Comics View: Spider-Man-One More Day
I received a lot of emails over the last week asking how I feel about the change in Spider-Man status quo so I figured I’d respond. First off, I haven’t read the actual issue yet, so this won’t be based on the actual story as much as my feeling about what is going on overall. I may update after I read the book-sometime this weekend most likely- but only if I feel I need to revisit the issue…
This book was -along with Spider-Man vs. Wolverine- was one of the first Spider-Man comics I actually remember reading. It was something I didn’t really understand- why would Spidey want to marry someone (I was young then)?- so the weight of it all was lost on me. I was just starting in comics, but if it made my long time friend Spidey happy, who was I to disagree? Over the years, as I grew older and more understanding of relationships, the marriage of Peter and MJ actually became something to look for in a real life partner- not only did Pete get the hot girl, he got the cool girl that would let him go out and swing around in his underwear. If he can find someone as awesome as that, surely I have a chance as well. No one ever said reading comics created a sound sense of reality.
Sure, she was annoying at times, but it depended on who was writing her. And you could see points where she was just at home, waiting on Peter. But Spider-Man was married and that was the ‘truth’ of it all. As it was the entire time I read Spidey comics, all the way until this guy showed up….
Not only was this the beginning of the much hated ‘Clone Saga’ but is was also the beginning of the first time Marvel said “Let’s take Spidey back to basics and make him like he was before he was married. And let’s do it by erasing the last twenty years of stories and simply say to everyone they’ve been following the wrong story”.
I, like many other Spider-Man fans, gave it a chance. But as it went on it was obvious that the powers that be were looking for a quick fix and in a move to get the character back to his roots they forgot what made the character great and took away everything we wanted to see. So, again like many Spider-Man fans, I stopped reading. For nearly 10 years I stopped reading.
Now, here we go again. Once again we, the fans, are asked to forget twenty years of stories and act like we’re okay with it.
Right now I’m of two minds.
On one side, I hate the idea because, as I’ve said before, this is the Spidey relationship that I grew up with; Peter was always married to Mary Jane. And the way it was just wiped away -in making a deal with the ‘devil’ no less- just doesn’t sit well with me as of yet.
But I also really like it. Simply because, unlike the time of the Clone Saga when we all felt like everything was fine, the 616 Spider-Man is bogged down with a lot of baggage. He’s revealed his identity to the world. He’s a fugitive from the law. He has very few friends left he can trust. His powers are screwy. He’s got stingers. Yeah, lots of junk that needs to go away. It’s almost as if they told the creative types “do what you want with him, go crazy, because we’re gonna get outta this mess very soon”. And that might be a good thing.
For me it all comes down to how they handle it. The other problem with the Clone Saga was they let it keep going for far too long, even after everyone involved knew how hated it was. With “One More Day” and the coming “Brand New Day” they have a chance to do what they planned all those years ago -truly take Spider-Man and Peter back to basics. And they better not waste it this time. I’ll do what I did the last time: I’ll give it a few issues and see how I feel about it. I’ m already happy that his identity is secret again-that gets my vote for the dumbest decision over this any day- so hopefully they’ll keep making the right choices.
We’ll see. I know it will be hard to say ‘bye’ to Spidey again if it doesn’t work out…
January 3, 2008 at 9:29 am
“We’ll see. I know it will be hard to say ‘bye’ to Spidey again if it doesn’t work out…”
Not me, i already dropped Spider-Man because of crappy storyline and Joe Q ego complex.
January 3, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I can see your point, but I still think I’ll give it a chance. Many decisions have been made over the years in comics that everyone hated, and at times they turn out to be a good idea. I’ll hold on to my “wait and see” attitude until I read the new books.
May 16, 2008 at 11:30 pm
So I gotta ask you this, since this was your jumping on point for Spidey did you happen to read “Kraven’s Last Hunt”? It happened shortly after this issue but a lot of Spidey fans I’ve talked to have no clue what I’m talking about. It’s, in my opinion, the beast Spidey story written to date. Oh and great articles, I’ve stopped by a time or two before but never actually commented but I figured it was about time I did.
May 20, 2008 at 5:31 am
Kraven’s Last Hunt is one of my favorite stories of all times as well. I was too young to really get it the first time I read it, but as I grew I realized just how deep and amazing it truly is. And I agree: it is a very under appreciated story.