Rating:  -
Would you make a deal with the Devil?
I certainly hope not, but this question is the crux of the four-issue "One More Day" event in Spider-Man's life.
In this story-arc, it is very disappointing to see Spider-Man make the choices that he makes.
And I use the term "story-arc" dangerously loosely, because for something called as such, very little actually happens. Almost the entirety of four issues is built to defend the proposition that Peter Parker should make a deal with the Devil.
Let me repeat that for you: FOUR ISSUES ARE DEVOTED TO RATIONALIZING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.
Do you think ANY issues should be made to make sense of that? I don't, and I don't think Spider-Man, a symbol of close-to-home morality and relatable perseverance, should either. He could have resorted to Loki, to Thor, to Dr. Strange, to the entire Marvel Universe, yet he goes five fathoms out of his character -- he turns to the bastion of all that is evil, Mephisto, to save his dying aunt.
Not only are these issues a betrayal to the fans, above all, they are a betrayal to the character.
If you're looking for an accessible Spider-Man book that shows some semblance of reverence toward the characters, you won't find it in this book.
It barely deserves a single star, and it definitely doesn't justify your 16 dollars.
Rating: -
Spiderman is one of the most iconic characters in all of comicdom. The story of a young man who seemingly comes by his powers by accident and decides to use them for good in the face of a great tragedy is one that resonates through generations. Yet Marvel churns out bad Spidey story after bad Spidey story and readers are the ones hurt. This one takes the cake. Joe Quesada could screw up a wet dream. For some reason Marvel holds Aunt May up to this golden standard and continually extends the Oedipal relationship that Peter has with her. Imagine the story ideas that could open up if they put her in the ground! Nah... let's delete the last 20 years of Spiderman comics so we can keep her around for a few more years. Brilliant!
DO.NOT.BUY.THIS.BOOK!
Rating:  -
This is one of the most important Spider-Man stories ever. You'll find that only whiny fanboys seem to have a problem with this story. But for anyone who's never really read Spider-Man before, I really recommend it. The art is fantastic and the story is very new reader friendly. It's also a must read for anyone who's read Civil War (Marvel Comics), another epic story from the House of Ideas!!
Rating: -
Despite what Marvel editors may say, the one thing that truly made Spider-Man great in the past 20 years was the fact that the good guy really did get the hot girl. Having one of the few successful superhero marriages in Marvel history (with the exception of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four), Peter and Mary Jane's story was one of loyalty and true love. Even after Marvel allowed Peter to reveal his identity, the stories became even more gripping as he fought to protect his family from vengeful villains who now knew who to come after. With SHIELD bearing down on MJ to force her husband to turn himself back in again after joining Cap's "rebels", she showed incredible courage and faced down a restaurant full of agents with the assurance that Peter would rescue her (and he did). Marvel truly had taken themselves in a bold new direction and it was exciting to see where it would go next.
Then Aunt May gets shot. Let's be honest here, who isn't ready for the old bird to finally die? She was a vital part of Pete's life when he was a teenager, but her continued presence this late in life makes him come off as a Momma's Boy in the worst way. So finally we see light at the end of the tunnel as the old bag finally looks like she's going down...
How could they fix it? The world knew who Spider-Man really was! When Marvel announced the Skrull invasion of Earth, it looked like the perfect way to fix everything. Just explain that a Skrull had masqueraded as Spider-Man and exposed the wrong person. Have Peter and somebody dressed like Spidey come out of a Skrull POW camp and the world is all right again. We all felt relieved. But of course, that's not what the editors wanted to do. Oh no, they had a their own master plan.
I'd love to have seen the meeting. Someone gets the bright idea of "Hey, let's reboot the whole character and pretend the last 20 years never happened!" Someone else says, "Hey, sure! I mean, it's just Spider-Man...we can rewrite his history and not affect any of the other characters in the Marvel universe." "Brilliant!" "Give that man a raise!" and with those few moments, comic book fans all around the world are stabbed in the back. "Thanks for buying our books for the last 20 years, but none of that mattered! You think we screwed up with the Clone Saga? Hahaha, let me show you what a TRUE mess we can make of things!"
And so, with "One More Day" we are treated to Marvel trying to make sense of their reboot of the character. We are supposed to believe that Peter Parker willingly gives up his life, marriage, and love with the full knowledge he'll never get Mary Jane back to save his 200 year old Aunt who couldn't die if a nuclear bomb went off in her purse. Honestly, for some reason she's Marvel's favorite character and she'll be the last one standing when every other hero is dead. And the fact that he's so willing to throw Mary Jane under the bus just paints him as this horrible, selfish idiot who didn't deserve her loyalty through the whole "Civil War" thing.
I've been reading comics for over 25 years, and can truly say this was the worst thing I've ever seen Marvel or DC do to their fans. It was unnecessary, and completely stupid to think they could do this reboot of "nobody will know who you are anymore" and it not screw up 20 years of continuity in every other comic book they've written (What about New Avengers? Wouldn't their discovery of the Skrulls have been erased since they didn't know who Spider-Man was and he'd never lived in Stark Towers, so he couldn't have been with the team to save them during their earlier storylines and it would have ended differently. How about the Civil War? Without Pete's help, why would Stark's original plan have gotten off the ground? It was his unmasking that was the pivotal point in everything, and his reason for joining Cap's team later.)
A stupid, lazy way to end an otherwise successful 20 year run on the comic. Skip this and spend your money on some older Spidey story. This comic has officially jumped the shark.
Rating: -
This story line may have worked in the late 70's, when I was 11. Marvel readers deserve more credit. We invested ourselves in the characters and their lives. I know it's just a story, but Pete and Maryjane not being together, that stings a little. Maybe Marvel should consider undoing what they just undid.
|
