#plot twist my drawings now have lore/j

[squid-bunny-msi]

I dont talk about my own pieces unless I get asked to but today I wanted to explain the HILTSGASALMSI drawing, it's all the main jimmy eras joining to receive a new jimbo era (2013), these jimmies also represent their album releases (except 1998).

The microphone has wings and a halo because when he's wearing full white in this era I think of an angel lol, it also goes with the topic of when someone is born, it was an angel that came from heaven. This tweet by him is also inspo:

[monpalace]

SOMMMEEEE QUESTIONS FOR YA :D (Some about your oc and some indulgent ones for myself <3)

What exactly is S'avahili's curse? A.) Why did Hyila/Zelda curse her? B.) Is its the curses fault for her change in looks? and if so why does it change her appearance? C.) Can she remove the curse?

Why does the curse change her so much when it worsens with frost bite?

Is she rabbit folk? a gerudo? A mix of the two? A.) is she constantly reborn into the similar form or does it change? B.) How is she being reborn? The curse? other reasons?

Now foe some indulgent questions

opinion on grim? A.) hate her? love her? wanna shake her around to figure out whats wrong with her? B.) Do you think she should become her own person? Or stay as a puppet?

The Voice!! Other than physicals appearences, did anything else draw you to them? A.) How bad do you see The Voice? If there was a meter from like 1-10

My baby Iolnye! Shes a cutie A.) Thoughts on the lady? Is she what you expected for Grim's love interest? B.) If you had to guess, how old do you think she is?

Do you have any like...theories or thoughts on Grim's lore?

this is the worst mistake of your life 😁 /j

i am entering my cringe mary-sue + rambling era

(s'avahili questions utc because i loredumped a lot,, its all been in my brain for 3 consecutive years)

1.) I literally love Grim and her entire premise, story, character, etc, etc. It's all super cool and I wish I thought of it first (/j)

A.) I want to sit her down on one of those therapy chairs and just.. pick apart her brain like I'm doing surgery

B.) For the romance plot: yes, but horrifically traumatized as she learns what it means to be human and actual emotion because The Voice ruined that for her (before inevitably turning back into a statue because, assumedly, The Voice is no longer with her). Because I love tragedy: no.

2.) I mean this positively, but The Voice really reminds me of the fucked up angel from The Mandela Catalogue or Rher and Per'kele from Fear and Hunger and I am a sucker for divine characters using fear/terror/other means for their own, twisted purposes

A.) If you were to put me and The Voice in a room, they are walking out in a straitjacket with multiple nurses on each side (:

3.) Human-animal people >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A.) I absolutely love Lolnye, but I really did not expect her AT ALL as Grim's love interest

I originally expected someone from within The Voice's cult because of similarities in circumstance, but I can just as easily rock with someone outside of it with a completely different filed of view

B.) I personally think Grim is around 26-27, so that in turn makes me think Lolnye is around 23-25? Based on her gifted kid status, it kind of makes me think Lolnye would be younger

4.) Since I haven't been in the room where it happens, I don't have a lot of theories or thoughts surrounding Grim, but I am really curious about where you're going with her character and what her views on different things the world both with and without The Voices shades on

1.) To preface, there are 4 goddesses in the venomverse, Nayru, Farore, Din, and Nabooru. Nabooru merged with a demon as a marriage (of flesh) and became Demise. Below them are deities; Hylia-- Zelda, Aram-- Fierce Deity/Link, and Ifetu-- S'avahili. There are more but they're the only ones worth mentioning.

Because of S'avahili's (then Ifetu, when she was originally cursed) connection to anything heat related (the sun goddess, Din, and flaming, burning, hatred incarnate itself, Demise, who formed the Gerudo Deserts and Death Mountain), Zelda (then Hylia) thought to curse her by making her perpetually cold.

