ONE MORE DAY - THE CONTINUING STORY

[MattBrady]

by Lucas Siegel

What has everyone been talking about for the last week? Well, as far as anyone knows, there is only one comic book being published, and only one super-hero in the entire industry.

Without a doubt, One More Day, the storyline that recently concluded in Amazing Spider-Man #545, has made Spider-Man the most talked about single character on the ‘net since the death of that other guy. While most vocalizations have been negative to the story, there is a contingent that is excited about what’s to come with the now three times a month Amazing Spider-Man and its Brand New Day storyline.

To very briefly recap, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, and his then-wife Mary Jane, made a desperate deal with Mephisto to save Aunt May. Mephisto saved May’s life, but in return took Peter and MJ’s marriage. He also brought Harry Osborn back from the dead, reversed (elements at least from) the “Disassembled” (and presumably, “The Other”) storylines (giving Peter toned-down powers with no organic web shooters again), and left a twinge of pain of loss in MJ and Pete’s psyche. Mary Jane, at the last second, appeared to make some sort of side deal with this devilish being, whispering an as-yet-unrevealed something into his ear. Peter once again lives in Aunt May’s house, which is no longer burned down, and no one knows he is Spider-Man. That’s where One More Day ends, and Brand New Day begins.

However, with all the coverage, including statements by writer J. Michael Straczynski and E-I-C/artist Joe Quesada [four interviews relating to One More Day at Comic Book Resources], there are lingering issues and questions that remain. Without a doubt, some, if not all, of these things will be eventually covered in the pages of Spidey’s adventures. We try to make some sense of things while exploring these changes and questions.

The number one issue in most fans’ complaints has been the deal with Mephisto. The fact that this character is commonly Marvel’s representation of the Christian Devil is a contention point for some. Others note he is not really a character Spider-Man has had much, if any, relationship to; he belongs to the mystical (Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange), and even cosmic (Silver Surfer) realms of the Marvel Universe. Still others are miffed by just how much power the guy seems to have now. Suddenly, Mephisto is put on level with The Beyonder or a living cosmic cube, or say, Scarlet Witch, on power level.

The idea of Peter Parker making a deal with the devil is perhaps the bitterest pill for most fans of the character to swallow. Quesada’s main contention is “Peter didn’t seek Mephisto out...he appeared at just the right moment, when Peter was at his lowest and completely out of options.” Also, MJ made the deal first, with Peter just tagging along for the ride at the end, but still, agreeing to Mephisto’s terms.

As far as Mephisto’s place in the Marvel Universe, that’s an easier thing to reconcile. Spider-Man has become a much more mystically-attuned character throughout JMS’s run. It’s ironic, then, that because of this mystical link, a character like Mephisto can be used to erase much of what set up the ability to use him. Not the easiest concept to wrap your head around, but it makes some sense of the characters involved.

The power level issue was also directly addressed by Joe Quesada, but is definitely still a hard one to grasp. However, huge jumps in power have been shown many times throughout comics. Scarlet Witch’s recent power jump changed the whole world – twice - much to some readers’ surprise. Havok had a huge power jump when he was temporarily on an alternate Earth in the Mutant X storyline. The Hulk has gone from rampaging monster that at one time several individual heroes could go up against, to a being that can single-handedly take on the leaders of all of Marvel’s greatest super-teams, then go toe to toe with the power of a thousand exploding suns. To make a long story short, power levels are constantly changing in comics, often without any more rhyme or reason than to fit them in a story as they are needed, and this will continue to happen. Call me Devil’s Advocate if you must (no pun intended), but there it is.

The number two issue for fans is that of continuity. Whether or not as a fan you care about it, the fact remains that Spider-Man, the character, is part of a large continuing universe. The choices he makes affect him over time, and affect the other characters he comes in contact with. Through his frequent interaction with the X-Men, Fantastic Four, various Avengers squads, and his large stable of villains, Spider-Man is one of the most well-connected characters in the Marvel Universe.

