Comics Is Joe Q right about there being less stories with a married Pete?

[LarryLegend]

Arach Knight, Stan has actually claimed that he was on vacation when they decided to kill Gwen, He didn't know, didn't approve the idea but was too late to change when he discovered ot.

 

[Dragon]

Stan also said in an interview about a year or 2 ago that he never wanted Gwen to die.

 

[shinlyle]

I don't agree with Joey Q on anything, lately. He's covinved that his ideas are all golden and that all his opinions are the opinions of every fan out there.

He needs to learn when to **** the hell up and when to tell his writers "no". If he could do that, he and JMS wouldn't have had to apologize for "The Other" or the "Iron Spidey" suit.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

With great power must come great responsibility.

 

[Arach Knight]

Arach Knight, Stan has actually claimed that he was on vacation when they decided to kill Gwen, He didn't know, didn't approve the idea but was too late to change when he discovered ot.

Then was it Gerry Conoway (obviously who wrote the script) who said that he felt Peter wasn't at the right stage for marriage, and that there was nothing more to do with Gwen. Either A)Have her marry Peter or B)Kill her? I was pretty certain I had seen some interview on a DVD, in which that was stated by a comic creator, pertaining to Spider-Man. Many of you feel more confident about the fact that Stan Lee did not say it, than I am, of him having said it. But I in the least, feel confident that somebody made similar statements. Perhaps I am just applying them to the wrong writer. If somebody here is a Marvel historian, please lend a helping hand...

 

[LarryLegend]

Arach Knight to be fair, Stan tends to say alot of different things. He changes his mind alot.

 

[Lt. Figgnuts]

I don't know if anybody has read this, but over at Newsarama there's an interview with Joe Q, and he basically said that while he believes the Spider-Marriage is a mistake, killing off MJ and divorce are completely out of the picture.

That's probably old news, but it's new to me and it kind of made me go *whew*. ;P

http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JoeFridays49.html

 

[shinlyle]

I don't know if anybody has read this, but over at Newsarama there's an interview with Joe Q, and he basically said that while he believes the Spider-Marriage is a mistake, killing off MJ and divorce are completely out of the picture.

That's probably old news, but it's new to me and it kind of made me go *whew*. ;P

http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JoeFridays49.html

I know. The thing is, all the posts that politely explained why dissolving the marriages was wrong were completely ignored, and one of the few posters over there who agreed with Joe Q had his post highlighted. Ass.

Still, at least Joe Q. has to acknowledge that a Widower/Divorcee sounds alot older than a married guy with no kids...or even a married guy with kids.

I hope that poll they had over at Newsarama helped him see just how out of touch he is with the fans on certain issues.

 

[Mara Jane]

I just want to live in blissful denial that this is all some big joke on JQ's part and that the mini coming out in 2007 is actually a 20th Anniversary Special for Pete & MJ.

A girl can dream, can's she? *sniffle*

 

[ben_reilly_s_s]

I know exactly hat they are planning to do:
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Peter Parker becoms a Polygimist (sp)
:P

 

[The Infernal]

I just want to live in blissful denial that this is all some big joke on JQ's part and that the mini coming out in 2007 is actually a 20th Anniversary Special for Pete & MJ.

A girl can dream, can's she? *sniffle*

Yup, and so can the rest of us.

Would someone please explain what a Polywotsit is.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Havin' more than one wife at th' same time. There's this nifty little thing called a dictionary, look into it.

www.dictionary.com

 

[Mara Jane]

It would help to give the correct spelling to look it up: polygamist.

 

[Eye Doc]

I like MJ. I have no problem with Peter being married to her in theory. That said Peter being married to MJ (or any character) in an ongoing series does restrict the "types" of stories a writer can tell.

In hindsight, there really shouldn't have been a rush for Peter to get married whe he did. Contrary to the views of some, there were plenty of single Peter stories left to tell. I would've love to see some of the below angles explored.

1)Peter dates a girl of another race/ethnicity
2)Peter dates a rich girl
3)Peter dates a girl whose parents loathe him (he's not good enough)
4)Peter dates a cop/law enforcent officer
5)Peter dates a girl from a crime family (ex: A maffia dons daughter/grandchild who wants to distance herself from the family)
6)Peter dates another Bugle co-worker or a girl from a rival paper.
7)Peter dates a girl with a handicap (crippled/blind/deaf)
8)Peter dates a fellow superhero (Felicia's not a "hero")
9)Peter dates a relative of JJJ
10) Peter dates Jill Stacy (Ducks)

I'm sure a lot of you could think of other ideas in addition to mine. I don't agree that Peter "can't" work as a married character. However, Joe Q is right when he says it restricts the stories you can tell about Peter's love life. Now that he's married, Peter's love life has to revolve around MJ. So far, MJ as a character (in my opinion) hasn't been interesting enough to make up for the stories the readers will never get to see as a result of Peter being tied down to one character.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

But th' reason she's NOT interestin' are writers bastardizin' her character. And besides, that's why they invented mini-series.

