InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "meta-fascinating!"

liliaeth (liliaeth) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-15 19:11:00

Entry tags:

publisher: marvel comics, title: marvel divas

Rant about one panel in Marvel Divas

I'm not going to complain about every single panel of Marvel Divas 2 that I disagreed with, don't want to waste my time. But I am going to complain about this panel here, in which Marvel once again shows how little respect they have for Peter Parker. Yep, apparently according to them, Peter has always been an immoral paparazzi who'd take pictures of anything, if it meant he could get to sell them as news.

I don't know about you, but the Spidey I loved, was the guy who burned all the pictures he took during Maximum Carnage, out of respect for the victims.

The Spidey I loved took pictures of a mugging and then made sure not to sell any of them that had the victim's face in them.

This paparazzi scumbag that Felicia's describing (and I pretty much doubt she's ever dated any photographers other than Peter), is nothing whatsoever like the real Spidey.

(Post a new comment)

	volksjager 2009-08-15 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	I can't read the text even if I enlarge it. Any chance of a rescan or rescan at at a high resolution (so I can enlarge with the browser and read it ) ? :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	liliaeth 2009-08-15 05:46 pm UTC (link)
	weird, my eyes aren't that good, are they? Have you tried clicking on the pic? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	liliaeth 2009-08-15 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	It should lead to this: http://pics.livejournal.com/liliaeth/pic/000y70r0 (Reply to this) (Parent)

	seriousfic 2009-08-15 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Couldn't be Peter. He'd call her "Cat." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	liliaeth 2009-08-15 05:59 pm UTC (link)
	true, not that current Marvel writes, (and esp the guy writing Marvel Divas) are known for their respect of continuity. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-08-15 05:55 pm UTC (link)
	Huh, must be that OTHER newspaper photographer she dated. But, hey, maybe Peter was refering to the media business in general and not his own ethics. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-16 03:06 am UTC (link)
	I heard that photojournalism theory states that the only important question when taking a picture of a child killed by a train is whether to use color or black and white film. (The answer is black and white. More stark that way. Apparently all the color of the color photo would distract from the impact of the shot.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ian_karkull 2009-08-15 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	"Everything is a story" is hardly exclusively the way "immoral paparazzi" think by any stretch of imagination. Nevermind the fact we're talking about a guy (if it really is Peter) who used to take pictures of himself whenever he was strapped for cash. (Reply to this) (Thread)

box_in_the_box
2009-08-15 08:05 pm UTC (link)

Peter's taking photos of Spider-Man is VERY much a morally ambiguous gray area, I'd agree, but there are key differences between him profiting off being Spider-Man's paparazzo, versus him being a paparazzo to other people:

1) If he were to be a paparazzo to other people, he'd be doing damage to their lives, but as long as he sticks to being a paparazzo of himself, then the only person he's really hurting is HIMSELF ...

2) ... And, well, okay, arguably Jonah as well, except that we're frequently shown a) how poorly Jonah has treated Peter as an employee, and b) how journalistically unethical Jonah's treatments of Peter's photos has been anyway, so if Jonah were ever to go all HOW COULD YOU COMPROMISE MY JOURNALISTIC REPUTATION BY LYING TO ME with Peter, and unlike the PAD story during Civil War, all that Peter would really have to do to shut him up would be to say YES BECAUSE YOU WERE SO COMMITTED TO THE TRUTH WHEN YOU FOUND A WAY TO PRESENT EVERY PHOTO AS EVIDENCE THAT I WAS A THREAT AND/OR MENACE.

Bottom line, though, even if you or I don't agree with Peter's morals wioth regard to his photojournalism, he DID have a moral line that he wouldn't cross ("Exploiting myself and Jonah for personal gain is okay, but exploiting others isn't"), which BND refuses to acknowledge ever existed.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

liliaeth
2009-08-15 08:10 pm UTC (link)

That and Peter started out working for Jonah, by specifically asking from Jonah, that Jonah would never ask where he got the pictures.
(need to find a scan of that)

So basically, Jonah instantly lost any right to complain about how Peter got the pictures, when he accepted those terms. (for all he knew, and for a long time, Peter even pretended this was true, Peter had a deal with Spider-Man and only took the pictures that Spidey let him take. Which would be just as unethical as taking the pictures of himself. )

It's why I liked the scene with Robbie in FNS, where he basically smacks Jonah with the fact that yes he knew that Peter was Spidey and so did Jonah, because he would have had to be an idiot not to have figured it out. But that he was in denial of it, because he didn't want to lose the pictures.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ian_karkull
2009-08-15 08:48 pm UTC (link)

To be perfectly honest, I simply don't see why a statement like "everything is a story" should be construed as a sign of immorality. It's a perfectly reasonable point of view for any journalist. A journalist that withholds or ignores potentially interesting information is much more worrysome, imho.

