December
7 Crossing the Line 3 — Spider-Man: One More Day

Books and creators: The Amazing Spider-Man #544, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24, Sensational Spider-Man #41; written by J. Michael Straczynski, art by Joe Quesada and Danny Miki

Marvel, color, 48 pages, $3.99 each.

So? Of all the A-list franchises in comics, Spider-Man has had probably the least success with the line-wide crossover saga. That’s at least partly due to the number of books the web-slinger usually stars in, which are usually fairly tight in terms of continuity and lessening the need for a true crossover event.

But there are times when Marvel needs or wants to draw attention to Spider-Man, and that’s about as good an explanation as you’re likely ever going to find for “One More Day.” Hyped as a major turning point in the lives of Peter and Mary Jane, this turns to be exactly what fans have expected all along: A way for Marvel to “erase” their marriage so Peter Parker can go back to being a single geek for whom girls are nothing but trouble. Marvel’s editor in chief, Joe Quesada, has been vocal about how the two characters’ marriage 20 years ago (yipes!) undermined what he thinks was a key part of Peter Parker’s original appeal.

With this kind of rationale for its existence, it’s almost impossible to judge this story on its own creative merits. Quesada is undeniably a talented penciller, and the script from the departing J. Michael Straczynski tries very hard to execute a concept that’s a hugely difficult pill to swallow in just about every way.

The third part of this four-part story, in Sensational Spider-Man #41, has Peter and MJ encountering Mephisto — Marvel’s version of Satan, Lucifer, etc. — who offers to save the life of Aunt May, who is certain to die after being mistakenly shot by a sniper who was trying to kill Peter, in exchange for their marriage. The idea is they’ll forget they were even married, except for a small part deep down in their souls that will despair at the loss, and it’s that part that will satisfy Mephisto.

Aside from Mephisto not being the type of villain that works in Spider-Man stories, this strains credulity and raises more questions than it answers about how Marvel intends to go forward with the character and his place in the entire Marvel Universe. Given that everyone in the Marvel Universe knows Peter is Spider-Man after he unmasked in Civil War #2 and that he’s married to Mary Jane, any sort of “mindwipe” affecting the entire universe is just plain unbelievable. It’s not clear if MJ will still be around at all, or if she and Peter will be adults or go back to being teenagers or if they’ll still be dating at all. What are they going to remember about the last few years of their lives? If the unmasking is undone at the same time, how does that affect every book that was tied into Civil War? Even the stated of goal, of having Peter go back to worrying about girls, is strange and seems unlikely to work unless you take him back to high school age. A single adult who works as a teacher, photographer or scientist and can’t get a date is far less sympathetic than a geeky teen who can’t get the girls at school to notice him.

The motive here also is hard to figure out, as the “classic” conditions this series is trying to restore already exist in the very popular Ultimate Spider-Man series, and already does a far better job of playing with them than the new, three-times-a-month Amazing Spider-Man series likely will. Why not just have multiple versions of the character for different audiences, and let people read the one they like? De-emphasize MJ if you like, but for anyone who’s been reading and liking the book for the last few years, this is going to be a majorly difficult pill to swallow, with seemingly very little potential gain. The sooner this is over, the better — a sentiment sure to be shared by comic shop owners who’ve endured delays as this weekly series has turned at least monthly and left them with a fraction of the usual number of new Spider-Man comics to sell. Grade: D