But what about the overall change itself?

In 1977, Marvel launched a new ongoing series called What If…?. The series, in posing that question, established the reign of Chaos Theory over the Marvel Universe and its characters. The leading principle of Chaos Theory is commonly referred to as the “butterfly effect.” If a butterfly flaps its wings, that ever-so-miniscule change in atmospheric pressure will eventually cause a tsunami halfway around the world. The What If? series, in various incarnations since ’77, including a now yearly series of one-shots, shows how one minor change in Marvel history changes the entire world. It shows that a tiny point of divergence, often a single choice by a single character, completely alters the entire universe. The series often saw deaths of one or more characters, or the end of the world – readers were conditioned over decades, to this fact: change one small thing, and the end result is a Marvel Universe that is massively changed, not one that is just slightly altered, leaving the characters in a better place.

What If? even spawned an entire secondary universe, dubbed MC2 (Marvel Comics 2), where the main characters of Earth-616, the regular Marvel Universe, aged, and the next generation of super-heroes protect the world. The only ongoing remainder of this universe is Amazing Spider-Girl which features the ongoing adventures of Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s child. In 616, she was either stillborn or abducted by Norman Osborn (or yet to be born, of course). She has also had adventures with Norman “Normie” Osborn II, the son of Harry Osborn and Liz (Allan) Osborn. Also, Exiles owes its existence partially to the What If line, as the reality-hopping team visits some of the alternate worlds mentioned.

Now, a decision has been changed. A point of divergence has been found. Peter and Mary Jane aren’t just not married, they’ve never been married. Based on what’s been established by Marvel, this seems it would be a major change that would effect the entire universe. First, in an interview with Comic Book Resources, Joe Quesada explained the effects thusly: “What didn’t occur was the marriage. Peter and MJ were together, they loved each other – they just didn’t pull the trigger on the wedding day. All the books count, all the stories count -- except in the minds of the people within the Marvel U, Peter and MJ were a couple, not a married couple.”

So, all the same stories were told, just with them living together as an unmarried couple. Except the marriage, of course, though why they stayed together for a good three years Marvel time (based on the approximation that has been made that seven real years equals about one Marvel year) after not getting married.

Harry Osborn is back from the dead, or never died. Now, prior to One More Day, Harry died after saving Peter at Mary Jane’s behest - a situation he was in because Mary Jane had his son Normie with her, and was able to reach him. This death was undone by Mephisto, and as Harry was presented at the end of OMD as a bachelor, it would seem Normie’s birth was also undone, though that is as yet unconfirmed, as well. This was one of JMS’ questions about the story’s outcome as well, that he expressed to Marvel - did Harry never die, or did he die and come back? All that’s been said to date is that he’s been in Europe and has apparently been doing the celebrity thing – going in and out of rehab. Either way, it makes a drastic change to a lot of stories, especially since Harry is apparently close friends with Peter, which seems to indicate he wasn’t ever the Green Goblin (and speaking of the Green Goblin – does the erasing of Peter’s secret ID go all the way back to the first time Harry’s dad, Norman found out? After all, that was a major point in a lot of stories – although given Norman’s memory issues, it could be assumed that Norman is currently in a period where he’s forgotten who Spider-Man is). Who knows? In an interview on Friday, Spider-Man Editor Steve Wacker said that in terms of history that's been altered, they have the larger pieces nailed down. Presumably, the Harry situation is one getting the continuity patch, so fans aren't looking at large swaths issues of their collections that just "didn't happen" as far as present-day Spider-Man continuity is concerned.