Aside from making it near impossible for her to feel warmth (she can feel it, but doesn't do anything for her body temperature) it: flares up when in specific areas (anywhere near saltwater/the ocean or Rito Mountains) giving her chronic pains in her joints, the chills almost entirely freeze her vocal chords, gives her chronic fatigue from the pain and constant amounts of magical energy it takes to keep her from completely freezing over (which can possibly cause worsening degrees of frostbite if not in "safe areas," which can lead to amputation), and make her vulnerable to the Master Sword and light magic.

A.) Hylia originally cursed Ifetu because Nayru and Farore created her as a means to end (or repeatedly defeat) Demise.

(I swear this is all relevant.)

Long story short; Hylia's sleeper agent mind wakes up upon finding out Aram and Ifetu were in a situationship, Sleeper agent! Hylia takes it as Ifetu trying to further "corrupt" Aram and become a marriage of flesh like Demise, Hylia curses Ifetu, and throughout their non-deity reincarnations Zelda just never got rid of it because they both still "hate" each other.

Short story with more information; Hylia and Aram were created by Nayru and Farore while Ifetu and Ganondorf (I don't know his pre-reincarnation name yet 😁) were created by Din and Demise, all four at the height of the gods' war. Hylia and Ifetu were married for a few thousand years prior to the betrayal (Zelda still keeps and wears Ifetu/S'avahili's proposal gifts. The war had entered more of a Cold War state by the time they got together), Aram is officially introduced to Ifetu and they hit it off, Aram awkwardly courts Ifetu (unaware of their relationship, she was not aware he was trying to court her), then sleeper agent Hylia wakes up.

B.) When I first made S'avahili (2015), I had an obsession with making characters that had white hair and characters that were villains' little sisters.

Originally, she only had white hair because I gave Yasehiro (now Yusef) Gerudo-red hair as the prince of Hyrule (Zelda's older brother).

They were supposed to be inverses and then I realized I hated that concept but still wanted her (both of them but this ain't about him) to have a unique appearance that set her apart from other Gerudo.

All that to say: now the answer is yes, her difference in appearance is because of the curse.

In one of the act introductions, it says "The Gerudo had (..) hair made of the same sun she (Din) ruled over," so I figured if the rest of her race would represent the sun and fire in a positive/healthy light, S'avahili would represent the moon and ice in a negative one.

C.) It is possible for S'avahili to remove the curse, but it requires Link.

When S'avahili's presented itself as cuffs around her neck, elbows, and wrists (images below) rather than mainly invisible until prompted, Link needed to carefully cut them off of her in order for the curse to be removed in that lifetime.

Hylia's thoughts regarding the cuffs were "if you trust him so much, you'll have no issue with him putting the Master Sword so close to something so vital."

After deciding to retcon the cuffs, the way to remove the curse instead changed to S'avahili forgetting how to do so once reincarnated and being forced to have someone who does (Koume, Kotake, Ganondorf, and Yusef) to help her and Link do the correct "ritual" to remove it.

Now S'avahili, Link, and whoever remembers has to travel to a specific oasis deep within the deserts, do a prayer, basically drown themselves, and then wake up a few days later with the curse removed.

The only catch is that due to the deserts' two suns (one exclusive to that area), it makes it almost impossible for any race outside the Gerudo and Goron to enter.

They get around that by going at night.

After the curse is removed, it is possible for Link to traverse the deserts without harm (essential for going through the Sand Temple-- Ifetu and Aram's old, abandoned temple) and makes it possible for S'avahili to touch the Master Sword without harm.

The fatigue stays around until her death, unfortunately.

2.) Hylia still had enough common sense so as to not straight up ruin Ifetu's life when she cursed her, which is why she instead made it a progression/timeline.

The beginning is just fatigue, the early stages (upon leaving her "safe zones") are pains in her joints, the middle shows up as frostnip and superficial frostbite, and late stage is deep frostbite or amputation.

Ifetu learned how to avoid worsening the stages of the curse before she died and reborn, allowing the knowledge to be passed into S'avahili.

The only case that has led to amputation (so far) is in Wind Waker, but even that's in specific scenarios.

3.) S'avahili and Ganondorf only have animal traits (a rabbit and boar, respectively) because those were the traits they expressed/representative animals from when they were deities, but they are entirely Gerudo.

