The Four Color Media Monitor

Newsweek almost gets some things right when they talk about the fallout from One More Day in Spider-Man. But then, even they won't talk tough enough. Good that I can link to the printable version of this, because the picture they show on the stardard format, when looked upon in the light of the fallout, is simply disgusting.

Let's look at the good part available here first:

...they're [the fans] not so much angry about the breakup itself--most fans will admit that characters, at some point, need a fresh start. (Marvel's main rival, DC Comics, gave Superman and Wonder Woman new beginnings in the 1980s, and fans took it fine.) The problem, they say, is that the story's not realistic. Divorce, yes. (Peter and MJ had a trial separation at one point.) Death, sure. (That's how Parker's ex-girlfriend Gwen Stacy died). But would as intelligent and moral a hero as Peter Parker really be dumb enough to strike a deal with the devil? Would he really choose an aged aunt, who's led a full and satisfying life, over his true love? "This is not an idea, but an admission of a lack of ideas," says Bob Sodaro, a Connecticut writer and graphic artist who has been collecting Spider-Man comics since its inception in 1962. On his blog, he calls the move "the ultimate form of copout"--and one that "loudly proclaims that not only has Marvel run out of ideas, but that it's writers and editors really can't write themselves out of a paper bag."

That's even more right than you think, if you take into consideration that they spent more than five years now doing things like politicized stories, defamations of Captain America, to name but one (that Marvel Knights series still makes me shudder when I think about it), and some of the most awful publicity stunts ever imagined, One More/Brand New Day being the latest.

Now, here's where I think they start to slip:

Writers, editors—and even some fans—have long been conflicted over Parker's marriage to Mary Jane. Back when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the series, Spider-Man immediately connected with young readers because he was a geeky teenager who was awkward around girls and not sure how to use his powers. Getting married aged him, making it harder for younger readers to relate. It took away the tension of his single life, the trials and tribulations of being a bachelor. And it changed his image: from a dork who strives to be a hero despite seemingly endless bad luck to the man who gets the dream girl.

And there aren't "geeks" who get the girl too? And didn't many of these young readers of the time connect almost as easily with Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four even after they got married and had their first child, Franklin? The bolded part makes it sound as though nobody asked for character growth, and that's what the marriage was all about. If he remined flat-out nerdy for the past 40 years, essentially a bum living in his mom's - or aunt's - basement, he'd be shipwrecked as an icon.

In the end, though, the best argument for breaking up the duo was to add new fans to the old. Spider-Man has a loyal base of longtime devotees, but he needs to attract young adults, who make up the majority of comic book readers. And it's they who are most likely to be lured away by electronic entertainment and the Internet. "This is really about the next generation of Spider-Man fans, not just the older fans," says Quesada. "We want to make sure [Spider-Man] stays healthy and active as an icon."

Hate to say, but many of the young adults (so it's no longer the kiddies now, is it?) they speak of have already been lured away by electronics and the internet. There may be some who'll come along now, but it would come as no surprise to me if many of them lost interest after awhile too. And turning Peter back into an adult bachelor who still lives with his aunt and eating her wheatcakes isn't exactly emphasizing something healthy, or inspiring.

Of course, the breakup won't be easy for everyone to get over. A series is only as good as its characters, and it's only natural for fans to get invested in them. "My sixth- and seventh-grade students asked me, after the first [Spider-Man] movie came out, 'What happened with Peter and Mary Jane?' Like they're real people that send me postcards," says Greg Hatcher, a Seattle art teacher who teaches drawing and cartooning and writes a weekly column for Comic Book Resources, the Web site that puts out the Comics Should Be Good blog. He says his students have even come to favor Spider-Girl over the original series, a Marvel spinoff in which Spidey is married and retired, with a 15-year-old daughter who inherits his powers.

And that's understandable. One really tough question in all this now is if they should try even that, because of Quesada's recent statements that he expects sales to go through the roof for Spider-Girl. Obviously, this is an attempt to justify his steps on the flagship series, but there's just one little thing: in Spider-Girl, Peter is retired and no longer works as the wall-crawler.

Still others, like Sodaro, admittedly cling to the fairy-tale romance; the nerd-guy-gets-hot-girl fantasy that a lot of guys growing up could relate to. "Peter Parker was the 'everyman geek' when I was growing up," says the 52-year-old, who has written about the comic book industry for nearly 30 years. "He was the guy that everybody picked on. And for anyone who did get picked on, you'd fantasize what you'd do if you were a superhero. That's what Peter Parker was for us. And his marrying of MJ--a supermodel--epitomized that fantasy."

And there was also something for female readers to find in Spidey's world as well: a working woman who stood up and thought for herself, as MJ usually did for many years. That's why even the female audience could be alienated by the editorial edictions.

Sadly, at the end of the article, they begin to blow:

Whatever happens, Quesada is confident his fans will stay loyal. After all, it's not a good story without a little controversy.

Ugh, I do declare they have crash-landed with that last "little" line there. That's exactly the problem, that comics are relying almost all the time on controversy, to say nothing of publicity stunts. The only people for whom this could truly be good when it's controversial are the very press reporters who put out fluff like this article. To the comic's audience, there's no good in any of it. It's just a pathetic excuse for moving from point A to point B, as they've done for a couple years now, and there's no convincing drama or growth in any of it.

Update: on Comic Boards, one of the posters is already let down by the first Brand New Day story. Though it doesn't say here, I think Peter doesn't even appear in costume in this first issue at all. But this next item from The Savage Critics probably says it a bit better, that there's really nothing new here, and nothing very fresh either. And on The Comic Stew, the writer hints that sales weren't as rosy as Quesada must be hoping. I hope not, because it's high time that fans stopped letting him get away with this misuse of some of the best comics creations. Please, to all who really do care, don't let yourselves get cheated and used this time.

Update 2: here's one more review of the issue from LOTR King's Comics Reviews. Man, when I first read all about Dan Slott, yep, I would have thought that he was a perfect fit for writing plenty of these longtime superheroes. But now, with this, I wouldn't be surprised if soon, anyone who had a high opinion of him will start to change that after this fiasco. Until now, I'd been thinking of buying the trades collecting his work on She-Hulk and the 8 issues he wrote of The Thing's 2nd volume, but kept feeling reluctant. Now, I know why. If he's going to go along fully with everything that Quesada wants, and worse, has no grass-roots standings (and I think Newsarama said that this had been planned for at least a year now, with Slott being one of the leading architects), then he's no better than countless other writers and artists to come down the road in the past decade or so.

Labels: marvel comics, msm propaganda, Spider-Man