Now, this is all on the backside of a storied past of death and resurrection in the Marvel Universe under Joe Quesada’s watch. Three characters who had significant deaths have been brought back, albeit one with a not-quite-resurrection. First, Bucky Barnes, the WWII sidekick of Captain America, came back into the Marvel Universe as Winter Soldier. The story was lauded by fans and critics alike, with a history crafted around the event, leading up to his return. Next, we had Colossus, who had given up his life in order to save the world from the Legacy Virus, a ‘90s X-Men concept that reduced the mutant population, and eventually spread to humanity. He came back in an emotional scene, with former lover Kitty Pryde being the one to discover his return. He has since had a major impact on the book in which he returned, Astonishing X-Men, with the entire current story arc revolving around him. Finally, we recently had Captain Marvel, the Kree hero who died of cancer, show up in the current Marvel timeline. This time, he was pulled out of his time from before he died. It has been stressed, in the pages of his own comic and by creators and editors, that if he were to die before making it back to his time, the consequences of this one change could be catastrophic to the current timeline.

When questioned here at Newsarama about the once “dead is dead” policy being bent to include resurrections, Joe had this to say:

“"Dead is dead" above all else was meant as something for our writers to be very aware of, that I wasn't going to allow a significant character death or resurrection to happen if not for the following things...5.) And this is the most important one out of all of these. If you plan to bring a significant character back from the dead then it better be the best resurrection story ever.”

Harry Osborn died, redeeming the character by saving his best friend. He was brought back by “magic” as a side effect of a deal Peter Parker and Mary Jane Parker made with the devil.

So what of the rest of the stories featuring Mary Jane from the last twenty years of comics? Well, they were either simply removed from continuity, or changed in an undisclosed way by magic. Joe says all the stories happened, but looking at post-OMD continuity, they simply couldn’t have. Harry couldn’t have died, or been the Green Goblin. Mary Jane couldn’t have had a miscarriage, unless Joe wants to promote Peter Parker, Spider-Man as having unprotected premarital sex. More recently, the various stories featuring Peter’s totemic link to other Spider-men either didn’t happen or had no real change or effect upon him. Aunt May’s house never burned down. If Tony Stark, Iron Man didn’t know Peter’s identity, he may have still made the Iron Spidey costume when Peter joined the Avengers, allowing for the three Iron Spideys currently in the pages of Avengers: Initiative, but that still bears problems. Peter and Tony grew close because of the shared information of his secret identity. How would Peter have worked for Tony in the civilian identity and super-hero simultaneously without his ID being known? Unfortunately, no answers to these questions seem to be coming.

The ramifications are still spreading outside of comics and comics fandom as well. As of early December, Peter and MJ were still happily married with no signs of problems in the Stan Lee written nationally syndicated Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip A historic note – it was because of the characters being married in the strip under Stan Lee’s watch, that the characters were married in the comic. When they were married in the strip, it was a short time before they were married in the comic book. Will the reverse now happen?

Also, while there was much mainstream media surrounding the unmasking of Peter Parker, the death of Captain America, and even the new Captain America, the mainstream coverage of this event has sparse to nonexistent, with almost all of it merely reflecting what’s being said by fans online. Why hasn’t or didn’t Marvel take this story out to the major press outlets, especially if accessibility to Spider-Man was one of the goals of One More Day? One article in the New York Post shows a general public “non-internet poster” response – in describing the storyline, the writer says, “While the move wipes out their past…” showing the general perception of the story by those “outside” comics, rather than the more delicate and nuanced reality of just the marriage being erased, along with the revelation of Peter’s secret ID, Harry back from the dead, etc. Without mainstream coverage to explain, comic shop owners and fans are now the ones on the front line for newcomers who come in to comics looking for something Spider-Man saying, “I remember reading in the newspaper that Spider-Man told the world he was Peter Parker, so how is that working?” or after reading an issue, “Wait – why doesn’t everyone know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man?”

