Timothy Davis of Alternate Reality in Chicago, Illinois saw the comments by Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose on Spider-Man 2 (see 'Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose on Spider-Man 2') and feels that it was an over-reaction:
I just read Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics' thoughts on the Spider-Man 2 film. While I agree with all of his sentiments on the state of the industry, I have to say: Ilan, lighten up! Aunt May's line about throwing out those 'dreadful things' was (in my humble opinion) the funniest damn line in the film.
If you deal in 'funny books' for any length of time you can count on hearing countless (COUNTLESS!) stories about mothers, aunts, sisters, etc. pitching their male siblings comic collection in the garbage the first chance they get. If the 'tellers of the tale' manage to get to adulthood with their collection intact you occasionally hear stories about ex-girlfriends or ex-wives selling/stealing/burning their now 'non-significant' male-other's collection out of spite. The kid who gets to adulthood and beyond with all of their 'original collection' intact is a rare bird indeed.
In fact, I've long maintained that the whole collectables market has the moms of America to thank for its existence. An older collectable from our childhood would not be nearly as desirable if America's moms did not spend so many tireless hours cleaning up our rooms and throwing this stuff out in the first place when we we're kids. Thanks to them there are far fewer Silver-Age comics, Star Wars action figures (original series), baseball cards, Famous Monsters magazines and a whole host of other price guided, ultra-rare, high-end mint items out there in circulation. Because they ruthlessly ripped these items away from us in our childhood, they broke an emotional attachment to these items which we as adults try to reestablish by seeking out copies of what we once had, at ridiculously inflated prices.
It's an estrogen thing apparently, because I don't ever recall hearing a story about a male role model (dad/uncle/brother/etc) throwing anything out on a male sibling. By the same token the 'pack-rat' mentality most of us guys have seems to be a testosterone thing. Like the famous author said: 'Venus and Mars, baby'
So when Aunt May tells Peter that she threw out 'those dreadful things,' she is speaking what every mom in America has said (and most of adult children have heard) for the last 40 odd years. So in this case the reference is being used as a quaint and horribly out of date notion by a specific segment of the population that the filmmakers (and the rest of us) are well aware of in order to make a funny comment on boys, their moms and collecting. I think Sam Raimi and the writers are well aware of this, and I viewed that line as just one of the many in-jokes the movie served up to the fans. Hey, if most of the ladies in the audience didn't get it, so what. Even if they did get it, they still wouldn't!
Before I get away from this topic, I know there are females out there who not only collect but also run comics shops. Please don't flame me girls, I'm not a member of the 'He-Man Woman Hater's Club!' I know some of you have lost collections in this same way and many of you have heard these same stories in your shops. There are always exceptions to every rule (or generalization).
On a completely different subject, my last letter about Spider-Man 2's success not trickling down to us on the front line, I threw out a figure of 9,000 comic shops across the country. NINE-THOUSAND!?!?!? BOY WAS MY HEAD UP MY BUTT! I have since been informed that the nationwide store count is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,900, a significantly smaller number that what I quoted. I mention this because I would like to be factually accurate (or at least somewhere in the ballpark) when I throw a figure out.
By the way, for those who remember, that would bring the nationwide average we all made off of Spider-Man 2 (according to my $15.00 per store formula) down from $135,000 to around $58,500. According to 'boxofficemojo.com' the film has almost crossed $311 million as of this writing. According to my cash register the party's over! $58,500 for the guys on the front line 52 weeks a year. Wow, do I feel depressed or what!
