Merry Marvel Month: Spider-Man ONE MORE DAY

SPIDER SENSE SAYS THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!!! 

I am putting this one here as man, it pisses me off. While the clone saga(which I will get too, trust me) was bad this, THIS was a whole new level of stupid and I hate that it had to involve Spider-Man. Sadly it was part of the clone saga but he is the flagship guy for Marvel for years.

This was a four part story in 2007, it connected all three of the main Spider-Man titles written by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada. I hate to even talk about this as it is so beyond stupid, the reasons behind it, what it does, WHY both the Marvel team and Peter choose this path and what happens because of it.

Just seeing this makes me feel gross.

So lets swing into ONE MORE DAY and try and survive it.

So the main reason behind the idea seems to be that Joe Quesada and many at Marvel refuse to let Spider-Man/Peter Parker grow up. They can't seem to write him as an adult and Quesada more then most thought the idea of a married Spider-Man was stopping them from writing stories for the next 20 or 30 years, why that would stop you from writing stories I don't know but it was considered a HUGE reason.

Am I dying?

So we have Aunt May, you remember Aunt May right, she was and is important for raising Peter and is part of his support cast but at this point since he is a GROWN MAN she is not needed quite as much.  She gets shot by a bullet meant for Peter Parker and of course he resorts to 1990's emo Peter and whines about losing everyone dear to him and forgets he all grown up now.  I don't mean to sound callus but we lose people, it happens in the real world and in comics. 

We age, they age. People are killed by Cancer or Super Villains. It sadly happens and Aunt May is like 95 now, she has maybe 2 or 3 years left anyhow. This could have been a growing point and a stepping stone to move Peter and Mary Jane up and on with their lives together, make Peter stronger in a way and bring them even closer together.

Spider-Man meet THE DEVIL!

Instead, Spider-Man, the man whose moral compass puts Superman's to shame, the flagship of Marvel. The man who worries and cries when a loved one gets a hang nail turns to MEPHISTO, WHO IS THE DEVIL for Marvel. That's right, clean cut, do the right thing, Peter Parker calls up THE DEVIL!! Seriously!

He wants to make a deal, He wants Aunt May saved as the bullet was meant for him and he can't stand to see Aunt May die, again not trying to be a dick but really? She has to die sooner or later and you have survived her "dying" before.  Your acting like your 10, not a grown up and that is stupid. So here we have Peter Parker and Mary Jane dealing with THE DEVIL.

Granted Peter went to EVERYONE before, Mr. Fantastic, Beast, Tony Stark, even Dr. Doom but somehow NONE of them could help with a gun shot?? So Mephisto agrees to save her but Peter and Mary Jane have to give up their love. Their Love you ask? Not just their marriage but the whole history of it. They have to give it all to Mephisto, the whole time. The marriage will have NEVER have happened!

Yes, I would gladly give up my marriage for Aunt May.

Quesada said he felt the deal with the devil was more heroic then a everyday divorce which would me MJ and Peter giving up on their love...Stupid. He does turn to The High Evolutionary and even travels through time with Doctor Strange but gets injured in the process.  A little girl appears to Peter and says he has the answers to his problems.  After they agree to the deal, with MJ adding some other offer for Mephisto clear every one's minds that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, we found out the little girl was supposed to be their daughter but that will never happen now.

So Peter wakes up in bed, again living with Aunt May (YAY FOR HUGE JUMPS BACKWARDS) and Harry Osborn is somehow alive again, he has been hiding out in Europe...Sigh, I fucking hate this story.  At one point, Peter encounters a comic book reader and in a speech he all but says comic book writers are just sad lonely people who have to have a false world and heroes to look up too as our live is so disappointing.  HEY Quesada and any part JMS had in that, FUCK OFF.  Your insulting the very people buying your stuff.
 

So this is no more...He gave that up.

So the marriage is wiped, No one knows who Spider-Man is and Peter is back with his Aunt May. Years of building them and him up and finally getting him to act a bit like a grown man, gone. Wiped out by one of the stupidest things ever all because Quesada felt there were no stories to tell about a married Spider-Man. A big FUCK YOU to all the long time fans and we see MJ and Peter as the same party....ah well. 
 

Now, lets give up our love and sex.

This killed Spider-Man for me, I have no idea what he is currently doing nor do I care. The insults, the piss poor story, the reasons behind it. All beyond stupid, I don't mind major changes to shake things up or even a small change for a bit, like Superman dying or wiping out all but 198 mutants to take chances but their are reasons for that.

They do open up new paths and stories. Their was nothing to be gained by erasing the whole marriage of MJ and Peter. It doesn't add anything, and makes everything take a huge step backward and fixing nothing. Their are other options for people who don't want a married Spider-Man. Ultimate, Miles, and other stories. This was insulting and frustrating, never needed and not asked for.

I would erase this whole story.

I always think of Mallrats and Stan Lee's speech about love and even using MJ and Peter as an example. Then this, Plus having Harry alive....why? What the hell is the point, it makes no sense and piss offed so many fans and critics. Writers and artists. Very few people understood or liked this story. I suffered through Emo Spider-Man during the Smoke and Mirrors crap, Traveller, and even The Clone Saga(don't worry I will get to that mess) but this is what killed my love of Spider-Man.

Sit on this and spin Writers of One More Day

Not just mine but many people, I still refuse to believe SPIDER-MAN of all people made a deal with the Devil.  For someone who really should have been allowed to die off in peace years ago and let Peter move on, but no. Somehow they can think of more stories with a old lady who raised Peter decades ago and not ones with a young couple dealing with having a superhero husband. Seems a couple like that is more story driven then Aunt May.   


 

Just not One More Day