AWWWW.
Why is Pocket ceasing the Marvel books? 
Why is Pocket ceasing the Marvel books?
Last edited:
OT: My SPIDER-MAN novel reviewed
- Thread starter Christopher
- Start date
^^Because Marvel chose not to extend Pocket's license. You'd have to ask them.
Good thing I got all the marvel books I wanted before they all go out of print. In fact I just finished Road of Bones by David Mack, which was so beyond awesome.
Looking forward to your X-Men and Spiderman books, in fact after I finish A Case for Conscience by James Blish I was planning on starting the x-men novel.
That's a shame. I haven't read any of them yet, but I've bought them all. They are very handsomely produced novels. Pocket has done a great job on them. I hope to read some eventually.
Is Marvel granting the license to another publisher?
Did sales not warrent a renewal of the license?
So whatever Marvel novels have been announced will be the final ones?
Did sales not warrent a renewal of the license?
So whatever Marvel novels have been announced will be the final ones?
They'd not be wise to just sit on it.
By the earlier comment, it sounds like it wasn't Pocket's choice. Maybe Pocket was expected to make a higher bid to renew the license, because anther publisher wanted it, or maybe sales didn't warrant exerting themselves? Maybe Marvel wants to do several new deals with a different publisher? Again, many possibilities.
The recent "Iron Man" novelization is a Ballantine/Del Rey (USA) and Titan (UK) publication.
Well, I hope this isn't the end for the novels as I enjoyed them (even though we kept getting Spider Man and Wolverine stuff). Hope it doesn't go the way of the DC novels.
I guess the upcoming Marvel novels will be the last ones............ for now
I guess the upcoming Marvel novels will be the last ones............ for now
I just checked my bookshelf and the first two Spider-Man and all three X-Men novelisations were also published by Del Rey, so that's not anything new.
No. That hardcover was published by the short-lived "Marvel Press" imprint. Pocket later did a paperback reprint, but Pocket didn't publish the hardcover. None of this range of Marvel novels have been in hardcover.
This is my review of "Drowned in Thunder". It contains spoilers but I tried to keep them vague:
I bought this book quite a while ago and although I was close a few times to start reading it, each time something new came in that took preference. But I finally put this book on top of my to-read list for one main reason: I learned that this book is not taking place in the time frame after the people who make the big decisions in Marvel decided to press a magical reset button, undoing everything that I enjoyed in Spider-Man. I felt the need to read a new Spider-Man story with everything intact that I now miss so much.
“Drowned in Thunder” is taking place in a time frame that was the ideal one for Peter Parker. In this book he is married to Mary Jane, Aunt May knows his identity and he is a teacher. It is before his rebirth and change, before when Peter unmasked himself, before Tony Stark used him, before he had to leave his job as a teacher and was forced to go into hiding, before Aunt May was shot. I think readers like me who started reading Spider-Man when J.M. Straczynski wrote the series were cheated in a worse way than what happened in Dallas. Not only did what he wrote never happen, I never got the opportunity to read an ending of that story. The emergency brake got pulled and a reset button got pushed which magically put things back the way they were but still, with changes that can only be explained by magic.
I am aware of it that also Christopher L. Bennett has to move within the Spider-Man “canon” universe and can`t undo the decisions made behind Marvel`s doors. I think it would have been more interesting to explore the time frame after Peter`s rebirth and his new abilities but I can imagine that also Marvel prefers to see the original Spider-Man with mechanical web shooters and without the stingers in book form. Therefore I am grateful that I could at least read another story in which Peter is married to Mary Jane, with Aunt May as his mentor and him being a teacher, someone who is able to have a lasting relationship and who is able to earn his own living.
I was impressed how well the author knows the Spider-Man universe and how he used that knowledge in the book. I am certainly not an expert because I hardly read any Spider-Man before JMS started writing the series. I learned a lot about his history and enjoyed the way he handled the many layers Peter`s personality has. It felt like reading Spider-Man as JMS has written him – and that is meant as a big compliment.
