Lack of serious supporting cast is what hurts the comic
One of the best discussions of why One More Day is such a failure can be found at Spidey Kicks Butt, where JR Fettinger explains almost perfectly one of the problems with how the Parker marriage was depicted over the years, and why there wasn't any drama in it:
Or, because they never made proper use of the supporting cast, and certainly not during the first half of Straczynski's run. Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Randy and Robbie Robertson, Jill, John and Arthur Stacy, Glory Grant and even the one and only J. Jonah Jameson were largely - and strangely - absent during the first half, and if they did appear, it was only in a symbolic cameo when the throwaway villainess called Shathra turned up (in JJJ's case, he only had a brief appearance during the time that aunt May decided to cut her subscription to the Bugle). Even if MJ was over in Hollywood on an otherwise fruitless movie shoot, there was still plenty to be done by writing up a side story involving some of the established cast, or even to introduce new ones who could take the place of Harry Osborn, when he was still in the grave.
And, there are other ideas that could've been tried out too: Peter and MJ could trace their family tree's roots back to places like Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and take a trip there to see all the amazing ancient castles, and to meet up with distant relatives they might find there. And while they're at it, Peter could discover that HYDRA was hatching a terrorist plot in the area and go into web-slinging action to stop them. Now that would make a good story, I'm telling you.
The ignorance of a real supporting cast, or lack of it altogether, is something that affected various other comics during the 1990s too. Did they have much of a serious cast? When Wally West first took over as Flash, there was a supporting cast built at the time, most notably the scientists Jerry and Tina McGee, the latter of whom had an affair with Wally in a storyline that was fairly controversial, and which also led her hubby to go on the warpath as a chemical-induced speedster in his own way. And there was also Wally's mother, Chunk, the [then?] reformed Pied Piper, Mason Trollbridge, and this was when Linda Park was first introduced. But after Mark Waid took over, a lot of these people either vanished or were strictly relegated to the sidelines. The cast under Waid's pen were the Garricks, Quick father and daughter, Iris Allen when she came back from the future with Bart Allen, and the Pied Piper. In other words, what you had here was a cast that either consisted of established people, or of those who were superheroes as well.
And I think I know where the problem came in: Linda didn't have any say, female college buddies whom she could have a girl-chat with (and her parents rarely made appearances), and come to think of it, Wally never seemed to have any old pals come in from Blue Valley, Nebraska, either, whom he could go to the bowling alley with. This was in contrast to Spider-Man's well-established supporting/recurring cast of characters, and while Waid did do well as a writer then, that he didn't introduce any more down-to-earth supporting cast like what I suggest is surprising. Even Geoff Johns, while he seemed to add a supporting cast, largely dropped or sidelined them after awhile.
Or look at any and all of the team comics during that time where the superheroes and superheroines would date each other, and there weren't really "outsiders" involved. The X-Men is a perfect example of that. Only Moira MacTaggert and Trish Tilby seemed to make up a non-mutant cast (on the good side), and apart from that, there were few others, if at all.
I think a supporting cast made of regular folk from around the neighborhood could do perfectly for a lot of the comics that may otherwise not have one. And that's something that some comics during the 90s did not do a good job of establishing, if at all. In fact, that was surely the time when editors may have largely abandoned good writing, resulting in a lot of pointlessness.
I realize that editorial fiats could be one of the reasons why there were no real supporting casts introduced, or the writers weren't interested (sometimes, even if there is one intro'd, bad writing can still scuttle it), but either way, that's exactly the problem that's hurt a lot of the better potential that could've been had if they were to build a more serious supporting cast.
Besides restoring Spidey's marriage, I think that the writers should start making more serious use of the other relatives MJ has, and even introduce some new ones for Peter. That way, there could be some more interesting drama to be had in their relationship.
