[Spoilers] Spiderman: One More Day...

[The Grumpy Celt]

Fie. Fie to all of it. This is why I only follow Ultimate Spidey and then rather loosely.

 

[Relique du Madde]

For example: He's married.

lol

Or they could have had MJ get pregnant only to reveal that the baby was a half-skrull. THEN we could have found out that Peter spent the last several weeks captured by the skrulls and that he fought his way out only to find that Aunt May was fatally shot...

 

[Klaus]

For example: He's married.

PRECISELY!

 

[Agamon]

For example: He's married.

Ba-dump-ching!

 

[Klaus]

I just got this image that Peter Parker would grow up to be Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty, married to MJ (acting like Annete Benning's character), father of May (like Thora Birch's character) and thinks he's in love with May's friend, Gwen (like Mena Suvari's character).

 

[Cthulhudrew]

You know, Joe Quasada is taking quite a lot of heat for this, but I have to believe that Straczynski should take some of the blame too.

He may not be responsible for the "Mephisto" stuff, but he certainly was on-board for ending the marriage.

Without knowing exactly what went on behind the scenes, I do know that Joe Q has been harping on the marriage since he started as EIC, which was several years before JMS ever came on board Marvel.

That, plus JMS' comments in response to Joe Q's interview, came across to me more like a guy saying, "Well, if this is what is going to happen, I'd rather do it and do it well than see it handled dismissively." (Which is how it ended up happening- dismissively, with Joe Q preferring to wave a magic wand rather than actually do the dirty detail work that JMS' plan would have done).

So, for my part, I'm not really inclined to throw too many stones JMS' way for this.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Again, contributing without actually saying anything!

For a little more on JMS's side of things, I suggest that everyone check's out this website, which is an archive of posts that JMS makes to various newsgroups. There's quite a bit on the OMD stuff there. I'd link to specific posts, but last I checked the archive system doesn't maintain the same URL for the same posts (boo!). Here's his latest post on OMD:

Speak of the devil and he shall appear....

For whatever it's worth, the situation is not as clear cut as one
might hope. The reality of any writer workingfor any company, DC or
Marvel or Image, is that when you're handed a franchise character,
you're basically entrusted with something that the company owns, and
the company has final say in what happens to that character, because
as a writer, you're only there for a certain amount of time and then
the next guy has to come in. Spider-Man belongs to Marvel, not to me,
and at the end of the day, however much I may disagree with things,
and however much I may make it very CLEAR to all parties that I
disagree, I have to honor their position.

In the Gwen storyline, yes, I wanted it to be Peter's kids, Joe over-
rode that, which is his right as EIC. I got the flack for that
decision, but them's the breaks.

In the current storyline, there's a lot that I don't agree with, and I
made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel,
especially Joe. I'll be honest: there was a point where I made the
decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last
two issues of the OMD arc. Eventually Joe talked me out of that
decision because at the end of the day, I don't want to sabotage Joe
or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those. As an
executive producer as well as a writer, I've sometimes had to insist
that my writers make changes that they did not want to make, often
loudly so. They were sure I was wrong. Mostly I was right.
Sometimes I was wrong. But whoever sits in the editor's chair, or the
executive producer's chair, wears the pointy hat of authority, and as
Dave Sim once noted, you can't argue with a pointy hat.

So at the end of the day, all one can do is try to do the best one can
with the notes one is given, and try to execute them in a professional
way...because who knows, the other guy may be right. The only thing I
*can* tell you, with absolute certainty, is that what Joe does with
Spidey and all the rest of the Marvel characters, he does out of a
genuine love of the character. He's not looking to sabotage anything,
he's not looking to piss off the fans, he genuinely believes in the
rightness of his views not out of a sense of "I'm the boss" but
because he loves these characters and the Marvel universe.

And right or wrong, you have to respect that.

jms

For the record, JQ is a big reason why I stopped reading Marvel, and keep mostly to a few indie label comics.

Also, for a great example of JMS writing without editorial oversight, I highly recommend Rising Stars.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

And, on the divorce angle, I have to agree if only on the basis that Spidey's mantra is "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" and him divorcing MJ seems to fly in the face of him being so dedicated and devoted and responsible.

I disagree with the implication that divorce is intrinsicly irresponsible. The nice thing about it being a story is that the writer can make the decision to divorce as responsible or irresponsible on either person's part as they choose. Especially with spidey's secret identity blown, constructing a situation where amicably ending their relationship is the best course is not difficult.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I can actually understand why they didn't go the divorce route.

Its cheesy, but simple: MJ and Peter never would get divorced. Its not in who they are. Despite all the crap thrown at both of them, including the insanity caused by Peter revealing he was Spider-Man, they stuck together and actually stayed strong. The entire Back in Black arc that was done pre-OMD was a great way to show just how good MJ and Peter were together. She was willing to do whatever was necessary.

Sure, a writer could come in and create problems, but IMO, that would be just as bad as Quesada's "MAGIC!" solution. Maybe Peter being married creates a problem for the writers, but, for me at least, its one of the things that has kept him such a great character through the years. To be honest, it would matter how this was done...I wouldn't like it. MJ and Peter being married just fits, simple as that.

So I'd be unhappy no matter how it was handled, but I definitely think that the whole "Its Magic!!" thing just makes it seem like more of an insult to the readers.

 

[Silver Moon]

I disagree with the implication that divorce is intrinsicly irresponsible.

I agree, my parent's divorce was the best thing that they ever did for me and my siblings.