(Also because I like drawing characters with animal traits.)

Their ears, tails, (Ganondorf's) horns, and (occasionally) feet serve as a reminder to those outside of the Gerudo (and Goron) that they are Din and Demise's deity children reborn.

(Also because they like them.)

On a related note, their situation are similar to that of the Twili who took their wolfish features from Aram and just never evolved out of them.

A.) The only thing about S'avahili that doesn't change is the fact she's Gerudo, her white hair, and her rabbit features.

It's similar to how Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf reincarnate every life with different looks, but always have key features.

(She can turn into a rabbit though. That's fun.)

B.) Ifetu only died because her brother (deity ganondorf) had been killed, Demise had been sealed away, the other three goddesses had sealed themselves within their elements, she still had horrible feelings towards Hylia, Aram was basically dead, and the rest of the world was beginning to move into a new era which made her figure there really wasn't a use for her anymore.

Ifetu and Aram were only reborn as S'avahili and Link because Aram swore that they'd meet again, he'd never leave her, he'd always protect her, he'd always love her, and other devoted couple nonsense before she put him in his coma and sealed him in the mask.

Upon realizing he had essentially cursed her (because he had not, in fact, devote himself in most of those lifetimes) and because she had abandonment issues, she got the rest of her deity friends to take a vow of reincarnation so she wouldn't have to be alone while she waited to meet Aram again.

(They do not.)

So to answer the question, it's all Aram's fault and he couldn't even make it worthwhile.

(Ganondorf and S'avahili come as a packaged biological big brother-little sister deal because Din and Demise literally made them each others' support.)

[faerytalesfromtheabyss]

Faerie Books For “Folk of the Air” Withdrawals

In my opinion, Holly Black is the gold standard for faerie books. She writes faeries in a way that draws on folklore, yet makes sense in the common day. She has concrete rules that her faeries never break (eg. aversion to salt and iron, their magic can’t work against charms, they can deceive but can’t lie, etc.) Faeries seem different than humans and we are constantly reminded that they are alien creatures (Eg. Performing monstrosities, their morality, the way they speak) 

When faeries use magic it seems so natural to the universe Black has created that it doesn’t really feel like magic. The one time someone uses a spectacular display of magic that could be perceived as overpowered (at the end of The Wicked King), it’s someone coming into his powers and truly accepting his role as a king.

I’ve already written a pretty extensive post about the other books in Holly Black’s faerie universe (Modern Faerie Tale Series, Darkest Part of the Forest, Spiderwick, etc). Check that out if you’re looking for more Holly Black books and want to learn about my suggested reading order.

Under the cut, I’ll talk about other YA faerie books and some resources if you want to learn more about faerie folklore. You should also take into account that I’m super picky about books. Even though I gave a lot of them low ratings, I don’t regret reading any of them. I’m just overly critical, and there are specific trends and tropes that really bug me. Definitely look on Goodreads for a more detailed summaries and other reviews.

Let’s address some of the most popular faerie books first:

The Dark Artifices by: Cassandra Clare

If you like Holly Black, you’ll probably like (and probably already know) Cassandra Clare. They both write urban fantasy and they're both part of the same writing group. They even went on tour together.

The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices have faeries in them, but faeries don’t become a central point in the Shadowhunter universe until The Dark Artifices.   

I’m still slowly trekking my way through Mortal Instruments Part II so I haven’t gotten to The Dark Artifices yet. And since events that happen in Mortal Instruments directly affect the characters in Dark Artifices, you can’t really skip directly to this series.

Throne of Glass by: Sarah J. Maas

I honestly can’t address the faeries in this series because I’ve only read the first 3 books, but I assume they’re going to be pretty similar to the fae in A Court of Thorns and Roses. Luckily, I heard this series picks up in book 4, so we’ll see. I honestly haven’t been very impressed with the first three books.

