PeterDavid.net

I was a little iffy on F'n Spidey #5. I think it's partly because I've read so much of your stuff before. I read the Ultimate Spider-Man annual where the Thorite who gave Spidey his ultralite turned out to be the Spiderite who popped up in several other seemingly unrelated places. I watched the Gargoyles episode where the guy had bumped into the Gargoyles so many times that he needed to hit one of them with a pie-in-the-face-zooka. I read the Star Trek Book where Trelane discorporates Q and sends him bouncing through time, bumping into Enterprises again and again. And I think I've read that same device in a couple other of your works too, though I can't recall them off the top of my head. I enjoyed that the first couple of times, so I probably would have enjoyed it this time too if I hadn't read as much of the other stuff.

Also, the ending seemed a little abrupt. I'm not sure why. Going from the courtroom to the future felt odd somehow. It helped that it didn't look like The Future (tm), it wasn't a sci-fi tale and it helped that it didn't look like one.

Despite those problems, I bought 5 comics this week, and this was honestly the only one I truly enjoyed. With both my DC (including Infinite Crisis) and Marvel purchases, the other comics were just parts of ongoing stories. I kinda feel like I'm reading them out of duty. It was really nice to read F'n Spidey and get a simple, told-in-one story.

Despite my criticisms, this comic introduced me to someone interesting, then showed me something interesting happening. So I liked it pretty well.

Dammit, brain no work. I meant Spider-Man 2099, not Ultimate Spider-Man.

Loved X Factor, but the spider man story felt repeated. Also it's always wierd for me when technology doesnt match the year. Having the girl blogging way before there was such a thing pulled me out of the story quickly.

Haven't picked up my comics yet this week, but I believe Fallen Angel and Soulsearchers are both out too.

And just discovered: Untold Tales of the New Universe: Justice should be coming out later this month, and I've seen your name listed as the author.

X-Factor was brilliant. I can't believe what that little rascal, Layla, did! I'm starting to really really fall for Monet. But one of my favorite comebacks was when Siren stuck it to Monet with her little "maybe one day we'll figure out what it is that YOU do". These guys have the perfect chemistry for tension and humor and I love that the plots are smart and muted. I like this X-book better than Astonishing. But I am very sad to see Sook go. This series could be on point and up there with the Ultimates and Astonishing if given a top notch regular artist. C'mon, guys! Get on the stick and match some high quality talent with a brilliant writer and innovative tales!

I just couldn't get into FNSM#5. As mentioned previously, the whole issue about blogging when computers shouldn't even have been invented yet was a glaring error that made it hard to enjoy the book. More importantly, though, the whole issue had a feel of "we don't have anything relevant this month, here's a throw-off filler issue that means nothing." But the one positive thing I can say about it is that it was an issue that didn't feature that butt-ugly new costume!

D'oh, must read after editing. That should have said "when home computers shouldn't even have been invented yet."

I am having to fight to get Fallen Angel, and I don't know who to believe.

It's been on my pull list since the DC run. But since the book has been at IDW, I've literally had to ask my comic shop about the book. They say they ordered copies, but Diamond keeps either shorting them or is not getting them the books. This week, they told me it didn't come in at all. Last month, I had to wait 2 weeks after its release date to get it.

Supposedly, it should be arriving next week, and I'll get it then, but I'm growing impatient.

I don't know if its a Diamond problem or a problem with my comic shop, but it's getting damned annoying.

I wasn't sure if it was really the future and Spidey's dead, or if it was just supposed to be some nutty old lady imagining things and blogging them.

Loved the Xfactor...especially the sonic scream panel.

The blog FNSM story was interesting, and I loved the way you ended the book.

Hey Peter, I was in my local Barnes and Noble and stumbled across the latest NF hardcover (Missing in Action) I just started the book, but so far its great.

Regards:
Warren S. Jones III

My LCS had problems getting Fallen Angel #2 - I only got it last week. This week's showed up on time, though.

The owner (who I trust) kept telling me that they were having problems getting it from the distribution center.

I did want to mention one thing with regards to suspension of disbelief.

