* One benefit part two has going for it (although it still suffers from Joe Quesada's inconsistent art style) is that we get a lot more of Paolo Rivera's wonderful art depicting the "flashback sequences and less filler (well, we still get some of that, what with Quesada once again cutting and pasting scenes from One More Day, and one panel from Civil War #2 showing Peter unmasking and another from issue #538, I believe, where Aunt May gets shot). Again, as last time, it's elegant and detailed without being excessively so, and Rivera also effectively captures the characters expressions and makes terrific usage of light and shadow. If anything, he's proving just what a terrific artist he really is.
*Also, for a brief moment, Quesada's script actually begins to show some promise. After getting through the over-the-top hysterical melodrama of Peter frantically swinging around the city screaming for Mary Jane like Christopher Daniel Barnes from the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon (and seriously, all this time, Peter NEVER told MJ the circumstances behind how he missed their wedding? And she NEVER asked him about it, either?), we get a rather very heartbreaking and heartwarming character arc for Mary Jane. Her embarrassment, anger, and misery over being not only being stood up on her wedding day but also that, once again, "Spider-Man" between her and Peter feels very real. The scene where she walks out on Peter because he refused to give up being Spider-Man is appropriately gut-wrenching. And her talk with Aunt Anna, intercept with scenes of MJ trying to cope with her pain and anger and regret over Peter, is, quite possibly, the best scene in the entire comic. It also leads up to another wonderful moment where MJ, realizing how unfair and wrong she was to essentially demand Peter give up being what he is, tearfully apologizes to Peter at the door of his apartment--which I couldn't help be reminded of the time Peter and MJ first met back in issue #42. It shows that Quesada CAN write very powerful, character-driven drama.
*And then it all goes belly-up when MJ tells Peter that, as long as they are a couple, they never have kids and thus never get married.
If I read this issue correctly, according to the new continuity, MJ was still in love with Peter, still wanted to live with him and wanted to bear his children — which apparently was one of the main reasons why she wanted to get married in the first place. But, because she was "jilted" by Peter at the altar as a result of his being "Spider-Man" last issue and doesn't want to go through that pain again, and because it would be unfair for their hypothetical child to grow up in such an environment--which she just got through telling Peter was wrong of her to ever demand him to ever stop being Spider-Man, mind you--MJ refused to marry him. Nevertheless, she still wanted to be with him forever because she loved him so much, just so long as he didn't accidentally knock her up. Because that would mean she would have to marry him and then she would wind up getting "jilted" at the altar again because of him being "Spider-Man." And since having kids is out of the question, there's no reason for the two of them to get married so long as they love each other anyway--because apparently, according to MJ's logic, people only get married to have kids.
This also means she apparently never got pregnant the entire time her and Peter were together. And since that was key in "determining" whether Peter or Ben was clone, this means the entire "Clone Saga" and the repercussions from that is now officially even more out-of-whack than it already was.
Oh, and she also equates Peter being Spider-Man analogous to her growing up with her abusive father or having a loaded gun in the house because, despite him "saving lives," its "the people who ultimately pay the price are the people who love [Peter] the most." As if Spidey saving lives was anywhere close to being the same thing. I guess, according to this logic, cops, firefighters, soldiers, paramedics--hell, anyone who helps people for a living--shouldn't get married, let alone have kids. And I guess people who are incapable of having kids shouldn't get married, either, since that's the only reason to get married according to MJ's logic. And while I don't necessarily condone this, did it never occur to Peter or MJ that him getting vasectomy might have been a somewhat effective "solution?" Why even continue having sex since the chance of MJ getting pregnant would only INCREASE as a result? Heck, Peter might as well not get romantically involved with ANY woman and take a lifelong vow of celibacy based on what's being suggested here.
Is your head exploding like that poor guy from Scanners, yet? If not, just wait...
*Aside from finding out that Peter revealing his identity to the entire world is what ultimately lead them to Peter and MJ splitting up, we also learn that, because Peter and MJ never made the deal with Mephisto (although, they still must have because otherwise how would Mephisto have magically let Electro's fat slob of stooge out of the cop car which lead to Peter and MJ not getting married?), Aunt May was saved after she flatlined...by Peter performing CPR on her.
Um...okay...I guess this means:
1. It didn't matter whether or not Peter and MJ would have made the deal or not, because since Peter was "destined" to save his Aunt after returning to the hospital after seeing Dr. Strange. Thus underscoring that Mephsito is a colossal d***.
2. As other reviews elsewhere have pointed out, Aunt May must have an adamantium-laced skeleton like Wolverine in order for her not being crushed by Peter's spider-strength powered chest compressions.
3. Just by the mere fact Peter saved Aunt May through mere CPR--despite One More Day stressing over and over again that no medical science or magic could save her from dying from a gunshot wound--it pretty much invalidates the entire reason why "One More Day" had to take place.
4. It's magic!
Brain exploding in three...two...one...BOOM!
*Seriously, while the questions that resulted from One More Day needed to be addressed, One Moment in Time at the half-way point is proving that, given the amount of narrative contortions Marvel had to make in order to make the new continuity square up with the old, it would have been better for all involved if they had just left the marriage well enough alone. While it certainly isn't as ridiculous as Peter missing his wedding as a result of getting hit by a cinder block he could have easily dodged and then being knocked unconscious from a fat guy falling on him, the idea that Peter and MJ stayed together but didn't get married because they realized they shouldn't have kids, and that Peter reviving Aunt May through spider-strength induced CPR is just as bad. Hopefully how his secret identity gets restored (which I'm guessing will be Madame Web) will be better, at least.
t:
Piss poor job.
