The Amazing Spider-Man #314

The media will sometimes latch onto things that appear to be a big deal in comic books, from time to time. When Superman died, when Spider-Man revealed he was Peter Parker and when Captain America died the media felt these were big stories the non-comic book reading public should know about. Recently, in The Amazing Spider-Man #624, Peter was fired. The news outlets learned about this and started broadcasting and writing about it everywhere. I assume the media outlets think it is big news because in real life the job market is tough and unemployment is very high. Casual readers of a news website may assume he was fired over budget cuts or the lack of money newspaper jobs bring in these day (Peter was a newspaper photographer), but Peter was actually fired for faking a picture he submitted in the paper (the same thing he caught Eddie Brock doing, which lead Brock to becoming Venom...but Peter's crop job was for different reasons).

As a comic reader (thus this blog, duh) I can not stand when the media reports on a comic book story point or event. It is often taken out of context and usually not that big of a deal. About a month ago websites were taking notice of Captain America #602 where some tea-party member thought some angry mob depicted in the comic book too closely resembled his ignorant mob. He got mad and wanted an apology. He missed what the mob represented (ignorance), and thus, made a big deal over nothing. But, since it was a big deal on twitter, many websites, and CNN during the day, Marvel apologized not wanting to lose readers. Without going to much into that indecent...I lost a lot of respect for Marvel that day. They did not back up one of the best writers, Ed Brubaker, who has single-handedly brought popular characters like Daredevil and Captain America back from the brink off no-man's land. The only reason anyone even noticed a mob scene is because they were reading with thanks to Brubaker. Shame on Marvel and Joe Q.

The above is why I would like the media to stay out of my comics. Pandering to the ignorant Archie readers is not what my publisher and writers do.

Spider-Man Sundays - The Amazing Spider-Man #314

I would like to now submit the above titled book The Amazing Spider-Man #314. In this issue Peter Parker and Mary Jane get evicted from their apartment on Christmas Eve. I bet the media back in the day of no internet didn't waste time with this moment in Spider-Man's life. "Oh my gosh! He got evicted!" Who cares. Heroes come and go. People get beat up, shot, stabbed and murdered all of the times in comic books. For a guy to get kicked out of his place seems very minor in the grand comic scheme of things. Back in the day: nothing. Today: "Obama to blame for fictional Peter Parker getting evicted."

The Amazing Spider-Man #314 is an excellent Christmas issue, politics and media aside. It is a classic in the Todd McFarlane run on The Amazing Spider-Man. It ends with a Merry Christmas message and includes the coolest looking version of Peter Parker to have ever been drawn. McFarlane makes him look very James Dean like, with a flip in his hair and a casual confidence to him. McFarlane's style is so recognizable and unique that his run on The Amazing Spider-Man series stands out as possible the greatest run on any ongoing. Yeah! I said it Kirby, Romita, and all you other hacks! It's all about the late 80's and early 90's!

The comic of the day captures a time when the media didn't capture it. Thank you for reminding me through your "Rebel Without a Cause", McFarlane.