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Not sure I can agree with this. For the most part, beyond the costume and how the powers worked, once the origin was out of the way, the "spider" aspect of the character was virtually nonexistent. Lee and Ditko, unlike more recent writers, dwelt not at all on whether or not the spider had affected Parker in ways more subtle and scary than giving him those powers and abilities. And I certainly don't remember a whole lot of people on the street (in the comics) reacting negatively to him being a "spider". Most of the negative reaction, in fact, was fostered by Jonah -- people are often heard referencing or quoting him diatribes -- and none of that seems to have come from any arachnophobia on his part!

My local paper had a small item on this today, slightly different from the one that began this thread.

I don't get how a normal kid is just going to be decide he's the new Spider-Man, and not kill himself the first time he jumps off of a building. I get that it's comics and all, but I don't see how this story is going to work. It also doesn't speak very highly of the character that he's no more capable of coming up with an original name and costume than his writer is (though this wouldn't be a problem if his writer were a creative genius).

The character is said to be inspired by Peter Parker's sacrafice. I don't know what is so hard about that. He has big shoes to fill.

I think this is a fine idea. As JB pointed out, Spider-Man could have been anyone under the mask. He was Peter Parker, a white boy in high school. That boy died. Now someone else is inspired to take up the mantle. I don't think the race/sex/orientation/etc of that new character matters at all. They didn't change Peter Parker (ala Nick Fury), they created a new character to take Peter Parker's place.

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Not QUITE what I "pointed out", is it?

Guess what deliberately twisting my meaning wins you?

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

If a music label were trying to attract "new listeners"--- ie, potential customers that heve likely never set foot in a record store--- then, yes, I would expect there to be some confusion. How many different new Spider-Man titles does the average comics shop carry? Even though I've been a comics reader all of my life and can differentiate Ultimate Spider-Man from the pack, I still think the glut of titles produced with the same characters is headache inducing when staring at the rack.

Edited by Chris Opinsky on 03 August 2011 at 10:25am

Like I said, even if it was unintentional, I thought it was cool that nobody knew what color he was under that mask -- but eventually everybody did!

Didn't know Dan Slott was a graduate of the oh so clever Peter David school of comedy.

Blechh.

Also, Jonah has been established as a long time crusader for civil rights.

That, on the other hand, looks like it was modeled after a poorly made sitcom, complete with a laugh track.