spidey fan by any means, but JMS' take is fantastic!

 

ASM 50 is grrrrreat story (either in the context of the series or as a stand-alone or as a jumping-on point!) IT HAS DOCTOR DOOM, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! There. Plug complete.

[Ariamus]

Don't switch; read both.

 

 

[blowout]

Do you think ASM is better than USM?

 

I would have to say yes for several reasons.

 

1. Prefer JRjr art to Bagley.

2. JMS is doing some good original work on ASM introducing some cool new characters.

3. I feel that, although Bendis is a great writer (check out alias), USM is nothing but a rehash of past stories.

 

Anyway, if you like USM, why not pick up both books?

 

 

[OldGuy]

I just put together a run of the JMS issues and read them all over the weekend a few weeks ago. I'm not much of a Spider-Man fan, but with JMS doing the writing I think I could even get into a POS title like G.I. Joe.

[Guest]

how dare you? Have you ever actually read the Joe stories? DONT judge until you have read them....

[dam60]

So how does the continuity work then? Is ASM 50 at all related to ASM v1 252 or any other Spidey book from the first series?

 

DAM

[delekkerste]

Do you think ASM is better than USM?

 

IMO, emphatically NOT. I prefer the classics when it comes to most things in life, and so I've been extremely skeptical about the whole Ultimate experiment from the beginning. Seeing USM books trading at ridiculous prices didn't improve my "fad" impression of the series any, either.

 

HOWEVER, some 36-odd issues later, I have to admit that Bendis is indeed worthy of all of his accolades. I've kept looking for reasons to drop the title, but despite the occasional off-issue, I've remained impressed with the quality. Mark Bagley has been turning out consistently solid, if unspectacular, artwork.

 

As for ASM, I was ecstatic about JMS's first year at the helm, but I really feel that the quality has taken a sharp decline over the past 8-10 issues. I've been completely unenthused about picking up the book lately...I found the recent "spider vs. the wasp" storyline, while admittedly different, to not be all that interesting, even less so than the previous Doc Ock storyline. There's also way too much "cute" nonsense being crammed into the mag, like these Lobster-Man jokes, that dude in MJ's building wearing women's lingerie in issue #49, Aunt May's "geriatric gynecological" excuse at the airport covering for Peter, etc. You can find multiple instances in each issue, which is getting seriously annoying to me.

 

I also think that JRJR's artwork is detracting severely from the book. What has happened with this guy? He is, IMO, churning out the worst artwork of his career and among the worst artwork I have ever seen on a major Marvel title. I'm not the biggest fan of Mark Bagley on USM, but he looks like freaking Neal Adams compared to JRJR. Pick up a recent ASM issue...there is hardly any detail in the artwork, the characters all look very stiff and the faces look neither realistic nor manga-esque...they just look downright weird. Instead of making MJ look like a model hottie, she looks like an anorexic extraterrestrial.

 

Just my opinion.

 

Gene

[blowout]

I also think that JRJR's artwork is detracting severely from the book. What has happened with this guy?

 

He seems to be trying to ape Steve Ditko's work on Spidey, and I agree that it has not been too successful.

I still like his artwork (better than Bagleys, hate his giant heads) although his work was much better on ASM back in the 80's.

[ist102951]

I'm glad they got back - they belong together. I love Spider-man and in my opinion JMS run on ASM has been phenomenal. Keep an eye on Shathra, the SPider Wasp to become one of SPidey's nemesis in the future. I thought it was the best villain created in the Spider-man universe since Venom in ASM 300. I have to say that this months Peter Parker: Spider-man #53 was kind of original also - not bad.

As far as ASM vs USM - it's comparing apples and oranges. I've been reading ASM for 30 years and I have no problem with the Ultimate time line. What bugged me the most in the 30 years of reading spider-man was when they relaunched the title with issue #1 after ASM 441. If they hadn't done that we would be approaching ASM 500 at the end of this year. Marvel shortsightedness strikes again. I heard they're doing the same thing with Wolverine this year. Some folks never learn - I know a lot of collectors who stopped collecting Marvel comics once the original series ended. Oh well.

[FlyingDonut]

ASM 50 was the first Marvel in a long time that I've really really enjoyed. Very well written, fun story. And the bit at the end when Doom empties his pockets - just priceless. And the cover is phenomenal - who did it?

 

[Darthdiesel]

J. Scott Campbell of Danger Girl fame - will be doing covers again to 53? He was the cover artist for ASM 30 when Straczynski first started.

[blowout]

Campbell's covers have been great, check out the cover to ASM #33 Donut, loved that one. I'm glad he is back on cover duty, the ASM covers have suffered in his absence (except for the couple that JR jr did).

[OldGuy]

Yea, I read them, I bought them off the rack at $.60 an issue.