Finally, most fans may have forgotten about this teaser image of OMD, but blogger Kirk Warren didn’t). The question now is, was this a total red herring as speculation at the time was hitting too close to the mark for Marvel’s comfort, or is it a clue to a bigger picture? Is the question now, as Blog@’s Kevin Melrose posed, “which of these people is Mephisto?” Or, is Spider-man only now needing saving, and one of the people pictured will remember reality as it was? After-all, we have the mystically aware Ezekiel and Scarlet Witch. We have the cosmically powered and/or alien Super-Skrull, Venom, and even godly presence. Or, perhaps, it was merely exactly as it was phrased, and it was “one person in the Marvel Universe” not necessarily “one of these people.” Either that, or Aunt May, Mary Jane, and Mephisto are all Skrulls.

This story is well-covered, frequently talked about, and definitely not over. Right now though, Marvel is focusing on the future with the Brand New Day stories, and doesn’t seem overly concerned about the largely negative response by online fans. Amazing Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker said, “I’ve been on message boards since the early ‘90s and all of us here know deep in our hearts that nothing said here represents a “large portion” of the readership. A “large portion” of internet posters perhaps, but a large portion of internet posters would argue with me if I said I was right handed.” Joe Quesada was slightly more diplomatic about the situation, saying, “So, even though some may not think so, I respect [vocal Marvel fans] and their feelings beyond belief. But, I have a job to do and I have to think about keeping these characters fresh and interesting and whole beyond my tenure here and way into the future.”

What does the future hold for fans of Spider-Man? Well, it’s more uncertain than ever. Brand New Day starts this week, and will give some indication of that future. From a business end, we won’t know the economic impact for at least two or three months. One thing’s for sure, this ramifications of this story, both in the comics and among fans, will last far longer than one more day.

[caats19]

i still have thoughts that there's more happening. because it sounds ridiculous they would mess up so much history, just to get rid of a marriage. and if this is all true...what are people excited about for brand new day? it's gonna be the same ol spider-man, cept now he wont be married. and now we'll have to sit through him and MJ getting back together. when we've read it all before

[Pack]

I wish this storyline would have an impact in proportion to the disappointment fans feel but unfortunately most fans are addicts and incapable of voting with their wallets.
JMS had already caused this fan who has been following Spider-Man for more than 35 years to walk away so I can't buy the titles any less.
Still, the one thing I can say for this is that since Spider-Man is supposed to be the hard-luck hero, maybe it makes sense that he's been the major character with the most boneheaded ideas thrust onto him, probably of all time...?

[3r41n14c]

This is one of MANY examples of people at the head of the table making promises and breaking them. I can't believe I have about 5 long boxes filled with Spiderman comics that "never happened".

The good? I guess all that money I wasted on the Clone Saga was a bad dream, too. Why couldn't they retcon that one so it never happened?

[LordVinegar]

This article brings up some valid points (such as the oscillating power levels of the MU heroes), but what it fails to address is that Mephisto retcon is perhaps some of the laziest storytelling seen on one of their flagship titles. They've rehashed the "House of M" deus ex machina bit, but in a way that has little relevance to the title. It's like Dr. Strange asking Sabretooth for auto advice or something.

Seriously, "One More Day" was like Poochie going back to his home planet on "The Simpsons."

[nietoperz]

So not only did Marvel's most famous hero, the epitome of 'with great power comes great responsibility' make a deal with the devil to save a dying old woman at the cost of his marriage and the life of his unborn child to come, in doing so he also erased the life of Normie Osbourne. So May lives at the expense of two children, essentially, and Spider-Man's intrinsic goodness is forever tainted.

This is pernicious bullshit of the highest order, and Marvel in general (and Quesada in particular, as it's clear that this little slice of genius is entirely his baby) ought to be ashamed of themselves.

[Clem]

As far as i'm concerned, this may as well be some screwy bubble world created by Franklin Richards cos these sure aren't the characters i've been reading about.

The funniest thing about that teaser image is that the story would probably be infinitely better with ANY of those options. Pete pleads with Wanda to remember the hero she was and do some good in the world. Loki pays back Pete for saving his daughter. Ezekiel returns to offer Pete guidance and an audience with the Spider totem. The Venom symbiote remembers how fond it was of Peter and helps him save May. Iron Man offers Pete the best of medical care in exchange for his freedom and support. ANY OF THESE WOULD BE BETTER THAN MEPHISTO.

