Comics Would you cancel all Spider-Man books if they killed off MJ?

[Themanofbat]

In my opinion, Wolfman's run on ASM was arguably the BEST one on ASM excluding Stan Lee, building up to the classic ASM #200 where a powerless Peter Parker stands up against the man who killed his Uncle Ben.

And I liked Stern's run... it had a nice soap opera feel to it culminating with that Hobgoblin/Spidey fight.

It was during DeFalco's run, and subsequently Micheline's run, where things started to fall apart. I liked how Tom brought some depth with Mary Jane's character and telling us about her past, but the reveal that she always knew his identity led us all to where we are today. And Micheline couldn't write his way out of a paper bag, in my opinion. His way TOO LONG run on ASM was unbearable at best.

For the record though, both Wolfman and Stern were completely against a married Peter Parker.

 

[kainedamo]

Wow! It's half and half.

 

[farmernudie]

I think the question worded as it is a rough one....

It'd be fairer to ask...something like....

"Would you be in favor of them killing MJ?"

And then the stats may be quite different I am guessing.

"Canceling all books" is a very powerful statement.

For instance, I do not like any of the recent storylines at all currently, or how they are writing Spidey, IMO, incorrectly and out of character...dumbed down the fit the "puzzle piece of the moment" they need for fitting their civil war stories. (and the gwen stuff, and stinger claws, power changes, origin alterations, and new costume and the list goes on...)

But while I am not happy in the slightest, i've not totally written off all Spidey comics, tho they've definitely dwindled and Joey Q. has managed and succeeded in getting me to read other stuff/other companies.

My guess is that a lot of people may not support killing off MJ, but that doesnt' mean they'll shut spider-man comics entirely out of their life.

However, the current Spider-man doesn't seem like the "real" Peter Parker, the one in continuity with the same motivations and drives that he has accumulated and learned from over the years. Maybe that Spider-man did die in The Other?!....(headache....)

 

[Dragon]

In my opinion, Wolfman's run on ASM was arguably the BEST one on ASM excluding Stan Lee, building up to the classic ASM #200 where a powerless Peter Parker stands up against the man who killed his Uncle Ben.

And I liked Stern's run... it had a nice soap opera feel to it culminating with that Hobgoblin/Spidey fight.

It was during DeFalco's run, and subsequently Micheline's run, where things started to fall apart. I liked how Tom brought some depth with Mary Jane's character and telling us about her past, but the reveal that she always knew his identity led us all to where we are today. And Micheline couldn't write his way out of a paper bag, in my opinion. His way TOO LONG run on ASM was unbearable at best.

For the record though, both Wolfman and Stern were completely against a married Peter Parker.

My mistake- I forgot about ASM #200, which was indeed a classic story and made perfect sense of why the burglar was both at the TV station and the Parker home. The reason I said Wolfman's run wasn't classic was mostly that it was so short, and that unlike many other writers, he didn't handle many of Spidey's classic villains in extensive storylines. What he wrote was good however. But after 200, his remaining stories were a little lackluster IMO. And he kind of left a plotline dangling with the April Maye character. But in terms of relationships, it seemed that Wolfman (and/or editorial) simply didn't want Peter involved with anyone, as basically every potential relationship Peter had during Wolfman's run was skewered.

 

[Dragon]

Back on subject- The thing is this. Spider-Man exists independent of his marriage. It's part of his life, not his life. If the writing is good (Which is isn't now ith the marriage intact) then Spider-man is a good read, regardless of his relationship status.

 

[DACrowe]

I think we can agree with this. I think I've seen the marriage written very well and very poorly, sometimes by the same writer! And Wolfman was one of my favorite Spidey writers. It was short and sweet.

Here is a bit of trivia for you....we never knew how Marv's last story was meant to go. His last story was a two-parter involving the return of one of his better creations, the Black Cat (this was back when she was an ambiguous villain, remember though). In the first part which was pretty dern good, he said stay tuned for a suprise ending.

Well everybody's favorite David Michelline(sp?) took over for one issue to finish the story for Marv. In it he changed what she stole in the first two issues from a Raj ruby or something like that to a love diamond and made everything she stol love oriented. And at the end presented them to Spidey as a tribute as her love for him. He then realizes she is sick in the head and takes her to some psychiatrists when it is all over thinking that she looks at him like a father....

what a bizzare ending. I wonder what Marv thought of that and if that had anything to do with what he intended? Because let's face it, she went from that point to sowly being his lover and though Wolfman hinted at that is what she wanted, I had doubted he ever would've let that come to fruition. Interesting though.

