I've reached the point where I don't think there's One Perfect Answer to the burning question of whether or not Peter and MJ should stay married.
Many of the people who want them to stay married seem to feel that the One Perfect Answer is: "Spider-Man should be happily married to MJ in every title he appears in from now on -- with the single exception of Ultimate Spider-Man, which is set in a different timeline anyway. That way we throw a bone to the marriage-haters."
Many of the people who want the marriage to quietly disappear seem to feel that the One Perfect Answer is: "Spider-Man should be a carefree bachelor, free to date any girl he pleases, in every title he appears in from now on -- with the single exception of Amazing Spider-Girl, which is set in a different timeline anyway. That way we throw a bone to the marriage-lovers."
My question is: Why does it have to practically all of one and practically none of the other?
Over a year ago, I took a different approach. I suggested that eventually Marvel will have to abandon the anal-retentive idea of "We have dozens of writers working on dozens of titles, and all (or nearly all) of those titles are chained down into one Great Big Stifling Mass of Continuity that is supposed to respect everything all the other writers are doing now, or have ever done before, as having 'really happened' to Spider-Man and all our other long-suffering, much-abused characters."
My suggested alternative was: Let every monthly title go its own way, regardless of what any other titles are doing at the same time, and let the fans "vote with their wallets" for which version of Spider-Man they like best.
I could easily imagine us having a "Married Spidey" title, a "Bachelor Spidey" title, a "Widowed Spidey" title, a "Divorced Spidey" title, a "Ben Reilly is the Real Spidey and Still Going Strong" title . . . and any time a writer on one of those titles quit or was fired, the "continuity" he had established in his five-year run (or whatever) would only be "respected" by the writer who took over from him on that same title. If nobody was available who actually wanted to be burdened by the way the previous writer had married off J. Jonah Jameson to Aunt May, then the title would be cancelled and all its internal continuity would evaporate like a burst bubble, never to be heard from again!
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