The Four Color Media Monitor

Or even their love affair, for that matter. To make matters worse, IGN is watering down the whole subject:

The roller coaster that is Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's relationship has just taken another swerve, and some Amazing Spider-Man readers are very angry.

As Marvel inches closer to resolving the big mystery that's dominated the current volume of Amazing Spider-Man, the latest chapter of the series features a startling revelation about the current state of Peter and MJ's troubled romance. Read on for a full breakdown of what happened, where Peter and MJ currently stand and why some fans are having a hard time stomaching this latest twist to Spidey's world.

The direction they're going in appears to be a classic cliche of superheroes hooking up with other superheroes, as is indicated in the following:

A lot has changed in Peter's life over the past year, to put it mildly. The series opened with a huge mystery, as Peter apparently caused a major disaster in Pennsylvania that has alienated him from his friends and loved ones. Even his relationship with Aunt May is strained. And despite rekindling their romance during the previous volume of Amazing Spider-Man, the two are now firmly broken up. MJ has even entered into a new relationship with a man named Paul.

We won't learn the full story behind that disaster until issue #26, but the series already seems to squash the idea that Peter and MJ will ever permanently get back together. Peter has recently started dating the Black Cat, and issue #20 makes things more official.

During a heart-to-heart with Felicia, Peter drops a major bombshell. He no longer feels romantic love toward MJ. He fumblingly compares her to "a sister" or "a best friend," but the old passion is gone. Peter says, "I love her. I always have, and part of me always will. But... I think that love has changed, you know?" It's a somewhat bizarre confession to make given the past nature of their relationship and the fact that, as of a few months ago in this series, Peter was still trying to win MJ back. But if this issue is meant to be taken at face value, it seems Peter was clinging to the past rather than truly wanting his old relationship back. After the rocky state of their relationship over the past 15 years, maybe it's time for Peter Parker to finally move on.

Well, that's certainly turning to apologia in a hurry. Not to mention failure to describe this as characterization instead of "confession". It sounds an awful lot like the columnist is comfy with the suggestion Peter should "move on", and no doubt, he believes Spider-fans should do the same, specifically, by embracing the Spidey franchise as Marvel's upper echelons dictate it and continue to read it no matter how bad the writing and editing's become. No, the way we move on is by voting with our wallets and boycotting it altogether.

There seems little chance of that happening now, unfortunately. Despite all the buildup toward what seemed to be the possibility of a renewed marriage between Peter and MJ, the current series all but slams the door on that era of Peter's romantic life. And given his track record, we're not optimistic about his new romance with Black Cat standing the test of time.

Of course not. When the current direction is that forced and contrived, you can't be surprised when serious Spider-fans won't approve, period. Besides, this is, again, an example of a cheap direction in motion, pairing 2 costumed crimefighters together instead of the more challenging path of one crimefighter dating/marrying a civilian, and due to the forced and contrived mandates by Quesada/Alonso/Cebulski, that's why even a romance with Black Cat isn't acceptable at this point.

Obviously, social media reactions don't necessarily represent the entire audience. Looking back at Jaunary 2023's comic book sales, The Amazing Spider-Man #17 was the best-selling issue of the month in terms of units sold, beating out even the likes of Nightwing #100 and Batman #131. The recent controversies surrounding the series don't seem to be hurting Amazing Spider-Man sales-wise.

If you take a look at that ICV2 page, there's no actual sales figures listed on it, so what's he driving at? An indication he's got no opposition to their editorial mandates, since he hasn't seriously recommended Marvelites boycott the comics. At the end, he says:

That said, it'll be interesting to see the overall sales trend of the series following issue #20 and the big reveal in issue #26. Spider-Man readers are now twice-bitten, thrice-shy where Peter and MJ's relationship is concerned. Will this lead more readers to drop the book? And what happens if Marvel reverses course and tries to maneuver the characters back into a relationship? Given Peter's confession here, it may be time to finally abandon hope that Spider-Man and Mary Jane will ever be a married couple in the Marvel Comics universe. Good thing there's still a Marvel multiverse...

Oh, and what's this? Alternate universes and movie universes are supposed to compensate for this catastrophe? No way. This is one of the main reasons why it got to the point where I wanted nothing to do with the movies, because it was clear they cared far more about making money with those than building up the comics market proper. Besides, the way all Marvel books, Spidey included, are written/drawn/edited at this point is so biased and frustrating, replete with political correctness, it'll make little difference whether they restore the Spider-marriage or not. The chances they'd continue to force wokeness upon Spidey as much as other Marvel books is sadly a foregone conclusion.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, Spider-Man, women of marvel