Not being married doesn't solve continuity problems, it just creates more. A deal with Mephisto to save May doesn't restore secret identities. It doesn't rebuild houses. It doesn't reverse changes to powers. It doesn't resurrect beloved friends.

Mephisto does so much, yet gets so little out of this deal, he comes off looking like a chump.

[PastePot]

This all could have been handled alot better and I think alot of us wouldn't have been as pissed off if MJ had been the one shot and was about to die. Peter giving up his marriage to save his wife's life would have been easier to swallow. But Aunt May? Come on already.

Would anyone give up a potential future of 45-50+ years of happiness with their wife for their 80 year old aunt/mother/grandmother that they have lived with for the past 25/29/35(however old Pete is/depending who's EIC) years with. Quesada made himself the fool on this one and I hope in the long run he suffers for it.

[nightwingoracle]

Originally Posted by Pack

I wish this storyline would have an impact in proportion to the disappointment fans feel but unfortunately most fans are addicts and incapable of voting with their wallets.

While I hate it, I think you are correct. There will be hundreds if not thousands of fans who hate OMD and its ramifications, but they will continue to buy the book to keep anyway - out of habit, out of the fear of having a hole in their collection, whatever.

We have all got to get out of this mentality. If you enjoy a book, buy it. If you dislike a book, quit buying it. Send a message to the comic company via the only thing that matters - sales. If you are disgusted with OMD, quit buying all mainstream Spider-Man comics right now. Right now. Drop them. Cancel your holds at your local store. Talk with the store about cancelling any pre-holds you may have made on the BMD issues (most reputable comic stores will cancel them for you as long as you don't make a habit of it). You want to have your voice heard and help effect change? Do it with sales.

Otherwise, all the passion being vented online means nothing.

[Jarmir]

A lot can come from this story line, at this time we are like Mar-Vell looking at the painting of Alexander - we feel we are missing something about it.

We only know part of the story, we are just seeing a small piece. We should wait until the Spider-Man comics of Jan to get a better feel on how this all will pan out. With 3 issues per month, we would get an idea fairly quickly.

I'm taking a wait and see approach. I mean this is a comics. If they want to make this go away they could just have this stories be a dream or being told in the past or something (another universe maybe? come on, there are tons of options at there)

I like Dan Slott's wok, so im going to be looking foward it. I dont think Marvel will just do this and not work at getting them back together. I just finished reading the Red Sonja-SpiderMan crossover and it was basically a story of how much MJ and Peter love each other. And it finished a little before OMD was done.

They are eventually going to be back together and all will be well again, just wait and see.

[HomerCow]

What worries me the most is this:

Joe Quesada and all the folks at Marvel (and DC) have a job to do. That job is to tell the best possible super hero stories that they can. That's what we as fans rely on them for. If a story turns out to not be quite as good as intended, there was still an intention for that story to be good. Dan Didio wanted Countdown to go forward because he thought it would be a good story. Whether it is or not is irrelevant, because there was still that intention.

Now look at what Joe Quesada has done. In the interest of telling a good story, he has knowningly given us a deficient one. The fact that he said "It's magic, it doesn't need to be explained" is horrible and violates the trust of every fan who puts down their money "knowing" that their favorite creators, for better or worse, are trying to give them a good story.

What happens the next time he wants to tell a good story and a character's current situation gets in the way of that?

[Frag it]

Originally Posted by nietoperz

So not only did Marvel's most famous hero, the epitome of 'with great power comes great responsibility' make a deal with the devil to save a dying old woman at the cost of his marriage and the life of his unborn child to come, in doing so he also erased the life of Normie Osbourne. So May lives at the expense of two children, essentially, and Spider-Man's intrinsic goodness is forever tainted.