That it seems inappropriate in this particular context is, if anything, Felicias fault. The reasoning behind the quote itself is sound, but the gravity of the situation in which she reiterates it completely twists it's actual meaning.

It's a bit of a moot point anyway, since
a) Angelica specifically asked Patsy to write about her, as a means of taking control of the situation and
b) the scene does not actually give any information on Peters ethics as a photographer whatsoever, they're just talking about something someone who may or may not be Peter Parker has said at some point in a completely unrelated situation.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlbarnett 2009-08-15 09:51 pm UTC (link)
	because it's said in response to someone asking if something is exploitative, creating the message that it doens't matter if it's exploitative. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	arilou_skiff 2009-08-15 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	Mind, I think it's perfectly in-character for Felicia to say something like that. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thandrak 2009-08-15 08:33 pm UTC (link)
	I am still ... well, very annoyed with Patsy in this mini. Nothing like the glorious Patsy in the last miniseries, and I'm afraid this is the one that will stick. Everyone's acting out of character... except for NextwaveMonica. (siiigh) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	liliaeth 2009-08-15 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	I just hate the way they write both Brother Voodoo and Daimon Hellstorm. Now maybe I just didn't read enough Brother Voodoo stories, but I do know Daimon well enough to know that the way they're writing him is plain wrong. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-08-15 10:50 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, entirely so. But that's a branch off how badly they're writing Patsy. It's like they have the story first and just painted the puppets on top of it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	angelophile 2009-08-16 10:12 pm UTC (link)
	This. They clearly had the idea for the series first, then got the idea for the steroetype character dynamic they wanted to ~~copy from Sex in the City~~ write and then just picked some characters they thought they could make fit. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	batcookies 2009-08-16 12:07 am UTC (link)
	Everyone's acting out of character... except for NextwaveMonica. I flipped through both issues in the store. She did not appear to be well written to me. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	pensive1 2009-08-15 09:07 pm UTC (link)
	I know this is a love-or-hate mini, but I have to say, I was in love with this issue simply for the, "paging Dr. McDreamy" comment Firestar made. You said it, Angelica. ;) /unabashed Stephen Strange love (Reply to this) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-08-15 11:09 pm UTC (link)
	I actually think the art is really awesome, too. It's soft and yet it has... Gravity? Texture? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	proteus_lives 2009-08-16 02:49 am UTC (link)
	+2 on the art. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-16 03:13 am UTC (link)
	The doc deserves some adoration! It's wierd though, how all the men the women are attracted to are heavily magic based. Brother Voodoo (Doctor Voodoo? Strange went to medical school for that title, thank you! But I have stupid fondness for 'Doctor Brother'), Doctor Strange, Daimon Hellstrom, and Puma, mystic champion. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	pensive1 2009-08-16 03:42 am UTC (link)
	I certainly adore him. Nice to see Firestar agrees ;D Come on, do I have to make the "there's something magic about them" joke? har har... I PUT A SPELL ON YOUUU AND NOWWW YOU'RE MIIIIIIIINE (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-08-16 04:27 am UTC (link)
	Thanks. I just had the mental image of the two of them drunkenly belting that in some karaoke bar and sent tea halfway across the room. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	spewed beverage? my work here is done. pensive1 2009-08-16 04:39 am UTC (link)
	Stephen gets drunk and does this to ALL his dates. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-08-15 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	In other news, what people say doesn't always equal what they do. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	starwolf_oakley 2009-08-16 03:48 am UTC (link)
	Wasn't that a line in a BATMAN ADVENTURES comic between Nightwing and Batman? I think they are talking about Catwoman. "Bruce... people aren't always what they do." "People are exactly what they do." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-08-15 10:45 pm UTC (link)
	Is there any way we could have a few more pages (specifically Angel's fertility flashback) please? (Reply to this)

	phoenixmessiah 2009-08-16 07:35 am UTC (link)
	Wow ok, talk about nitpicking what it isn't there. (Reply to this)

	darklorelei 2009-08-16 07:55 am UTC (link)
	Between all the stuff I hated about this issue, I think this barely even registered. Unless I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I don't think I'll finish it out. (Reply to this)