 

[Themanofbat]

I think we can agree with this. I think I've seen the marriage written very well and very poorly, sometimes by the same writer! And Wolfman was one of my favorite Spidey writers. It was short and sweet.

Here is a bit of trivia for you....we never knew how Marv's last story was meant to go. His last story was a two-parter involving the return of one of his better creations, the Black Cat (this was back when she was an ambiguous villain, remember though). In the first part which was pretty dern good, he said stay tuned for a suprise ending.

Well everybody's favorite David Michelline(sp?) took over for one issue to finish the story for Marv. In it he changed what she stole in the first two issues from a Raj ruby or something like that to a love diamond and made everything she stol love oriented. And at the end presented them to Spidey as a tribute as her love for him. He then realizes she is sick in the head and takes her to some psychiatrists when it is all over thinking that she looks at him like a father....

what a bizzare ending. I wonder what Marv thought of that and if that had anything to do with what he intended? Because let's face it, she went from that point to sowly being his lover and though Wolfman hinted at that is what she wanted, I had doubted he ever would've let that come to fruition. Interesting though.

Another great sub-plot that Wolfman had going was the breakdown of J.Jonah Jameson. There was some real Marvel magic going on with that character at that time, and Bat-scribe Denis O'Neill flushes all that great development down the window in ONE issue with a Jonas Harrow "Mean Machine" that he had pointed at the Daily Bugle, thus creating all the stress on JJJ.

Wha...

 

[Norman Osborn]

and Bat-scribe Denis O'Neill flushes all that great development down the window in ONE issue with a Jonas Harrow "Mean Machine" that he had pointed at the Daily Bugle, thus creating all the stress on JJJ.

Wha...

I remember that....painfully

 

[ragingdemon155]

In my opinion, Wolfman's run on ASM was arguably the BEST one on ASM excluding Stan Lee, building up to the classic ASM #200 where a powerless Peter Parker stands up against the man who killed his Uncle Ben.

And I liked Stern's run... it had a nice soap opera feel to it culminating with that Hobgoblin/Spidey fight.

It was during DeFalco's run, and subsequently Micheline's run, where things started to fall apart. I liked how Tom brought some depth with Mary Jane's character and telling us about her past, but the reveal that she always knew his identity led us all to where we are today. And Micheline couldn't write his way out of a paper bag, in my opinion. His way TOO LONG run on ASM was unbearable at best.

For the record though, both Wolfman and Stern were completely against a married Peter Parker.

Wow, I loved Micheline. I thought he had Spider-man down great. With the wit and one liners and everything. Enjoyed his run. I guess to each his own.

 

[Themanofbat]

I remember that....painfully

Yeah... it was awful.

 

[Green Goblin 1964]

I would drop the book

 

[DACrowe]

Well point is that if they kill off MJ there would probably be 4 or 5 months of high selling issues (including the death issue) where people have to go "what's going to happen to the character now" but afterwards I suspect about half the sells will go down and Joey Q. and Marvel will **** up and freak out and then retconn her a few years later back...kind of like when they seperated them and thought it would work. If not for JMS and a few great Jenkins stories those would've been the worse years (in fact it was the "dead MJ" period before that that was worse). But Marvel had to cave and bring her back then.

 

[Dragon]

I liked how Tom brought some depth with Mary Jane's character and telling us about her past, but the reveal that she always knew his identity led us all to where we are today.

I agree. That was a watershed moment. When I read that back in 80's I thought then and there Marvel is ****ed. That was just too extreme a retcon. If they could go there, they could go anywhere. And they did.

 

[OSX]

I wouldn't "cancel" the Spider-Man books.

In fact, I'd buy multiple copies of that Mary Jane death scene.

Possibly a goblin glider through the chest? Maybe blown to itty bitty pieces by a big fat pumpkin bomb? Drowned to death? Possibly go the super cliched way and have her thrown off of a bridge by a Goblin? Maybe she'll get caught up in a giant battle between the superheroes and Iron Man will accidentally nail her with a repulsor ray and blow up her spleen? Hmmm. So many possibilities and death scenes to go through.

But seriously, I wouldn't mind. I've been wanting MJ dead for a really long time. And lately I've been getting things I've wanted to see out of Spider-Man for a very long time. I got the unmasking just a month and a half ago and I'm loving it to death.

