Intermission
For those that care, it's been a year as of this update since I first began writing Spider-Man: Reborn, my personal piece of fiction that went beyond any of my original expectations. When I began I had a very narrow vision for what I wanted this to be, an origins with perhaps just four or six stories to go along with it.
I went through what I had outlined, had May die instead of Ben in which I could have a new set of conflicts outside of Peter trying to simply hide his identity and be forced to deal with the very person that warned him of the path that he had been heading down.
As things progressed and I saw that people were interested I expanded my idea and began to go through what I would consider the Spider-Man Reborn equivalent of Batman: Year One (For comic-readers who know what that is with just more mainstream villains thrown into the mix). Well, it seems I'm a little late but with only 3 (!) story arcs left to do I feel I was close enough.
I'm making this chapter to read off my thoughts on this story as it is today:
If you had to divide my story into three Acts I would tell you that the every story from the start to the end of: This is the Path I have Chosen was the first act. I would also say that this entire portion of the story went smoothly. The Green Goblin's first appearance went off without a hitch. Their confrontation had even me on the edge of my seat and I felt pleased in the reaction to their first battle apparently succeeding in the extremely violent feel I had been going for. The Sandman also showed up as did the Kingpin who I planned to use later (But did much farther down the road than I had intended).
My genesis of the Lizard sometimes amuses me. I had originally anticipated him to just be a quick throw-away. Then in one of my weekly sessions of rebuilding my outline I out of the blue decided to make him Spider-Man's number two baddie by removing the Connors aspect and making the Lizard totally and permanently in control and through this I pumped up his danger factor immensely. Thus far the Lizard has appeared numerous times (Man and Beast, The Weapon of Darkness, Sinners and Villains, A Mirror into Darkness, with other small cameos and the role of lead villain in the next story) it becomes clear that he fit the role set out perfectly.
One of my main concerns was the Gwen-Peter-MJ triangle often wondering who I wanted to pair him with. Romantic writing is not one of my strong suits and I often found it difficult but I think I at least got the basic idea of what I wanted across, hopefully.
The end of the Father and This is the Path I have Chosen stories I felt were perfect cliff-hangers leaving Peter unsure, helpless and alone and his arch-nemesis the Green Goblin totally on top of the world.
The second act which I consider to be The Weapon of Darkness to the end of the Nobody Crosses the Kingpin arc was more troubled. Things were happening in my life and I was able to devote less time and as a result I feel the work suffered.
Arcs during this time become very lackluster with a few at either extreme scattered about. Feel free to disagree with me on the following segment. The ones that I felt I nailed down: The Concrete Jungle, Sinners and Villains and Nobody Crosses the Kingpin. So-so stories in my own humble opinion were The Weapon of Darkness, A Normal Life; A Goblin of a Different Color. Finally, the one's I'd like to forget: That Day between Saturday and Monday and shockingly A Mirror into Darkness (except for the final few chapters) for which I had high expectations for.
As I said it was harder to find time to write and also a very debilitating blow came in the form of my IMac which I did my writing on crashing for the most recent and final time destroying most of my work losing the last two parts of the Sinners and Villains arc and the Electro story which hadn't even been uploaded yet.
It took some time before I got a new PC to replace my old IMac and longer for me to pick up the pieces and still I think everything worked out for Sinners and Villains. I finally cemented the MJ-Peter union by showing, I once again hope that I accomplished this, that despite the fact that Gwen did love Peter Parker she would never be able to accept his alter-ego (She nearly had a nervous-breakdown when he did reveal it to her, and revealed that vital info to Norman Osborn a.k.a. the Green Goblin out of desperation for an outlet) nor would she be able to deal with the danger that followed him. Mary Jane on the other hand having suffered under her father for so long had become a strong young woman that could stand up to the strife that followed Peter wherever he goes. Besides, Peter loved her more in the end and had always secretly desired her affections even with Gwen.
However, many disappointments followed after this, the Vulture arc annoyed me and I wasn't as happy with the HobGoblin's initial confrontation with Spider-Man as much as I should have been, though I think his character, a cool and calculated Goblin as opposed to Norman's dangerously psychotic mood-swing Goblin was cemented.
Then came: Nobody Crosses the Kingpin to finally break the spell of hit-or-miss. I had said I wouldn't have cross-over stories but the potential for this one (And soon to be one final cross-over with another character) was too great to pass on and in the end it worked out fantastically. I've also got a DareDevil Reborn story (On a MUCH smaller scale) ready to go some time in the future based on the gap in power left by the Kingpin's death because I was so happy with the final result of this story.
Anyway, now we are in the third and final act of the tale. The HobGoblin's war with Osborn has ended leaving Harry and Roderick (The HobGoblin) dead and Norman with a new hard-on concerning crushing Peter's life, starting by ensuring that Spider-Man has become a hunted man.
Dr. Octopus has arrived and I was very happy with the results, look for him in the near future to take on a bigger role than I had originally planned.
On the whole, I'm rather happy with how things have turned out; several characters have evolved well while others will soon be reaching the end of their shell-lives for better or worse. Peter has finally gotten over the death of Aunt May as seen recently in Smoke and Mirrors, Mary Jane has overcome any lasting fear she had of her father's influence and is now I feel becoming a strong individual more so than she has ever been during the course of this story in the past. Uncle Ben's come to terms with Peter's alter-ego even if he'd rather Pete take it easy more often. Harry and his father were on the road to reconciliation when he died at the hands of a stray pumpkin bomb. And other little developments which I don't feel like listing right now, so there.
As I said only three more story arcs are left and then that's it for Spider-Man: Reborn. Thanks to everyone for giving me feedback (Good and otherwise) and for giving me the incentive to not leave you all dangling on a hook.