Many have mentioned that the FNSM story felt a bit unbelievable due to the fact that blogging and computers were not a huge part of the culture when Peter was in high school...

But nobody has a problem believing a 15 year old could be bitten by a radioactive spider and not die?!?!

Its science fiction my fellow fanboys...revel in it, don't over analyze.

Just a thought.

Regards:
Warren S. Jones III

I really like both of them. I was at Wondercon so I knew what's gonna happen in this issue of x-factor, having said that, this issue is still very entertaining.
but what I think really spoke to me was FNSM. I realize that I blame others for my problems sometimes. this issue remindrd me that I could turn what went wrong in my life into something great. Thanks for that PAD.

Fallen Angel is out this week. I picked it up yesterday.

Rick

Peter,

Love your stuff! I just recently finished the three B5 novels and I really loved them, esp. the last one.

I have been a big fan of yours for years. Through the Star Trek novels, Hulk, SM 2099, X-Factor, Captain Marvel series (I see they killed CM in the latest issue of Thunderbolts, assholes!). I have even had the pleasure of visiting with you over the years at a couple of Dallas conventions. Loved the useless Indiana Jones story you told at the last one.

I have to admit though that the FNSM series is just not doing it for me. I think a lot of that had to do with my disappointment in the way the series started with the whole "The Other" story line which I was not all that impressed with. I just don't get the need to reinvent one of the greatest super-heroes of all times.

As to the latest incarnation of X-Factor I have to admit that I am one of the masses that have just burned out on the whole X-Men concept.

Thanks again for all of the great stories Peter. I have enjoyed the hell out of them and look forward to many more of them in the future.

Really loved both books. Whats amazing is, I didnt pick up X-Factor #1 until #2 came out, because I have been trying to cut back on monthlies, not increase them. But such positive word got out, that I had to have it. And I am so glad I did.

As for Spidey...I really enjoyed it. But in this era of "everything needs to be a 5 part arc"...i'm sure this self contained nugget is going to throw a lot of people. Me? It was alot of fun and fits in nicely with the Essential PPSMs I'm reading right now! :)

Re: XF4 lettercol

Monet's an ethnic Algerian. So she is African in that sense (although I'm not 100% sure where she was actually born, although her parents live in Monaco and I know she lived there for years, at least).

Mr. Milstead, you say in one paragraph that you "don't get the need to reinvent" Spidey.

And in the very next paragraph, you say that you're burned out on X-Men as a concept.

Think about it. :-)

First off, considering how Marvel Time works, there were indeed home computers when Peter Parker got his powers. And there were people publishing stuff on the internet.

Secondly, Fallen Angel 3 was wonderful, and painful. Peter David knows when to be cruel.

Yeah, I wanted to point out that Monet is Algerian, as well. But I was too late.

Fallen Angel was excellent, as usual, but I'm wondering about the pace. You're revealing things a lot more quickly than with the DC series. Is this a change in the way you constructed the book, or is it all part of the plan? I don't mind, but it's interesting because of the abrupt shift. Still, a great issue.

I really liked the FNSM story, Peter. Vanna kinda reminded of someone I'm acquainted with from another message board site.

Didn't read FNS, but X-Factor #4 was great! From start to...THAT cliffhanger. Oh man. Excellent series PAD. Definitly my favorite Marvel book right now! Can't wait to read the next issue!

DF2506
" Really happy with X-Factor. Its only the X-related book that I read right now too! "

Oddly enough, I went into last night's stack of comics....and it's rare these days that I do have a stack...but I was expecting to read my final ish. of X-Factor. It's good, well written, I enjoy it, and it's funny, but it just doesn't seem like something I want to stick with.

Then PAD gives us a big cliffhanger ending...and suddenly I'm hooked again. I won't say it's the book I most look forward to reading, but it's certainly high up there.

Fallen Angel #3...Finally getting the truth about Lee takes away some of the allure of this title. Not sure I'm totally into the new direction, and while the art is very good, I'm still having a hard time transitioning from the DC art. I'll stick with it through the end of this run, and I'll probably be around for the next arc. But this ish. didn't really move me.