The only reason there is no “drama” in Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage is because the writers never really bothered to look for any. The sister with the kids never visited and started breaking into Pete’s “stuff,” the jailbird father only showed up once after the wedding, and then only as a broken and repentant man. The ex-brother in law never made an appearance. Other than Aunt Anna, whose best moments came when she suspected that Peter’s frequent absences meant that he was cheating on Mary Jane, and anorexic cousin Kristy who stayed with the Parkers briefly, MJ’s family was a no-show. Seldom did she drag him anywhere he didn’t want to go, which every wife is required by law to do to her husband. There were plenty of opportunities for conflict in the marriage that didn’t require one spouse to be unfaithful to the other, or them to be nasty and hateful to each other, and for conflict in all kinds of social situations. But the writers didn’t find them. Peter and Mary Jane became insolated due to lazy writing.There's your answer, about what went wrong, certainly during the 1990s. I notice Brand New Day seems to imply that Peter himself has no living relatives other than Aunt May, and you know what? I think that too is a problem: because Peter himself may not have any other family relatives, even distant ones, other than his elderly aunt, no distant 2nd or 3rd cousins, for example, who could introduce some more recurring and supporting cast members, that's why even Peter may not have worked out well.
Or, because they never made proper use of the supporting cast, and certainly not during the first half of Straczynski's run. Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Randy and Robbie Robertson, Jill, John and Arthur Stacy, Glory Grant and even the one and only J. Jonah Jameson were largely - and strangely - absent during the first half, and if they did appear, it was only in a symbolic cameo when the throwaway villainess called Shathra turned up (in JJJ's case, he only had a brief appearance during the time that aunt May decided to cut her subscription to the Bugle). Even if MJ was over in Hollywood on an otherwise fruitless movie shoot, there was still plenty to be done by writing up a side story involving some of the established cast, or even to introduce new ones who could take the place of Harry Osborn, when he was still in the grave.
And, there are other ideas that could've been tried out too: Peter and MJ could trace their family tree's roots back to places like Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and take a trip there to see all the amazing ancient castles, and to meet up with distant relatives they might find there. And while they're at it, Peter could discover that HYDRA was hatching a terrorist plot in the area and go into web-slinging action to stop them. Now that would make a good story, I'm telling you.
The ignorance of a real supporting cast, or lack of it altogether, is something that affected various other comics during the 1990s too. Did they have much of a serious cast? When Wally West first took over as Flash, there was a supporting cast built at the time, most notably the scientists Jerry and Tina McGee, the latter of whom had an affair with Wally in a storyline that was fairly controversial, and which also led her hubby to go on the warpath as a chemical-induced speedster in his own way. And there was also Wally's mother, Chunk, the [then?] reformed Pied Piper, Mason Trollbridge, and this was when Linda Park was first introduced. But after Mark Waid took over, a lot of these people either vanished or were strictly relegated to the sidelines. The cast under Waid's pen were the Garricks, Quick father and daughter, Iris Allen when she came back from the future with Bart Allen, and the Pied Piper. In other words, what you had here was a cast that either consisted of established people, or of those who were superheroes as well.
And I think I know where the problem came in: Linda didn't have any say, female college buddies whom she could have a girl-chat with (and her parents rarely made appearances), and come to think of it, Wally never seemed to have any old pals come in from Blue Valley, Nebraska, either, whom he could go to the bowling alley with. This was in contrast to Spider-Man's well-established supporting/recurring cast of characters, and while Waid did do well as a writer then, that he didn't introduce any more down-to-earth supporting cast like what I suggest is surprising. Even Geoff Johns, while he seemed to add a supporting cast, largely dropped or sidelined them after awhile.
Or look at any and all of the team comics during that time where the superheroes and superheroines would date each other, and there weren't really "outsiders" involved. The X-Men is a perfect example of that. Only Moira MacTaggert and Trish Tilby seemed to make up a non-mutant cast (on the good side), and apart from that, there were few others, if at all.
I think a supporting cast made of regular folk from around the neighborhood could do perfectly for a lot of the comics that may otherwise not have one. And that's something that some comics during the 90s did not do a good job of establishing, if at all. In fact, that was surely the time when editors may have largely abandoned good writing, resulting in a lot of pointlessness.
I realize that editorial fiats could be one of the reasons why there were no real supporting casts introduced, or the writers weren't interested (sometimes, even if there is one intro'd, bad writing can still scuttle it), but either way, that's exactly the problem that's hurt a lot of the better potential that could've been had if they were to build a more serious supporting cast.
Besides restoring Spidey's marriage, I think that the writers should start making more serious use of the other relatives MJ has, and even introduce some new ones for Peter. That way, there could be some more interesting drama to be had in their relationship.
Labels: dc comics, marvel comics, Spider-Man, women of marvel
