>Spider-Man has been on time for 40 years, and lately he hasn't been.

You gonna back that up with figures? You mean in 40 years it hasn't been late
ONCE? Show your work, pal. It's one thing to come on here with broad
proclamations, another to put your facts where your mouth is. Or didn't you
expect anybody to call you on this?

>It has understandably upset people.

Is that why the circulation has more than doubled since issue 30 and is
hovering just below the 100,000 per issue figure? Is that why it's currently
the #4 book and creeping up on #3 fast?

> The only thing to do now is to start putting the book out
>on time or fire the tardy people. That's the only way to rebuild the good
>will
>of spider-fans.

Funny...I kinda thought that telling good stories was the way to go here.
Silly me.

And again, how many times does it have to be said? The glitch was a one-off
that had a temporary cascade effect. I'm now 4-5 issues AHEAD of schedule on
scripts. Don't take my word for it, ask John Romita, Axel Alonso, Joe Q,
anygoddamnbody at Marvel. Not that the facts seem to matter here, but just for
amusement's sake....

As for the goodwill issue...and please show cause why you should be entitled to
speak for "spider-fans" as a group, were you elected, did I miss another
primary?... as noted above, sales have almost tripled since the change-over, so
I don't think the problem is with the fan base, which is only expanding, not
contracting.

It's with a handful of very loud individuals who can't Get Over It, who have
never ever been late with anything in their own lives, or else how could they
justify bitching about somebody else getting hammered by deadlines so heinous
that he missed a couple of deaDlines for the first time in 30 years with the
result that they suggest that these people (viz: me) should be fired for being
"tardy."

Some people like to demand in others a degree of perfection they do not require
of or manifest in themselves.

The "spider-fans" you refer to, the 90% of them who send in emails and letters
and the like, are generous, kind, understanding, and want to see their
character portrayed in dynamic and interesting ways, they don't sit perched on
the Diamond comics shipping list like demented vultures. (I've been reading
comics for something lke 35 years and I never even knew what a Diamond shipping
list WAS until I started writing comics.) They have criticisms, and they find
goofs on my part, and I *like* that, because I learn in the process, so I can
make the next script that much better for their insight. They're good,
intelligent, informed *readers*.

You speak for them about as accurately as you speak for the prima ballerina of
the Bolshoi.

As for the rest, as noted, I'm currently 4-5 scripts ahead. In another couple
of weeks I'll be 5-6 scripts ahead.

But you'll always be a dunderhead.

I can live with that deal.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)