So tonight I got to go see a preview screening of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on broadway. For those who don't know, it's the Spider-Man play that Bono was working on with many other collaborators. It was a preview, so this wasn't the full production, but it's like 99% what it'll be like. That being said, I figured I'd put my two cents out there on the quality of the show. 
 

•  Reeve Carney as Peter Parker blows Tobey Maguire away. He's likable, goofy, geeky, and he's a scrawny, nerdy looking kid who's perfect for the part (Although he sometimes looks like Chris Evans)
• The sets in this show are incredible. For the first twenty minutes you can easily just forget the story and gaze at the great design these guys have put into the show. The school in particular stood out to me, because it was so simple but blew you away. Plus, the way the trap doors in the set work, it's like they can pull a new piece out without you even noticing, it's great.
• Bono really outdid himself here on the music. I mean, I'll be honest. I'm not a big U2 fan. They're not bad, I just never cared. That being said, I could easily listen to at least half of this show just for the quality of the music. Some songs really blow you away and the vocal talents of the cast really take it that extra step further. There was not a flat note to be heard and everybody did great. Especially TV Carpio, who steals the show vocally.
• After 10 minutes in to the show, we get a walking scene of Peter and later Mary Jane. This is without a doubt, the best use of set/prop design I've ever seen a show use. It's simple but gets the job done so well that I wished the scene didn't have to end.
• Norman Osborn is southern... Well, that threw me for one heck of a loop. I liked the way they did Norman here, but those of you looking for a direct adaption of his character and the Green Goblin, look elsewhere. He's probably the character the crew took the most liberties with, but oddly enough, it works. Green Goblin was a huge hit with the crowd and it was great to see a more Joker-esque Goblin. He'll make you laugh, one way or the other.
• The first half of the play is Spider-Man: The Movie: The Musical. You can tell they barely gave half a thought to the comic book source material, but in essence, it's very true to Spidey and it works better than you'd expect. Only a couple minor slip-ups come from this.
• The show is completely off balance. I mean, the first 80 minutes before the intermission are essentially the rise of Spider-Man. Then in part two it's like the writers felt they had to thrown everything in that they possibly could. With old characters, new characters, and new designs, there is a lot going on in the second half, and the show suffers from it. There is great potential with this stuff, but it's too much to do all at once.
• Lizard... WTF?!?!?! I'm not saying why, but seriously, Lizard sucked. Balls. Giant, soggy, sweaty balls. It was the second worst part of the show.
• The worst part, the part that you don't need and they should take out, is a musical number the likes of which should never be seen. It was well done, but so random and so irrelevant that it completely took me out of the show.
• The wirework for this show is sick. It's all over the place, in your face, bang-pow fun. I was about 15 rows in and I had the guys flying right over me, punching and kicking and swinging like there was no tomorrow. The rigs that the show uses are astonishing and it's certainly an experience having Spider-Man swinging right overhead. If I stood up, I'd have been hit, that's how close it gets.
• The use of puppet heads was brilliantly done. You get to see the insane characterizations that stereotypes create but the way they're used it fits in perfectly. Very well done.
• Almost no Aunt May, almost no Uncle Ben. Thank God, because I'm sick of hearing the guilt trip they cause over and over again. For an origin story, it's refreshing not to deal with all the known waters.

       One More Day sucks. One Moment in Time doesn't, even though it should. I know lots of people will disagree with me on this, but I feel like a large part of this comes from a misunderstanding of what the two stories have done to the Spider-Man mythology. By now though I'm sick of people hating One Moment in Time, a story with gorgeous art that is actually worthy of your time so you can understand the new status quo. 
 
       For those who don't know, One More Day was the story in which Aunt May rests in the hospital after taking a bullet through her stomach (Said bullet was shot at Peter, who dived out of the way). In an effort to save her life, Peter goes to find aid in Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, and everybody he can think of to save her life. When nobody can help her, Mephisto, the devil, comes to Peter and Mary Jane and offers them a deal, their marriage will be taken away in exchange for the life of Aunt May. Pretty much, sacrifice their love in order to save her life. The two accept the deal and the world around them is changed so that the two were never married. The devil gets to know that a love so pure was taken away from them. 
 
       One Moment in Time explains how this changed the world around them and led to where we currently are. 
 
Here are the major changes: 

• Peter Parker and Mary Jane never got married. Peter got hit in the head by a cinder block and fell off a building the night before and ended up unconscious for the ceremony the next day. Instead, the two decided to stay together but not get married unless Peter could stop being Spider-Man. 
• When Aunt May was sick, Peter still went to everybody he could find for help. When that didn't work, he waited by her bedside and when he heart rate zeroed performed CPR and saved her life (Miraculously) 
• Peter willingly took back his secret identity with the help of Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, and Iron Man. After this, only he and Mary Jane knew who he was under the mask, since he felt it wasn't fair to take that away from her. This has of course changed as he's revealed his identity to some others.

Honestly, I know I don't have a huge following and I know that a lot of people won't even care about this, but I'm incredibly in awe that I was able to write 100 reviews on this site over the last year. I often find myself slacking when it comes to stuff like this, fun stuff that requires work, and I probably would have stopped immediately if not for one thing. The people who read my reviews, who give feedback on them, who comment on them, and those who subscribe to me. Thank you so much, because honestly there are few joys in life quite like coming onto comicvine and seeing I have all these messages in my inbox from feedback I've gotten. That I've gotten feedback in some form over 300 times, whether it's good or bad, is one of the great things I can say I've done and experienced. I love doing these reviews and I hope to be more on top of it from here on out, and to those who care, there will be many, many more to come, trust me I have a back catalog of comics to review and I have about 50 on deck. So thank you, come again, and always leave feedback, it really makes my day.

