#like if slott had been no. 1 i would simply fade away

[kitausuret]

So, out of curiosity, I went through all my fics and picked out the ones that were inspired by specific comic series, arcs, or issues. I then took a tally to see who inspired my fics the most, either out of spite for what they wrote, or out of love - sometimes a weird combination of the both.

Robbie Thompson tops the list with 18. This didn't surprise me - I write a ton of stuff directly inspired by Venom: Space Knight.

Dan Slott is in second place with 16 - mostly spite-writing but also this is what happens when you write on Spider-Man for 10 years. He'd also written Venom Inc. with Mike Costa so that skews things a little in his favor.

Brian Michael Bendis was surprisingly third at 8 works inspired, mostly for his work on the Planet of the Symbiotes arc during Guardians of the Galaxy and just having Flash/Venom as Guardians in general.

Mike Costa is still pretty high up here at 7, since he worked on Venom Inc. I almost feel like he should get more credit from me though since Dust to Dust is so heavily influenced by Venom vol. 3.

Cullen Bunn and Rick Remender are both at 6, but like Mike Costa, Bunn was a big influence on DTD so I feel he should actually get skewed higher LOL.

Len Kaminski and Donny Cates each have inspired 5. I was honestly expecting there to be more for Cates.

Paul Jenkins, David Michelinie, and Tom DeFalco are all tied at 4. I always assumed Michelinie would've influenced my works more, given that he created Venom, but also his stories are just so strong I guess I typically don't feel the need to build on them much? But also you can assume with me that I'm always trying to channel Michelinie when I write Eddie.,

Gerry Conway, J. Michael Straczynski, and Roy Thomas (for some of my older fics) are all at 3. Again, I'm surprised by the low number for Conway since I do like his work so much.

Christian Cooper, Marc Guggenheim, and Zeb Wells all sit at 2. I always assumed Wells would be higher since he helped create Scorn but I also haven't actually written her that much.. hmm...

And lastly, Fred van Lente, Howard Mackie, Brian Reed, Ben Acker & Ben Blacker, Christos Gage, Larry Hama, Mark Millar, and James Robinson each inspired a single fic from me. Of these I'm most stunned by Larry Hama because he actually wrote.. a lot of 90s Venom.

Looking at this list is really interesting for me though because it also kind of makes me realize where I pull so much influence for how I write characterization and dialogue and such? Obviously Robbie Thompson is a huge inspiration for how I write Flash - but I also approach his character with the writing of many many others in the back of my mind. When I write Eddie Brock, it's usually some amalgamation of how my favorite writers for him (Michelinie, Kaminski, Bunn, even Conway) have depicted him.

Notably absent from the list, at least for me I think it's notable, is J. M. DeMatteis, considering how much I've gone on about how I love his writing. But I think it's because a lot of his comics I've read touch on some pretty dark subjects that I don't always feel comfortable addressing myself.

Taking a peek at some of my current WIPs and the comics that directly inspired them, I could add the likes of Stan Lee, Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid, Ann Nocenti, and yeah, definitely JMD to the list.

I do feel it's worth mentioning that if I've ever written anything with Peter and the Venom Symbiote, though, you can bet that I've got Louise Simonson's Web of Spider-Man #1 in mind. Every single time.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #16-18 Thoughts

Previous thoughts here. 

This arc is a mixed bag.

Previous arcs of RYV tended to give one of the family members more priority than the others. It wasn’t exactly that we’d have an MJ arc then a Peter arc then an Annie arc exactly, but which characters got more focus did shift around. The Venom arc for example was more MJ’s story with Peter playing support and Annie more in the background. The X-Men arc was more Annie’s arc with her parents splitting the second fiddle role.  The penultimate arc before the time skip was another more Annie centric storyline, actually probably the most Annie centric story since issue #3.

Houser’s opening arc put the spotlight on each family member culminating in Annie herself, but Annie was still being developed through Peter and MJ’s eyes in those issues. This made a lot of sense since she’d be the most important thing to either of them and we already know who Peter and MJ are. Even if they’re 8 years older that’s not going to amount to them being as significantly different as the now teenaged Annie whom we’d not yet met.

This arc is another Annie centric arc which initially seems like Peter is going to be an important backup player, sort of like how the Venom arc was MJ’s arc first and foremost but Peter still played an important role. This was indicated by us getting Peter and Annie’s thought captions in issue #16 and the story revolving around Peter working at Annie’s school.

Issue #17 drops Peter’s captions and point of view and the story becomes Annie’s totally now revolving around her two new friends abruptly introduced at the end of issue #16. Peter however had three poignant scenes in the book implying that going forward he would be an important character to the pay off the arc. This did not happen because issue #18 thrusts forward with the story about Annie and her new friends, now with Normie as an important player. Peter shows up but only as part of the ‘parental collective’ alongside MJ and gets just one scene with just him and Annie at the end of the book, which serves to simply reiterate the sentiments from the earlier scene with MJ and to payoff that Annie and him are more at ease about both being at Midtown High.

Now there are two ways of interpreting all this.

The optimistic and diplomatic way is that the arc is about Annie growing more independent via forming a new friendship group. Issue #16 nicely sets up that Annie, like many teenagers, is trying to find where she belongs in the high school jungle as she and her old friends have drifted apart as unfortunately happens as kids grow older. Her Dad’s continuously diminishing role across the issues as her relationships with her new friends (and old friend Normie, whom she reconnects with which is maybe pay off to what I just talked about) grows is symbolic of her becoming more independent as she grows up.

