[Spoilers] Spiderman: One More Day...

Ok... can someone please explain to me WHY the hell Pater Parker and Mary Jane would honestly have their entire existence RETCONNED so that Aunt May wouldn't die? Honestly, if I were to make that same stupid deal with the devil I half expect Aunt May to bite it tomorrow morning of old age. I mean honestly... how many years does Aunt May have left? 1? 2? 5? 10?

Just let her die... and then make Peter and Mary Jane brake up honorably..



Joe Quesada.... you're dead to me..

JoeQ has stated time and again that he didn't like Peter as a married man. And the Editor-in-Chief gets his way, for good or ill.

Even though, if Peter stopped to think about it, he'd realize that Aunt May would *want* Peter and MJ to stay together and be happy, and she would finally move on and be with Uncle Ben again.

So yeah, poorly conceived, brings too much mystical mumbo-jumbo, totally out-of-character decisions. Reminds me of Civil War.

The Peter and MJ marriage never should have happened in the first place. The only reason it did happen was because of the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. The strip was going to be cancelled in alot of papers, and the publishers of the strip needed to do something to draw attention to it, so they decided to have Peter Parker marry. This was never supposed to be the plan in the regular Marvel Universe, but Jim Shooter, the Editor In Chief of Marvel at the time, insisted that the mainstream comics capitalize on the media attention as well. The regular Spidey comic writers weren't building to any sort of marriage at all (MJ was barely even in the comic at the time, IIRC), but editorial mandate made them quickly force the marriage into the comics.

This One More Day deal with the devil is hardly the most elegant solution, but the marriage was never an elegant situation to begin with, so I can live with it.

CrusaderX said:

The Peter and MJ marriage never should have happened in the first place. The only reason it did happen was because of the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. The strip was going to be cancelled in alot of papers, and the publishers of the strip needed to do something to draw attention to it, so they decided to have Peter Parker marry. This was never supposed to be the plan in the regular Marvel Universe, but Jim Shooter, the Editor In Chief of Marvel at the time, insisted that the mainstream comics capitalize on the media attention as well. The regular Spidey comic writers weren't building to any sort of marriage at all (MJ was barely even in the comic at the time, IIRC), but editorial mandate made them quickly force the marriage into the comics.

This One More Day deal with the devil is hardly the most elegant solution, but the marriage was never an elegant situation to begin with, so I can live with it.

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It makes no sense to suggest that the marriage was "never supposed to happen in the first place" just because the decision to get married was decided at an administrative level. The quaint notions that only the writers' plans count as "official", and they should be left alone to run their little fiefdoms as they see fit without editorial direction, has a kind of charming naivety to it. Spider-Man and X-Men are Marvel's biggest titles, so let no one doubt for a second that events in those comics transpire without constant editorial oversight. If the editor-in-chief decides that Spidey and MJ were supposed to get married, that's as "supposed to" as it gets.

I find it particularly self-contradicting to disregard Jim Shooter's editorial decision as being the act of an editorial interloper while regarding Joe Q's over-the-top retcon as being legitimate when it was a decision that the writer, J. Michael Whatever, resisted.

Spidey and MJ had been dating for years. I don't see what's so inelegant about them doing what some grown-ups do.

What I do find very much in need of correction is Spider-Man being an A-list hero with billionaire buddies and access to quinjets. That is very much the antithesis of what Spidey is about.

Klaus said:

So yeah, poorly conceived, brings too much mystical mumbo-jumbo, totally out-of-character decisions. Reminds me of Civil War.

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So, what do the Civil War and the MJ and SM break have in common. Oh, yeah... JoeQ.

Funny, but at this point it feels wrong to have MJ and SM break up, to be apart. It would be like having Kent and Lane get a divorce... But if the market demands it, then the market demands it and the fans want unhappy heroes.

Just got back from Wikipedia. The story is cosmically stupid. I'm amused that J. Michael Whatever wanted to have his name pulled, even though he copped-out at the last minute.

"Oh, I'll write your lousy story, and I'll cash your dirty paychecks all right--but I will protest most stringently by attempting to conceal my involvement!"

How noble....

Fans get that this was crap and the story is easily constructed so that it can all be magically undone (they learned that from the Cone Saga at least; always leave a backdoor).

Sorry, Relique, I can't answer your question as to why Peter and MJ would sacrifice so much just to restore Aunt May to a point where a stiff breeze could kill her.

Felon said:

If the editor-in-chief decides that Spidey and MJ were supposed to get married, that's as "supposed to" as it gets.

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Right. And the editor-in-chief is now deciding that Spidey and MJ were not supposed to get married. So what's the problem?

I'm not saying that Quesada's decision is perfectly legitimate while Shooter's decision was totally illegitimate. I'm saying that the two decisions are actually very much alike. Fans who praise one while damning the other don't seem to know how alike the two situations really are.

Felon said:

Just got back from Wikipedia. The story is cosmically stupid. I'm amused that J. Michael Whatever wanted to have his name pulled, even though he copped-out at the last minute.

"Oh, I'll write your lousy story, and I'll cash your dirty paychecks all right--but I will protest most stringently by attempting to conceal my involvement!"

How noble....

Fans get that this was crap and the story is easily constructed so that it can all be magically undone (they learned that from the Cone Saga at least; always leave a backdoor).

Sorry, Relique, I can't answer your question as to why Peter and MJ would sacrifice so much just to restore Aunt May to a point where a stiff breeze could kill her.

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It's cool.. but the possibilities created by that retcon boggles my mind. I mean, if the devil could effect reality that much when why not just have him undo Decimation by having the X-men never form or the Civil War by having the Avengers never reunite?

Sure I like there tp be some semblance of continuity within the Marvel universe, but having two magical reset buttons being pressed within two years is just lame since it creates a paper thin univers.. Besides... shouldn't Dr. Strange technically go after Spiderman now that he had the devil use magic to usurp reality?

Relique du Madde said:

Ok... can someone please explain to me WHY the hell Pater Parker and Mary Jane would honestly have their entire existence RETCONNED so that Aunt May wouldn't die? Honestly, if I were to make that same stupid deal with the devil I half expect Aunt May to bite it tomorrow morning of old age. I mean honestly... how many years does Aunt May have left? 1? 2? 5? 10?

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Hmm. I'm guessing someone's name have been removed from a rich relative's will.

Are you sure you're not the shafted Paris Hilton who will inherit nothing because grandpa is leaving his wealth to charities?

It is indeed lazy writing and attributes far too much power to Mephisto.

Winter Soldier, how would you like to trade that freshly redeemed soul for me to bring back Captain America?

Cyclops, how would you like to trade your soul for your unknown brother to never have been ripped from the womb and you to actually grow up with your family?

etc.. etc... etc....

It's just bad writing.