Gerry Conway On "The Night Gwen Stacy Died"

I agree with @ACira

Aunt May's death is long overdue. She serves no purpose in the comics anymore. I bet when all the heroes and villains die of old age, she will still be alive.

I'm still angry that idiot Quesada thought Aunt May being a gagillion years old was more compelling than marriage.

@TheRealRemyLebeau
What? Stop silly fanboying, I enjoyed action of TASM too (wasn't that great, but decent), but it doesn't make the movie itself any better.

@TRRL
Capt. Stacy WAS cliched, all that police nonsense.

- Maybe he's trying to do what police can't?
- CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'T?

@TRRL
I do. Guess what, they do not talk like Stacy does in the movie. They are normal guys, just like the rest of us.

Police was portrayed well in 'Serpico', go check it out.

@Anton Just shut up. Please.

Aunt may and Gusto are gonna outlive us all.

I did not know about this--and I spoke with Gerry Conway yesterday!

Nice guy in person, lot of writing influences outside the comics medium. Apparently he's not one for writing comedy, as I found out when I asked him, if he had the opportunity to do so, what kind of Saturday Night Live sketch would he want to write.

Anton.....Bud... I know a shit load of cops who are very over protective fathers. He pulled it off perfectly .

Gerry Conway wrote some of the best early Spiderman issues after Stan Lee stopped writing it

CaptainObvious - and the whole I can't be with you because I'm a superhero living a dangerous life isn't old? Please

@CaptainObvious see, you trash Peter breaking his promise to Captain Stacy in TASM, but Peter does the exact same thing in Raimi's movies by eventually dating MJ at the end of Spider-Man 2 and throughout Spider-Man 3.

It's the same thing - both women know Peter is Spider-Man, both know they are in danger around him, both know why he's chosen to not be with them, both let him know that they don't care about the risks, and eventually, Peter relents. The only differences in TASM are Captain Stacy being the one to ask that stuff of Peter, and that Peter's relents quicker (plus, his age, and therefore naivety, are a factor since he's about 3 or 4 years younger than Raimi's Peter at the end of Spider-Man 2).

As for Gwen, I think we learn quite a bit about her in the movie. She worries about her father - might be a movie cliche, but her father is in danger due to his line of work, so if she loved and cared for him she would be worried. She's very close to her family - close enough to invite Peter to meet them before they even officially started dating (most people don't do that, this suggests she sought her family's approval). We also learn that she wants to become some kind of scientist (she interns at Oscorp, excels in science, and had Dr Conners write her a college recommendation) or perhaps a science teacher (she tutors Flash). She has something of a competitive streak (she considers Peter to be 'second in his class', behind her). She's brave too - she ensured everyone evacuated Oscorp while she remained behind to finish the serum. She's well liked in school, but not one of the 'popular' crowd, and has a strong sense of right and wrong (standing up to Flash when he beats up Peter). We also learn that, among all those other things, she's a regular girl who has silly fantasies (she wants a chocolate house). The main difference between the way she is characterized, compared to MJ in Raimi's films, is that Gwen's characterization is more subtle, whereas Raimi literally has to spoon-feed every aspect of MJ's life to the audience.

In Spider-Man (2002), we learn MJ wants to be an actress but is struggling to make ends meet as a waitress (a huge cliche of elephant-sized proportions), and we only learn this because she tells Peter outright. She dates Harry (where did that come from, by the way? They explain Harry asked her out, but why'd she say yes?) but has a thing for Peter. She has an abusive/neglectful father, although this seems to go nowhere in terms of characterization. We learn Peter met her as a child, and said some really stupid cliched crap about her (Aunt May explains Peter thought she was an angel when she moved in next door, Peter cried when she played Cinderella in elementary school), but that goes nowhere fast. She's one of the popular crowd (evidenced by her original relationship with Flash), but is one of the nicer ones (telling the bus driver to wait for Peter).
Now look at how her life progresses - she's a waitress who wants to act.
Next thing we know in Spider-Man 2 is that she's a stage actress. No mention of auditions or any subtle hints that her character is growing in any way, because even the filmmakers didn't see her as important - she was just a love interest to Peter, and someone he could save when she got abducted (3 times). That's not a character. That's a plot device. I mean, she's engaged to John Jameson - again, why? That relationship comes out of nowhere, and simply functions to make Peter jealous (in fact, that's probably why MJ went out with John in the first place). But, at the end of the day, MJ still feels like she's just a prize for Peter, and not a character in her own right - she's someone for him to save, then kiss.
Ironically, her only true characterization comes in Spider-Man 3, where we get to know a bit more about her personality. There's still no reason or chemistry between her and Peter, but we get that she cares for him. She gets jealous because Peter's too dumb to realize that phony-Gwen also likes him for some reason. She then breaks up with him because Harry says she has to or he'll kill Peter (shows she cares for his safety and is somewhat selfless), although, only Sam Raimi knows why she didn't just tell her superhero boyfriend to kick the crap out of the bad-guy who got his memory back and threatened them in the first place. Then, Peter punches her, she gets kidnapped again, Peter rescues her, and they possibly get back together (although we never know for sure as they just hug).

"We feel saddness when Peter rejects MJ to keep her from harm from Spider-Man's enemies. Peter is now alone and nobody can understand how he feels and he can't be with the one he loves because he has to protect her. That is tragedy. That has emotional depth." - this I agree with, to an extent. We feel sorry for Peter because we know Peter wants to be with her, but we don't care about her, because she's not really a character. She has a lot in common with Gwen from the comics - in fact, she's more an adaptation of Gwen Stacy than Mary Jane. Mary Jane was the better love interest for Peter because she not only accepted him for his being a nerd, but she was strong and supported him enough to make sure that didn't matter. She was so confident that she was able to make him more confident, and her emotional strength became his as well. None of that comes across in Raimi's movies, and she's one of the worst characters in that trilogy.

there's NOTHING like the classics !!!

the current run of spiderman in the comics is too forgettable and lacks quality writing, a 'ghost' peter ?
really ??

I want my Brave & Forceful Peter-Spidey back !!!

not the whining and 'clown' type peter, with the brain of doc ock .....

R.I.P. PETER PARKER (for now)

Brillaint comic. No doubt.

Oops, I meant Romita's original idea to kill Aunt May, not Conway's.

@ACira

Very well put my friend.