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COMICS: A Pretty Good Defense of Spider-Man #700

COMICS: A Pretty Good Defense of Spider-Man #700

"MovieBob" Chipman, The Escapist's movie critic and resident expert on all things geek, takes a whack at the Spidey #700 outrage. Basically arguing, "What's the big deal?". Watch the video for his insightful take...

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By ComicBookMovie - 1/9/2013
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25 Comments
Greengo - 1/9/2013, 9:19 AM
What's Spider Man #700?
rebellion - 1/9/2013, 9:19 AM
pathetic
KarlKingNerd - 1/9/2013, 9:20 AM
FLAME WAR BEGINS.... NOW!
Jollem - 1/9/2013, 9:22 AM
sh!t happens in comics from time to time, people. this will not be permanent
TheSkywalkingKnight - 1/9/2013, 9:22 AM
Freaking love Bob's videos; from The Big Picture to The Game Overthinker.
Charlie2094 - 1/9/2013, 9:27 AM
Don't understand all the hate for 700. I personally thought it was a very tense, exciting issue which set up a very interesting premise. If you go into it hating it already, then of course you won't like it. It won't be permanent and Parker will be back sometime, so its hardly a big deal, this is an interesting idea and should be fun whilst it lasts.
malschla - 1/9/2013, 9:33 AM
I just read Superior #1, and they're already setting the stage for Parker to come back. Typical fan overreaction.
Charlie2094 - 1/9/2013, 9:35 AM
@malshla

Oh really? I haven't read it yet. Over-react is what fans do. Despite the thousands of Parker issues, and hundreds more to come, this slight change up (which is actually quite interesting as Bob points out) is being hated on, despite 700 actually being one of the better Spider-man issues I've read for a long while.
ComicBookMovie - 1/9/2013, 9:36 AM
Kraven's last hunt will always be my favorite spidey story.
Jollem - 1/9/2013, 9:38 AM
@Mr.G - that's a great one
BIGGGHEADTJ - 1/9/2013, 9:39 AM
Fans just need to read the first issue of Superior and everything will calm down and all the haters will finally shut up
Thogr87 - 1/9/2013, 10:06 AM
Having read Spider-Man continuously since the early 80's, I've got to agree with Bob on this one. Peter Parker will definitely be back at some point, but I'm intrigued to see how much Peter can influence or even "save" Doc Ock. I also thought that Peter's sacrifice was completely in character and well written.
jasonicus - 1/9/2013, 10:54 AM
Now that Peter is seemingly coming back, defending #700 is a moot point.
Equivocal - 1/9/2013, 12:13 PM
#700 would've been a great point of storytelling in spiderman BUT there's one arc that ruins everything before #700....

One More Day.
Nivekian - 1/9/2013, 12:33 PM
Fan over-reaction = Anger over another blatent renumbering sales ploy with more event marketing than good storytelling as a default.
logicoflame - 1/9/2013, 1:09 PM
Fans new Parker was coming back, holy shit get that through your head. What fans were mad about is how they killed him off, the horrible writing, and the shock value to sale books.
logicoflame - 1/9/2013, 1:20 PM
Also for being a Spider-man guru he has a lot of opinions about recent comics and says he has not read them? this dude is garbage, glad I never heard of him
BenderDickCumPatch - 1/9/2013, 1:57 PM
Peter will be back
fungusmonkey - 1/9/2013, 2:14 PM
Here is the problem with this:

1) He admits he hasn't read it, just read the details so he misses some key details like how Ock doesn't really have so much of a "change of heart" as he begrudgingly accepts the reasons behind Peter being a hero and pledges to try and take that into consideration. Something which is tossed out the window pretty early in Avenging 15.1 and Superior #1.

2) He sums it up as Ock trying to HONOR and SURPASS Spider-Man out of some kind of respect, when it's completely the opposite. Ock wants to be superior because he's an egotistical madman who is convinced that he can be a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was. It's not about "honoring" him, it's about showing him up which is just stupid.

3)No, Slott is not a really good writer most of the time. He's a decent writer who has done some good work, but his Spidey stuff keeps getting worse and worse.

4)The big sin: hinging it upon "it's only temporary". That's a complete non-argument because you're admitting that a)it's not a good enough idea to keep, and b)you're intentionally lowering your expectations. It's the same as forgiving something like the Bay Transformers movies because "they're just dumb popcorn movies". Everything is good if you intentionally ignore it's flaws.

5) Big sin #2: The "comics, everyone!" defense. Because silly stupid things have happened in comics before, then ergo it's ok for silly stupid things to happen whenever. Because they're just for kids, right? Or because they're based on a silly premise, right? No. Comics should be held to the same standard as any work of literature or film or medium. Again, it's intentionally lowering your standards in order to apologize for something being sub-par.

It was a dumb idea by Slott and Marvel, which is now a dumb idea that they've given themselves an "easy out" for when/if the sales dip. It's poor writing and a disgraceful and disrepectful end to a heroes life (getting crammed into the dying body of his enemy and spit upon before dying and watching one of his foes take over and corrupt his life and legacy).
Empowerman - 1/9/2013, 2:30 PM
Here, here Bob! Here here!
Empowerman - 1/9/2013, 2:32 PM
One more day blew.... but I kinda liked this story and I've bee reading Spiderman since I was 6 (i'm 40).
Dunejedi1 - 1/9/2013, 3:33 PM
I would've critiqued this video, but I stopped watching it about a minute in.

The "big deal" for me is not the mind-swap, it's not that Peter 'died'; it's that Slott either does not understand the characters he's writing and/or he's just a lazy writer. And I'm referring to Otto more than Peter. He spent 100 issues laying the trap but he didn't devote any time developing Otto's character so that when he became Spider-Man, he would actually want to BE Spider-Man, Superior or otherwise. Anyone who's familiar with Doc Ock would know that he would keep doing Dock Ock ish in Spider-Man's body, it's like, the biggest "Get Out Of Jail Free" card in the world. Otto's entire "revelation" is a hackneyed, shoe-horned in at the last minute, steaming pile that goes completely against his character. Octopus wasn't fighting Spidey for 50 years because he didn't get where he was coming from. Their world-views are contrary. Otto is a deranged egotist with sociopathic tendencies. Giving him Spidey's powers and good name would not change that for a second.

Writing characters that behave completely against their nature without developing their personality appropriately is kind of a "big deal".

The simplest way I think I can explain it would be to compare it to a Math test you took in grade school. You write in that 2 + 2 = 6 and you don't show your work. The teacher says that's wrong and asks why you didn't show your work, If you show your work, the teacher can show you why 2 + 2 doesn't equal 6. But you didn't do the work, you just DECIDED that 2 + 2 = 6 and if anyone else doesn't like it they can just [frick] off.
BlueDemon - 1/9/2013, 4:16 PM
Meh...he'll be back
Bark4Soul - 1/9/2013, 5:26 PM
I agree with this video and think most of the haters are so stuck on the hate they wont even change their stance a bit because this makes too much sense lol
jaycr - 1/9/2013, 9:58 PM
This video is telling you that reading comics is a waste of time because whatever they do with the characters is Ok. Thank you very much... he forgot that Peter Parker is a beloved character for generations of comic book readers because they could relate to him at some point... if the writer miss that connection with his public he is not doing a good job. I haven't read it, but the more I see the direction Marvel "heroes" are taking (Super powered jerks) less I want to invest time reading their comics.

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