Spider-Man and Jameson Bury The Hatchet

[ZariusTwo]

Thought this would be interesting to share. Lately the Spider-Man newspaper strip has been running a storyline where, after a string of circumstances that saw Robbie Robertson finally quit and J.Jonah Jameson battle Spidey inside a malfunctioning Iron Man suit, ol' J.J has decided that he's had enough of badgering Spider-Man after it almost gets him killed (he and Spidey were both bailed out by the legit Iron Man at the last minute), and as a result, has finally made peace with him after all these years. They shook hands yesterday and Robbie was rehired today

You can catch up with the story here as it unfolds here

http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kin...e_id=Spiderman

[Blossombrooks]

Ha, that's cool! Thanks for the share Z. I never thought I'd see the day JJJ gave up his Spidey tirade.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Blossombrooks

Ha, that's cool! Thanks for the share Z. I never thought I'd see the day JJJ gave up his Spidey tirade.

Havent seen you in a spell Blossom, how's tricks?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

You know, they sort of did that in the comics after Peter revealed his identity to the world (during the Civil War arc). They duked it out in a boxing ring (Spidey was obviously holding back) and they had it out over JJJ's lawsuit and other issues. In the end, Jameson realized he'd been angry at Peter mainly for not being honest about how he was getting his pictures. But he more or less made peace with WHO was behind the mask, if not the years of "lying" that went with it.

[ZariusTwo]

I remember that. One of the few bright spots of the Civil War period.

The Ultimate comics also followed that up a few years later just before Peter "died" when Jameson found out his identity during the "Chamelions" arc and decided not to tell anyone because Peter managed to save his life and his efforts convinced Jameson he was a hero who wouldnt give up.

I keep thinking in some backwards way, despite the output in their regular books, Marvel are succeeding in steadily evolving and maturing Spidey and his cast of characters in a positive way. The strips lately have seen Peter become less guilt-ridden about deaths that occur as a result of a skirmish with him, more financially well off given how succesful his wife is with her play (though his pride prevents him from quitting the Bugle and living off MJ's earnings alone), and more pro-active, managing to topple a foriegn dictator and even the Kingpin with Daredevil's help, and his marraige has proven stronger here than it's ever been outside of the Spider-Girl books. Spidey's more of a success story in this while the regular comics indulge in him and his supporting cast being outright flip-flopping losers with the usual cliched hang-ups.

[chrisdude]

I had no idea Spider-Man still had a newspaper strip. The Marvel wiki says Stan Lee writes for it. Is that still true?

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by chrisdude

I had no idea Spider-Man still had a newspaper strip. The Marvel wiki says Stan Lee writes for it. Is that still true?

While Stan is credited as writer, in reality the strips have been written by the likes of Stan's brother Larry Leiber and Roy Thomas. Stan may still have some creative input, it's not entirely clear

[Shred Head]

Wow I didn't know they even had a Spider-Man comic strip you would think Marvel would get it out there more often or at least advertise some awareness to it. Went back to April and started reading its really good probably the best Spider-Man I read in the past over five years now made me really remember why I loved Spider-Man again. Are any of these collected in trade format I'd like to read some more.

LOL did anyone else think that Jameson in Iron Man Armor looked like an Iron Hitler in some panels.

[ZariusTwo]

Are any of these collected in trade format I'd like to read some more.

There's a few collections of the strips from the 70s (back when Lee was writing them with Romita Snr illustrating), you can find them on Amazon.

As for publicity, this current arc has gotten a lot of attention from Newsarama and current Spidey writer Dan Slott is a big fan of it and recommended it on his facebook page last year. I think it's dificult to advertise because very few newpapers carry the strip nowadays.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Spoiler:

Nope! In tomorrow's strip, Jameson decides he hates Spider-Man again for exactly no reason. Seriously, Larry Leiber is the most untalented writer I've encountered in years.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Spoiler:

Nope! In tomorrow's strip, Jameson decides he hates Spider-Man again for exactly no reason. Seriously, Larry Leiber is the most untalented writer I've encountered in years.

Vintage Jameson.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Spoiler:

Nope! In tomorrow's strip, Jameson decides he hates Spider-Man again for exactly no reason. Seriously, Larry Leiber is the most untalented writer I've encountered in years.

Wow...now that is a very dirty bait and switch. Same ol' Marvel comics...ever afraid of changing the status quoe too much

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Wow...now that is a very dirty bait and switch. Same ol' Marvel comics...ever afraid of changing the status quoe too much

But ironically enough, the Spider-man books have probably seen the most dramatic status quo changes of any of the Marvel books... especially in recent years with The Superior Ock-Man and Miles Morales.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

But ironically enough, the Spider-man books have probably seen the most dramatic status quo changes of any of the Marvel books... especially in recent years with The Superior Ock-Man and Miles Morales.