The more cynical view is that...this arc is just disjointed. That Houser wanted to set up the status quo of Peter at Midtown high and dedicated the first part of the arc to that but also had it half act as a transition into the meat of the arc, which is about Annie befriending Lacey and Reece...oh but Normie is also involved too.

Unfortunately I’m inclined to think the latter is more likely.

It almost feels like Houser was seeking to set up the general status quo for the family in her first arc running through issues #13-15, then was setting up Annie’s personal status quo with this arc.

Like imagine this was not a Spider-Man family title but a Spiderling title. You establish her school, her social situation, her Dad being a teacher, her older friend in Normie. The only thing you arguably don’t have set up here is her parents or the fact that they are superheroes but that’s because you’ve already read the previous issues. Heck issue #16 even has Annie swinging solo on the cover, almost like it could be the cover to a Spiderling solo book.

The focus upon Peter in issue #16 feels like I dunno...lip service to the fact that this supposed to be a team book and not an Annie solo book.  Feeling exacerbated as his presence diminishes as the arc goes on. It wouldn’t be that bad perhaps if the arc supplanted his presence with MJ’s but that doesn’t happen. MJ is a slightly more distant third fiddle in this arc.

Now conceptually having an arc so focused upon Annie isn’t all bad. If you looked at Houser’s run and the post time-skip era in isolation, dedicating a focus arc to her and her status quo makes a lot of sense. However considering the arc just before the time skip gave her the lion’s share of panel time and she’s also had a lot of play in the X-Men arc and Conway’s opening arc AND how Houser’s opening arc dedicated a lot of time to developing Annie...you see where I’m going with this.

She’s stealing too much lime light from Peter and MJ at this point, even if this arc was hypothetically afforded them more panel time.

But how does this connect with those two points I raised up top?

Connected with this is the issues raised from the time skip itself.

When the time skip was announced the big criticisms surrounding it mainly revolved around:

a)      The jump abandoned the status quo we’d been building for 12 issues b)      Making Annie a teen is derivative of Spider-Girl/Mayday Parker

Jameson and the Bugle are used organically for what little they show up. Jonah also looks noticeably aged, although that does raise the question of why nobody else does.

Annie is well characetrized and believable as a teenager who is both unreasonable about the cringe factor of her Dad teaching at her school and well over her head in getting mixed up with Lacey and Reece. Her growth in the story is also done well as she has to become more akin to a parent and grows to accept her Dad’s place at her school. Fundamentally Annie is played as a nice balance between trying to be responsible but tripped up by youthful arrogance and deep need for independence. Does that remind you of anyone Spider-Man fans?

·         Houser continues to play Peter Parker, out of touch Dad (complete with Dad jokes), believably

·         MJ as the mediator between Peter and Annie also feels very believable for the characters

·         The mugging scene was funny

·         Houser throws shade at Slott’s shitty Peter Parker paparazzi arc

·         Peter being a teacher again is lovely although it’s in a different field to what he was teaching in the JMS run. This is actually a good way of allowing something comfortingly familiar yet also unique for RYV, and is possibly set up for Houser to use going forward. Best of all it comes out of relatable financial problems that have been common to Spider-Man since day 1.

·         Annie adopting a tech role in the school drama club is an eloquent way of having her find something that’s both a reference to her mother and father’s passions

·         All of conversations between Peter and MJ and between Annie and her parents were done well...with one sort of exception but we will get there

·         Bringing Normie back into the picture, for all the problems I discussed, is an eloquent way of reinstating him into the post time-skip status quo and his reconnection with Annie brings things full circle from Annie’s other friends drifting away

·         The Normie flashbacks were adorable

I’ll get this out of the way...Mister Sinister. Let’s put aside how so far he’s done nothing in the book, his presence in a Spider title is just unwanted·         Peter, even in issue #16 where he is more present, feels rather...undermined. I’m trying to figure out a more political correct way of saying this besides ‘Peter is kind of a Beta here’ but off the top of my head I just can’t. It just doesn’t feel right when Peter is played as immature as his teenage daughter to the point where he ignores a crime in progress and is insulted along with his daughter by MJ, or where Annie is angrily telling him off when he’s in costume in school and he passively just agrees with it. This was something knocking around a little bit in the previous arc when Logan was telling him off in issue #13 too and was sort of there a little bit under Conway. Its never been as bad as here though, but I guess it’s a nitpick at the end of the day. Heck the MJ comedy bit was very funny for what it was.·         Stockman’s art isn’t bad and is pretty similar to Roche’s from the previous arc. But there is this unrefined quality to it. It’s not as good as his issue #5 art and of course such a major step down from Stegman. Also it dipped noticeably in issue #18·         The kids turning out to be if not bad then on the dangerous side was incredibly predictable·         The resolution was seriously not great. Reece having feelings for Lacey was not set up until the issue where it was going to become the key to resolving the plot, it should’ve been introduced earlier. In fact the entire Reece/Lacey plot shouldn’t have been brought up towards the end of issue #16 but played out throughout that issue. Similarly the end of the three issues randomly telling us that Lacey and Reece’s abilities had totally faded was trite and far too convenient. Throwing a line in earlier on, even the issue before, that the powers might be temporary would’ve alleviated things.·         Peter and MJ’s confronting Annie in part 3 was a nice scene but the ending where they just pat themselves on the back and say ‘we did good’ felt rote and not really true. A sign the arc was kind of falling apart a bit towards the end.

  Over all I’d give this arc a C-