"If you can tell how well a book's going to be received
by the entire audience prior to its actual publication,
I'd suggest that you go to Las Vegas as soon as
possible and start placing some bets."

True.  But if I'm in the business of selling books to an audience, I'd like to think I'd develop some sense of what will and won't sell to that audience.  And not just sell in the short term, but what the long term effect on sales might be.

At least with the Clone Saga, the difficiencies of the story were often greatly increased by meddling from the business side of Marvel.  Head-eating Peter seems almost exclusively the product of creative rot.

Mike

The Lee/Ditko run was being reprinted in Marvel Tales during the Stern run on Amazing.  So there are some fans who started with both!  (Raises hand.)

"The Lee/Ditko run was being reprinted in Marvel Tales during the Stern run on Amazing.  So there are some fans who started with both!  (Raises hand.)"

Me too!  I remember how incredibly cool it was when Marvel Tales changed from doing reprints from the 70s(?) to the Lee/Ditko stuff.

Mike

I think people who started reading while Rog was on the book would LOVE the Lee-Ditko run and have a real appreciation for it, as Rog's run was a perfect progression of what Lee and Ditko (and Romita Sr.) had set down.

**************

Speaking as one of those people, I heartily concur!

Question to those who haven't stopped reading Spider-Man:

Have they pretty much stopped all references to his web-shooting? From reading what posters have said, his new ability to shoot webs from his own body pretty much hasn't been referenced since he gained this power. Do they not bring any attention to it at all? Used to be, in or about every issue, you'd see Spidey check his web-shooters or heck, he'd even run out of fluid while falling or something. It was always there. A mention here, a line there, but it was there. Now? Do they talk about it at all?

And what about the whole communicating-with-insects thing (even though a spider is not an insect)?

This to me is a nadir on the level with The Avengers during "The Crossing". The worst of the worst.

Oh, and Spidey's selling around 70,000 copies per title these days, meaning he's at his lowest sales level of his entire career. I write for mid-circulation magazines that outsell Spider-Man. How crazy is that?