darth_spidey195

Funny.  This seems to have devolved into a somewhat mean-spirited "Hate on Tony Daniel" forum.  Is the guy's writing really that bad?  I actually haven't read any of his stories except for Battle for the Cowl, which I agree was not a good story (Mis-characterized Jason Todd, Dick's stubborn refusal to become Batman being poorly sketched, not following through with the villain subplot, etc. etc.)  But what about the other stories he's written?  What about them makes them so terrible?  Just curious. 

@Nighthunter said:

Would you prefer to kick out Superman and Batman and replace them with Icon and Batwing just to have diversity? My main problem when it comes to diversity in comics isn't the lack of it, its when people just throw random minority characters to fit the numbers

No, but why would it have to come to that? There's no reason to leap to the extremes like that when it comes to having a more diverse lineup. But is DC honestly holding onto any kind of substantial fanbase by having Ray Palmer still be the Atom instead of Ryan Choi? It's the Atom. No version is particularly popular. No Black Lightning? Isn't he their first black hero or something? You'd think they would want him to be big league if they're revamping things to be more diverse. It's not like either of them would have felt random or forced in this lineup. I mean, good lord. The only member of the Big Seven they felt willing to replace with a black character was the only member who wasn't white anyway.

I'm disappointed.  Needless to say, this just confirms that my favorite character never gets any respect anywhere these days.  The Ultimate Universe is going to hurt itself again just as it was salvaging itself from the disaster that was Ultimatum.  Oy.
 
Still, if they insist on doing it, then it had better NOT be the Punisher who kills him.  That's too easy.  I don't want it to be some generic punk or SHIELD agent either.  Anyone have any ideas on who it might be that kills him without spoiling it for me?

" I thought that looked pretty well for someone who later spawned a Carnage symbiotic which is red in color.
 
So, anyway, for the sake of ranting, I'm just going to copy-paste something I wrote in another forum:
 Spectacular's script was right on the spot, but I never really gotten to like how they made slight alterations to certain artistic aspects that made Spec look more like a spin-off like Ultimate Spidey is to Amazing. Gwen's glasses for example. And then there was the Goblin outfit, of which its color tones look like the original Goblin outfit, but is never as true to it as the '90s version. And then there are several animation aspects that make the overall look feel... different, whether it's the way Peter or MJ look (more preteen-ized), their eyes being more cartoonish than ever, or, the biggest problem I have, how the outfits of several other villains (Doc Ock and Electro, just to name a few) look more upgraded. Like Raimi's Spidey organic webbing upgraded.

Hammerhead is the only one that looks better than his '90s incarnations, without a doubt, and Silver Sable looks great, too. And the scripting is, once again, very polished and decent (contrary to the outfits, the jokes are a welcoming upgrade). But somehow, it doesn't feel like the old first hundred issues of Amazing Spider-Man I have read. As I said, it feels more like Ultimate Spidey, or the first 10 or 12 issues of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, especially with how much 'younger' and 'kiddier' the animation has been set to.

But alas, I grew up in the '90s, so my favorite incarnation is a natural one. TAS has some problems, but I'm just as amazed (pardon the pun) at how it also managed to fit those little comic book references and 'wink-winks' in the series when I watch it in my current age, just as the '67 Spider-Man series had. I'm sure Spectacular also have this, but with the reasons given above, Spec to TAS feels like Nolan's Batman compared to Burton's. It's all about the atmosphere. 
 
Regarding Spider-Man not hitting anyone in the show. To be fair, Spider-Man is not exactly the strongest superhero in the Marvel universe. Besides, it's not the Spider-Man we're watching/reading for, it's the Peter Parker. And I felt the characterization was decently done.
 
The Hydro Man arc never really interested me. He feels like a punk to me more than a villain. So, it was a poor choice. The reason they couldn't use Sandman, btw, was because he was gonna be used in a canceled James Cameron Spider-Man movie, along with Electro and, I presume, Gwen Stacy.
 
