Comics Post your opinions on the Parker marriage here!

[wolvie2020]

Hey all you lovely Spidey freaks!

I thought I'd put this up due to all the recent shenanigans on EACH AND EVERY BND issue discussion.

While it's clearly stated at the start of each thread, that this is not the place to bash BND stright up from those not reading it, and is for those picking it up and their honest thoughts. Time and time again, we get people going nutz talking about the marriage.

I also felt the last time as a little my fault, all I said was: "While I'm a BIG fan of the Parker marriage, I'm starting to see more and more what the larger story options are for a single Peter Parker."

This then lead to the thread going on a complete tangent! Although, I did think the interviews/scans and arguments put forth were very good and worth reading, once again us BND readers no longer feel like we can go on threads we want to go in as it gets insanley off topic. (Here's the link to said thread: http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=299960&page=2)

It's a great read, but NOT ABIDING TO ANY OF THE RULES AT THE START.

So here we go guys, here's the thread that puts it all together. We debate marriage here, and those buying and reading BND have our thrice monthly thread.

All fair everyone?

 

[shinlyle]

Sounds perfectly logical to me, bro.t:

 

[Doc Destruction]

It works - it worked well when WRITTEN well.

There is ZERO reason for getting rid of it. These stories could easily have happened with a married man, minus the single dating crap. (Man, thinking about being single again just makes me tired...dating SUCKS)

The reasoning was awful, the execution was DREADFULLY BAD and the payoff is not good enough to warrant any of it.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I really cant comment on BND as I havent read any of the new issues. As for the marriage, I liked it and wish it were still here but at the same time...it didnt seem realistic. MJ seemed to be in the background a good portion of the time. She didnt seem like Peter's partner. We didnt see them argue or have marital difficulties. MJ was there to give support, provide eye candy and worry about Peter. It was a two dimensional marriage.

Some of my favorite "marriage issues" were when MJ was a smoker. Peter was worried about Harry going nuts and wanting to kill him, but he still took a moment to put out his wife's cigarette. It was like "My best friend wants me dead, and now I have to put up with my wife ruining her health." It made thier relationship complicated and more realistic, imo.

As many people wondered after "Sins Past," how could Mary Jane keep the secret from Peter for all those years? I'm sure Peter would want to know that, and MJ would probably feel guilty too. Did we see a follow up on that? Not that I remember. I would have liked to have seen some fallout from that. Instead, it got glossed over. There were no consequences. Real life has consequences, and thats what I would have liked to see in the Parker's lives. Again, thier lives were two dimensional.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Initially, my thoughts were: "This book is called The Amazing Spider-Man...not The Amazing Spider-Man, and Mary Jane"....

I didnt think i would miss her that much, as she has been written out of the books twice before. However....now that we are four arcs deep into the new direction, i have to agree that im not really seeing anything that demanded the retcon of the marriage. And i CERTAINLY dont see a reason for Harry's return (but i guess that's ANOTHER discussion )...

So to sum up; i miss the marriage. I miss the chemistry and love between Peter and MJ. I think Joe Q was completely wrong to do what he did, and i think he and Marvel missed a GREAT opportunity to use these talented writers they hired to maybe bring in some new female readers by writing MJ as a positive and dynamic character...

Peter and MJ were one of comicdom's great couples...or COULD have been.

 

[Norman Osborn]

Initially, my thoughts were: "This book is called The Amazing Spider-Man...not The Amazing Spider-Man, and Mary Jane"....

I didnt think i would miss her that much, as she has been written out of the books twice before. However....now that we are four arcs deep into the new direction, i have to agree that im not really seeing anything that demanded the retcon of the marriage. And i CERTAINLY dont see a reason for Harry's return (but i guess that's ANOTHER discussion )...

So to sum up; i miss the marriage. I miss the chemistry and love between Peter and MJ. I think Joe Q was completely wrong to do what he did, and i think he and Marvel missed a GREAT opportunity to use these talented writers they hired to maybe bring in some new female readers by writing MJ as a positive and dynamic character...

Peter and MJ were one of comicdom's great couples...or COULD have been.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

I loved the marriage! It was just so awesome to have two people who met eachother at a door step finally be married years later.