This is pernicious bullshit of the highest order, and Marvel in general (and Quesada in particular, as it's clear that this little slice of genius is entirely his baby) ought to be ashamed of themselves.

His unborn child counts as a life lost? You're reaching with that one.

In the history of storytelling, many good men have made deals with the devil. Even in Marvel continuity, Johnny Blaze did. Is it stupid to do? Yes. But it was a desperate time.

Finally, to those people saying they have to throw away their collections yada yada yada. Think about how every DC fan felt after CoIE. That series erased 50 years of continuity!!!!!

I enjoyed OMD. I'm glad the stupid marriage is over. I hated it in 1987 and I hate it now.

Bring on some fun Spidey stories!

[dchong]

Originally Posted by nightwingoracle

While I hate it, I think you are correct. There will be hundreds if not thousands of fans who hate OMD and its ramifications, but they will continue to buy the book to keep anyway - out of habit, out of the fear of having a hole in their collection, whatever.

We have all got to get out of this mentality. If you enjoy a book, buy it. If you dislike a book, quit buying it. Send a message to the comic company via the only thing that matters - sales. If you are disgusted with OMD, quit buying all mainstream Spider-Man comics right now. Right now. Drop them. Cancel your holds at your local store. Talk with the store about cancelling any pre-holds you may have made on the BMD issues (most reputable comic stores will cancel them for you as long as you don't make a habit of it). You want to have your voice heard and help effect change? Do it with sales.

Otherwise, all the passion being vented online means nothing.

Couldn't agree more.

[caats19]

Originally Posted by Frag it

His unborn child counts as a life lost? You're reaching with that one.

In the history of storytelling, many good men have made deals with the devil. Even in Marvel continuity, Johnny Blaze did. Is it stupid to do? Yes. But it was a desperate time.

Finally, to those people saying they have to throw away their collections yada yada yada. Think about how every DC fan felt after CoIE. That series erased 50 years of continuity!!!!!

I enjoyed OMD. I'm glad the stupid marriage is over. I hated it in 1987 and I hate it now.

Bring on some fun Spidey stories!

is that you joe? i think a big difference with CoIE is that it's considered a classic. those 50 years are back atleast.

[Obliviax]

My fundamental problem with this is that deals with Mephisto never end well. Someone - the person who makes the deal or some hapless bystander somewhere - always gets hurt. And Peter is smart enough to know this. Whether one thinks making such a deal is evil or not will depend, in part, on one's own religious views and how one regards the Mephisto character. But it's hard not to acknowledge that what Peter did is painfully, mind-numbingly stupid. And I hate to see smart characters written dumb because it makes life easier for the writer and/or the editor (in this case, more of that latter than the former, I think).

Retcons happen in comics. It's a fact of life that the universe is sand under the characters' feet at the whim of the creators. Heck, I was prepared to hate Brubaker for bringing back Bucky, but that story was so good, I couldn't. It was plausible enough to make sense.

This story, as written, didn't. There were so many better ways of handling it, of telling this story, that to see it handled so ham-handedly just makes me ache inside. Clearly, Joe Quesada is no writer.

[adamcasey]

[Frag it]

Originally Posted by caats19

is that you joe? i think a big difference with CoIE is that it's considered a classic. those 50 years are back atleast.

But at the time, I'm sure people were really pissed off that their collections were full of stories that never happened.

And the marriage will be back at some point as well.

[Batty Pete]

Originally Posted by PastePot

This all could have been handled alot better and I think alot of us wouldn't have been as pissed off if MJ had been the one shot and was about to die. Peter giving up his marriage to save his wife's life would have been easier to swallow. But Aunt May? Come on already.

Now this would have made some kind of sense!

MJ gets shot and Peter goes through all the same motions here to get MJ healed, but it doesn't help. Mephisto pops up and tells Peter he can save MJ's life, but he'll only do it if Peter agrees to give up his marriage and any knowledge that it ever happened.