 

[Eye Doc]

But th' reason she's NOT interestin' are writers bastardizin' her character. And besides, that's why they invented mini-series.

I agree with you. Just to play devil's advocate, what would you do to make MJ more compelling? I think this is where a lot of the writers have stumbled.

I like the idea of a minieseries. Last yr I proposed the idea of Spider-man:RED miniseries that would completely detail Pete and MJ's life together up until the marriage (it could go further if you wanted too). In theory it would be an MJ 101 series and give you a very detailed look at her character. I don't recall my post getting a lot of replies. If I can find it in the archives I might post it here.

Eye Doc

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Easy. Have her more active. Don't let her be a throwaway character fer th' sake of exposition. Maybe delve into her life every few issues or so. Sure, havin' her home worrying is nice an' realistic, but that can't be her WHOLE life. I equate th' marriage to that of a cop marriage. You take th' elements that make it work, apply it to Spidey, and there it is.

 

[Eye Doc]

Easy. Have her more active. Don't let her be a throwaway character fer th' sake of exposition. Maybe delve into her life every few issues or so. Sure, havin' her home worrying is nice an' realistic, but that can't be her WHOLE life. I equate th' marriage to that of a cop marriage. You take th' elements that make it work, apply it to Spidey, and there it is.

I'm going to make you work harder than that. Give me some details.

Have her more active in what way? Are you talking about her job? Her influence in Peters life as spidey? Or both?

What about MJ's life do you want to delve into? Her family history? Life on the job? Possbile change in career? Her relationship with other people in Peter's life?

You equate MJ's life to that of a cop's wife. Is that interesting enough to sustain the interest of readers over the lifetime of a never ending comic strip? You're defintitely right about one thing, having her worry about Peter CAN'T be her whole life.

Your turn.

 

[Dragon]

But th' reason she's NOT interestin' are writers bastardizin' her character. And besides, that's why they invented mini-series.

But this is exactly what happened with Gwen. And you see what happened to her.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Yes to all except family history, we had an issue dedicated to that already. However, some revisiting or closure could be done along th' line. They set up th' seeds fer many, many, MANY MJ stories back in th' 80s and 70s. Those need to be planted an' brought into fruition.

There was an article once that best explained MJ's lombotomization coming into th' 90s...wish I could remember where it was 'cause it better explains things than I can. Basically, she went from an outgoing, independant woman to a quivering mess of "Oh I hope Peter will come home tonight." Some writers do manage to do stuff with her (remember her smokin' problem?) but more's there.

Conversely, why does it HAVE to be about th' marriage? These guys make it seem like they HAVE to deal with it constantly. Simple fact is this; they could glaze over it. Yeah, Spidey's married but it doesn't HAVE to become th' main focus of his stories. When it works in terms of th' story, THEN you can focus on it. If you force it 'cause you feel obligated, then yeah it's gonna suck. Writing's all about what works at a particular time and knowin' where to keep th' focus. Like, we know Spidey goes to th' bathroom, but we don't see it. We know Spidey goes home to MJ, but they don't have to throw in a scene between them. Let th' readers fill in th' blanks.

 

[GoblinScrier]

Joe is totally wrong about MJ...she completes Peter and how dare he say otherwise...

For the record, despite some of the insanity that came out of The Other, that was one of the best aspects of the story was MJ's portrayal..she had some amazing things to say during that arc.

Now, since he doesn't want Peter to grow up, under his iron thumb (hell, even Doom has never had this much power..just look at the lives Quesada has destroyed), we will never see the child that Peter and MJ deserve...for years, I wondered why Baby May was taken and never returned and at last, the truth has been unveiled. I think he is a moron when he say that people can't relate anymore, when nowadays, young people are getting married in their early 20s and starting families. There is nothing wrong with that.

Quesada, stop destroying the essence of Spiderman, and realize that despite it all, MJ loves him, through thick and thin.

 

[Mara Jane]

I'm going to make you work harder than that. Give me some details.

Have her more active in what way? Are you talking about her job? Her influence in Peters life as spidey? Or both?

What about MJ's life do you want to delve into? Her family history? Life on the job? Possbile change in career? Her relationship with other people in Peter's life?