JQ should never have ended the marriage and that is one of the worst things to do to a character int the comic book universe. As I said a while back, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Sadly, JQ didn't look at it that way and that made me mad.

I'm 14 years old and I can relate to Spider-Man even though he's married. I mean, there are still a ton of reprints of the early days of the comics, so that's another reason he shouldn't have ended the marriage. Peter has to grow up and that's a part of life for alot of comic book superheroes.

This marriage was an extremly important part of the Spidey universe and has been for the past 20 years.

 

[Brand]

Initially, my thoughts were: "This book is called The Amazing Spider-Man...not The Amazing Spider-Man, and Mary Jane"....

I didnt think i would miss her that much, as she has been written out of the books twice before. However....now that we are four arcs deep into the new direction, i have to agree that im not really seeing anything that demanded the retcon of the marriage. And i CERTAINLY dont see a reason for Harry's return (but i guess that's ANOTHER discussion )...

So to sum up; i miss the marriage. I miss the chemistry and love between Peter and MJ. I think Joe Q was completely wrong to do what he did, and i think he and Marvel missed a GREAT opportunity to use these talented writers they hired to maybe bring in some new female readers by writing MJ as a positive and dynamic character...

Peter and MJ were one of comicdom's great couples...or COULD have been.

Great post.

My introduction to comics was through ASM. The first character I grew "attached" to was Peter Parker, and MJ wasn't far behind. I loved the chemistry between the two (when they were written well, at least). I liked the old issues and the dating stories, but I'd take a good Peter/MJ story over any of those. I'll miss the marriage, and even though I dropped ASM primarily for other reasons, the fact that MJ has been relegated to the occasional guest spots and a possible love story in the future was a huge black mark for me. First the breakup of Scott/Jean, now Peter/MJ. I guess Marvel is just determined to destroy the relationships of my characters.

 

[Doc Destruction]

I loved the marriage! It was just so awesome to have two people who met eachother at a door step finally be married years later.

JQ should never have ended the marriage and that is one of the worst things to do to a character int the comic book universe. As I said a while back, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Sadly, JQ didn't look at it that way and that made me mad.

I'm 14 years old and I can relate to Spider-Man even though he's married. I mean, there are still a ton of reprints of the early days of the comics, so that's another reason he shouldn't have ended the marriage. Peter has to grow up and that's a part of life for alot of comic book superheroes.

This marriage was an extremly important part of the Spidey universe and has been for the past 20 years.

Wow man, good for you!

I'm glad at your age that you appreciated it. Joey Q should read this post. Not that it would change his mind or anything.

 

[shinlyle]

I first got really into the Spidey-verse and comics in general when I was 12. He was married then, and I had ZERO problem enjoying David Michelinie's run with Erik Larsen, or the "Child Within", or any of the Bagley issues pre-Clone Saga. In fact, the Parker marriage and the turmoils of it were the only glimmer of light in the darkness of the Clone Saga! I mean, aside from the Peter-Parker-Pimp-slap he gave MJ in SSM that one time.

I think my main problem with Brand New Day is that it was brought about to fix horrible mistakes pushed by an EIC who wanted to mess things up enough that a fix was neccesary. I'm not going into an "I hate Joe Q" rant, I'm just stating a fact that even Joe Q has admitted. The changes implemented for this new status quo aren't even that important to the story! We now have an un-wed Peter Parker fighting crime and facing down new villians while dealing with the probelms life throws his way.

And marriage is what.....a walk in the park? As a happily married man, I can tell you that is FAR from the truth. People will argue that MJ had to be given ample time in the spotlight, which subtracted from Peter's other supporting cast members as well as the Spidey action, and I have to call B.S. on that. It's like saying that I cannot describe what happened to me at work without tellnig what my wife was doing at the exact same time. MJ isn't always affecting the story, and thus, she doesn't always need to be given a spotlight. Just because they're married doesn't mean she can't have a life and a job that doesn't revolve around Spider-Man and his rogue's gallery.

Let's think back to the beginning of JMS's run. He made the marriage alot more real than it had been since their "newlywed" days. MJ wanted her own life and career, and it didn't always have her crossing over into Spider-Man stuff....just the Peter Parker aspects. Why is that such a problem? We can have 25 supporting cast memebers vying for a time to shine, but as soon as one of them is his wife, it's a foul? Screw that.