With Miles, they've already brought Ultimate Peter back from the dead (time will tell if that's a bait and switch too) and, to be fair, the Big Time/Superior stuff all comes from a reality created by a deal with the devil, it's not the "real" reality and most of the fallout from Ock's tenure as Spidey was lazily swept under the rug with only some collateral damage remaning to prolong Slott's run on the book, which will probably also be dealt with whenever he leaves. Former Spidey editor Steven Wacker already admited that eventually someone will retcon the deal with Mephisto, and that would undoubtedly mean erasing the timeline we have now. It's all Illusion of change mate.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Yeah, that is one of the few things that irks me with the comic books. I LOVE Spidey to death, but I really wish that deal with Joe- er, I mean Mephisto had never happened. It was pointless, and most of the stories that came after could have still been told (with some minor changes) without it. I can only think of a few instances where it would have drastically changed the story, and most of those are BECAUSE of that deal. (OMIT and his relationship with Carly and rooming with Vin come to mind.)

[ZariusTwo]

I like to think that most (but not all obviously for quality and continuity reasons) of Peter's adventures from the current era sort of happen in between the arcs of the daily strip with the marraige intact. Just feels more right.

Marvel really are sending mixed messages at the moment by having the marraige in this strip and proceeding without it in the regular books, I've read comments from some fans who are convinced, because of this weird balance, this whole era has been a massive multi-year bit of trolling and that this will culminate in the deal being undone, and also that Spider-Verse would be the ideal arc to do this, but I am hesitant in beleivng them. We'll see, but given Wacker's comments and the continuous prescense of the marraige in the strip, Marvel still very much value Peter and MJ being together.

As you say, OMD proved entirely pointless. Nothing changed. Peter and MJ are still married and life goes on.

A new storyline begins tomorow in the strip...and what a surprise, the writers are going to cash-in on Superior's momemtum by bringing back Doc Ock.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Unless I've missed something in the past two years, no, they're not still married in the books. They had a "will they/won't they get back together" thing going for most of the BND period, but that ended rather permanently on the "No, they won't" side with a three issue arc called "One Moment In Time" which was COMPLETELY OOC for BOTH of them. In essence, M-J told Peter that she wanted a family and a normal life, which she couldn't have with him, and just couldn't deal with him being Spider-Man any more. It was a three issue cop-out on the part of.... Guess who?!

So after twenty + years of stories where she was his biggest cheer-leader and morale-booster, not to mention doing her own share of butt-kicking by his side, (A fun little tale with an incident involving her, Man-Wolf, and a fireplace poker comes to mind....) we're expected to swallow the "fact" that she's given up on having any kind of happiness with the man who she has admitted repeatedly is the love of her life? Her soul mate? Sorry, that's when Marvel completely lost me on the Spidey books. I really DO hope they ret-con that stupid deal some day- and not just because of Oc tooling around in Peter's body. That entire era (both BND and Superior) should never have happened. Maybe we'll read an issue one day where Peter will wake up and find M-J in the shower, and it was all just a bad dream a la Dallas..... (Actually, I'd like to see that, might be fun to read! Not to mention nice a "take THAT" to Quesada!!)

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Unless I've missed something in the past two years, no, they're not still married in the books.

And not once did I say the marraige was back in the books. Indeed, as I said in the post above yours

Marvel really are sending mixed messages at the moment by having the marraige in this strip and proceeding without it in the regular books

My point was Marvel has never truly put the marraige out of sight and mind for the entire duration of this era. In addition to the newspaper strip still having the pair married for the seven years we've endured this, Spider-Girl, which also featured the marraige, was still running for three years after BND started. Quesada actually wanted Spider-Girl to be the place where older fans could read of the Parkers in a different light as parents, but the fans didn't take to it because Peter and MJ were'nt the main characters of the book and sales dipped and led to frequent cancelations.

Spider-Girl will be featured in the upcoming Spider-Verse story so the legacy of the marraige will again be finding it's way into the regular book. Also I've heard Mayday will be featured in an episode of the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon this year

OMD proved ultimately futile if you look at the bigger picture. The conditions may not be ideal for everyone, but Somewhere, in SOME capacity, there will always be a married Peter Parker for the forseeable future. More fans are becoming clued in to this. I think it's time we stopped considering the books the end-all/be-all of Spidey canons. Especially if they don't give us what we want or come to expect from the characters.

That entire era (both BND and Superior) should never have happened. Maybe we'll read an issue one day where Peter will wake up and find M-J in the shower, and it was all just a bad dream a la Dallas..... (Actually, I'd like to see that, might be fun to read! Not to mention nice a "take THAT" to Quesada!!)

