There is currently a minor flurry of activity on a lot of comic book websites regarding the "controversial" recent Spider-Man storyline One More Day. For the non-readers of comics, here's the Reader's Digest version of what happened: Peter Parker's back is against the wall as a direct result of the events of Marvel's Civil War (Spider-Man revealed his identity on national television, ended up a fugitive from the law, and his Aunt May took a sniper's bullet intended for that him that he couldn't stop.). His Aunt May is slowly dying, and there's nothing that he can do about it. He frantically searches for help, and is told at every turn, even from the powerful mystic Dr. Strange, that there is nothing that can be done about it.......until the devil shows up. Mephisto, basically Satan in the Marvel Universe, tells Peter that he can save his aunt......for a price. He doesn't want Peter's soul, but his marriage. This, to him, would be "so delicious". The marriage of Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson would be erased, and they wouldn't remember it. MJ argues that Aunt May is at the end of her life anyway, and that they have many years ahead of them. Peter states that she is dying because of him, and he can't live with that. After some discussion, MJ agrees, and Peter goes along with it, with the added stipulation that Peter's unmasking would be undone as well. The deed is done, and Peter wakes up, late as usual, and Aunt May is healthy and live again. He goes to a party, where the long-dead-in-comics Harry Osborn appears. Also, Peter seems to have lost the organic webshooters given to him in the films, and adopted by the comics several years ago. In short, there have been very drastic changes to continuity here.
Marvel Editor-In-Chief/"One More Day" penciller Joe Quesada has been very outspoken on the subject on Peter and MJ's marriage, and feels very strongly that it was a mistake, just a marketing gimmick. He feels that Spider-Man is at his best as a character when his personal life and superhero career collide and make problems for each other, and that there are many more opportunities for that with a single Peter. Agree or disagree (I personally disagree), Quesada makes a good case for single Peter. But......here are the problems I have:
-Quesada mentions the collision of Peter's personal and Spider life. Although it is treading familiar ground in some ways, the (final) death of Aunt May would be fertile ground for some powerful stories and an interesting next chapter in the life of Spider-Man.
-Quesada stated in a comicbookresources.com interview that the reason Mephisto was involved, rather than simple divorce, is that:
Sure, that would have been a very easy solution. However, how would a parent feel when they had to explain to their kid that Spider-Man just got divorced from his wife? How would that headline read across the AP or on USA today? The same can be said with an annulment. Sure, divorce is a reality of life, but Peter Parker and Spider-Man are not the types of characters that would do that. Spider-Man is a worldwide icon and is considered one of the good guys, like Superman. There's always the option of killing off MJ, but over the years way too many key characters in Spider-Man mythology have been killed off. Much like the marriage, those deaths hurt the book. The Spider-Man books were better with Harry in them, as well as Norman. Also, how much older would Peter seem as a widower -- yikes!
That is a weak, weak excuse. Not so much the part about all the death in Spider-Man, but everything else. One theory that's being thrown about is that Quesada wants to make Spider-Man more accessible to younger readers. I have several problems with the use of Mephisto here:
1) It's fucking lame. Mephisto want's Peter Parker's marriage? It would be delicious to him? Why? I have a hard time buying that. It just doesn't ring truthful.
2) A hero as experienced as Spider-Man makes a deal with the devil?????? Yeah, that's easier to explain to the kids. "Spider-Man isn't married anymore because he made a deal with the Devil, Honey. It happens in life sometimes." Peter Parker should know better. He's not an idiot like Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider) who doesn't have all that much common sense.
One More Day had the potential to be a very, very powerful story. The first two installments were pretty good, when it seemed that there was going to be no saving on Aunt May, and that Spider-Man was headed for the biggest tragedy since the death of Gwen Stacy. Instead, they pulled a huge cop-out, using a supernatural deus ex machina to conclude what should have been a very human story. Interestingly enough, there was a lot of resistance from the writer as well. There are lengthy interviews with Quesada here:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/
and a very, very interesting email from the writer of the book, J. Michael Straczynski here:
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141756
There is an excellent roundtable on Newsarama here that breaks down OMD in a very exact, frank matter. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141416
The big problem here is that I, and a lot of other people feel that Quesada implemented his personal feelings on Spider-Man in a manner that was creatively detrimental to the books, and the characters. What Joe Quesada did to Spider-Man makes it nigh impossible for me to enjoy the character anymore. I will be dropping Amazing Spider-Man from my subscription today. If Dan Slott, Steve McNiven, or any of the new creators on ASM are reading this? I'm so fucking sorry, dude. I really don't want to punish the new creative teams for something that they didn't do, but I feel like I have to watch my wallet in matters Marvel very, very carefully from now on. I feel that I need to show my lack of support for such a dubious creative decision. Quesada has a kind of reputation as a huckster among comic fans, and this incident makes his bullshit pretty much unforgiveable.
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