Then, as we moved onto the latter stages of JMS's run, we had Aunt May, MJ and the Avengers as his only supporting cast. This goes back to what I said YEARS ago: Spidey shouldn't be an Avenger. It's not that he isn't powerful enough or experienced enough, it's just that he is trying to live a normal life, too. The Avengers, aside from Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, are all very public entities who live in the spotlight. They gave up on having a normal existence long ago. Spidey hasn't. Peter assumes that one day, he'll have a wife and kids, and he'll eventually hang up the tights. That's always been his mindset...even though he knows that he will be Spidey until he dies.

Anyways, I've ranted long enough. Basically, the marraige was a great way to provide an angsty character with more angst, and they instead saw it as a way of neutering him. It's kind of sad.

I enjoy the older stories, but a part of me enjoyed them because of how Peter ended up....now, it looks like he'll go nowhere, as will every relationship from here on out.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Wow man, good for you!

I'm glad at your age that you appreciated it. Joey Q should read this post. Not that it would change his mind or anything.

Yeah, I mean, this is why JQ shouldn't have ended it. He thinks every kid won't relate to Peter even when he's married. Peter still had problems when he was married, too.

 

[wolvie2020]

Yeah, I mean, this is why JQ shouldn't have ended it. He thinks every kid won't relate to Peter even when he's married. Peter still had problems when he was married, too.

Yeah, I even read Bendis in an interview discussing this. You have 2 to 3 generations of Spidey fans that grew up with the marriage, that didn't seem to do any harm

JQ seemed to think that it made Peter into more of a 'Dad,' to a new young audience. To be honest, I always felt that he was the cooler older brother that I never had.

You know what though? When I 1st REALLY starting collecting comics in a serious, mature, fashion, (when I was about 12, 13, lol,) I was fascinated that Peter just got hitched. I proudly showed it to my friends, as to me it seemed to show the maturity of current comics, and the issues that they dealt with.

I do miss MJ... She was a blinding character that was SO underused

The whole thing where Breevort hates the MJ retcon, (about where MJ knew Peter was Spidey the whole time was revealed in the 80's,) and JMD's subsequent Parrallel Lives, I think is total BS. Why is she only useful as a shallow party girl? I thought JMD gave her all sorts of depth. I really love MJ the comic character, and while I know it's a SPIDER-MAN comic, I do feel MJ is integral to the Spidey-verse.

Although, I guess a lot of people felt like that about Gwen. (Probably why her death was so important...) But I am looking for lots of interesting female action for Peter.

Go Spider-****e!

 

[Blader5489]

I'm actually pretty indifferent towards the Parker marriage. I think, on a fundamental level, it does more harm than good to the Spider-Man franchise and, consequently, turns Spidey into a very different character than what he should be. That's not to say that the marriage is incapable of telling good stories( one of my favorite Spidey stories of all time revolved around a married Peter and MJ), it's just more a matter of telling stories that are appropriate for a Spider-Man comic.

So I think that marriage was a mistake; it may have been a logical progression for Peter Parker conceptually (the actual execution was very forced), but it's one of those things you shouldn't actually see in the comic. Marriage, a child, raising a family--this is the happy ending for Peter Parker. But the problems with happy endings is that once they happen, the story's over. And that, obviously, can't happen with Marvel's flagship character.

That being said, exactly how beneficial that marriage was for the character will be determined by the quantity and quality of stories that will be told with a single Peter. If there's a significant nosedive in storytelling for a single Peter, compared to a married one, then perhaps the marriage was the right move after all. But, that's something that only time will tell.

 

[wolvie2020]

I'm actually pretty indifferent towards the Parker marriage. I think, on a fundamental level, it does more harm than good to the Spider-Man franchise and, consequently, turns Spidey into a very different character than what he should be. That's not to say that the marriage is incapable of telling good stories; one of my favorite Spidey stories of all time revolved around a married Peter and MJ. But it's more a matter of telling stories that are appropriate for a Spider-Man comic.

So I think that marriage was a mistake; it may have been a logical progression for Peter Parker conceptually (the actual execution was very forced), but it's one of those things you shouldn't actually see in the comic. Marriage, a child, raising a family--this is the happy ending for Peter Parker. But the problems with happy endings is that once they happen, the story's over. And that, obviously, can't happen with Marvel's flagship character.

