Who is Ron Zimmerman and why is he writing these celebrity-soaked out-of-continuity Spider-Man stories? Or rather, why is Marvel hiring him to write them? I suppose this is all part of the attempt to translate Spider-Man moviegoers into Spider-Man comic book readers, but will it really help build circulation to have stories featuring Jennifer Tilly, Kevin Spacey, and the guy who co-created the Simpsons? (Is Zimmerman just putting all his buddies into his scripts?) And what's the deal with all these Jay Leno appearances? What, is Zimmerman Leno's agent? I don't even know anyone who cares enough about Leno to watch the Tonight Show, much less want to see him team up with Spider-Man.
I've always been willing to sacrifice continuity in the service of a good story, but shouldn't the writer at least try to pretend he's interested in the past history of the series? Since when is the Chameleon alive? Since when did the Grizzly go back to being a villain? Since when did the new Kraven become a Spidey drinking buddy and budding celebrity named "Al"? Wasn't he insane the last time we saw him? Didn't he murder Calypso?
Zimmerman has a good ear for dialogue and has written some genuinely funny moments, but his "super-heroes are celebrities too" schtick has gotten old in a hurry. (His "villains all hang out together in a bar" schtick is also showing severe signs of age.) I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care to spend $4.95 on a comic that includes three panels of Betty Brant reading off the names of uninteresting celebrities combined with those of Marvel super-heroes. (Seriously, did these people pay Zimmerman off to be included, or what?) And I don't plan to in the future. If Zimmerman has any future celebrity-Spidey stories coming, you can count me out. After all, I'm already sick to death of Jay Leno and I haven't even seen him outside of his comic book appearances in ages.