Warren, I hate that reasoning. Just because it is fiction does not mean that it should not make sense or have continuity.

FNS was a really good, arty little story, and even though I've seen the device of a normal person obsessing with their random encounters with a hero before (like in that Gargoyles episode, and a previous PAD story) I really enjoyed it.

I wonder if PAD intended for Mary Jane to come off as a bitter old lady in that story. Mary Jane was pretty crazy to blame a woman who's clearly suffering from some of psychiatric paranoa disorder for not triumphing over her problems. It's hardly the blogger woman's fault that she was born crazy enough to not be able to distinguish between fact and reality; for Mary Jane to look her up to diss her is really petty and odd. Mary Jane came off like a bitter old widow.

You gotta wonder if PAD believes what Mary Jane said or not? The idea that its her fault she wasn't strong enough to overcome her brain disorder?

Has PAD or anyone encountered blogs like the one in this issue?

I have to agree with Charles on this one; maybe you have to accept an initial suspension of disbelief, but that does not give the creators license to rewrite the rules as and when they see fit. I'm not necessarily saying that Peter did that with the use of a blog; I'm just responding to Warren's earlier comment.

I have to admit, the blog structure pulled me out of the story as well, but I suspect it's more of a generational thing. As a reader in my forties I've been reading Spider-Man since issue one, so 'Marvel time' notwithstanding, in my mind the character will always be born in the sixties. I could certainly accept some of these newer elements in say, the Ultimate books, which seem to have been invented for that very purpose, but I don't read most of those books anyway, because I'm not all that interested in seeing the flavor-of-the-month hot young creator try to reinvent the wheel.

Mr. David,

I am a fan of your writing. Let me say that up front. I am avidly reading X-Factor and for the most part enjoying it.

I have a few things to say, and I hope you will take this as constructive, rather than fangirl whining. I say this so as to hopefully preempt a defensive, snarky reply.

To my eyes, you have not done Siryn justice, and I think elements of your portrayal are simply completely inconsistent with her previous continuity and persona. I understand that each writer will put their own spin on a character, and when it's done well, I respect that. I also understand that many writers at Marvel are at war with Marvel's own continuity.

I have every single appearance of Siryn in Marvel canon (as well as far too many issues in general of Marvel stuff, as I am a rabid collector). Before you peg me as someone on the lunatic fringe, let me say that I'm not a fangirl obsessed with one character - I have a good grasp of the Marvel universe as a whole.

I have three problems with how you are writing Siryn.

1. Siryn has never, ever smoked. She's a healthy young woman that relentlessly trained during her time in X-Force and regularly subjected herself to grueling physical exercise, back when X-Force was kicking ass across five continents. She's never shown any inclination to smoke in any of her subesequent appearances. Why would she do something so damaging to her vocal chords, even if they are superstrong? If you are going to go with a radical departure for her character, at least show me how she *got* there.

2. Siryn has been sober for years now. She's been shown as regularly attending AA meetings. From what I've seen so far, I've seen you write her as an alcoholic that's white knuckling through the day, bemoaning that she can't drink. As someone with many years of recovery under my belt, i think this is an unfortunate portrayal that starts down the slippery slope towards cliche. Unfortunatley, addiction and alcoholism get treated within the comic medium all too often with inaccuracy and ludicrous stereotype. I'd hate to see you do this with Siryn. Not all alcoholics with a few years of recovery walk around constantly in angst over their alcoholism. (In fact, most of the hundreds I know do not.)

3. Siryn's speech patterns. Kudos to you for getting away from writing her with a broadly cliched phonetic accent, but she *is* Irish, and her phrasings are reading totally American to me in X-Factor. Sure, Siryn has been living in America for a while now, but given her past continuity, it's clear she's retained some Irish idioms in her speech. Again, I laud the fact that you aren't painting her as broadly and exaggeratedly Irish, but to be honest, her speech patterns in X-Factor read as weirdly American. She's not American, and I've never heard her say "what the hell" and "Jeez." Most of the Irish people I'm privileged to know don't say that, either.

