Can Spider-Man be grim and gritty?

That's the tone I get when glancing back at old Mcfarlane issues. No, not in the stock,Frank Miller-esque "My city is a WHORE. She SLEEPS with the FARMERS of the SEEDS of EVIL" way, but more so in the tone, environment, and how the villains are portrayed.

For instance, I read in a forum where a fan was describing how HE perceived some of the bizarre, "spider-like" poses that Mcfarlane would draw Spidey in. His words were basically, "In a dark city at night time, the last thing a criminal wants to see is some creepy dude in a big-eyed mask, striking a strange pose whilst slinking down a gigantic spider web". Think about it. This guy is apparently a human spider. Spiders are scary, and this dude has human intelligence, whilst being in a dark alley stalking criminals in New York. And to make it not seem scary, and yet at the same time make it scarier, is that as he crawls down his web, he taunts you with "yo mama" jokes and makes fun of your weird hairstyle. Playing with his prey, much like a real spider, you don't know if the guy is gonna kill you or randomly fart and laugh about it.

Then there's some of his villains. The goblins, the symbiotes, Kraven, Lizard, Morbius, and Chameleon. These guys could ALL be made scary, quite easily in fact.

So is the creepy tone too dark and Batman-esque for Spidey?

Could it be done? Yes

Should it be done? No.

It could but should not

@jointron33: Nothing against MacFarlane but his Spider-Man produced TOO much webbing for a single swing and he should have seen a chiropractor for his hands and legs.....

@jointron33:

Hulk not so sure. When Hulk was watching Amazing Spider-Man, Hulk was like, "Jeez, do you need to be so dark. This isn't Titanic or Dear John. It's freaking Spiderman. Lighten up a little."

Isn't that what the other Spider-family books are for?

@spideysense44: why not?

@maccyd: What do u mean?>

@jointron33: Aren't Venom/Carnage/Scarlet's series meant to be a darker/anti-hero versions of spiderman?

@maccyd: I'm not saying that Spidey himself would be dark, but a bit of a darker world around him

Sometimes we use comics to escape the real world do we need to dive into another dark world? Sometimes it is nice to have something a little lighter.

@spider11211: why can't we have both

@jointron33: I would like that but we don't have the lighter one as an option right now.

Yes, there are dark Spider-man stories.

Yes, they are f**king awesome.

@spider11211: we don't have a good one as an option either

Peter's only violent when he gets pissed off, especially when he was beating the hell out of Kingpin one time.

Back in black was awesome for me I don't care what anyone says. I also prefer Ben Railly over Peter Parker.

@saiyan_earthling: I'm not saying he wud b dark and violent

No, I said he can.

HAHAHAH! AHAHAhahahaahHHh! HhhahahahhHahaHahHh-hhHHAHAHAHA! HAAhhaaAHHahHh-aahhahhahHaaHA! HAHAHA-hahahaHahaAHAHAAH! HAHAHAHAHhahaahhhaaaaahahahhHaAHHAAHAHhahah! HAHAHahaha! AHAHAHahahahhhhaaahaaahah! hahahaHHahahaHahaahHahaHA! AHahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

No.

It's an interesting idea and has worked in the past before, but that just isn't really Peter's personality, to strike fear into the hearts of criminals like Batman-lite.

Literally exactly what I was going to put.

there were jokes though but in all fairness his parents left him and his uncle just died lol there's allowed to be sadness in the first movie, but if by the 3rd he is still crying then so help me god

@superguy0009e: y not though?

Spider-man: Death of Jean DeWolffe.

Spider-man: Kraven's Last Hunt.

Spider-man: Back in Black.

Spider-man: Grim Hunt.

You'll notice that these stories, A) exist, and B) are awesome.

It depends on why it's being dark and how long. You sure as hell don't want to make him like Batman. I prefer him as a more sunny hero as it helps him stand out and makes him more unique.

There are gritty Spidy stories and they are awesome.Just look at Grim Hunt,one of the best Spider-Man stories and it is gritty as hell.

Spiderman shouldn't be permanently dark as that's not who he is.

Not without some seriously good character development but such concepts are blasphemy to comic fans.

So today, I was scared utterly crapless by a HUGE black and yellow spider. I do not think I have ever seen a spider that huge, nor have I been that scared in my life. And I'm not even afraid of spiders.

So just imagine how Spidey could play on that fear with criminals, who are known for being a superstitious and cowardly lot!

Superior spiderman is.

Love how grim and gritty is considered an adequate replacement for quality.

yup. aint it swell?

@joshmightbe: love how there are actually people who think that the two are mutually exclusive.

And if you think it's out of character, remember that Peter never truly matures anyway, and fans like him that way. Why else would they complain about the marriage, which was, ya know, character development!

Fans didn't complain about the marriage. It was retconned because Joe Quesada is an idiot.

Yes he can be.

@peppeyhare: fans didn't complain?

.............................................................

@jointron33: Didn't say it was out of character I just don't see how it would improve the character.

@peppeyhare: This is true

I know many people hated the unmasking, but personally I would've liked to see Pete deal with the consequences of his post-Civil War status quo for a bit longer. The psychic blindspot, as silly as it was, could've been introduced anyway without OMD, considering that part had nothing to do with the deal with Mephisto per se (or maybe Mephisto empowered Strange and Stark in order to make it work?).

Yes everybody hated the marriage. That explains the huge backlash towards OMD and the retcon in general

If done right they are great stories.

But then again you could end up with the likes of Reign.

@skyfire: was that the piece of crap DKR ripoff?