By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com
While Marvel is still basking in the glow of all the Avengers fan love, some of its other properties aren’t being treated so warmly. Viewers of the new Ultimate Spider-Man animated series have taken to the net to complain about its humor, plotting and tone, and in response Marvel’s chief creative officer, Joe Quesada, has sent a very simple message: Get over it and stop watching.
Ever since the series premiered on Disney XD earlier this year, some adult viewers have been blasting it online for being just a little too childish for their taste. Among the criticisms are this one, from the Superhero Hype forums:
“My issue isn’t that this is a show which seeks to be lighter and sillier; my issue is that it does such a thing so poorly, while also attempting suspenseful bits alongside it which don’t match. If Two-Face wrote a sitcom, I can’t imagine it being more of a contrast with itself than this show seems to be. The skill that it takes to weave both humor and suspense alongside each other is a skill these writers and producers mostly lack on this project, to put it simply.”
And then there’s this slightly more blunt review from the Toon Zone forums:
“As always, the humor is idiotic and childish. Nothing is every genuinely funny or witty.”
Of course, the argument can be made that since this show is made for kids (it is right smack in the middle of a Disney animation block), adults will simply have a harder time enjoying it. But these guys are having none of that. They want answers. Comic Book Movie user strugler has repeatedly attempted to draw out a response to these criticisms from Quesada. He finally got his wish this week when the Marvel CCO took to his Twitter page to piece together this response:
“As I said before, I respect your opinion on the matter, but Tweeting me every week isn’t really going to help your case. While you and a few other posters may like to complain about the show, there are many, many more fans who like it. We are well into working on season 2, so my suggestion at this point is if you don’t like the show, you shouldn’t be watching it. I hate to be this blunt about it, but I feel like you should devote your energies to other endeavors at this point other than watching a show you clearly hate and then complaining about it. Like I said, I respect your opinion, but I’m pretty sure that nothing we do at this point will make you happy.”
So Ultimate Spider-Man is apparently reaching its target audience just fine, and Quesada’s feeling no pressure to refute the specific complaints of a contingent of Internet critics. And as Quesada noted, season two is on the way, so if you’re really, really hating the direction this show is going, you should probably spend your time watching re-runs of the old ’67 Spidey cartoon instead.