Those are my thoughts. Obviously I have a great love for this character, and all of the other characters in X-Factor, but I think you're missing the mark with Siryn.

Other than that, I like it.

Best,

Anne
San Francisco

Oh, and one other thought.

If Siryn's had her throat slit - which I'm not sure she has, it's unclear from the end of the issue - I'm going to scream louder than she does. She's had her throat slit already in canon, and so has Banshee. Hopefully there's another way to incapacitate a sonically powered Cassidy than the old "let's slit her throat!" plot.

I'm also echoing the above posters in saying that M is most usually written as Algerian in origin.

I am loving Guido.

Best,

Anne
San Francisco

Add me to the list of people having problems getting Fallen Angel. I've got two comic stores nearby, one near home and one near work. I have a pull list at the one near work so I can go in on my lunch hour on Wednesdays (the other one closes too early to stop by after work, so I have to wait until the weekend).

They missed Fallen Angel #1 and #3, but actually managed to get #2 in. This despite the fact that it's been on my pull list since a few issues into the DC series. I've had problems with other small-press books not showing up (or being gone by the time I arrive), though they've managed to order every Angel issue from IDW.

Fortunately, the other store orders enough that I've been able to find it there. It's frustrating, though.

I've been looking forward to FNSM #5 since PAD did an unintentional cliffhanger reading of it at last year's DragonCon, and I wasn't disappointed by it. As for the blogging thing, well, I've never been a huge fan of 'Marvel time' as a concept (and, by extension, the Ultimates books), but there are certain constraints of the medium (like accurately portraying the passage of time with characters that have existed for decades) which one just has to accept. The blogging thing really didn't distract me from the story.
But then, maybe that's because I know a lot of bloggers like that.

Haven't gotten to XF #4 or FA #3 yet.

Maybe it would have worked better if the first note had been an entry in her diary. Then, the final one, the present day one that gets JJJ's attention, that could have been on a website.

The flow would have been less direct with her switching mediums, so I can see a downside to that.

F'N Spider-Man...hmmm, when you do the All Ages book, maybe they could change the title to Marvel Fantasy Spider-Man?

Hmmmm. Five separate Peter David titles showed up yesterday at my store. In addition to the books mentioned above, Peter cowrote the second issue of his Red Sonja miniseries which I have not yet read.

Further, Peter had another great issue of SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY with the legendary Joe Staton doing the pencils. Man, this was a great issue.

As for Peter's other books, F'N SPIDER-MAN was my favorite. This was an amazing issue and I can't believe the griping. People have been bitching about the mega-crossover story and here is a single issue story of great emotional strength. Blogging has been around for quite awhile now and it is likely that someone could have been blogging back when Peter Parker was in high school.

FALLEN ANGEL and X FACTOR were enjoyable too. Isn't it kind of funny that all of the above titles surpass DC's INFINITY CRISIS and the launch of the ONE YEAR LATER stories. Peter is still the man!

I'm with some upstream commenters. The blogging-in-high school thing put me off, then just how nasty MJ was at the end did as well. Who are the sympathetic characters? I wanted to like it but it just left me cold.

Nice stuff all around. I'm always happy to see all the X-Factor characters. Rahne really seems like she's back where she belongs, for instance. And I loved the "Jamie wants you to take care of the corpse on the floor" bit.

Just wanted to second the reminder that Monet's Algerian (no matter what member of her family she turned out to be, the family's still Algerian), so yeah, just slightly darker skin could work, and the suggestion that Terry's phrasing, etc. could be handled a bit differently, and that even if there was going to be blogging twenty years ago, it would have been nice if the artist could have done it differently than what I believe was OS X. You know, showing a visual progression of some sort in that way.

Lastly, to those who have a problem with Mary Jane's attitude, this woman never struck me as mentally ill, just self-centered. Nothing odd about that getting on someone's nerves.

"then just how nasty MJ was at the end did as well"

Are we even sure that was MJ? A lot can happen in that many years.