Okay, so here are some books I can give actually give insight into:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by: Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses (3/5 Stars)

A Court of Mist and Fury (5/5 Stars)

A Court of Mist and Fury (4/5 Stars)

A Court of Frost and Starlight 2/5 (Honestly, there was no plot in this novella)

This talking point doesn’t have to do with faeries, but it’s something I think people should be aware of before picking up this series:

There are a lot of issues with consent (or more accurately, the lack there of) in A Court of Thorns and Roses. I don’t want to go into that here so I’ll link to a Mostly YA Lit blog post that points out the issues I have with the first book. I think A Court of Mist and Fury started to broach the issues of consent in ACOTAR, but it didn’t explore this topic as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Personally, I wouldn’t call this a good faerie series. Most of the faeries act far too much like humans. So much so, that I sometimes forget that they’re fae. They just act like humans with super powers. Folk lore elements—like faeries not being able to lie and aversion to iron—are thrown right out the window. All the characters (especially in the later books) are way overpowered. For you writers out there, this book is a good example of how to not employ a soft magic system.

While I wouldn’t call this a good faerie series, I would still call this an alright series. A lot of people love this series.

SMJ’s strongest skills are writing characters and exploring characters’ emotions. Although I a ton of issues with this series, I would be lying if I didn’t say that A Court of Mist and Fury is one of the best YA fantasy books to explore PTSD, pain, and healing. 

The Scorpio Races: by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5 Stars)

Unlike the other books on this list, this book doesn’t focus on faery courts. The Scorpio Races focuses on one very specific type of faery, the eich uisce, a type of man-eating water horse from Celtic folklore. Every year on the island of Thisby, people capture and train these water horses in order to race them.

Like Holly Black’s books, Stiefvater incorporates folklore but adds her own twist. She’s very consistent with the magic rules she sets on water horses. (Eg. Bells and red ribbons can calm them, they have an aversion to iron, etc)

Now some less popular faerie books: An Enchantment of Ravens:  (3/5 Stars)

This book takes place in a fantasy world with humans and faeries.

Here’s the downside: The heroine and love interest are very typical YA characters. (It was written in 2017, but it feels like it was written in 2007). There really isn’t anything unique about the main charters, and they didn’t have much chemistry. 

Now, here’s the good stuff: The book has a very interesting interpretation of faeries. If faeries try to make anything (even cook), they will start to crumble away and die. The faeries find humans valuable because humans are able to make crafts. Humans can become fae... at a price—they have to give up their art. One of the interesting things though is that the heroine, an artist, is opposed to becoming immortal because she would have to give up her art.

The Wicked Lovely Series: Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely 2/5 

Ink Exchange 3/5

The Wicked Lovely Series is an urban fantasy series where the fae live invisible among humans. 

The first book is very preachy at some points. And there’s a disconnect between the feminist values that the author attempts to display and what is actually in the story (how the characters behave, the plot, etc). Also, the author breaks the rules she sets up in her universe. (Eg. Faeries aren’t supposed to be able to go near iron… Oh wait, the strong ones can. Oh wait, it looks like pretty much all of them can with little affect.) Both books have issues with consent and women being controlled by fae. 

Why do I continue to read this series? I like the world Marr created. It’s dark and intriguing so many authors forget the manevolent nature of faeries. Marr also has an interesting interpretation of how fae would live in cities. It reminds me a bit of Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tale series. Also, I like that the endings of these books are different than most YA. To avoid spoilers, I’ll say there’s some subverting of tropes.

Wintersong by: S. Jae-Jones (2/5 Stars)

Wintersong takes place somewhere in Austria or Germany during the late 1700s. It’s like a combination of Pan’s Labyrinth, the poem Goblin Market, alderking folklore, and some Beauty and the Beast/Hades and Persephone thrown in. 

One of the things I like about this book is that the main character is ugly and that never changes. Seriously, YA has too many jaw-droopingly-beautiful heroines. Being pretty has nothing to do with your value as a person. Can I please have some average or ugly heroines with good self esteem or that achieve good self esteem? 