Spider-Man is often about Peter dealing with self-doubts, with the consequences of mistakes. Also in this book he is doing the best he can but although Peter is definitely a hero, he is far from being perfect. But this is what makes him interesting. He is not perfect but he is able and willing to learn and to grow as a person. What makes this book so enjoyable are the relationships in this story, the strong bonds between him and his wife and the one between him and Aunt May. Both women are giving him the guidance and support he needs. My favourite part of the book is the powerful discussion between Peter and Aunt May. “And the truth gets drowned out in the thunder of accusations”.
This is what happened in the battle between Peter and Jameson. It was not a battle fought with weapons but with words with someone else pulling the strings and manipulating their weaknesses. I never liked the press much. Before I moved to England many years ago I already told my then-fiance that one day the press might be responsible for Princess Diana`s death. I am still not buying any newspapers except the local paper. Although JJJ is an interesting character and I can understand where he comes from, I detest what he stands for. Also when reading this book, I had to force myself to put my personal feelings aside and just look at his point of view. I had much more sympathy for Peter but didn`t overlook that he wasn`t right either.
When I read more of JJJ`s typical rants about Spider-Man hiding behind a mask instead of showing his face and that people get killed when he is around, it just angered me. The history that got erased now shows so very well what would have happened if Peter would have done that. And how many more people would get killed if no one would bother to fight the super villains?
I found this personal battle to be very well written and it kept me thinking and wondering how far things will go. The book also offers other aspects that make Spider-Man books and comics enjoyable, like the humour and his fantastic abilities, the fights with powerful enemies, like the robots in this book.
This is Spider-Man at its best. It is an excellent book, not only for people who know the series well.
I bought this book quite a while ago and although I was close a few times to start reading it, each time something new came in that took preference. But I finally put this book on top of my to-read list for one main reason: I learned that this book is not taking place in the time frame after the people who make the big decisions in Marvel decided to press a magical reset button, undoing everything that I enjoyed in Spider-Man. I felt the need to read a new Spider-Man story with everything intact that I now miss so much.
“Drowned in Thunder” is taking place in a time frame that was the ideal one for Peter Parker. In this book he is married to Mary Jane, Aunt May knows his identity and he is a teacher. It is before his rebirth and change, before when Peter unmasked himself, before Tony Stark used him, before he had to leave his job as a teacher and was forced to go into hiding, before Aunt May was shot. I think readers like me who started reading Spider-Man when J.M. Straczynski wrote the series were cheated in a worse way than what happened in Dallas. Not only did what he wrote never happen, I never got the opportunity to read an ending of that story. The emergency brake got pulled and a reset button got pushed which magically put things back the way they were but still, with changes that can only be explained by magic.
I am aware of it that also Christopher L. Bennett has to move within the Spider-Man “canon” universe and can`t undo the decisions made behind Marvel`s doors. I think it would have been more interesting to explore the time frame after Peter`s rebirth and his new abilities but I can imagine that also Marvel prefers to see the original Spider-Man with mechanical web shooters and without the stingers in book form. Therefore I am grateful that I could at least read another story in which Peter is married to Mary Jane, with Aunt May as his mentor and him being a teacher, someone who is able to have a lasting relationship and who is able to earn his own living.
I was impressed how well the author knows the Spider-Man universe and how he used that knowledge in the book. I am certainly not an expert because I hardly read any Spider-Man before JMS started writing the series. I learned a lot about his history and enjoyed the way he handled the many layers Peter`s personality has. It felt like reading Spider-Man as JMS has written him – and that is meant as a big compliment.
Spider-Man is often about Peter dealing with self-doubts, with the consequences of mistakes. Also in this book he is doing the best he can but although Peter is definitely a hero, he is far from being perfect. But this is what makes him interesting. He is not perfect but he is able and willing to learn and to grow as a person. What makes this book so enjoyable are the relationships in this story, the strong bonds between him and his wife and the one between him and Aunt May. Both women are giving him the guidance and support he needs. My favourite part of the book is the powerful discussion between Peter and Aunt May. “And the truth gets drowned out in the thunder of accusations”.