:)

Whoever that was, I kinda liked how she looked a little like classic Aunt May. It may or may not have been intended that way, but it seemed appropriate. As for her being snarky, I once had to live with a similar conspiracy nut for a couple months. The urge to strangle them can become intense after awhile.

I'm pretty shocked at all the complaints about blogging being inappropriate for a story that begins with Peter in high school. I've been reading Spider-Man comics for 30 years, but I was never under the impression that Peter has been fighting crime in realtime. He and Mary Jane would be in their mid-fifties! Clearly Spider-Man has only been in action maybe 8 years or so-- and there'll never be fixed dates. Eight years ago there were already blogging sites like Xanga starting to catch on.

A nice shot at our courts system which do hand down such ludicrous verdicts.

But I'm with those who think that, while home computers [Apple ][ anyone?] have been around for about 28-29 years, home Internet has not. Ten years ago? High schoolers, assuming they had Internet access, which most didn't back then, would probably have been in Bulletin Board Systems via dial-up. Such so-called Web Logs are a comparatively new phenomenom.

One question is brought up by the second-last scene, however. If Peter really is dead, did it happen in such a way as to make his identity public? Even if not, I'd think MJ would have gone over to JJJ's office (he's too cantankerous to die!) and told him off, too. I'd pay to see that.

Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman - Interesting comic, although I felt that it was ultimately forgetable. What was strong about it was that it shows a bit of the anti-Spiderman crowd, something that I haven't seen too much about. We see a lot of it with Jameson, but (as far as I know) from no one else.
However, the main character really drove me nuts, with her arrogance and annoying personality.

I just got the X-Factor #4, which has officially become my #1 in the pull list. I still haven't been able to read anything from House of M, and even so, Layla is really, really intriguing. (Although I would have loved to see more of Rictor)

Such so-called Web Logs are a comparatively new phenomenom.

Anybody else happen to remember a website called The Globe?

It was a combination of things, such as chat rooms, website hosting and more.

It shut down about 8 years or so ago, but it was there when I first got on the internet, at high school, about 10 years ago. :)

And yes, my friend did use BBS services at home on his sweet 2400 baud modem. ;)

As a term, 'weblog' was coined in 1999. So it is 7 years old. If there was a weblog when Peter was 16, that would make him 23 today. I think he's a bit older.

On the other hand, everyone does know that the Marvel Universe is not OUR universe, right? There's no telling when blogs were invented in the Marvel Universe.

The "Jamie wants you to take care of the corpse on the floor" bit was great.

In regards to F'in Spidey 5: While I understand the need to update characters and their environs to make them relevant to new readers and that "comic time" progresses much more slowly than "real time", I find it hard to swallow that Peter is still in his early twenties given the blog storyline. There's just too much of his history for me to accept that. Early to mid thirties would do it for me. Otherwise, he'd be around the same age as the original New Mutants crew, just to give an example. And he was in college or dropping out just before the time they came about. And that was the early eighties. Then again, how long has Frankin Richards been pre-pubescent? The late sixties?

Oy. My head hurts. I think this should have been an Ultimate Spidey story and then no one's "continuity sense" would be tingling.

OK, I'm going to weigh in on the comic-time issue one more time. I feel a little I'm helping to over-blow a minor point, so don't take these comments to mean that I thought this was a significant problem.

I think the issue isn't exactly that the timeline doesn't work. If you do the math on how old Peter Parker is, you can make it work one way or another.

I think the real problem is that you have to *think* about it. When I read the first couple of pages, I had to think "Peter was a teenager in the 60s, oh wait, I guess he wasn't. All right, this is fine.". It's perfectly legitimate to take his current age and say that he was *not* a teenager in the 60s, but I had to think about it for a second.

That process of figuring it out was the real problem. It's like seeing a magician do a trick where he lets you see how he's hiding the card in his hand. It's not that you would have actually believed that the card disappeared by real magic, and it's not that his ability to palm the card isn't impressive. It's just that the trick works better if you aren't aware of the process.

