|
| Reading Spider-Man is a lot like knowing a girl who won’t leave her abusive boyfriend. You know what’s going on, you see what’s going on and yet you are powerless to do anything about it. I’m not sure what Marvel’s problem is, why they continue to treat Spider-Man as a sounding board for one stupid idea after the other but that is where we find ourselves. For those who are unclear, let’s recap. |
First Marvel tried to say that Peter Parker was a clone and not the real Spider-Man, that didn’t work. In fact the backlash to that was so severe that once Marvel stitched up the storyline they left it alone for awhile. Years later, for no real reason, Marvel decided that the history of spider-Man didn’t need to be adhered to, that the origin by Stan Lee (with brilliant art by Steve Ditko) was only a suggested outline. With that in mind Marvel introduced the “Spider Lineage”. This was the idea that Peter Parker wasn’t just a teenager accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider, that instead he was part of an ancient Spider Lineage which led to his powers. Yes it was just as stupid as it sounds. That was when I checked out, hung up my Spider-Man fan club jacket and moved on to other books. Later on Marvel teamed Spider-Man with Tony Stark (Iron Man) and gave him this stupid new “Iron Man” style costume. Then during Civil War they had Peter Parker reveal himself as Spider-Man, which painted Marvel into a corner. Spider-Man’s life was completely changed and the change, much like the other changes Marvel attempted, didn’t work. With little left to do Marvel turned to their Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada and writer supreme J. Michael Straczynski to help them. This was the point where logic seems to have seeped from the minds of both men and together they united for a three part series titled One More Day, which may have destroyed the Spider-Man fan base beyond all repair.
The general idea of One More Day is that Spider-Man is given a choice by Mephisto that he must either choose his life with Mary Jane (and their child) and give up Aunt May or choose Aunt May and give up his life with Mary Jane. Peter chooses Aunt May and when he’s returned to the world the last 20 or so years of Spider-Man history was gone, erased. Spidey was never married to Mary Jane, they have no child, Harry Osbourne is still around and even Flash Thompson is in the mix. That was their big idea, just erase all the history that was established so Peter Parker could be a swinging bachelor, loser once again. Spider-Man gave up his CHILD to save Aunt May who has to be 100 or more by now. After rooting for and cheering on a character like that for so long we are just supposed to be ok with the fact that he gave up his child? I could try and figure that out but it makes me too fucking angry!!! Why, why do that? What was the point? Has Marvel hit such a creative abyss that they just decide “Ah, fuck it, none of it happened.” That’s the kind of thing left to TV drama’s like Dallas, not Spider-Man. The whole thing was like a collective Stooge slap to the backs of the heads of every Spider-Man fan out there. I know my usual vibe is to rage on things and make jokes and be over the top but I’m too confused to do that. I really don’t understand what Marvel thought it would accomplish. Straczynski is usually totally reliable. Silver Surfer Requiem was wonderful and most of his work is really well thought out and has a great grasp of the characters. Quesada is a little less reliable. Sure his artwork is solid but the guy has a real issue telling a story. Take Daredevil Father, first off it took two years or more to finish up and it was really anti-climactic when all was said and done.
My guess for the future of Spider-Man is that they’ll plod along with this story arc until it doesn’t work anymore or the readership falls and then Marvel will re-write it again to restore everything that went before it. What made Spider-Man work was his humanity, the fact that we cared about the guy under the mask. He was one of us, a super dork that was given the opportunity to be super-human and used it at first to make money (which we all would have done) before learning “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”. Now he’s just a guy with no real history a character that is changed so much most have stopped caring what happens to him. That’s no way to treat an icon, that’s no way to treat the legacy of the artists that created and nurtured the character. I figure next up Daredevil was never actually blind he was just faking it. Wolverine doesn’t have an adamantium skeleton he’s a robot, etc etc. I look at World War Hulk, The Oath, Thor (also written by Straczynsky) and I see that there is hope for the company but not as long as it’s all about movies, merchandise and money. If that’s how it is then just change your name to Money Comics and at least be honest about it.
For more of Iann Robinson's work visit his blog at Our Worlds At War.