Consider this: Given what they had to handle with, with the studio barking at them not to include adult stuff (not sure whether if Spec is just as censored), they get an A for effort. Yes, I got annoyed at the lack of punches, too, but if anything, he was definitely not shown to be a wimp. Want to know why? If you refer to my answer and refute to your point about Spider-Man incompetence, I wrote that Spider-Man is not the strongest superhero in the Marvel universe. Now, what did I mean by that, I wonder? Maybe because he's also Peter Parker, Science Genius, not to mention having a lot of BRAINS to work with than brawn.

If you notice throughout the series, Spidey often worked out the problems with his brain. Like when he led the Secret Wars as a leader. Or when he solved the whole time-dimensional accelerator problem The Spot had (Kingpin: "Spider-Man is a scientist?!"). Or how about the Spider Slayers arc, when he clogged the Black Widow's jet-engines with web-fluid, or when he, in the second-half of that arc, used liquid oxygen to remove the bomb attached to his wrist (among other wise moves). Or how about he defeated DORMAMMU himself (with Venom and Iron Man's distractions, yes, but like I wrote, he's the brains of this operation) by closing up the portal with, once again, his scientific knowhow. Or how about... ah, you get the point.

In fact, when reading the old ASM comics (and please do note that I am referring to the old 184 issues of ASM here), I realized just how weak Spidey can be when battling real villains, only lucking out, have an over-egoistical villain, or using his brains to achieve the ultimate victory. That's what's so 'amazing' about Spider-Man, that he is, time and time again, able to beat the bad guys without using pure strength. For he is... THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! (And yes, I hadtta say that) And don't go telling me that raw strength makes Spider-Man amazing. What makes Iron Man 'Invincible?' It's not his armor, clearly. It's his heart. And what makes a monstrous thing like The Hulk 'Incredible?' It's his everlasting struggle to be consumed by his bloodlust for rage, anger. I think it's rather true to form here that Spider-Man is not doing a lot of fighting more than thinking. But you can't say he never fought a villain before in this show, or that he never got in a fight on his own before. Remember Venom in the first season?

One problem, I'll admit, is the number of superhero cameos. I think the creators were so eager to focus on the 'team-up' aspect of Spider-Man that he was left seemingly upstaged, perhaps to show how many friends he has in the Superhero world.

Also, I really love the co-stars of the other superheroes that teamed up with Spidey (a nice wink to Marvel Team-Up). And Venom was just badass compared to Spec's version, having even adapted the anti-hero aspect of Venom. Yes, the '90s retconned Venom was a poor choice, but blame the adapted material, not the adaptation for being true to form. At least the whole 'attaining the black suit' story was altered to a more realistic form. And I felt they made it really fun by including the three lamest villains of all and made them cool, The Spot, The Rocket Racer, and even (dare I say it) The Big Wheel, even to the part where he couldn't pull a brake on the mechanical wheel (I lol'd).

Finally, I don't really like 'spins' of any kind on Spider-Man. Spider-Man's original material is good enough. Don't alter Electro's classic costume (yes, they later changed the origin of Electro, this is due to the canceled 'James Cameron movie' I mentioned above, but I don't really mind this one much because they kept the original costume). Don't change the way Green Goblin looks. You might as well change the way Spider-Man looks (oops, too late for that).

Alas, there are quite a few things I don't like about TAS myself as well, most of which include the abovementioned censoring problems, but until something that could top the 'comic comes alive' look in TAS, I'm gonna stick with the '90s, for now. I don't have high hopes for Disney's Ultimate, considering I don't really prefer the comic over ASM.
 
Lastly, regarding Josh Keaton. I like how Christopher Daniel Barnes made Spider-Man seem like a potential senior hero in the superhero career, especially in his voicing of Spider-Man Noir in Shattered Dimensions. Josh Keaton's Ultimate Spidey sounded like he's still a grasshopper GreenHorn in the career, which is fine for USM, but CDB's version is suitable for the Spider-Man that is today, when he's grown up and married in his middle age (or 23-25, whatever).