The weblog thing made us think about comic time. That's kinda like a magician showing us how the trick is done, and it distracts from the story a bit.

"The weblog thing made us think about comic time. That's kinda like a magician showing us how the trick is done, and it distracts from the story a bit."

Not if you're between the ages of six and twelve.

For kids between the ages of six and twelve, it would have been far more distracting to do something as historically accurate as, say, having her making entires on general public BBS's, which is what people were doing in the early 1990s. Why have a story that focuses on the evolving nature of being an internet diarist, from the earlier days of Compuserv, GEnie and Prodigy through to the advent of blogs in 1999, when I can have a simple and straightforward through-line that's easily accessible for younger readers who don't really understand that blogs are only about seven years old?

To me the important thing is the story that the protagonist has to tell, not the method with which she tells it...especially in a Marvel Universe where, when the Champions first formed, it was explicitly shown that the President was Jimmy Carter. So if I stick closely to Marvel continuity, should I have Carter as president for the flashback Hulk vs. Champions story I'm working on right now, thus satisfying long term continuity concerns but totally bewildering younger fans going "Jimmy WHO?"

PAD

I definitely don't think that BBS boards was the right way to go. That's why earlier I mentioned the idea of having her high school comments be written in a diary and her final comments written on a blog. Just avoid the oddness altogether.

I can see how that isn't as consistent as having her tell her story through one medium from beginning to end. I'm certainly didn't think this was all that big a deal, I'm just interested in the mechanics of it.

FNSM was Eisneresque. And that is a very high compliment indeed. Well done, sir.

PAD,

Well, if you care what a Bush loving Republican thinks...

FNSM was classic PAD: Preachy. Now, I don't mean that in a negative way. I just mean that PAD had a point, and he wrote a very focused story that got the point across. Effectively. For a one shot comic, I think that is a wise use of the format. It made it worth buying the issue. It was not a throwaway as some one issue comics can be. The story mattered.

The message was rather blunt. I am still thinking if it could have been done in a subtler way. But while PAD and I may disagree in how to implement the point, I think it was a worthy one to make.

Bottom line, it would recommend it on a number of levels.

X-Factor was classic PAD: Character driven, multi-layered, punny humor, twists around every third corner. This is why I cough up another chunk of change for a new comic by PAD. The story is worth it. He treats the readers with a level of respect. There are payoffs immediately, not 20 years later, yet there is still a level of mystery that is maintained. (Hard balance to keep -- just look at Alias over the last 5 seasons.)

Bottom line, the story matters even if you don't read another Marvel Comic. It makes sense, yet it is clearly a part of a much bigger, richer world. My only compaint comes from my differences in how I perceive right and wrong, good and evil. But PAD is consistent in the moral code he portrays within the series, and actions do have consequences.

X-Factor has quickly moved to the top of my list of comics. If I had to buy only one, this would most likely be it.

Iowa Jim

X-Factor: Best comic I picked up this week. M showing a softer side, and Lalya Miller continues to creep me out.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Interesting stand alone issue. Poor Vanna.

Heh, I like the cameo appearence of the Skull plush on the opening page of FNSM, even if he is pink, for some reason.

Peter, I'm so glad you're back on X-Factor. I loved your first X-Factor run and this new one blows the old one away... and it's only been four issues.

I'm especially amazed at how you've managed to take a plot device (Layla) and made her into a foil for the team and made her actually enjoyable to read. I'd say I'd be interested in seeing you write X-23 just to see how you'd handle her, but honestly, she doesn't need to invade more books where she doesn't belong. :)

I also love how you've augmented/evolved certain characters' powers, especially Jamie's. You've made such a beloved character into a character with layers (pardon the quasi-pun). ;)

Keep up the great work with X-Factor! I also picked up FNSM #5, which was quite enjoyable. I can't wait to see what you're going to with a Spider-title now that The Other is over with (even if that lame costume is going to be appearing shortly).

