FIC: Torchwood (drabble): Honesty

Title: Honesty
Genre: Torchwood drabble
Author: fajrdrako
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Jack/Jack, Jack/Rose, Jack/Estelle, Jack/Doctor
Challenge: tw100 challenge: secrets and lies
Rating: PG
Words: 100
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Vague spoilers for the series. Cross-posted to my LJ and tw100.

( Honesty )

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Spider-Man 3...

I went to see Spider-Man 3 this evening.

Now I am not exactly a casual fan of Spider-Man. Reading Spider-Man #4 all those years ago was a pivotal and exciting moment of my life, associated in memory with the fateful day I read Fantastic Four #18 (only the week before) and the day I read X-Men #1 a while later. I fell in love with Marvel comics; and I fell in love with Peter Parker. And that never-to-be-forgotten comic, Spider-Man #4, featured the very first appearance of the Sandman.

There have been many Spider-Man comics in my life since that time. I've never followed all of any one Spider-Man title, and goodness knows there have been many. There are stories, artists and writers on the title I have loved, and others I have hated.

Always, I have thought Peter Parker was one of the best heroes in comics, perhaps the most perfect example of the Marvel hero. Who could fail to love Peter? He worries about paying the rent, about his girlfriend, about his aunt, about his job, about his studies - and still has a bounce and a quip and a witty insult for his enemies as they swing, dance, fall and jump around the tops of the New York skyscrapers.

The Spider-Man movies have always been problematic for me. The stories and the characters are just off, not quite right. My mental image of Peter Parker is not Tobey Maquire in style or looks; my image of MJ is far from Kirsten Dunst.¹ The best characters in the movies are Rosemary Harris as Aunt May and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson - who is brilliant, just brilliant. They've done rather well with the villains, too - especially sexy James Franco as Harry Osborn², Alfred Molino as Doc Oc in the last movie, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko in this one.

So the movie had some magnificent scenes, though, to my taste, too much violence. I had three major problems with it. First, there was too much story. A major plot with the Sandman and the death of Uncle Ben; a major plot with Harry Osborn as the second Goblin; and a major plot with Eddie Brock as Venom. Throw in the romance with Mary Jane and complications with Gwen Stacey³ - that would be enough to keep a comic book storyline going for a couple of years. I'd have been happier with one of those plots, more carefully developed.

Second, Spidey wasn't witty and sharp and funny enough when in costume. I've always felt that when he puts on the mask, Peter Parker can let go with all the verbal cleverness he doesn't get to use in mundane life. I love the cocky, smart-ass side of Spider-Man.

Third ... and this might be hard to explain ... several times in the movie I thought, "This isn't a Marvel style story, this is DC style," but I'd be hard pressed to explain quite why I was thinking that. It had "Marvel" all over it, it had a magnificent Stan Lee moment - so why was I reminded of Lois Lane and Lana Lang when I saw the plot developing with MJ and Gwen? Because in the Spider-Man comic I never saw MJ and Gwen played in quite that way, and it was fairly typical of Superman romance plots. The writing of the movie blurred the difference between the two house styles. Because there were too many scenes of MJ falling and screaming. (Enough, already.) Because MJ wasn't a way-cool sophisticate. Because Gwen Stacey wasn't a pretty science geek.

And a last, a nitpicky complaint: why did Sandman have to turn into a forty-foot-tall giant in his final battle with Spidey? That's so wrong.

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¹ Someone here recently suggested that Milo Ventimiglia should play Spidey, and I absolutely love that idea.

² If I liked this version of Peter Parker even a little bit more than I do, I'd probably be writing Peter/Harry slash after this one.

³ Though Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacey looked incredibly like those early John Romita drawings of Gwen. Just as the costume design on Thomas Haden Church as Sandman was so perfect I wanted to hug someone for getting the Steve Ditko look right.