It'll still leave the same gaping holes in continuity it does now, but I bet a LOT more people would accept this move and not be so vocally opposed to it if that was Peter's choice. I know I would have a lot less issues with it.

[Dave41Fan]

Originally Posted by LordVinegar

Seriously, "One More Day" was like Poochie going back to his home planet on "The Simpsons."

Best summary of OMD ever. Sir, I tip my cap to thee.

[DAV!S]

Everything in that article has been posted about a million times in the Marvel sub-forum, does it really warrant a place on the front page as well? EDIT: Although to be fair, the writer here has at least managed to use an actual structure and examples that those numerous rants lack.

It is getting really hard to avoid irrational Spider-Man fans who aren't willing to just drop the book because of OMD and let it go - not just on Newsarama but basically every comic site I can think of.

How long will it be before I can click on a thread or news story without reading a "my 20 years of boarded up issues Amazing Spider-Man issues that I never read anyhow are all useless "?

[PastePot]

Frag It-Your not one of those guys living in his mother's basement with no chance at marriage are you?

It wasn't the marriage that was ever the problem, i has always been the stories. If you want a younger single Peter go read Ultimate. Isn't that the point of that book?

Hell marriage can make for great storylines in itself, it worked for clasic shows like I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Everyone Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, Full House(weren't those dudes all married) and hundreds of other shows. Even as recently LOST with Rose and Bernard.

[nightwingoracle]

Originally Posted by Frag it

Finally, to those people saying they have to throw away their collections yada yada yada. Think about how every DC fan felt after CoIE. That series erased 50 years of continuity!!!!!

As a DC fan who was buying when COIE came out, I can tell you it was a different situation. We were told that continuities and histories would be changed and that it was the start of a new universe with some of the old and a lot of the new. Obviously then (as now) we had a choice as to if we wanted to stay for the ride or not, but we were told upfront.

And none of the heroes or their spouses made a deal with the devil.

[Frag it]

Originally Posted by PastePot

Frag It-Your not one of those guys living in his mother's basement with no chance at marriage are you?

It wasn't the marriage that was ever the problem, i has always been the stories. If you want a younger single Peter go read Ultimate. Isn't that the point of that book?

Hell marriage can make for great storylines in itself, it worked for clasic shows like I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Everyone Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, Full House(weren't those dudes all married) and hundreds of other shows. Even as recently LOST with Rose and Bernard.

I'll ignore the insult.

Did you just compare Spider-Man to Full House?

If you want fair comparisons, compare Spider-Man to a show where people got married after the show started. Moonlighting, I Dream of Jeannie, The Nanny, Lois and Clark, Get Smart, Mork and Mindy, etc.

Spider-Man has had very few good stories in the last 20 years. Is it all the writer's fault?

[Frag it]

Originally Posted by nightwingoracle

As a DC fan who was buying when COIE came out, I can tell you it was a different situation. We were told that continuities and histories would be changed and that it was the start of a new universe with some of the old and a lot of the new. Obviously then (as now) we had a choice as to if we wanted to stay for the ride or not, but we were told upfront.

And none of the heroes or their spouses made a deal with the devil.

It was pretty clear from the first issue of OMD what was going to happen.

Now people can choose to stay on or not. My guess is that Spider-Man's sales numbers won't be hurt too much.

[HomoSuperior]

It might be fairly neat if the Venom symbiote was the only thing that remembered Peter and MJ's marriage (and thus be the one to potentially "save" him, as per the old OMD teaser image). Maybe alien physiology is immune to magic (or whatever).

This might add a new dimension to their conflict, with Venom hinting at the marriage, or talking about May being shot, or some other cryptic stuff that gets under Peter's skin, when they clash. Then maybe we get a search for Venom because Peter feels he knows something important that is just not coming through. " I don't know why I know this, Aunt May, but Venom holds the key!" Or something.

Basically, this would be like when Psycho Pirate was the only one to remember pre-Crisis continuity in the DC Universe, although with a more intimate, personal tone.

Meh. Just a thought.