Even in the series, he didn't sound exactly like so young you couldn't take Spider-Man seriously. I thought the whole point of Marvel superheroes being amazed that Spider-Man is a kid is probably because 1) he don't act like one in serious moments, 2) he doesn't have the physique of a teenager, and 3) he sounds older than he looks. But the last one is really a theory, because you can't listen to comics (unless you count those audio-comics back in the day).
 
One more personal note from myself that's not copy-pasted: I don't understand why people could appreciate the classic 1967 Spider-Man animated series, overlooking its much more corny sound effects and campy but vintage graphics, but still be bothered by the cheesy laser sound effects in the '90s series, unable to appreciate it as an aspect of the decade and unable to appreciate the overall '90s look in the animated series. "

" @InnerVenom123:Erm, you forgot about Gwen's glasses, genius. You know, the biggest, most significant thing that make Gwen not look like Gwen? That she looks like a bookworm, front of the class anti-social nerdbrain? Remember that what made the original Gwen so cool was that she was the first of the 'cool kids' to actually like Peter Parker. Not Flash, not Harry, Gwen. That's what made her so cool, because for the first time, a popular girl who looks like she's supposed to do cheerleading took a liking to Peter Parker. Weak? I think not.   And yes, Octopus being a wimp in the first place is my case, because people had problems with Electro's origin in TAS as well, so I thought I should bring up Octo's origin in Spec, too. Octavius was an egoistical maniac who got into an accident because of his pride, not because someone bullied him into it. Making him sympathetic in this case is really anti-climatic. And wow, instead of trying to defend my case, you actually just dropped it off with a comment your smug of a brain seemed to think of as so revolutionary a remark. I must've really creamed you there.   So, let's see, what else. Ah yes, Mary Jane, the girl too hot for Peter Parker. I don't have a problem with Mary Jane's appearance in Spec. Otherwise, I wouldn't have called her a jailbait. I would've called her what I labeled Kirsten Dunst in the Spider-Man movies - fugly. As in fucking ugly. No. My problem with MJ in Spec is that she looks too young, and the hot-factor is both awkward and unsuitable for a girl her appearance, hence the term, 'jailbait.' TAS didn't do a very good job for Mary Jane, either, but at least she seemed old enough to spend a night over with Peter wearing a rubber. Being 16, should 'sex' be a subject for the Spider-Man comics? God, no. But what makes Mary Jane Mary Jane was her hot-factor back in the '60s, how she seemed too good to be true for Peter Parker (and still is now, in the modern day). Spec failed to establish that kind of image we've all seen back then, and failed to give us the kind of feeling we felt when we first laid our eyes on the super-spicy MJ in those early days of Peter Parker.  Being able to so successfully establish the same kind of mystery factor the Green Goblin had, I'm surprised Spec failed on this department. Then again, the identity revealed in Spec isn't that breathtaking anyway.  Okay, last but not the least, the funny eyes, Gawd, the horrible funny eyes. This one, I'd like to pair it with another flaw of the show, which is the overall animation. I don't know why the team chose to make the whole darn show look so... just plain weird. It's not the superb graphics we see in the MTV series or Ultimate Alliance. It's not the clean and sleek classic 1-D animation we see in TAS. It's definitely not live action. So why make Spec look so, cartoonish? I mean, the least they could do is incorporate some of the art styles as seen in the comics (preferably the classic style of the comics, not the over-exaggerated style of the modern age). And the funny eyes really bothered me a lot. I can't take those visages seriously.  I mean it's WEIRD AS FUCK! Those f-king eyes! Gawd I can't stand it! LoL It's like staring into a black hole, or staring into the eyeholes of somebody who just had his eye sockets burned out by the Ghost Rider.  Ah yes, before I forgot. It seems like you ignored my point about the voices for some reason. In fact, many people who I've went against while criticizing Spec seemed to ignore my points about CDB and Spec's choice of voices. Do I see a pattern here? "