The goblins and their home are dark and twisted ( think Under the Mountain if you like SJM or unseelie court or )

While the writing is beautiful, this book is riddled with plot holes and things that don’t add up. The first half of the book is great and has to do with the main character saving her sister from the Goblin King/Alderking. Then it drifts off into never-never land. The plot diminishes. You can also tell that this book was originally going to be written for adults and was changed (seemingly at the last minute) to YA.

Also, there’s a lot of weird issues about sex. The main character is fixated on the idea that having sex will make her a woman. Also, it has that shitty misconception about women bleeding when they have sex for the first time. No, that shouldn’t happen. Fantasy books (especially YA which is aimed at young women) need to get rid of that trope. There’s also some shit that the heroine will die if she has sex with the Goblin King too often because it draws on her life-force or some shit.

Seriously, why is sex handled so poorly in so many of these books? How hard is it to have consensual sex that is handled normally. Hint: It’s not! 

I would like to take a moment to thank Holly Black for writing Jude as a character (and even Taryn) with agency in her sex life. 

The Iron Fey Series by: Julie Kagawa

I’m currently reading the first book in this series. Let me tell you, it feels very circa 2010 YA. A half-human-half-faerie girl goes to a magical land to save her brother from faeries. It leans a lot on characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Resources for Learning More About Faery Folklore 

Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee

This is a really good, quick resource if you want to take a crash course in faerie lore. (Eg. Common types of fae, charms and protections against fae, the courts, faerie hills, etc)

An Encyclopedia of Fairies by: Katharine Briggs

If you want to know anything about the faeries of Ireland and the British isles, you can find it in this book. There’s a lot of fun stories about different fae, too. 

Abbey Lubbers, Banshees, & Boggarts by: Katharine Briggs

If you find Briggs’s other book overwhelming, try this one. It’s a lot of the same information but more condensed. 

The Lore Podcast by: Aaron Mahnke

This podcast talks about folklore and everything paranormal (from ghosts and clairvoyants to vampires and werewolves). I recommend the entire podcast but here are a few episodes with information about faeries:

Episode 5: "Under Construction”— Folklore about the huldufolk (elves) of Iceland

Episode 11: ”Black Stockings”— Folklore about changelings. I’m going to warn you, this episode is very done but very, very sad

Episode 14: "The Others” — Folklore about “little people” in various cultures, including púcas (one of my favorite fae)

Some YA Faerie Books I have on my TBR:

White Stag by: Kara Barbieri

The Perilous Gard by: Elizabeth Marie Pope

The Folk Keeper by: Franny Billingsley

The Goblin Emperor: Katherine Addison

Glimmerglass by: Jenna Black 

Wings by: Aprilynne Pike 

Bitter Frost by: Kailin Gow 

Tam Lin by: Pamela Dean

Fablehaven by: Brandon Mull

That was a long post, so I thank you for taking the time to read it! Please reblog and add your favorite faerie books (especially if they’re similar to Holly Black’s books)! And feel free to DM me or slip a message in my ask box if you have any questions or want book recs.

Hopefully something on this list will hold us over until Queen of Nothing comes out!

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Why saying there are new movies for Peter Parker (and that’s why we should have Miles) is stupid.

In recent months and years ever since the announcement of Peter Parker being the new Spider-Man of the MCU there has been shittons of backlash against the decision. A lot of this has stemmed from Miles Morales supporters who feel he should have been the Spider-Man of the MCU.

 Whilst there is a lot to say about that (and I have) today I want to counter a fairly frequent point I‘ve seen more than once from that camp. That point being that Peter should not be used as the MCU Spider-Man because ‘we’ve seen his story’ or ‘there is nothing new to be done with him’ or something to those effects.

 This is a boneheaded argument to make because it is essentially saying that a comic book series which has existed for over 50 years publishing sometimes multiple comics every month across that time period can apparently only generate FIVE major motion pictures...two of which recycled material from the first three.

 To show you how idiotic that argument is let me off the top of my head throw out THREE different ideas for high school Peter Parker Spider-Man movies which contain things which we’ve honestly never seen before with the character on film.

  Spider-Man vs the Mob

As many fans of Spider-Man comic books well know Spider-Man has an incredibly long history addressing street crime. The early Ditko Spider-Man stories vacillated to parables about science gone too far and crime noir.

