You the Editor: Spiderman

[Elliot Kane]

Marvel have decided to completely revamp Spidey and his world, and you are given the job of deciding what's in, what's out, and everything else to do with Spidey!

What would you change? What would stay the same? And why?

Give it a shot - and have fun

[Gray Lensman]

Okay, where to start on this question...

Firstly, the unmasking absolutely needs to be rolled back. I would prefer that the whole of Civil War be rolled back at this point (except evil Tony, which makes sense), but especially Peter needs his secret identity back. I think it utterly breaks the concept. That's easily fixed, whether by global mindwipe, fooling the world into thinking the Peter who unmasked was a Skrull, or whatever.

I also would want to retcon away all the crap that JMS and Quesada have inflicted on the character in recent years. The entire totem concept needs to be junked. Peter is meant to be the average guy who becomes extraordinary by a twist of fate. Saying that he is a destined totemic champion completely ruins that.

Likewise, Sins Past needs to be undone, as that wrecked Gwen Stacy beyond belief. The best way to fix this is to somehow reverse the Norman retcon and establish Sarah and Gabe as Peter's kids. I would want a story where Peter takes responsibility for them, which I felt he never really did. Alternately, I would be okay with simply forgetting it ever happened.

If Peter is the "everyman" and the outsider of the Marvel Universe, fine. Let's actually emphasize those angles instead of tearing them apart. That means leaving him out of the Avengers, and making sure that Peter has a normal life. I like the idea of Peter as a teacher, though I'd also like to keep him active with the Daily Bugle and so forth. I'd also like to have some fun, humorous stories mixed in with the tragic angle of the character as well.

The villains mostly need massive revamps. I would bring back the Hobgoblin, as he's one of the few villains Peter has that is credible and not after the typical greed/revenge deal that most of his rogues seem to pursue. Norman Osborn needs to be salvaged especially, because he's become Marvel's equivalent of the Joker... in all the wrong ways. Doc Ock has amounted to nothing in years, and Venom seems to get progressively worse with each appearance. I'd like Spider-villains to have believable motives and an agenda beyond getting revenge and stealing things. I also wouldn't mind bringing back and revamping some old and forgotten low-tier villains with the right approach.

Above all... the marriage needs to stay. MJ needs to be an equal partner and part of Peter's life. I'm fine with Aunt May knowing Peter's secret and staying around as well. But family should be the center of Peter's life and what grounds him, keeps him from being a revenge-seeking villain himself. They should be the reason he is a hero.

Generally, though, I would want stories about a normal guy who is trying to be a hero in spite of himself. That means keeping to the ups and downs of normal life. Keep to that, and you shouldn't be too far off.

[Venom65437]

Bwahahaha I'll be back later....

[hector]

I would basically recreate the Status quo of Spider-Man 2, but with regular webshooters and a Mary Jane who isn't an unatractive witch.

[Elliot Kane]

These seem to be a good idea. I'll add more when this one loses people's attention

[sps1000]

Spider-Man has become unreadable for me in the past few years for one reason: JMS yeah he had some good stuff but for the most part I couldn't be bothered with his stuff because it's utter dreck (Thanks for the word E ;D ). Then I saw Spidey 1 in theatres and it reminded me of why I fell in love with Spidey in the first place.

I would as Hector sais set the status quo as close to the movies as possible without making it seem forced. As Spidey would loose even more credibility if it was forced. Then I would get big name writers who actually CARE about Peter (this would be done through an interview process where we would talk for an hour about who Peter is and whatnot) on the books. Top choices for writers would be Dan Slott, Joe Kelly, or Scott Lobdell (Read Uncanny X-Men #346 for one of the best post clone saga pre chapter one spidey Stories).

The icing on the cake would be if I could get Sam Raimi and Tim Kring to do a one shot apiece for Spider-Man. These would be events but these two creators clearly love the character (even though Tim hasn't read a comic in his life), and it would be their chance to show the world why we should love Peter as much as they do.