Monday, March 01, 2010

Spider-Man laid off!

Spider-Man's alter ego cannot escape the harsh realities of the current economic times and will lose his job in an issue of the Amazing Spider-Man hitting stores this week.

Peter Parker, official photographer of the mayor by day and New York City crime fighter by night, is going to face new challenges, including unemployment.
That's okay; given the politics at Marvel, I'm sure that everyone's new favorite superhero, Barack-Man, will bail out the Daily Bugle. It's too big to fail!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chris Muir mocked just about every dimension of this shit in one Sunday strip:

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2010/02/14/

AT

Anonymous said...

I wonder how all of this will look in about ten years.

Jim

Jason said...

Jeez. First his wife leaves him so they can do a "storyline reboot" and now he loses his job?

Marvel is full of dipshits. Too bad I can't snag the rights to Captain America or something sneaky and underhanded. Then I could write "Captain America: A Man, A Shield, and A Sidekick In A Wookiee Suit."

Fred said...

Little out of date with Spidey's universe there Tam, the DB (formerly the Daily Bugle) literally collapsed a couple months back and is no more. JJJ had a heart attack, his wife sold it to Dexter Bennett, who turned it into little more than a tabloid. Electro targeted Bennett, and in the ensuing fight the building fell down. Bennett was on the verge of bankruptcy anyway, so that was the end of the Bugle.

Fred said...

Oh, forgot to mention, Peter also works as a photographer for "Frontline," a newer newspaper that sucked up a few of the core Bugle people, so it's not going to be quite as bad as full out unemployment, and it really isn't anything he hasn't dealt with before. Actually looking at the article,

"In the near future, Parker will have to juggle paying bills and buying "web-fluid" and other materials to fix his superhero costume in addition to keeping his dual identities under wraps."

That's been one of the core concepts of the Spider-man story, and one of the reasons he's so popular, Peter's life is rough, and he's not very good with the girls. One of the running jokes among his friends is the fact that he can't hold down a job. It's really more of using the current events to get Peter back to where he has been most of his life.

Bob said...

Actually it's surprising that Marvel hasn't simply taken the parallel universe concept one step further and actually made both red state and blue state titles; in the red state universe the heroes are patriotic, brave, manly and can be distinguished easily from the villains; in the blue state universe, they are...pretty much the way you've seen them in the past decade or so. Marvel could double its sales by not just catering to one side of the political spectrum.

They'll be rich! Rich, I tell you! Mwaa haa haaa haaa!

Canthros said...

Having half the writers in the comics industry be left-wing Brits still butthurt about Margaret Thatcher probably doesn't help this phenomenon any.

Joanna said...

See, this is why I prefer Spidey as a high schooler. It's easier to suspend disbelief if I don't have "How does he pay the rent?" popping up in the back of my mind all the time.

He's a superhero, dammit! I want realism!

staghounds said...

As I understand the story, if there had been universal health care back in the day, grief counselling and PTSD treatment would have ensured that Mr. Parker could have gone on to live a normal life.

I mean, "superhero" is just a code word for about thirty pages of the DSM...

OA said...

"That's been one of the core concepts of the Spider-man story, and one of the reasons he's so popular, Peter's life is rough, and he's not very good with the girls."


That's a nice way of saying that he's popular because he's a wiener, like most guys. If they're looking to get a bit more near to reality they should give him a neckbeard, puke colored sweater that's a size too small, and a nasally, feminine voice. Women should suspect he piddles down his leg upon being surprised by loud noises.

wizardpc said...

Peter Parker, official photographer of the mayor by day and New York City crime fighter by night, is going to face new challenges, including unemployment.

Silly comic book writers. Government employees don't get laid off. At least not ones that work directly for an executive.