This is probably setting precedent, but Wednesday is when the local comic shop has new comic books out and, as I stated in my obligatory introduction, I do intend to devote some time on comic books, both published in print and online. That said, it is most likely Wednesday is the more likely day to see a comic post.
And today we start off with Spider-Man as Marvel continues the Brand New Day plot.
For those of you that weren’t keeping up, J. Michael Straczynski ended his run on Amazing Spider-Man with an arc titled “One More Day.” The plot followed on the coat tails of Marvel’s Crossover “Civil War” with an assassin hired by Wilson Fisk to kill Spider-Man or, if he couldn’t take out the Webhead, to kill Mary Jane and/or Aunt May. Basically, the point was “hurt Spider-Man.” And the assassin succeeded. He aimed for Spidey, but the good ol’ spider sense allowed him to get out of the way and save MJ as well, but Aunt May was hit by the bullet.
So once again, because we’ve not seen it before, Aunt May is in the hospital and Peter starts breaking the law left and right to keep her in the best of care. Stealing an ambulance, for example, lying, forgery, among other thing. He goes to every person he can, such as Reed Richards and Dr. Strange, to try and save his dear aunt, only to be told there’s nothing anyone can do. Apparently, the Marvel Universe is pretty divided now days and continuity between titles means little since the X-Men are right up the road with alien technology in their labs and a mutant whose power is, well, to heal people.
It all comes to a conclusion with Mephisto, a villain with absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Spider-Man, offers to save the old lady at the small price of the Parker marriage. Nobody will remember them being married, not even Peter and MJ, although a small part of their soul will remember and suffer and cry out in pain, which is what makes it so wonderful to the Marvel version of Satan; that he can destroy a pure love that has endured as the big guy upstairs intends love to be. Thinking only of his aunt, Peter is willing to agree, but not without MJ. They consider the consequences, consider if it’s her time, but of course not since she’s dying due to Spider-Man. Peter is reluctant, but Mary Jane seals the deal and adds in the requirement that his secret identity is restored, whispering some additional offering to Satan…er, I mean Mephisto.
And so what we get is a return to the early 80s. Peter is single, broke, living in his aunt’s house, and nothing ever goes right for him. His camera battery dies, he can’t get good photos, he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, and everyone thinks he’s evil again.
I was skeptical, but I know that in a year or two…or less, Marvel is going to retcon this retcon and return MJ to Peter. When that happens, I would have picked up an issue and wished I knew the back story, so I’ve kept buying. And let me say, it’s been good so far. Really good. The new vision of Spider-Man is what the series was needing for a long time. Amazing Spider-Man is now published three times a month and is the only Spider-book on the shelf, keeping things cohesive. Also, we have new villains being created (rather than recycling the same ones over and over), and so far they’ve been pretty good. His supporting cast is strong, the Daily Bugle is changed, adding a new layer to the story (JJJ lost the company at his wife’s decision while he was in the hospital after a heart attack), and the book just simply seems to have new life to it. The stories are fun!
There’s just one problem…it still doesn’t feel right.
Removing Mary Jane simply because the Editor in Chief Joe Quesada didn’t like the marriage seems a pointless move. Many writers have supposedly disliked the marriage over the years, but to me that really just says that the writers have been lazy. I’ve not really understood why MJ was so poorly handled. She’s always been a side character, baggage, weight for Peter to overcome, but never her own character. Why is she at home waiting on Peter? Why isn’t she in a field that can help him? We’ve seen she’s smart, she’s witty, she’s street savvy…why is she sitting around the house trying to find an acting gig? She could have gone back to college, been a private investigator, gone into medical school, been a nurse or a medical examiner. There are so many ways she could have become more and more involved in her husband’s world and worked with him rather than being a problem. And they’ve apparently done this now with Brand New Day letting them go all willy nilly. It’s not been confirmed, but the new super heroine in New York is a red head by the name Jackpot who uses the phrase “Tiger” a lot. Could be too obvious, but I’m sure it’s a carrot we’ll chase a while.
And furthering the poor handling of things, does anyone remember Mary Jane being “killed” in a plane explosion? Peter refused to believe it and in the end, she had been kidnapped by a mutant that was convinced he would take over Spider-Man’s life. Lame? You bet. A better solution would have been to stop finding every excuse to strain their marriage and start finding ways to strengthen it. MJ was an actor. Actors have stalkers. Why wasn’t she kidnapped by a normal person with normal person problems that drove him to be a stalker and kidnapper? Revolve this new peril around Mary Jane, not around Spider-Man. We could have seen a strong and defiant MJ, intelligent in handling her captor, keeping him barely under control through manipulation and suggestion until Spidey could figure it out and come to her rescue. Personally, I would have Peter arrive too late to rescue her, having the kidnapper outsmarted and subdued by the red head instead.
But MJ isn’t enough, really. We’ve also brought back Harry Osborn, who didn’t die, but was in Europe in rehab. He’s back with no Goblin memory, no Spidey memory (but he hates Spider-Man still), and a beautiful girlfriend who’s father is running for mayor in New York. It’s a good set up, but bringing someone back from the dead after so long seems shaky to me. Did I mention Peter Parker, the shining example of a true everyday common man’s hero, made a deal with Mephisto, the devil? Okay, just making sure.
But since then, we have, like I said, seen great villains and good new storylines. Menace seems to be the new Goblin, but he’s not playing around. He gave one warning with a slice across the chest, promising he’d kill Spidey if he got in his way, citing Green Goblin’s obsession with toying with Spider-Man as being the flaw that always cost him. This current arc introduced a drug addict called “Freak” who mistakenly took some stem cells from animals and insects and shot up, thinking they were drugs. He’s mutated once now, getting more animalistic and adapting to whatever nearly killed him last, and is mutating again as the end of this latest issue.
The story is going well, I’ll say, and I’m enjoying Spider-Man more than I have in a long time. But it’s still in the back of my mind that somehow it’s not real. It’s a What If? in the regular continuity. And to make matters even more depressing on the retcon horizon, we have the “Secret Invasion” coming up where the skrulls are revealed to have been infiltrating our heroes for years. With the teasers, it’s hard to not foresee a retcon to retcon this retcon. Was MJ a skrull? Is Peter a skrull? Is Harry a skrull? Is Squirrel Girl a skrull? (The last one is a definite “no” due to the awesomeness of Squirrel Girl)
In two weeks, we’ll start the next arc of Amazing Spider-Man with guest appearance by Wolverine, titled “Blizzard.” If Wolverine has ever met Peter, and remembers it, I guess he’ll be the first to realize who Spider-Man is….again. Then again, maybe we’ll just gloss over it.
One More Day and Brand New Day haven’t ruined the Spider-Man comic or the franchise. They’re better now than they’ve been in years, and it’s far better than The Clone Saga that dragged on forever (with a bigger retcon in the middle of it), but I really can’t stop thinking that the book would be better with MJ and a properly written marriage.
-Swift
