New Brevoort Formspring

From the end of your question, it sounds to me like you’ve got an answer in mind that you want me to give, and if I don’t give your answer, then I’m obviously either lying or delusional or something.

My short answer would have to be yes, though, in that our perspective on these characters is different from your perspective on them. You may very well know the history, and have read all of the stories. Our creators may very well have done that as well. The difference is, our writers get to exist within the heads of the characters in a way that you as a reader really don’t. And our writers understand that the way to keep the characters interesting and relevant to the audience is to constantly be testing them, putting them under pressure and seeing what happens. Looking for new things to do with them. When Brian Bendis or Dan Slott or whomever writes Spider-Man, he’s peering out at you from behind Peter Parker’s eyes, and inhabiting his mind and his spirit in an intimate fashion.

We’re also a bit removed from the particular allegiances that some of the more hardcore fans of certain characters. This is why the battle boar questions aren’t of terribly great importance to us–we’ve all got our own favorite characters, but the storytelling instincts that drive us aren’t in the service of proving that Thor or the Hulk or whomever is the strongest or most baddest-ass character ever, or any of that stuff. We love all of the characters, so everybody gets a turn in the spotlight and as the champion, and everybody gets a turn being the heel or the goat. The investment for us is different.

We’re looking at these characters both as something that needs to be maintained to last the test of time, and which have to be challenged and adapt to fit the times. Which isn’t to say that every storytelling instinct that we have is correct–especially with so many different creators telling so many different stories. There are sure to be instances where creator one and creator two have a difference of opinion on the handling of a particular character. But that’s all right as well.

Plus, we win, because we “establish the canon”, whereas you can only report on it. So if, for example, I want Peter Parker to only have nine toes for some story reason, then hey, he does! And always has! That’s not fair–but fiction isn’t fair. The author is always going to have infinitely more say than the audience.

(On top of all of this, I can say with confidence that I’ve in all likelihood read more comics that you have just in general.)