Spider-Man OMD and BND What a messed up situation IMHO!

dlfurman · Forum Member Joined: Jun 18, 2002 Posts: 97

If you have not been reading or you've been waiting and avoiding all of the comics news sites be advised Spoilers Ahead!

Marvel stirred a hornets nest and then some.
For at least two years Marvel EIC Joe Quesada has been expressing his dislike for the marriage of Peter (Spider-Man) Parker and Mary-Jane Watson Parker. Apparently you can't tell stories like you could tell if Peter was single. Divorce was not an option as it would "AGE" the character of Peter Parker. The death of Mary-Jane would also "AGE" the character of Peter Parker.

During the "Civil War" against/for SuperHuman Registration Pro-Reg Peter unmasks publically, then as events unfold he has to switch sides and join the Anti-Registration side.

The Kingpin, never one to lose an advantage, hires a hitman to track down the Parkers. And he does and he misses Peter and shoots Aunt May (who along with Mary-Jane were supportive of Peter's decision to unmask). Peter goes beserk, putting on the Black Venom-like costume and tracks down the man who put the hit on him - Kingpin.

After a putting on a beatdown on the Kingpin (wasn't enough IMHO but I digress) tries everything to save his aunt thus the title of this 4 issue arc ONE MORE DAY. He goes to Tony Stark, Dr Strange and then lo and behold Mephisto appears.

Yeah, him.

"I'll save your aunt, but I want your marriage!" Wha..!?

To be fair, JMS (of Captain Power, Murder She Wrote, and Babylon 5 fame) had worked out how to do this, but due to EDITORIAL OVERIDE (and the claim that the folks who were working on the aftermath "BRAND NEW DAY" had already zigged when he, JMS zagged) told him to change his story. It got to the point where JMS wanted his name off the last two issues.

But it was done.

What got so many fans p****d off was the ending (it was going down like this regardless) in that it made Peter look like a selfish ********. He didn't want to feel the guilt of his aunt taking a bullet meant for him, so he'd rather give up the marriage. (Oh yeah, this despite the fact that his aunt was able to tell him "Let me go!" after consulting with Madame Web)
True also, they had MJ in the decision making process as it took consent from BOTH to seal the deal.

The result. Spider-Man's power boost, organic (ala the movies) web-shooters are gone. NOW, NO ONE KNOWS HE IS SPIDER-MAN! NO ONE! Johnny Storm? Nope. Matt "Daredevil" Murdock? Nope. Wolverine? Uh-uh! Not even MJ who knew for a long time. Not even -wait for it - NORMAN OSBORNE (Gwen is still dead though) and Harry is now alive.

It was just bad storytelling. So now there are fans who are "Who cares lets see what happens next" and others who are like "Dudes! You just jacked 20 years of stories and characterization on the whims of someone who didn't like the marriage in a story that sucked and out of character characters!"

I didn't list all of the plot holes that many longtime fans were able to post in the last few days. The promise from the EIC of Marvel is that they didn't need a CRISIS to work the MU (a dig a DC). But they have one now. Many, many folks are dropping Spider-Man from their pulls lists.

If you want more details then check out the sites and the many, many pages on this event from Marvel at ComicBookResources.com and Newsarama.com.

If you have been reading keeping up, what do you think?

itisitex · Forum Member Joined: Sep 01, 2002 Posts: 174 Location: Tx

I dropped most of the marvel titles i collected back when they messed up everything after the X-men movie. I dropped the last marvel title i was collecting when i got to the point i had to buy fifty other marvel titles just to get a complete story.
IMHO you should just stop buying Marvel comics and it will force them to write stories that make sense. Just remember there is power in numbers and if enough people write in and stop buyinng there books you will see them change.

dlfurman · Forum Member Joined: Jun 18, 2002 Posts: 97

From reading the Newsarama thread, many store owners have posted that customers have had Spidey pulled from customer pullists, other have said they've cancelled subscriptions.

I'd love to be a fly on the walls in the Marvel Offices AND be there when the comic conventions hit and the folks involved show up. I have a feeling there are going to be some cancellations.

There are some good Marvel books out there. I immediately recommend the Immortal Iron Fist off the top of my head, but the event driven MAIN books are rocky.....

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 613

I read it, had no clue why or whatever, but thought it had no point. I am not an avid follower of Spider-man but I was really just thinking "Huh?" through it. I thought Aunt May was dead already anyway.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 550 Location: NYC

That's what happens when you milk a character for 46 years, and they were written to be what... 17 to start with.

Parker should be pushing 63. Not 30.

Quite frankly, I'll starting reading Marvel books as soon as Secret Wars 3 has the Beyonder come back and erase... well, the last 20 years of Marvel. :lol: