I love reading former Marvel Editor in Chief Jim Shooter’s blog. Today he reviews Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and lets just say he’s not a fan. Before he does that he debates the merits of Ditko’s Spidey vs Romita’s. After the review be sure to read the comment section where he gets in a debate with Tom Breevort.
Brad Douglas
View articlesBrad created the Crawlspace back in 1998 while attending college at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He’s the webmaster and writes front page news items, and also produces, hosts and edits the podcast. He’s been collecting Spider-Man comics since the age of three and is a life-long fan of the webhead. His website has been featured in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and on Marvel.com and inside the comics themselves. The Crawlspace is one of the first Spider-Man fan sites to ever hit the internet. Millions of people visit the site every year.
Brad has interviewed several “Spider-Celebrities” over the years including co-creator Stan Lee. He’s also interviewed actors who have portrayed Spider-Man like Paul Soles (Voice Actor from the 67 Spider-Man Cartoon), Dan Gilvezan (Spidey Voice Actor from Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends) ,Yuri Lownthal (Voice Actor from the Spider-Man PlayStation game) and Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man 1977 Actor).
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Evan Berry on Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Legacy #995): “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Cousin” or “The First Rule About Super-Villain Fight Club Is …”: “@Bruce, not Groos — Thank you for that! I didn’t realize it was a specific word, made up or not.…” Jun 22, 06:57
Bruce Wechtenhiser on Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Legacy #995): “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Cousin” or “The First Rule About Super-Villain Fight Club Is …”: “@evan berry @hornacek the word in the song was a made up word, “groos”, according to Jeff Lynne, the writer/singer…” Jun 21, 21:47
Hornacek on Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Legacy #995): “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Cousin” or “The First Rule About Super-Villain Fight Club Is …”: “@Evan Berry: Unfortunately, until this issue I thought ELO was saying “Bruce!” I am fine with supervillains updating their look…” Jun 21, 13:48
Evan Berry on Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Legacy #995): “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Cousin” or “The First Rule About Super-Villain Fight Club Is …”: “As always, another great review! I knew that ELO isn’t saying Bruce, but I have no idea what they’re actually…” Jun 21, 10:57
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Wow, Tom B makes ONE comment in a 190+ comments thread and that’s all you can focus on? No axe to grind here……
“I find it hilrious that Tom Brevoort is saying Jim doesn’t need to personally insult people.”
BWAHAHAHA!! Oh now *that’s* rich!!
I think Shooter is entitled to his opinion and can post whatever he wants, especially in his own blog.
so glad you posted a link to his blog. I’ve been curious to check it out everytime I hear JR mention it in the podcasts- but being curious in the car ride to work gets lost by the time I get home.
great reads there. I’d love to see him have some control over some Marvel characters again and see what he does.
#1 totally agree
I agree with some of what he says, but he does seem kinda like an old man ranting about kids and thier rap music and skating on his lawn sometimes
I did think the whole “phone it in” comment was too caustic. But anyone in Marvel management complaining about rudeness and unprofessional behavior is to laugh. What a hypocrite Tom Brevoort is in that comment.
I was thinking the same thing Don. Infact I think I’ll make a poll Ditko vs Romita.
Brad, nominate this as a news topic for next month. Should be interesting to discuss with the panel.
Ha,Ha. Great point! I didn’t notice that. It’s not like he told Bendis to “F” himself. HAHAHAHA
I find it hilrious that Tom Brevoort is saying Jim doesn’t need to personally insult people.
Has Jim ever been a podcast interview? That would be interesting.
Shooters blog has become my new favorite hobbie in recent months.
It was a very good review. He gave his thoughts in the issue, he’s speaking with professional knowledge of the industry, and made clear it was his personal opinion. He complemented what he thought was good and made sure to let us know what he thought worked and didn’t. I got a chuckle at Brevoort defending Bendis’ plotting from Shooter’s comments in the review. Shooter was polite in his response. Good stuff and an entertaining read.
Jim Shooter routinely has very good points when he’s reviewing these current comics, but often he comes off as a man out of time. Things have changed, and though I agree with a majority of what he says, some things feel like nitpicking and aren’t really relevent to what the specific issue is trying to convey.
In terms of the opinions on Ditko and Romita, it just comes down to artist preference really. I will hold my hands up and admit that I do find Ditko’s Spidey to be 100% more dynamic and interesting than Romita’s Spidey, but Romita’s style is so appealing that it makes up for it. This isn’t a case where Shooter’s right or wrong, it’s just his opinion. If anyone were to cite this as fact to fall back on, they’d be misconstruding the issue.
In terms of the review of the issue, I agree with Shooter that the book seems incredibly decompressed. Not much is established and what is could have been established further. But for what we were given, I enjoyed. So I like Shooter’s rebuttal to Breevort’s defense of the lottery scene.
It’s angsty and out of place to end the review with him saying he’ll force himself to read issue two. That’s wasn’t necessary.