Inspired by Inferiorego's post on the homepage, I have decided to discuss how much of a comicholic I am. 
 
My desk: 

• 7 Flash Figures
• 5 DC Comics Rings (Flash, Green Lantern, Blue Lantern, White Lantern, Black Lantern)
• 1 Superman Lamp
• 1 Firestorm glass to keep all my pens in (Which I use to draw comics of course)
• 1 C-3PO action figure
• 1 R2-D2 eraser, next to the C-3PO action figure
• 1 Captain America mini-bust

• 1 Marvel Calendar
• 1 X-Men Second Coming teaser poster (Attached to the calendar)

• 5 shelves of comics in trade, hardcover, and single issue forms
• 2 books of comic book board (What they're made on)
• 1 Captain America beanie
• 1 Captain America action figure
• 1 Beast mini-bust

• 2 Flash t-shirts
• 1 Wolverine t-shirt
• 1 Marvel heroes t-shirt
• 3 Batman t-shirts
• 1 Batman and Robin t-shirt
• 1 pair of Batman pajama pants
• 1 pair of Superman pajama pants
• 1 Michaelangelo hat

• 1 Batman emblem pillow
• 1 Infinity Gauntlet pillow case
• 1 Batman plushie
• 1 Superman plushie
• 1 Flash plushie
• 1 Spider-Man plushie

Let me tell you a story about a boy. Typical kid for the most part, maybe a bit "nerdier". Buys toys, plays sports, has friends, whole sha-bang. Then one day he gets a comic from his mom, it was in the paper that day and she happened to get it so she gives it to him. It's Ultimate X-Men Issue 2. He flips through it and sees all these characters he knows from the cartoons and movies and falls in love. He brings it to school, shows his friends. He goes to the store, buys the first 3 issues in a special comic, falls in love even more. He buys the newest issues, falls head over heels. Ultimate X-Men becomes his lover. Fast forward 6 years and that kid is in 11th grade. His love for Ultimate X-Men has developed into a love for comics, a love he cannot resist. Ultimatum comes out and it's the first big Ultimate event, so of course he reads it. They kill 3 X-Men. Fine. He liked them but fine. He reads issue 2. They kill Professor X. Crazy but fine. Issue 3. Loses and Ultimate. Issue 4. Angel dies, Magneto loses and arm. Issue 5. WHAAAAAAT?!?! 
 
Thank you for this Marvel, thank you for opening the eyes of this once humble and quiet fan. It's been nearly a year since the horrors of Ultimatum ended and I have to say that I'll never be able to look on it fondly. Ultimate X-Men got me into comics. Ultimate Spider-Man kept me hooked. Ultimates was the action movie that was too good to be a movie (I'm looking at you Ultimate Avengers DVD). Ultimate Fantastic 4 had the coolest concepts I'd ever seen. Thor as President? That's insane, how do you come up with that? Yet after a drop in sales and a slight quality dip in Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic 4 (Although both were still more than decent) they decide to reboot the Ultimate Universe and do an event. I was more excited than I knew I could be. However what resulted was editorial telling Jeph Loeb to kill just about every X-Man and half of the Ultimate Universe, except the Ultimate Spider-Man characters. Granted, deaths are fine by me if done right. This was not "done right". This was character rape and the worst comic I ever read. EVER. And I read One More Day. 
Which brings me to my next point. One More Day. Like, what on Earth were you thinking? Granted, I didn't read Spider-Man until after this, starting with Brand New Day and growing to love it. Then I went back and picked up One More Day in the sales bin at a comic convention (Hardcover for $5, I figured if I'm buying #$@& it might as well be cheap). It's now a stain on my collection. Why is this so bad? Bad writer? Not really. Bad art? Not my taste in the least but I know people like it. Reason? Editorial shoving a story down our throats to meet their agenda and serve their purpose. This is not the way comics work. This has never worked. How do I know? Clone Sage. 'Nuff said.
Now, editors need to realize something. Change is good, they're right there. However, change when it leaves behind everything that has made that character work is not good. Grant Morrison, I'm looking at you. I'm sorry but COME ON. CAVE-BAT? TIME TRAVELING BATMAN WITH NO INDICATION AS TO WHY? That doesn't fly. Batman and Son worked. Go to that, read it and see why. Character work. No random time travel. Things came relatively naturally and felt right. Except for Man-bat ninjas. No. Bad Morrison. 
Now, this editorial comment has become a rant, but it just seems to me that the big two forget what makes things work so well sometimes. Did a book drop in quality? How about you get a new writer or make the selection process more exclusive? You don't have to publish bad stories, just find a better one somewhere else. Killing characters for shock or to just get rid of them is an insult. Changing a characters core and what makes them work is an insult. Milking a story for all it's worth is an insult. And how about this, look at reviews to judge your books and writers if nothing else. You can use this site right here. Listen to the fans, don't assume you know what will sell or what will work. Because you know what they say about assumptions. You and me.