posted
Marvel Comics is making no secret that they desire to end the Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson marriage. Joe Quesada is dead-set convinced that once Peter is a swinging single again, the comics will start selling faster than hotcakes instead of being left in the dust by...well, pretty much every other form of entertainment Spider-Man appears in.
Is he right? Is the two decade-old (real world time) marriage to MJ just being used as a scapegoat for Marvel's decreasing ability to connect to younger readers?
Is there even a way to end the marriage without dealing with the messy baggage of Spidey being divorced/a widower/another clone mess?
Isn't that Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane comic cute? Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The nerdy-geeky guy who regularly attracted John Romita-vintage babes like Silver Age Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane!
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't really know the Spiderman comics niche market too well... would they really want to read the details of Spidey's swinging single life? I know as a kid (ok, until I was 14, I was a late bloomer) my attitude was always, "Romance? Ugh!"
Not that married life isn't romantic, but you know what I mean...
I loved the original "Scarlet Pimpernel" series that A&E put out, including the ongoing romance with his wife, but when I saw a later episode he was all flirtatious with another female. I was immediately outraged, only to have a more constant viewer comment that they'd killed her off. More drama, I guess, with new girls in his life, but it put me off watching the newer version.
Posts: 57 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
Seriously, I know they want him single so that they can give him personal problems again, but a better way to do that is just to scrap existing continuity. They should face the fact that the Ultimate line is the one for telling "traditional" Spider-Man stories, and the ongoing title has since evolved away from the core of the character.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought they killed her off with radioactive semen, no? I haven't been reading it, but I read comics blogs, and sometimes they can't help but mention Marvel.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Lisa, they're referring to Spider-Man: Reign, a "What If?" style story.
MJ is a Skrull? That actually could work. Unlike Alica Masters, there are so many instances where they could have made the switch.
I wouldn't call the Ultimate line "traditional" stories. Maybe it started out that way, but at some point in the past 3-4 years it became yet another Bendis Black Ops-fest. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
One of the problem's with Marvel scrapping continuity is that they've actively cultivated a reputation of being "The Universe of Consistency...we'll NEVER do a 'Crisis'!"
Even though this is false, Marvel has done just as many retcons as DC over the years, there's a sizable portion of Marvel fans who believe this, body and soul.
Something as major as negating the Peter & MJ marriage will shatter their dearly held illusions about "616".
Which, come to think of it, is a GOOD thing! Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I won't probably ever buy a Spiderman comic for one reason: there are like 12 of them!
I'm not going to drop 50 bucks on one character each month, and I couldn't see myself collecting just one, since then I would miss out on the rest of the continuity.
I really don't understand how you can do good stories with four of five writers doing one character, in the same continuity. I never regularly bought X-Men or Wolverine for the same reason.
I am a huge Peter David fan, but I never so much as bought one issue of Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, because then I would have had to buy every other book in the "The Other" storyline.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I almost hope they do. Then I can stick with the Ultimate books and dump the rest. There are enough Whedon and Ellis and Terry Moore books coming to keep me happy.
[ August 09, 2007, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: The nerdy-geeky guy who regularly attracted John Romita-vintage babes like Silver Age Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane!
And Black Cat. Don't forget Black Cat. Let's face it, if your significant other is a super as well, it makes some parts of your life easier to deal with.
Of all the problems Spider Man has had to deal with, it's kind of stupid that the one that kills his marriage should be the one with the marketing deparment. It sounds like a refusal to let the character grow organically. What a shame.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
If Spidey and MJ started "swinging", I bet the comic would sell like hotcakes. Sexy airborne threesome = $$$
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