That's exactly what the newspaper strip did. It ran a story in 2009 where Peter was single and dating MJ and then he woke up and realized he was still married to her as she came out of the shower. The story ended with the title "Will The REAL Peter Parker Please Stand Up?". It was a deliberate jab at Quesada at the time.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I see. I misunderstood what you had said earlier about him still being married in the comics. Since I haven't actually read any NEW Spidey comics in the last two 1/2 years, I thought maybe you meant that they had somehow gotten back together, but as I mentioned, the last time I checked, the OMIT arc had nixed that idea for good. I AM aware that he is still married in the strip, but it is not in print in my area and never has been, and the strip was long ago divorced from the main comic book in any case- partially due to the very issues of character progression that Quesada has tried so hard to negate. Even when the BND debacle was still going on, it was made clear by Stan that the strip WOULD keep them together, regardless of what happened in the comics. He wanted nothing to do with that storyline, and he made that known. By the same token, JMS actually had TWO endings to the OMD plot, but was not allowed to use the one he really wanted to. (One that essentially told Mephisto where to stick it.)

However, I did not know about the story in the strip in 09, as I've never read the strip (since I can't get it in my neck of the woods- it doesn't appear in any of our large papers in this area, and AFAIK, it never has.) Sounds like what Stan might do, though. I know he was heavily against ending the marriage in the first place, since it basically regressed Peter back to his early college days in terms of characterization and situations. At his age (which is somewhere around mid-thirties by now) he SHOULD be married, settled down, and getting his life together, not stuck in a singles' rut of loserville social life, barely ecking out a living, and going through personal crisis after personal crisis in his love and professional life.

As for the Spider-Girl line, I'm also well aware of Quesada's stance of that being the place for a "married Peter", but that was simply a cop-out response, IMHO. He knew that people would still want to see a PRESENT-TIME Spidey married, so he tossed fans a bone by mentioning that it was still status quo in the strip- even though most fans don't get to read it. Same goes for the Spider-girl books, he was just tossing fans a bone- and then later yanked that one away by canceling the book! I still feel that the situation will eventually be changed back (that deal still has some dangling strings that can be used to unravel it) probably once someone with more sense and maturity takes over as EIC. The marriage was far too popular to remove it permanently, and the steadily slipping numbers of sales for the comic series has proven that over the last half-decade since it was printed. I feel that we WILL see them together again eventually- it just may take a while before Marvel wakes up and realizes how badly it hurt their star hero.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I see. I misunderstood what you had said earlier about him still being married in the comics. Since I haven't actually read any NEW Spidey comics in the last two 1/2 years, I thought maybe you meant that they had somehow gotten back together, but as I mentioned, the last time I checked, the OMIT arc had nixed that idea for good. I AM aware that he is still married in the strip, but it is not in print in my area and never has been, and the strip was long ago divorced from the main comic book in any case- partially due to the very issues of character progression that Quesada has tried so hard to negate.

You can read the strip online, just check the link in the first post and you need never worry about looking for it in the papers again.

As for the strip divorcing itself from the main canon, yeah everything is distinctly different from how the landscape of the books are now, not just for Peter but for other heroes (he's only recently revealed his identity to Matt Murdock for example), at the same time, it feels more organic and less forced than some of the radical changes in the regular continuity, which are based off shock value more, twists for the sake of twists. Another example is the strip recently referenced Gwen's death, so a lot of the vintage canon is still relevant to it.

One thing I wish the strip did was push the story a bit more...outside of MJ making more money than Peter, they still haven't carried out their intentions of moving into a bigger house to start a family, and they hinted at that back in 2011. I also wish they would bite the bullet and give Peter and MJ a baby in the strip.

I still feel that the situation will eventually be changed back (that deal still has some dangling strings that can be used to unravel it) probably once someone with more sense and maturity takes over as EIC. The marriage was far too popular to remove it permanently, and the steadily slipping numbers of sales for the comic series has proven that over the last half-decade since it was printed. I feel that we WILL see them together again eventually- it just may take a while before Marvel wakes up and realizes how badly it hurt their star hero.

I agree. Quesada once said they were stuck with it one way or another and I feel like Marvel just want to have a few years of freedom before they have no choice but to address the elephant in the room. I would'nt have minded OMD if it had been, like Superior, a year long event to show people were taking the marraige for granted and that it would come back at the end of that year in triumphant fashion, but the idiots in charge legitimately thought they could go on and on and on without the marraige, and tell fans to "get over it" and whatnot, and those fans have never shut up, and never will.

It's true what you say, it IS a cop-out we have to settle for the strip at the moment, or whenever Marvel decide to promote Spider-Girl again, but you're also right in that the current crop of guys at the top won't last forever and I do feel we're closer to the end of this era.