That being said, exactly how beneficial that marriage was for the character will be determined by the quantity and quality of stories that will be told with a single Peter. If there's a significant nosedive in storytelling for a single Peter, compared to a married one, then perhaps the marriage was the right move after all. But, that's something that only time will tell.

Very well said

The fan boy in me is screaming at what they've done, but what you've said encapsulates the more storytelling business side to ny thoughts!

 

[spider greg]

I'm afraid this thread may get kind of ugly, but here goes anyway...when the marriage first happened I really liked the idea, and for whatever reason, years before it happened, it seemed inevitable. When I finally read the wedding issue I remember being less then impressed with it. I don't if it was the art or if it was the writing but it felt really rushed and out of place. But, that's what happened and was more then willing to go along and see where it would take the characters. To me,the characters went nowhere. It could've been the writing or the types of stories that were being put out at the time, but the book felt like an abberation. And though there have been a lot of good stories since then, (I certainly wouldn't buy the book if I hated it), I don't believe in my heart that there've been any really good Spider-man stories, at least not up to the potential that could've been.

Unfortunately there are some fans who want to be a bit too hard on BND, almost to the point of scrutinizing every little flaw, but I see BND as a good thing, and even though I've enjoyed it a lot, there've been a few rough spots with it, but with anything, especially when you're doing an about face with a character who's been in a different direction for a good amount of time, you have to get through the rough spots to really get things going, and I'm willing to go along for the ride especially when you're an adult with a lot of responsibilities, it's good to have an escape, and I don't take my escapes for granted, not anymore.

On a side note, I've read a lot of comments that say everything in BND could've been done with a married Spider-man, I have to respectfully disagree, not once throughout the 12 issues of BND, that are out so far, has Peter been able to confide in anyone about his dual life, he has to keep everything to himself. It makes me think of the Spidey 70's TV show episode "The Deadly dust",where Peter is explaining to Joanna Cameron's character (Gail Hoffman) what it's like to be Spider-man (she thinks he knows Spidey), he he tells her "What kind of life can he really have? Think about it for a minute, he has to lie to everybody, friends, family. What about girlfriends?" and caps it off by saying he doesn't know if being Spider-man is a "blessing or a curse", (now where have I heard that before?) Now granted this is only from a short lived TV show about Spider-man, but nevertheless hits the nail on the proverbial head about what the character is about and made him unique IMO.

That being said, and I know others have mentioned it also...It boils down to opinion and nostalgia. It's kind of like looking through a perfectly clean window, the view is beautiful and everything looks nice, but over time the window gets musty, dirty and broken. The view is still there, but you don't see it the same way anymore.

And yea, I like the 70s TV show.

 

[farmernudie]

The fact is, for me personally, i thought that even some of the stories that were not top notch...always benefited from having the marriage there at least.

Being married myself, it is yet another thing i can relate to, with this "typically relatable" character.

This new direction has made it near impossible to relate to Peter anymore for me, because the foundation to the reboot is so unbelivable and un-relatable.

He feels unrelatable.

Not only could i never give up my marriage, my future and past of it to satan...i would especially not consider it for an old aunt or anyone like that. And believe me, i LOVE my relatives. It's just purposterous, because any brain-dead person knows that any deal witht he devil is never a good one and has HORRID consequences. Nor would i want to have an entire planet mindwiped and have hisotry altered byt he devil because of me...without even getting into the devil resurrected aunt and sacrificed marriage.

Plus, why would i want to make my elderly aunt live another year based specifically on devil power/magic anyway?? Her life is thanks to the devil now. That is far-fetched and negative too. Not to mention, Aunt May was fine with dying and has lived a long life.

The whole story and foundation and premise to all of OMD/BND makes no logical sense unless you look at it purely as an agenda to reboot Pete's life.

And where are the consequences to making deals with the devil..that ALWAYS go bad QUICKLY?

There will be none. Because its not that type of story....until they decide to reboot the reboot...because the point isn't to tella logical story..the whole devil thing was to reboot and change it. Not follow up on it really per say.

So, I've collected spidey ocmics since a very young boy, from the start...and now they've turned him into a person who is like some selfish miserable hobo. Not the same person to me personally anymore at all.