This is what happened in the battle between Peter and Jameson. It was not a battle fought with weapons but with words with someone else pulling the strings and manipulating their weaknesses. I never liked the press much. Before I moved to England many years ago I already told my then-fiance that one day the press might be responsible for Princess Diana`s death. I am still not buying any newspapers except the local paper. Although JJJ is an interesting character and I can understand where he comes from, I detest what he stands for. Also when reading this book, I had to force myself to put my personal feelings aside and just look at his point of view. I had much more sympathy for Peter but didn`t overlook that he wasn`t right either.
When I read more of JJJ`s typical rants about Spider-Man hiding behind a mask instead of showing his face and that people get killed when he is around, it just angered me. The history that got erased now shows so very well what would have happened if Peter would have done that. And how many more people would get killed if no one would bother to fight the super villains?
I found this personal battle to be very well written and it kept me thinking and wondering how far things will go. The book also offers other aspects that make Spider-Man books and comics enjoyable, like the humour and his fantastic abilities, the fights with powerful enemies, like the robots in this book.
This is Spider-Man at its best. It is an excellent book, not only for people who know the series well.
The preference underlying that decision was entirely mine. I love the webshooters. There was no way I was going to tell a story about a Spider-Man who had built-in spinnerets in his wrists, of all the bizarre places. One of the coolest things about Peter Parker is that his powers come as much from his own inventiveness and intelligence as from the vagaries of radiation. Also I preferred a timeframe before Spidey joined the Avengers, partly because Spidey as solo operative is more the "classic" and timeless version of the character that's appropriate for a novel aimed at a broader audience -- and partly because I'm simply not that familiar with the Avengers other than Wolverine (and for the life of me I can't figure out how Wolverine as an Avenger makes any sense at all). As for those ridiculous stinger things, they hadn't even been introduced yet when I wrote this.
Neither did I, actually, but I did a lot of research for this novel.
I'll take it that way, but while JMS was a major influence, I was going for more of a Stan Lee flavor. Although later writers brought more sophistication to the storytelling and characterization, I don't think anyone captured quite the same sense of fun that Lee brought to the series. Besides, although JMS did great character work (up until his last year or so), I always felt he overemphasized Spidey's raw strength and power at the expense of his agility and ingenuity. There was kind of a testosterone overload at times.
Good to hear. That was pretty much the core statement of the book's theme. I love Aunt May as Peter's confidante. Bringing her in on the secret was the best thing to happen to the character since, well, maybe ever, and the erasure of that is one of the worst aspects of the reboot.
Sure, JJJ gets overzealous, but the point I tried to make in DiT is that he's got legitimate grounds for his mistrust of Spider-Man. It tends to get buried under his temper and his desire for sensationalism and controversy-driven sales boosts, but beneath all the bluster, he's right about one crucial thing: that Spidey has it within himself to go wrong in a big way. In his own way, JJJ helps keep Spidey honest. Never underestimate the value of a gadfly.
Thank you very much for your interesting comments. There is not much I can add except:
I can understand your preference for the more original Spider-Man. Also because of his background as a scientist I welcomed it so much that Peter was a teacher. Also because I have a young daughter who just started school I can see how important good teachers are, not only teachers who have the knowledge but also teachers who can guide and support children, helping them to mature. To me that has always been more important than Peter`s ability to develop and maintain his webshooters.
Also, to me the webshooters are more fantastic than the natural ability Peter developed after his rebirth. I found it ridiculous that after pressing his webshooter Peter was able to produce vast amounts of webbing from tiny looking cartridges. I don`t think it would look very good if Peter would spit webbing from his mouth and it certainly wouldn`t work from his bottom. Therefore the wrists are the logical choice.
The stingers – yes. My first thought was also, how ridiculous! But then I thought about it. After his rebirth, Peter became more of a Spider-Man than he was before. Spiders are armed this way. They puncture their prey, insert a venom that liquefies them inside and they suck them dry. Therefore the stingers make some sense and if you want to give them to Peter, I don`t think there is a better place to put them. If JMS would have had the chance, he could have developed this aspect further. Peter was still exploring and discovering what became of him but also what he never dared to explore before his rebirth.
