"The Black Kid with the Sticky Hands" or "The New Ultimate Spider-Man Thread"

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Remember back when Spidey being black and Latino brought up all this awareness for the series? And how once it really got started we never ever brought it up again?

Well, I just picked up issue eight from my local shop today and I have to say that I'm still really liking the series. I have problems with the characterization of Miles at times (Bendis is hitting it right off the bat like he did with Peter) but he's still a character that I really like. In many ways, his youth works for and against him. On one hand, I really enjoy seeing the world from this troubled kid's perspective but sometimes it feels like he's too young to be dealing with this. But I guess actually feeling a sense of peril isn't a bad thing for a comic book. Standard Bendis problems apply too; there's been eight issues and there really hasn't been a single arc yet.

Point is, this is a really good series and I'm bummed that the buzz seems to have died down since the initial "controversy" over Miles being *gasp!* black and *gasp!* latino! Please, somebody out there tell me that you're actually reading this.

[Token]

Are we on eight now? I thought we just got seven.
I swear to fuck, they need to stick to a goddamn release pattern, or I will kick someone in the throat. oh yeah apparently it's up on /co/ brilliant

I'm quite liking Miles so far, but the lack of a proper arc isn't really doing it for me either. Yeah, he's still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's Spider-Man, and yeah, he's still getting shit from basically everyone else in 1610 for not being Peter, but meh. Those are more themes you'd expect for a while (Especially considering it's Spidey. Spidey's whole shtick is getting shit from New York), so it doesn't seem like too much is happening.
Also his fight with Electro seemed sort of ass-pulley.

[Nique]

It's one of the 3 or 4 subscriptions I have and the only Marvel book I'm currently reading.

[kyrtuck]

...so, what is the big deal about this new Spider-man being of mixed race? Detective Elisa Maza from the Gargoyles cartoon was black AND native american, and I thought she was awesome. I remember no noticable controversy over her neither.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

...so, what is the big deal about this new Spider-man being of mixed race? Detective Elisa Maza from the Gargoyles cartoon was black AND native american, and I thought she was awesome. I remember no noticable controversy over her neither.

But she wasn't Spider-Man. And no one had to die so that she could be promoted to detective.

Those seem to be the main sticking points for people.

[Token]

Well yes. She wasn't a legacy character. Long story short, executive meddling caused them to kill off Parker, and replace him with a new character who the media and interviews played up as being biracial, rather than anything about him as a character. It was, according to some people, a shittly blatant example of meddling, tokenism, and not giving a damn about the characters.

This, naturally, sparked a whole bunch of bullshit from people who didn't actually know anything about the series, talking about how "progressive" this whole issue is, which led to arguments, controversy, white guilt, accusations of racism, social justice, blah blah fucking blah.

Here's NPF's earlier clusterfuck on the situation. (http://nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=40520)

[Token]

Not to say Miles isn't a good character, and this isn't a good read. But they brought Peter's arc to an amazingly shitty end, when there were years of stories planned, simply because Johnny Storm's death sold well. While the current story is being told well, I still think what they did to the previous one is bullshit.

[Token]

POINT BEING, niggas be triflin', and nerds be angry.

[kyrtuck]

But she wasn't Spider-Man. And no one had to die so that she could be promoted to detective.

Those seem to be the main sticking points for people.

Ahhhhh, so its a case of Afirmative Action haters.

Well actually, I think making a character as big as Spider-man suddenly not-white would've meant much more if they did it back in 2001 when Ultimate Marvel first started out. Doing it now, feels somewhat sell-outish.

But to be honest, I ain't reading Ultimate Spider-man until they give me a Goblin who dosen't look like a morbidly strong steroid user. In my mind, I liked thinking Gobby was slightly weaker than Spidey, but made up for it in weapons and vicious cunning. May as well give Joker Bane's super strength, which technically alrerady happened in a video game...

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Wait, spiderman is a drug dealer now?

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Wait, spiderman is a drug dealer now?

Yes.

[rpgdemon]

Wait, spiderman is a drug dealer now?

You're saying that 'cause he's BLACK, aren't you?!

[The Sevenshot Kid]

You're saying that 'cause he's BLACK, aren't you?!

C'mon, we all know Smarty doesn't think that.

It's because he's Hispanic.

[kyrtuck]

Now that I think about it, Spider-man 2099 was half hispanic. And in a Spetacular Spider-man story, a poor black kid pretended his big brother was Spider-man. So this mix really isn't all that random.