I've said before....IF they REALLY FELT they had to end the marriage..they should have done a divorce or death. BUt that would have "made Pete look bad (and aged)."

But the route they DID take...what did THAT make Pete looks like? A total unrelatable putz and loser??!? Selfish enough to turn his aunt into Gollum? Mindwipe a world? Alter history. Sacrifice his marriage? Flush his sense of responsibility? Geepers.

 

[Dangerous]

Some of my favorite "marriage issues" were when MJ was a smoker. Peter was worried about Harry going nuts and wanting to kill him, but he still took a moment to put out his wife's cigarette. It was like "My best friend wants me dead, and now I have to put up with my wife ruining her health." It made thier relationship complicated and more realistic, imo.

The marriage was perfectly written in the early nineties under great writers like JMD during the teething period. That stuff was cool because MJ and PP were having to learn that living together as a married couple was quite different to how their relationship existed before. There were new strains and factors that came with being married.

Once we got to the mid nineties the plan was for PP & MJ have a kid, but of course the editorial *****ed out during the mess of the Clone Saga because it would have aged PP too much. THAT, I agree with. Having a kid would have made them seem too old, I'm not saying that MJ and PP should have never had a kid, but not in 1997. So that was all a mess, and from then on no writer who came onto Spidey seemed to know how to write webs and red together either interestingly or realistically.

That's why for the most part Spider-Man comics read best when PP is dating different girls or in a bf/gf situation, save for the the late 80's/early 90's stuff. Michelinie, JMD- those guys understood how to write a married PP & MJ and make it fun to read, meaningful and/or realistic. What really needed to be done after those guys had laid down all that great ground work and left ASM/SSM respectively, was for the next writers to really think about and then execute turning MJ into a REAL character who was integrated into the storylines and had some significance. Instead of just being some hottie that gave affection to Pete of a night when he came home after being out fighting bad dudes. That stuff was sometimes quite romantic and nice, but mostly BORING.

Heck,- MJ is enough of a multi layered character to flesh out. That's what was so appealing to me about them getting hitched in the first place. On paper,- sure MJ is the party girl / ****ty type that PP probably should not have married, but wouldn't it have been great if the marriage lived up to the promise that the first 6 or so years of print alluded to, and PP & MJ enriched/ changed each others lives for the better and by doing this it made MJ seem like a real person, like PP.
Err.. anyway, I'm probably blabbing now so I'll stop.

EDIT- For the future I'd like to see PP & MJ get back together and for it to be done the way I want it to be done, heh.
Also- Although I understand it sucks for all kinds of reasons,- I dig the Nicholas Hammond show.

 

[ReggieWhiteJr]

Nice thread. Figured I'd throw my two Lincolns in here as well.

Joe Q has made Marvel a lot f money, but there really are times where I think the fans know Spider-Man a lot better than he does. Joe Q says his decision to end the marriage wasn't personal, but I honestly think it was a very personal thing. To me, Spidey being married sent a message that, as complex as leading a double life can be, a married life can work. It may not have been perfect, and really, no marriage is, but I still thought it was a very beautiful thing.

We had to have Spidey single for what purpose? We're 12 issues into BND and I've yet to see any of these unlimited story possibilities Joe Q won't shut up about. The soap opera aspects of the comics disappeared when he was married? Could fooled me! The books didn't lack any soap opera drama when I read about married Peter. I guess they just wanted Peter single so they could go back to his older dating days.

With single Peter, we've reverted back to the revolving door of his love life, and as much as I enjoyed reading those kinds of stories, I really don't want to read about them again in the pages of ASM. The character has long since evolved past that point. Any possible love interest Peter has is doomed to failure because he's Spider-Man. Spider-Man complicates the heck out of every single relationship he's had and it ultimately ends up killing his relationships. Carlie seems to like Peter and she's a nice girl but she's just got "future girlfriend" stamped on her head. I kinda feel sorry for her because ultimately as I've already said, that relationship is already doomed.

MJ is what Lois Lane is to Superman. MJ is the IT girl for Peter (we could argue that his IT girl is Gwen, but that's a whole different subject). After everything I've seen Peter and MJ go through the idea of Peter being with anyone else seems laughable to me.