I liked the idea of Peter joining the Avengers because it opened the door to new story ideas. To me it was never a question of either or but having both. We could still have the solo Spider-Man but also adventures with team mates.
Hm, all right, in a sick way JJJ is indeed helping Peter but I think he causes more trouble for him than actual benefit.
I can understand your preference for the more original Spider-Man. Also because of his background as a scientist I welcomed it so much that Peter was a teacher. Also because I have a young daughter who just started school I can see how important good teachers are, not only teachers who have the knowledge but also teachers who can guide and support children, helping them to mature. To me that has always been more important than Peter`s ability to develop and maintain his webshooters.
Also, to me the webshooters are more fantastic than the natural ability Peter developed after his rebirth. I found it ridiculous that after pressing his webshooter Peter was able to produce vast amounts of webbing from tiny looking cartridges. I don`t think it would look very good if Peter would spit webbing from his mouth and it certainly wouldn`t work from his bottom. Therefore the wrists are the logical choice.
The stingers – yes. My first thought was also, how ridiculous! But then I thought about it. After his rebirth, Peter became more of a Spider-Man than he was before. Spiders are armed this way. They puncture their prey, insert a venom that liquefies them inside and they suck them dry. Therefore the stingers make some sense and if you want to give them to Peter, I don`t think there is a better place to put them. If JMS would have had the chance, he could have developed this aspect further. Peter was still exploring and discovering what became of him but also what he never dared to explore before his rebirth.
I liked the idea of Peter joining the Avengers because it opened the door to new story ideas. To me it was never a question of either or but having both. We could still have the solo Spider-Man but also adventures with team mates.
Hm, all right, in a sick way JJJ is indeed helping Peter but I think he causes more trouble for him than actual benefit.
It's not that different from the silly-string principle, a pressurized fluid that expands when dispensed. That's not the implausible part. The implausible part is the idea of a strand of really, really lightweight webbing being fired hundreds of feet through the air. The air resistance would slow it to a stop just a few feet from the nozzle at most. Spiders don't shoot webbing over distances, they attach it directly to an anchor point and then crawl or leap to the next one, reeling it out behind them.
But it is the Marvel Universe, after all, so realistic physics isn't exactly a priority. The webshooters are cool gadgets and I enjoyed writing about their workings. Plus I was able to make good use of the spare webfluid cartridges in a couple of unconventional ways, though that certainly has plenty of precedent in the comics. There's so much you can do with the webshooters in storytelling terms that you just can't do with built-in spinnerets.
From a storytelling perspective, of course. But what's the in-universe, biological explanation? Hmm, well, to be fair, spiders' spinnerets are actually a sort of extra set of miniature limbs, so maybe there is some slight correspondence. Still, it's a reach.
Also, the comics never actually made any use of the organic webshooters. There was one storyline that introduced them, but nothing thereafter followed up on them, and although the stories no longer explicitly featured his webshooters, neither was it explicit that they were absent. And the whole cocoon/transformation thing he went through in Disassembled was pretty much ignored when they turned around and put him through another, remarkably similar transformation in The Other. In the first transformation, Paul Jenkins gave him an enhanced spider-sense that somehow included the ability to communicate with insects (which is odd, since spiders are arachnids), and then it was never mentioned again, and then The Other gave him what was supposedly another enhancement of his spider-sense, which basically gave him senses like those of spiders (pretty much how I interpreted his normal spider-sense in Drowned in Thunder, ironically). And that, too, was never mentioned again after that storyline, because they then got sidetracked into the whole Iron Spider/Civil War/unmasking/Aunt May shooting/black costume/One More Mess business, and then they rebooted the whole thing so he was back to his ordinary powers again. There have been so many changes in the past few years that no storyline or idea has gotten any real follow-through. I was happy to set my novel before all those changes happened, where it was still basically the familiar state of affairs except for the changes that JMS had introduced in a more gradual, natural way (Peter becoming a teacher, Aunt May finding out, MJ going into theater work).