Is this the worst publicity stunt of all?

In all their efforts to antagonize the audience, I think Marvel may have really done it this time, no matter what comes later. For, as (via ) reports, Peter Parker takes off his Spidey mask in Civil War for everyone to see:

NEW YORK (AFP) - For a comic book hero, it’s the ultimate taboo.

“I’m proud of who I am, and I’m here right now to prove it,” the legendary webslinger tells a press conference called in New York’s Times Square, before pulling off his mask and standing before the massed ranks of reporters as newspaper photographer Peter Parker.

“Any questions?” Parker asks in the final panel of the issue, amid a barrage of camera flashes.

In a statement, Marvel trumpeted the revelation as “arguably the most shocking event in comic book history.”

Not really. By now, this is what anybody can come to expect from such awful, exploitive hooligans who’ve hijacked the House of Ideas. But despite what the AFP says, I wouldn’t say it’s that taboo. There have been some Marvel and DC superheroes alike who’ve dropped their secret IDs in past years, but the difference is that they all did it much more quietly, and it wasn’t done for the purpose of getting media attention.

The seven-issue “Civil War” series, launched in May, sees Marvel’s writers taking on the topical issue of civil liberties.

Following a showdown between a group of superheroes and supervillains in which hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, the government passes the Super-Hero Registration Act, requiring all superheroes to reveal their identities and register as “living weapons of mass destruction.”

Marvel’s roster of invincible crime fighters is split into two bitterly opposed factions, with one camp — championed by the likes of Spiderman — in favour of the new law and the other, including Captain America and his ilk, refusing to relinquish anonymity.

“It’s about which side you are on and why you think you are right,” said Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.

No, it’s why you think you’re right, Quesada! But as it so happens, you’re wrong. I am bored by seeing this, and depressed as well. It’s thanks to things like this that I’m finding it almost impossible to read anything Spidey-related these days, if at all.

And if Peter’s in favor of unmasking, that’s pretty much out of character, because, simply put, a character like him, with a wife and an aunt and various good friends, has always felt it best to keep his ID secret.

On , one of the writers argues that since this is just the 2nd issue, we shouldn’t rush to judgement. Fair enough. But that’s not really why I’m irked here. What does irk me is that it’s all being done solely for media publicity, and not because it serves the story from an artistic angle.