You equate MJ's life to that of a cop's wife. Is that interesting enough to sustain the interest of readers over the lifetime of a never ending comic strip? You're defintitely right about one thing, having her worry about Peter CAN'T be her whole life.

Your turn.

JQ says the soap opera element is missing. It doesn't seem like they've tried lately.

I'd like to see an old flame of MJ's show up to interview for a job at Stark Enterprises. He's just finished his Ph.D. (something Peter never did) and is brilliant. He doesn't have superpowers, though (kinda how Pete sometimes wishes he didn't). He and MJ go way back, maybe they dated in high school before she ever met Pete. But somehow things didn't work out (maybe his parents hated her or something). This guy could be like MJ's "Gwen" - the one that got away. He makes MJ - and Pete - wonder what life could have been like otherwise. For her, what if they hadn't broken up? Would she have become a model, etc? For Pete, this guy is what he could have been if he'd never been a superhero - a dedicated man of science who is about to be offered a $100K/year job. But to make matters more bizarre, Peter really likes the guy, and they become friends. I guess he could somehow fit in where Harry is now missing. Except this guy is still single (and since this is a visual medium, he'll be attractive, too) and can create a little tension with MJ once in a while.

How about that?

 

[Eye Doc]

JQ says the soap opera element is missing. It doesn't seem like they've tried lately.

I'd like to see an old flame of MJ's show up to interview for a job at Stark Enterprises. He's just finished his Ph.D. (something Peter never did) and is brilliant. He doesn't have superpowers, though (kinda how Pete sometimes wishes he didn't). He and MJ go way back, maybe they dated in high school before she ever met Pete. But somehow things didn't work out (maybe his parents hated her or something). This guy could be like MJ's "Gwen" - the one that got away. He makes MJ - and Pete - wonder what life could have been like otherwise. For her, what if they hadn't broken up? Would she have become a model, etc? For Pete, this guy is what he could have been if he'd never been a superhero - a dedicated man of science who is about to be offered a $100K/year job. But to make matters more bizarre, Peter really likes the guy, and they become friends. I guess he could somehow fit in where Harry is now missing. Except this guy is still single (and since this is a visual medium, he'll be attractive, too) and can create a little tension with MJ once in a while.

How about that?

Good idea. I'll throw in a bit more and build on your premise.

There was a period of time when MJ vanished from the series. After she turned down Peter's first proposal she took off to Florida. Saying she met your character while she was there perfectly fits the established continuity b/c Peter was involved w/ Felicia while MJ was away.

MJ just suddenly showed up in NY when she came back from Florida. Maybe she left b/c she was once again running away from a bad relationship/hardbreak. Having MJ's handsome, well to do ex boyfriend show up in NY could cause all sorts of problems for our hero, especally if she still carries a small torch for him and he has intentions of winning her back once he sees her again.

True story..... your scenario is pretty close to a premise my brother and I came up with nearly a decade ago.

Back at you.

 

[Dragon]

JQ says the soap opera element is missing. It doesn't seem like they've tried lately.

I'd like to see an old flame of MJ's show up to interview for a job at Stark Enterprises. He's just finished his Ph.D. (something Peter never did) and is brilliant. He doesn't have superpowers, though (kinda how Pete sometimes wishes he didn't). He and MJ go way back, maybe they dated in high school before she ever met Pete. But somehow things didn't work out (maybe his parents hated her or something). This guy could be like MJ's "Gwen" - the one that got away. He makes MJ - and Pete - wonder what life could have been like otherwise. For her, what if they hadn't broken up? Would she have become a model, etc? For Pete, this guy is what he could have been if he'd never been a superhero - a dedicated man of science who is about to be offered a $100K/year job. But to make matters more bizarre, Peter really likes the guy, and they become friends. I guess he could somehow fit in where Harry is now missing. Except this guy is still single (and since this is a visual medium, he'll be attractive, too) and can create a little tension with MJ once in a while.

How about that?

Not at this point. MJ and Peter should be long past the "will they cheat on each other" point. It's boring. That's another problem that brought down the relationship with Gwen. At this point, after all they've been through, Peter and MJ should have a bond that something as simplistic as another guy or girl with a shiny package could threaten.

To a point Joe Q is right, but he doesn't have the vision to exploit it. Peter and MJ's marriage needs to address new paths unique to their situation. Not just marital problems in relation to Peter's being a superhero. The writer that handles their relationship has to do be able to find the right balance between how the marriage effects these two peopl on both a fantstic level and an everyday one.

 

[Dangerous]

Basically Joe Q's opinion does not count for squat.
He needs to step down and let someone take over who has vision and scope for SM, w/out having to compromise who he is.