 Fans of the thus far five Spider-Man films and the more recent pathetic Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon are likely unaware of this long history since it’s essentially devoid in both. Sure Spider-Man might fight regular thugs, but that’s rarely if ever the plot or main thrust of the stories.

 But it is in fact from Spider-Man comics that the most famous super villain gangster of all time, the Kingpin, originated. Spider-Man has tangled with Wilson Fisk countless times though admittedly rarely with the same intensity that Daredevil has.

 Now sure on film using Kingpin is very unlikely given his affiliation with the Netflix Daredevil series, however Spidey actually has a whole host of other gangster villains with gimmicks which would make them film worthy.

 Hammerhead

Silvermane

Don Fortunato

Tombstone

Man Mountain Marko

Mister Negative

The Rose

Delilah

The Crime Master

The Big Man

Black Tarantula

The Enforcers

Gangsters one and all.

 Gang war storylines have occurred more than once in Spider-Man’s comics and having him caught in the middle of one, trying to end the war for the sake of the civilians would present a realistic, complex and far more difficult to solve challenge for Spider-Man than ever seen before.

 Spider-Man could come face to face with the realities of crimes which exist in our own real world and see how it’s not a battle with a true ending but one which he and other people must constantly resist all the same.

 Spider-Man and the media

As perfectly cast as J.K. Simmons was as J. Jonah Jameson in the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy it must be said the movies downplayed the character compared to the comic books.

 Whilst he served the same basic function as Spider-Mans loudmouth skinflint boss who used yellow journalism to slander Spider-Man and make the city mistrust and hate him, he was ultimately a bit player in the proceedings of the trilogy.

 In the comic books especially the early days of Spider-Man Jameson was almost the resident villain of the series, a lot of panel time was dedicated to him and his irrational vendetta against our hero. He and Spider-Man often exchanged harsh words and it seemed his persecution of Spidey was unrelenting. He was in fact one of the three most important recurring characters in the whole series during the original Steve Ditko run next to Spidey and Aunt May themselves.

 Doing a movie which is actually specifically about Spidey’s relationship with Jameson and making the central focus the ramifications of Jameson’s smear campaign would not only be something original for a Spider-Man film but fairly original for a superhero film in general. Jameson isn’t a super villain nor is he truly evil. He’s just a greedy man with an irrational hatred stemming from deepset issues which themselves make him a compelling character.

 The film could thus be about the abuses of power afforded to those who control the media and examine the responsibilities and role the press should hold, with a greater focus being upon the press’ obsession with celebrities and the detrimental effects they can have on their lives.

 Once more this isn’t an enemy or a crisis Spider-Man can truly resolve or defeat, so much as learn to live with, which is once again something fairly unique for a superhero movie.

 But just so we can have our bam smack pow superhero action we could draw upon one of two classic Spider-Man tales to generate a villain or two.

 In Amazing Spider-Man #20 Jameson infamously helps create the Scorpion as a natural adversary to Spider-Man only for his creation to turn on him thus justifying Spider-Man save him. The Scorpion has never been done on film and fits Marvel’s mould of villains who are dark reflections of the hero. In fact that is why Jameson created the Scorpion, he was based upon a fellow (but bigger) arachnid.

Alternatively we could draw upon a famous recurring element of Spider-Man lore, the Spider Slayers. Throughout his history Spencer Smythe and his son Alistair have created robots specifically designed to locate, capture and sometimes kill Spider-Man, with the designs of the robots offering a variety of interesting visuals. However many of the Spider Slayers were affiliated with Jameson who wanted to use them to rid the world of Spider-Man.

Perhaps one of the most famous Spider Slayer stories was the death of Spencer Smythe which involved Jameson and Spider-Man shackled together by a bomb counting down to their destruction. Adapting this would be a perfect way to bring the movie to it’s climax and focus in on the central relationship between Spider-Man and Jameson.

