Spectacular Spider-Man cancelled by Marvel.

[Truth Seeker]

I thought the lead writer had to leave due to many unfortunate medical mishaps.

Yes, here is the statement.

Unfortunately, I have had to undergo six knee and ankle surgeries in the last four years and suffered a staph infection as a result of one of them. Don't worry... my health is okay but I think I need a little time to recharge. While all good things must come to an end, this is far from the end for me. In fact, I am moving onto different projects, and I can't tell you all how energized I am as I undergo this transition. I have a couple of projects at Marvel that I hope will blow your socks off over the next couple of years -- watch the skies for more info. In addition, I am working on numerous video games, I recently directed for the first time and am looking forward to new projects with my production company, Good Cop/Bad Cop. Check out the new video for Scum of The Earth, coming soon to a music channel near you.

 

[Particle_Man]

Yeah, but he was referring to Jenkins' run, specifically. And that really wasn't that long. We're not talking a James Robinson Starman or Neil Gaiman Sandman, here, let alone a Claremont X-men or Sim Cerebus. Even John Byrne, he of the 5-issue runs, managed 86 issues of the Fantastic Four, and George Perez managed 62 issues on Wonder Woman (24 of them as artist, as well). Heck, JMS has already managed 41 ASMs, himself.

So, I don't mean to sound snarky, but 56 issues, while an accomplishment, isn't really that long. I guess maybe it is for the majors, these days. Kurt Busiek was on Avengers for 56 issues, too. Wonder if it's a trend?

Dave Sim did a 300 issue run as the only writer for Cerebus the Aardvark. Of course, it drove him completely insane...

 

[Truth Seeker]

Dave Sim did a 300 issue run as the only writer for Cerebus the Aardvark. Of course, it drove him completely insane...

Are you serious???

 

[WizarDru]

Only partly. Dave Sim did do 300 issues of Cerebus, and it took him about 30 years to do it. Sim certainly became a different person from one end of the run to the other. After a particular messy divorce, Sim turned into a weird msogynist, with very odd religious concepts that he espoused in his editorials. Imagine have a 32 page comic about Cerebus relieving himself. Yeah. Nuts isn't a bad descriptor.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Only partly. Dave Sim did do 300 issues of Cerebus, and it took him about 30 years to do it. Sim certainly became a different person from one end of the run to the other. After a particular messy divorce, Sim turned into a weird msogynist, with very odd religious concepts that he espoused in his editorials. Imagine have a 32 page comic about Cerebus relieving himself. Yeah. Nuts isn't a bad descriptor.

Mercy...that is terrible...where is he now?

 

[WizarDru]

Mercy...that is terrible...where is he now?

He's in Canada. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Make. Joke!


Seriously, he isn't actually insane as far as I know. He's just become very opinionated and fringe. Some people consider his work brilliant. He certainly took comics in directions where it had never gone before, and many consider it a masterwork. What started as a humble Conan parody (and soon transformed into a running parody of comics, then into a vast work concerning politics, religion and the nature of self).

Understand: I think that early Cerebus was amusing, but the series really doesn't become interesting until Cerebus checks into the Regency Hotel. Watching Sim's graphic and narrative skills increase ten-fold in a matter of pages is an amazing thing. Watching him suddenly become some sort of weird fringe religious radical....not so much.

Here's a really good essay, with some really good links, that sort of sums it all up.

My personal recommendation? Read Cerebus up to, but stop before, "Going Home". That's about where it probably should have ended, IMHO.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The cancellation is bad news simply because Jenkins has been doing wonderful, if quiet, comics for the entire run. A comic about Peter Parker going to opening day at Yankee stadium in rememberance of his Uncle Ben, for instance, isn't going to be collected in a neato kewl collection, but it was still wonderful. Or the one about the abused child whose only escape are his fantasies of being Spider-Kid, Spider-Man's sidekick -- that one made me cry with its final page. Jenkins did quality work of the sort people claim they always want from comics, but which they seldom read when it's available.

 

[Villano]

I loved the original Spectacular run. During the Sal Buscema years, it was one of my favorite comics. I had no idea it was originally cancelled. :\