 

[kguillou]

I'll admit, although i was outraged that they got rid of the marriage, I DO understand why it was necessary, i just...wish it werent so. I personally grew up reading a married peter parker and i loved the dynamic between him and his wife. I persoanlly would have loved to see Peter and MJ have a child, i think the possibilities would have been endless. I could just imagine a story where norman osborn kidnaps peter's daughter and Peter beating the life out of Osborn because of it. I don't think just because Peter has a family that it is a "happy ending". Having a family would just create more conflict for Peter, because now he has to be more responsible than ever to protect his family.

I'm a BND supporter, and i'm looking forward to where the stories are heading BUT the one big problem i have with BND is the portrayal of peter. Peter looks and acts like he's been de-aged 5 years. Don't get me wrong, i love Spiderman's humor aspect, but i hate it when it becomes excessive and he just starts spewing endless nonsense. Guggenheim's arc was a perfect example of this. Every word that came out of Spider-man's mouth was sort of dumb joke or quip, how about saying something meaningful once in a while? He's not 16 anymore guys, he's a grown man now and he needs to start acting like one.

Again, i loved the marriage, it was a natural progression for the character, and i still think there was lots and lots of potential to reach, but i'm very willing to see where BND takes us. Marvel just needs to realize that eventhough they want peter to be 16 again, he's NOT. Writers need to learn to balance the maturity with the immaturity of Peter Parker's character. Peter should be acting like the 90's TAS, not the new Spectacular cartoon (which i love btw).

 

[Themanofbat]

Spidey's dumb comments not only kept his cool during battles but he also learned as a younger crime fighter that it often threw his opponents "off" with his incessant prattle, so he realized early on in his career that he could use his wise-cracking mouth as a weapon (of sorts...), so he would use that not only when he was a teen, but well into adulthood... the sarcastic comedy is a part of Spidey-lore...

And in all honesty, in the last Wells story, we saw a more mature Spider-Man that acted like an adult (in spite of the comedic responses to the Mayan diety), especially on that last page when he gave his last 20 bucks to the homeless man that helped him durin gthe fight.

 

[Themanofbat]

We had to have Spidey single for what purpose? We're 12 issues into BND and I've yet to see any of these unlimited story possibilities Joe Q won't shut up about. The soap opera aspects of the comics disappeared when he was married? Could fooled me! The books didn't lack any soap opera drama when I read about married Peter. I guess they just wanted Peter single so they could go back to his older dating days.

Unfortunately, the soap opera storytelling style of the 60's and 70's ended in the late 80's when comics started using arcs of Part 1 of X blasted all over the covers... which is also when the marriage started.

And the bottom line is that Marvel Comics Inc wanted a single Spider-Man, and they've wanted one since 1994 (when the Clone Saga started), so early on, the felt like a married Spdier-Man was writing their character into a corner, and they've always looked for a way out... and you're not necessarily going to see Spider-Man stories that need a single Spider-Man... you're just going to get "good" Spider-Man stories (and some of them could have been told with a married Spdiey), but the bottom line is that Marvel wanted the unlimited freedom that an unattached character gives them...

Whether you agree with Marvel or not is irrelevant because it's their character, and it's what they have wanted for a long time.

 

[Finlandman]

I grew up with marriage, and I love Mary Jane. I wouldn't like to admit it, but I have always had a soft point for love stories. Marriage makes Peter Parker more realistic. It always annoys me when I read old story, and this happens: "Sorry I'm late from a date, I...had to...take some pictures for Bugle."

PS; I'm 14 year old boy, and this proves that I can read Spidey-comics even with "marriage that makes him feel old."

 

[iloveclones]

A while back, I posted the AFI top 100 films of all time. My point in it was to show how few movies centered around married characters. It was overwhelming how few there were.

There is a reason why this happens. Marriage is about commitment, responsibility, growing up, basically, dropping all the outrageousness of youth. Married people don't sow their wild oats anymore, parents don't stay at the bar until three in the morning. For the most part they are done with late night bull-sessions, and outside of Friends, coffee shops are a stop in the morning on the way to work. This is the way it is supposed to be. And frankly, someone clinging on to their youth by continuing to do these things is almost the definition of immaturity.

