Talking about deals with the Devil.... I just finished reading Showcase presents The Brave and the Bold: Batman Teamups Vol 2 and the last story has Batman fall down into a steep well. On the verge of drowning, he says something like "Batman doesn't want to die! I will give up my soul if necessary" (yes, third person self-reference!). The reason he doesn't want to die is a child's life depends on him being able to get out of the well and *do something*. Lucifer (An old guy with a limp whose shadow looks like The Horned One with a Trident) then helps him. Sgt. Rock is the other team-up character. Rock has mistakenly thought that the Lucifer-like figure is Hitler still alive. Lucifer claims that Batman is now a minion but Bats reneges on his offer. The story ends with Lucifer's vehicle going up in flames but the last panel shows Lucifer walking off into the gloom with the horned shadow very apparent. Weird story. But the art in the book is gorgeous (even in black and white). Most of the stories are ghostly/horror/eerie stories. There's one where Thomas Wayne is experimenting with bringing people in limbo back to the real world. Which is a wrong thing to do. So Thomas and Martha's souls are in limbo now (for doing wrong experiments) and Batman keeps getting possessed by the ghost of Somebody Port-A-Gee (Portuguese sailor), who's trying to get the limbo people back into the world. And eventually Thomas and Martha's souls get released from Limbo. The Teamup is with Flash ( I know... what does The Flash have to do with all this stuff!!). But deals with the devil (Faustian bargains etc) aren't unheard of... even for as self-less a hero as Batman.
I finally read Brand New Day, all 3 volumes. Yes, it is fun. That first "re-appearance" of Spidey splash-page is both awesome and funny for the talkback which in DC usually goes "Look!"-"Up in the sky"-"It's Superman". Same goes for the mouth to mouth for Jonah! And it was engrossing. Spidey as paparazzo - it was a storyline that was current. The Daily Bugle becoming DB. Dexter Bennett only remembering Parker's name at the very end. But overall I thought it was remarkably lightweight and fluffy. There's almost none of the regular villains for Spidey. The Jackpot Sara Ehret lines are setup but I don't know if there's going to be any payback at all. (The touch of Sara and MJ meeting up was fun). Same goes for the Carlie Cooper (oh-please!! Is Stan thinking up names again?!). I guess the most intriguing among Spidey's villains was Mr. Negative and his links to Aunt May - but this is a weird revisit of the Doc Ock storylines in a way (Villain and Aunt May regularly brushing up). Also, I was a little surprised by the Maggia storyline. Italian mobsters and Spidey somehow don't go together. But I was intrigued by the fact that the family now owes spidey. It will be interesting if it's ever referred to. The rest of the new people introduced - Freak, Menace, even Jackpot (after the storyline of Bobby Carr and MJW) aren't great additions. Tho' I was somewhat taken aback by the sympathetic treatment to Bobby Carr. (Was it me or did it seem like a takeoff on Leo Dicaprio?). I will see what else I can read that comes after this...
^ I agree with this...it's been interesting and fun but basically hasn't made me change my about about their marriage. Aside from the romantic nonsense how could these stories not been told with Peter and MJ still married?
It was simply an editorial decision made by guys who grew up with a single Peter Parker, preferred him single, and thusly made him single again. It'd be interesting if the next editor-in-chief at Marvel was someone who grew up with a married Peter Parker and preferred him married...
I know how the decision was based I've read Joe Q's interviews on their decision...I grew up reading Peter as single as well and in both serious relationships with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson in order to gain a so called younger group of readers and what not they alienated a whole bunch of other Spider-Man fans who grew up with the marriage like myself. One of the first issues I bought was the wedding annual. My guess is that the next EIC of Marvel is going to be Bendis if he wants the job.
No, it's just a given that there will be another editor-in-chief one day (the when, why, or who is unimportant). Nobody stays at the same job forever. The same was true for Quesada's predecessors. All of them inevitably put their own unique stamp on Marvel during their tenures.
I'd replace "interesting" in that sentence with "inevitable." Comics these days are pretty much defined by nostalgia.
It was the right thing to do. Peter Parker's identity should be a secret and he's not supposed to be married. Same with Superman, damnit. Bronze age is where it's at. Comic stories all went to hell in 1987. They're finally getting back on track.
Yeah we were speculating on Joe Q's eventual replacement...not that Joe was leaving or anything and I agree with Christopher to a certain extent. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia but to rework your entire universe to reflect an older time seems a bit much...