Peter, I'm a huge fan (got the signed CM script to prove it!) but the blog thing was horribly distracting and immediately popped me out of the story. The diary-to-blog progression is a much better idea. This reminded me of the tiny little cell phones in Kingpin that were so distracting that I stopped buying the book. Comic book collectors are, in general, highly anal-retentive and OCD-driven - why put those elements in at all, when those comfortable with them won't care, but those who notice them get turned off?

X-Factor continues to please and although I liked Sook on Zatanna, I'm not sorry to see him leave X-Factor. Imagine Strohman doing this book again!

Hulk/Champions shouldn't show Carter as President, but neither should it be, say, Clinton. How about the nice generic man with the face in shadows, thus removing topical references?

FA is worth every penny, and one of the many LCS owners I bugged was finally able to find a #1 for me!

"Hulk/Champions shouldn't show Carter as President, but neither should it be, say, Clinton."

Actually, I'm thinking that's exactly who it's gonna be. I've got a great exchange of dialogue all set for it.

PAD

FNSM and x-factor were both great stories!

so tired of hearing about the time/blog issue related to FNSM - bottom line i agree with PAD's points above, and i just thought this was a great story. with so many 6-8 part stories made for tpb these days, so cool to see a single part story that worked so well. really like that this story was so character driven, rather than spidey fighting the latest bad guy - hope we continue to see more like this in coming issues!

x-factor is by far the best x-book these days and quickly becoming one of my favorite comics. i am new to most of these characters and really like the way you have made the series so accessable to new readers. sorry to hear that Ryan Sook is leaving - i hope that his replacement with have a similar dark tone as i think it fits this book perfectly.

PAD, thanks for the excellent books!

"...sorry to hear that Ryan Sook is leaving - i hope that his replacement with have a similar dark tone as i think it fits this book perfectly." - chris

Well Dennis Calero has already been penciling/inking parts of the past few issues- if you haven't noticed this already then you will hardly notice when he takes over full time. His tone is very similar to what Sook has been doing.

I liked both issues.

With X-Factor #4, Layla is starting to grow on me as a character, particularly after she actually made herself useful last issue (by saving Rictor's life). And I do like the idea that Jamie is nervous about actually using his abilities. Monet is the only character that I still don't really get, mainly because I'm not familiar with her past appearances, so I was a bit surprised that the letters page said "Speaking of Monet, the Madrox TPB is now out!", since I don't remember her being in that mini-series at all.

For F'n Spider-Man, I read the first 5 pages on a preview website a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was a very clever idea, but that did mean that I just skimmed through them when the actual issue turned up. Since I was going to buy the issue anyway, I think the moral there is just "be patient".

Regarding the end of that issue, I thought that the widow (MJ?) was Aunt May at first, just due to the artwork, but it also seemed odd that she'd still be around, and the dialogue made it clear who she really was. And personally, I agree with her on the whole "get over it" issue. I'm not a psychologist, but I think there's a difference between things that are difficult and things that are impossible. I've heard the argument that you wouldn't tell someone with two broken legs to just get up and walk, and stop being such a wimp, and so you should be equally understanding towards someone who really can't pull themselves together. On the other hand, if you've got someone who is really out of shape, and you ask them to run, there will be a temptation to say "That's uncomfortable, I just can't go any further".

Taking an example from my own experience, when I was at school we used to do cross-country runs, and I'd always wind up walking most of the way, because I wasn't much of an athlete. The teacher would run with us, and so if he was running near me then I'd make an effort to run for a brief time, and then when he was satisfied and moved up to check on other people then I'd slow back down to a walk. Anyway, on one occasion he decided that he was going to stick with me for the entire route. I quickly reached the point where I couldn't run anymore, but he told me to keep going. I really thought that I was going to collapse and die, so my main motivation to keep going was "Right, fine, I'll do what he says, and then he'll be sorry when I keel over because that will prove that I was right". (What can I say? I was a stupid kid with my head up my arse.) Anyway, I made it to the finish line, much to the surprise of the people who were recording times - I'd done the course in about 22 minutes rather than my usual 1h20m. After that, I realised that I could do more than I thought, and I am still grateful to that teacher for pushing me like that.

