#i have so much love and respect for those fic authors who cite the comic issues in their authors notes

[trekkele]

*author has read comics but does not feel obligated to perform canon compliance for you

[traincat]

Dear Traincat, I am a big fan of your work who only recently stopped lurking. I just wanted to say I not only admire your writing, but the care and respect you have for the characters you write. (Also, as a huge fan of Johnny, Stormcast is everything to me) Recently, I have wanted to try my hand at writing Spideytorch, and wondered: what do you think are some of the most important character traits for those two that aren't explicitly stated in comics? I just need some help getting in their heads

Wow, thank you so much! That means a lot. And thank you for listening to Stormcast! Yuuhy and I love it, but I don’t think either of us actually expected that people would listen, so it is very, very cool to hear that they do. Also oh my god yes hi please write Spideytorch I need more fic to read.

As for traits, here are some. For the record I think these are all pretty strongly present in the comics, but they’re stuff that I feel either gets overlooked or is a little harder to spot if you’re not looking too hard.

Peter

I don’t actually think Peter Parker actually has self-esteem issues beyond like, the average man. He’s extremely confident in his intelligence and in his physical abilities. He’s canonically stated that if he had to, he thinks he could kill the Hulk. The Hulk. What he does have is a very New York self-deprecating sense of humor and a neurotic tendency to blame himself for everything, turning him into the world’s worst critic of his own personality.

Similarly, he’s rarely afraid. I mean, why should he be? He can shrug off having a building dropped on him, fight off an entire crowd with one hand tied behind his back, and he has a personal alarm system that warns him of danger. 

This isn’t explicitly stated but it is, I think, explicitly shown: he’s a very tactile person with his friends and family. He’s also very, very physically affectionate with his significant other. He’s also a very protective person with his friends – I was reading Venom (2011) recently, which stars Flash Thompson, Peter’s high school bully turned one of his best friends, and during every Emotional Thompson Family scene I was like, why is this random brunet man here, and then I realized it was not a random brunet man, it was Peter, because why wouldn’t Peter be there while Flash’s mom checks into therapy! Why not! 

A Peter Thing TM that I love is that when he’s really, truly angry, he drops the jokes.

Peter Parker holds himself as the ultimate authority. Not the police, not any various above the government agencies, not any other superhero. Himself. When he shifts this view, it tends to go very wrong for him, partially because when things do go wrong, he has someone beyond himself to blame. (Civil War, etc.)

Peter honestly enjoys Spider-Man’s antagonistic relationship with J Jonah Jameson and likes JJJ as a person, even if he frequently wants to strangle him. Similarly, he loves everyone at the Bugle. 

Johnny

Johnny Storm is a geek. Between the two of them, he’s the one I think is far more into pop culture. Shows he mentions watching include Buffy, Twin Peaks, and Star Trek. (He even cites Star Trek filming trivia.) In a Top Picks article once for “favorite movies” he picked two fictional scifi/fantasty films and Titanic. 

He just wants to find true love. Honestly like I’ve been trying to figure out where his Rep comes from but I think he like, self-perpetuated it around the time he said he went through girls like “water through a sieve” when he’d had. Three girlfriends. Total. In canon at the time. I also think he has trouble divorcing physical intimacy from emotional. (I do think he had an intense fling period ... but it started after the incredibly traumatic break-up of his marriage.)

On a similar note, he defines his own worth by 1) his powers, 2) his celebrity, and 3) his desirability. 

He loves his powers but he hates the idea of his powers being used to hurt innocent people. He also doesn’t seem to like it when other people get very violent – I’ve got panels in my refs of him holding back Ben and Peter and asking Sue to stop when she’s threatening the Wizard. In general he’s a pretty gentle person. 

I’m having trouble thinking of Johnny Points I haven’t already brought up, I’m sorry! 

I think when writing them (in a non-AU context) what I try to keep in mind first and foremost is the depth of their history and their connection with each other, the ways their personalities compliment each other, and the incredible amount of affection they have for each other. I hope this helps!