I would ask all the younger Hype members: if the marriage isn't anything to be overcome, why weren't more of your peers reading Spidey (or comics in general)? Because sales are still at an overall historically dismal level. In the video games they play instead, or tv, or movies that they or you go to: how many of those things revolve around married characters. I'm not saying they don't exist. I mean, there are Simpson video games. But honestly, in what other arena that you find entertainment, do you find it centered around married life?

 

[ragingdemon155]

Initially, my thoughts were: "This book is called The Amazing Spider-Man...not The Amazing Spider-Man, and Mary Jane"....

I didnt think i would miss her that much, as she has been written out of the books twice before. However....now that we are four arcs deep into the new direction, i have to agree that im not really seeing anything that demanded the retcon of the marriage. And i CERTAINLY dont see a reason for Harry's return (but i guess that's ANOTHER discussion )...

So to sum up; i miss the marriage. I miss the chemistry and love between Peter and MJ. I think Joe Q was completely wrong to do what he did, and i think he and Marvel missed a GREAT opportunity to use these talented writers they hired to maybe bring in some new female readers by writing MJ as a positive and dynamic character...

Peter and MJ were one of comicdom's great couples...or COULD have been.

Pretty much summed up my entire thoughts on this particular subject.

Spider-man imo has been disrespected more then any other mainstream character. I mean, for Marvel's supposed "top" gun, there sure has been a lot of questionable "Buisness" decisions made for the character. I grew up on the "Married" version of Spider-man and that's the version that I will always see and relate with. Now that the marriage isn't there, it just feels wrong to me. Even when certain stories were bad, I could always take some sought of enjoyment in the fact that the Marriage was still there.

This entire BND period was being hyped to death by Marvel and yet it's nothing new. Joey Q continued to state time and time again that MJ was basically holding them back from telling great stories. Well the marriage isn't there and I don't see the point at all. The stories being told now, could have easily been told with a married Peter Parker. The "marriage" wasn't the cause of Gwen Sleeping with Norman, Spider totems, The Other, The Unmasking and making deals with the devil. The problem was bad writing...nothing more.

MJ added so much to the Spider-man universe. The chemistry between Peter and MJ worked so well and they were easily my favorite couple of all time in comics. Now for the first time since I started collecting Spider-man, I'm walking into Midtown Comics and not picking up ASM. Feels weird not picking up the core title for my favorite character, but oh well...it is what it is.

Maybe, I'll pick up BND down the road of something. Right now it doesn't interest me too much.

I keep holding out faith that somewhere down the road Peter and MJ will get back together. Then this story can actually take a positive spin with the whole "True love finding it's way back to one another" and so on.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Pretty much summed up my entire thoughts on this particular subject.

Spider-man imo has been disrespected more then any other mainstream character. I mean, for Marvel's supposed "top" gun, there sure has been a lot of questionable "Buisness" decisions made for the character. I grew up on the "Married" version of Spider-man and that's the version that I will always see and relate with. Now that the marriage isn't there, it just feels wrong to me. Even when certain stories were bad, I could always take some sought of enjoyment in the fact that the Marriage was still there.

This entire BND period was being hyped to death by Marvel and yet it's nothing new. Joey Q continued to state time and time again that MJ was basically holding them back from telling great stories. Well the marriage isn't there and I don't see the point at all. The stories being told now, could have easily been told with a married Peter Parker. The "marriage" wasn't the cause of Gwen Sleeping with Norman, Spider totems, The Other, The Unmasking and making deals with the devil. The problem was bad writing...nothing more.

MJ added so much to the Spider-man universe. The chemistry between Peter and MJ worked so well and they were easily my favorite couple of all time in comics. Now for the first time since I started collecting Spider-man, I'm walking into Midtown Comics and not picking up ASM. Feels weird not picking up the core title for my favorite character, but oh well...it is what it is.

Maybe, I'll pick up BND down the road of something. Right now it doesn't interest me too much.

I keep holding out faith that somewhere down the road Peter and MJ will get back together. Then this story can actually take a positive spin with the whole "True love finding it's way back to one another" and so on.

That's another thing: Right now in Amazing Spider-Man, a victorious Mephisto is somewhere secretly laughing his ass off at Peter and MJ.

What the hell kind of a story is THAT? There's enough examples of evil prevailing in the REAL world...i dont want to see it in my entertainment as well.

I have to think that in another year or so, that situation needs to be addressed (but im not gonna hold my breath )...