The demise of The Daily Bugle

The past couple of nights I have snuggled up under my down duvet and the darkened corners of my bedroom and tried to catch up on my month old backlog of comics. Most of the time I can get through a couple before succumbing to the Sandman.

Thankfully my stack is not tremendously large as I don’t keep a large hold order anymore. Mostly Avengers, Spider-man, Thor and X-men with usually the big DC global event that is happening. Don’t get me started about Marvel’s decision to basically make The Amazing Spider-man a weekly publication which has degraded the quality of the book.

It has been some time since a storyline in the comics world has really made sit and go hrmmmm. All the global events between DC and Marvel have really left me feeling unsatisfied. And probably the most recent event that made me sit up and take notice was the death of Captain America a couple of years ago.

So as I sat catching up, there it was. Lo and behold true believers. A genuine OMFG moment. And sadly it was the complete destruction of The Daily Bugle at the hands of a superpowered Electro.

RIP Daily Bugle.

Now I have forgiven Marvel to what they have done to my man Peter Parker over the years. And for all the hotties they continually throw at him, they have made his life a living hell.

• Spider Clones
• The Scarlet Spider
• Unmasking
• The pact with Dornammu
• The forgotten marriage with Mary Jane
• JJJ removed as editor of the Bugle only to become mayor
• May Parker marrying JJJ Sr.
• Spider-man 3

So if none of that has really affected me all that much, why is it when the The Daily Bugle is turned to rubble I get a little choked up?

Well I suppose first and foremost it is in my heart I am still a newspaper man. Growing up in through high school and into college, I found what I enjoyed doing. Journalism. Much better than that lawyer shtick I wanted to do before then. So I wrote for my high school and college papers, got a degree in Journalism and went out into the real world doing just that. Worked at a paper in Kerrville, TX as a sports reporter and page editor (which was really my area anyways). Lettered in high school, received various writing awards in the field also until I left it to get my masters degree.

So when you really look at the evolution of The Daily Bugle over the last year, it really has mirrored the newspaper industry somewhat. As papers across the nation slowly close their doors, Marvel simply gave the Bugle an honorable death after turning it into The DB, a pop culture, sensationalistic paper. Death by super-villain. All that is left is the edgy, straight to the facts Front Line paper now. Its a very subtle commentary on a dying industry.

But I also have to say my heart sagged just a bit when the dust cleared because I think that Peter Parker working for a paper might have just nudged me in that direction as well on a subliminal level. And I don’t think I realized that until right now.

Throughout my many years spent in the pages of comics Spider-man has been one of only a few constants that I have always read.

I believe the Bugle will return, and someway JJJ will be back at the helm. And somehow Mary Jane will have her Tiger back. But for now, the sky is a little more gray with the Bugle missing.