Coming back to comics, there's a scene in "Amazing Spider-Man #391", just after Peter's parents turned out to be robots. MJ is talking to Aunt May about it, and May basically says "Yes, well, it's a shame, but let's move on - would you like a bagel for breakfast?" MJ goes off on a rant about how May and Peter both hide their feelings, and that they need to deal with them. May then comes back with a good response, that's stuck with me in the years since I read it:
"I feel, Mary Jane. Believe me, I feel. I felt it when Richard and Mary were taken from us all those years ago ... when my husband died, bleeding, in my arms ... when poor Gwen was killed ... when Nathan ... I've lived through my share of tragedies, young lady, more than you could ever bear, and the only way I've been able to live through them is by not dwelling on them ... by pushing the pain aside and moving on. So don't tell me what I should be feeling, and don't tell me to face reality! I know full well what reality is! I know!"
She then offers to make some scrambled eggs.

So, even if you don't agree with MJ, I think it's a reasonable thing for her character to say, after hanging around with the Parkers for so long.

"So, even if you don't agree with MJ, I think it's a reasonable thing for her character to say, after hanging around with the Parkers for so long."

Thank you, you helped me figure out why I liked the look of future MJ in the F'n Spidey issue. I like the fact that she looked like Aunt May because I like the parallels between them. You're right, these are the kind of things that MJ would have learned over the years.

One thing that I find interesting about Aunt May is that before he got married, she was his only family. The reason that's interesting to me is that she's not a blood relation to Peter. "Parker" is her married name, so Peter is Ben's nephew. Peter and Aunt May are kind of a bonded family, people who found each other instead of being forced together by blood relation.

What I found particularly fascinating was the part where Mary Jane was saying to Vanna that some people blame their failures on their youthful traumas while others use those traumas to propel them to greatness. Well, the latter part certainly applies to Peter, of course. But soon after reading the story, I realized it also applies to someone else--MJ, herself; the family dysfunction in MJ’s childhood mirrors Vanna’s quite a bit. However, whereas Vanna was stunted by her pain and made Spider-Man a target in her lashing out, MJ did the opposite--she became an extrovert, the life of the party, even a model. In the beginning, her actions were a way for her to hide or forget her pain, but eventually she really elevated herself in the end. Heck, she even married Spider-Man; she’s like the anti-Vanna!
I admit that, at first, I was a little surprised by the seeming cruelty of MJ towards Vanna, but when I realized how Vanna’s background mirrored MJ’s, I could understand how someone like Vanna might piss her off to the core (plus the fact that Vanna has been attacking her husband on her blog for decades), and that MJ would want to give her a piece of her mind. Does what MJ say make her seem like a bitter old woman? Perhaps. But more to the point, MJ is only human, with her own flaws. And characters who have flaws is not a bad thing at all in stories. Thanks, PAD, for a great one-off, an issue that is about MJ as much as it is about Peter.

Great FSNM! This is a great time to be a PAD fan.

As for X-Factor, count me in the group of people now officially creeped out by Layla Miller.

I can relate with Vanna a little bit--but just a little. She is a character who doesn't realize how very alone she is, and as a result (I suppose) she has become what many of us fear we will become--a person of no consequence.

MJ was right, of course. Spider-man experienced pain and tragedy, and used it to become a better person. But MJ is forgetting one thing: Vanna didn't have Uncle Ben. So, in a sense, MJ knows Vanna about as well as Vanna knew Spider-man. It's really unfair for MJ to take a mere glimpse at this person's life and judge her, just as it was unfair for Vanna to do the same to Spidey. (We don't know why Vanna's relationships haven't worked out--we are only led to assume that it was her fault.)

I suppose you could also say that this story was a metaphor for global conflict. (But then, there is a school of thought saying that all argument is a metaphor for war.) One nation stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the needs and perspectives of other nations, ill will increases, and ironically hostile steps are taken for "peace of mind."

This book saddened me a little bit. If someone read my blog, would they be able to tell me how worthwhile I am? I'm sorry, but Vanna deserves to be happy as much as any of us do. That's the real tragedy.