  Peter Parker is a Mama’s boy

Love her or hate her, Aunt May is vitally important to the mythology of Spider-Man and his character. Hence she’s appeared in every Spider-Man movie to date.

She is also his mother. Not biologically, but in all the ways that really matter she is his mother.

Many stories (sometimes to an exaggerated extent) have showcased Peter’s affection for May and her doting attitude towards him. But like Jameson we’ve only seen this in the movies as part of larger plots where it isn’t really the point. When done right it’s really endearing and something relatable to most people.

Instead of a Spider-Man movie which is about Peter Parker’s romance with a woman, his rivalry with a new villain, the mystery of his dead parents or (ugh) his teacher/student relationship with someone like Iron Man, why not make the heart and soul of this movie about a parent and child, specifically a mother and her son.

Films like Logan prove that that can work but the unique twist of this movie would be that the focus isn’t upon someone learning to be a parent or a father/son relationship or a mother/daughter relationship or even a father/daughter relationship. Rather it’d be the far less focussed upon mother/son relationship.

Even in movies which do focus upon a relationship like this things typically play out wherein the mother is fridged, or it’s about a woman learning to be a mother, or a woman struggling to survive for the sake of her son or where the relationship is strained (think Tony Soprano and his mother).

Instead this would be a movie about a kid and his mother figure coming to together to cope and survive in a world now bereft of the most important person in both of their lives who supported them both.

And the central basis of this movie could be arguably THE most iconic Spider-Man storyline of all time, the Master Planner trilogy. Allow me to give you some cliffnotes from the story. 

A new gang working for a criminal called the Master Planner who plans his schemes meticulously so they go off without a hitch butts heads with Spider-Man. Meanwhile Aunt May is feeling incredibly unwell as Peter Parker goes to his very first day of college. Later she collapses and we learn that she’s dying, poisoned by a blood transfusion Peter gave to her many issues ago. A potential cure can be created from the expensive ISO-36 chemical.

Peter pawns most of his and May’s possessions to buy the chemical but the Master Planner steals it believing it could be of use in his experiments. Spider-Man uses a Daily Bugle journalist to help him get a lead on the whereabouts of the Master Planner and he proceeds to bust up the criminal underworld, desperately seeking information of the MP.

Finally he learns that the MP is in a secret underwater base so Spider-Man has to swim beneath the Hudson river, infiltrate the base, fight off the hordes of armed henchmen and finally confront the Master Planner himself, who is in fact DOCTOR OCOTPUS.

As they fight Spider-Man is trapped under several tons of heavy metal rubble, with water quickly filling the room and the ISO-36 just out of reach. Then in an endlessly homage and utterly iconic scene Spider-Man ruminates upon how he cannot allow himself to fail Aunt May like he did Uncle Ben and gradually summons all of his strength and in a supreme act of willpower throws off all of the rubble in the greatest Spider-Man splash page of all time.

He then gets the ISO-36 swims back to the surface, fights some of Doc Ock’s goons underwater, then despite his exhaustion single handily kicks the rest of their asses before getting the chemical to the doctors just in time to save Aunt May.

 Now sure that isn’t everything that happened and you’d have to tweak a few things to make it work as a self-contained movie about a high schooler...but...goddam...how does all that NOT sound like the most baller Spider-Man movie ever!?

 There’s action, there’s tension, irony, human drama, heroism; it’s got everything!

 Now you see those three idea I just tossed out?

 Well with one exception all of them are based upon the original Steve Ditko run of Spider-Man. In fact not even all of the Ditko run, just the first 33 issues.

 None of them involve retelling Peter Parker’s origin.

 None of them involve repeating material or storylines we’ve seen in other movies before apart from Spider-Man fighting Doctor Octopus which is in my suggestion not even the point of the movie.

 I just made all of those suggestions up off the top of my head based upon less than the first five years of Peter Parker’s existence.

 I could probably make up even more if I cast my net further and spend a bit more time considering it.

 So tell me again how there are no new ideas for a Peter Parker Spider-Man movie?

 Tell me how the only way to make the franchise fresh again is to use another character other than Peter Parker?

 Go on. I dare ya?