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? Posted by Zhil (Member # 10504) on :
Since when did Peter Parker every "swing" while single? He was the archetypical nerdy, geeky nerd geek boy.
GEEEEEEEEK.
They could always retcon it so Mary Jane is and was a skrull for 20 years. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The nerdy-geeky guy who regularly attracted John Romita-vintage babes like Silver Age Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane!
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
She should just turn out to be a fembot at the beginning of the next issue.
Posted by guinevererobin (Member # 10753) on :
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.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
MJ's a skrull.
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.
Posted by Zhil (Member # 10504) on :
I blame Peter Parker's propensity to attract the babes on the target audience.
Yes, you geek, you too can land a hot babe. Just get bitten by a radioactive spider!
[edit: and I agree with TomDavidson.]
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
Yeah, I would prefer they just scrap continuity as well. Just start over and have brand new babes! Or the lack thereof! I mean, why not?
I *love* Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. It's perfectly unimportant.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
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.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
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. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
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! Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
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.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
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 ]
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Over at DC, are Superman and Lois Lane still married?
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
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.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
If Spidey and MJ started "swinging", I bet the comic would sell like hotcakes. Sexy airborne threesome = $$$
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