But right now I think it'd be really stupid to kill her. I think they should have killed her like 15 years ago if you ask me. But JMS gave her a little bit more in her character...so...really...what's the point in killing her off? If Joe Quesada doesn't want to age Peter Parker that's the last thing that you want to do...kill MJ. Than Peter Parker is a widow and while there are young widows...like the poor wives of some of the soldiers who die over in Iraq...it will still age the character whether they like it or not.

What they should really do when it comes to MJ is have JMS keep doing what he's bee doing with her. But also have Peter meet another woman that he ends up really having a thing for because she's into science and into the fact that he's Spider-Man, and that the two get along. Then you've got a story where you might think that Peter could cheat, though he doesn't want to or never would. It could be a story that makes the reader constantly question whether Peter would/should/could go with the other woman.

There is actually a lot that can be done now with MJ, it'd be dumb to kill her off at this point. As I said earlier...yeah, 15 years ago...killing her would have probably been a nice move, especially for a fan like me who always and forever will enjoy a single Spider-Man, but it's not a time for her to die right now.

But if they do kill her, I certainly won't shed a tear, nor drop the Spider-Man titles. Though having her killed by a pumpkin bomb would be my personal choice of death.

Haha word, Ive been waiting for her to take her last breath for a while
I like a pumpkin bomb up the anal passageway myself.

 

[Eye Doc]

I agree with the guy who said if Marvel was going to kill MJ they should've done it a long time ago. Killing her now isn't going to make things better.

Where do you go once she's gone? Sure, you can Peter have his inevitable fling with the Black Cat. But, after that no other love interest is really going to bring anything to the book. You're going to have a situation where Peter meets girl, loses girl, reconcile, date, then eventually break up only for the cycle to repeat itself. If that's what Marvel wants, then fine. But they're crazy if they think the fans will have any emotional attachment to any future love interest for Peter.

I can now see why Stern, Wolfman, and a other writers thought the marriage angle was bad. If Peter never married, you'd always wonder if the next girl would be THE GIRL. If you know that Peter will never marry, you already know this girl will eventually leave the series. It kind of reminds me of any love interest that Cartwrights had on Bonanza. You knew she'd be history by the end of the episode or before season's end.

I'd rather see someone drive a wedge between Pete and MJ and have them separate/divorce. You could always have her in the background and if a writer wanted to use her he could.

 

[farmernudie]

Exactly, kinda like what you said,...

In all reality logically it seems to me...
If marriage doesn't work, as Joey Q says...relationships are just gonna spiral off in a never ending loop of these stories....

1.) Pete grieves loss of MJ.

2.) Pete eventually works up nerve to ask out new girl, after dealing with grief of last relationship he lost.

3.) Pete dates new girl-but can't tell her his identity.

4.) Pete will break up with new girl, because "marriage can't work theory" or new girl is killed, if relationship ever gets written too seriously at any point.

And then we start back at beginning, but just substituing MJ's name with the last girl's name he was in a relationship with.

(so-never any character growth) Never ending loop....because Joey Q. has put a salary cap on marriage kinda....lol...so that's my new loop theory! LOL

 

[Spideys Sister]

Felicia hasn't been with Flash for years, until recently he was comatose

And the day Gwen is brought back, all hell will break loose, they already ruined her enough just leave her alone.

Well in MC2 Felicia and Flash are MARRIED. Break them up. Too bad for flash

 

[Norman Osborn]

Felicia hasn't been with Flash for years, until recently he was comatose

And the day Gwen is brought back, all hell will break loose, they already ruined her enough just leave her alone.

....well tape down the furniture cause hell, sure as I'm sitting here, is gonna break loose........it's only a matter of when .....

 

[asp27]

Although i Would be annoyed, i would still read the books because peter could always meet someone else

 

[Blackredens]

No I wouldn’t cancel but after the unmasking I'm thinking about it!

On the topic at hand MJ as an on again off again Girlfriend she has value as a wife she’s an obstacle, and lets face it 20 Some odd years of MJ's whining is ENOUGH! (Black-Cats hotter anyway) I don't think they should kill her, but they got to do something have him go insane threaten her or something that ends in divorce but just don't do some cheezy death thing were Peter thinks she’s Dead but really isn’t (Which is probably what their going to do)

 

[KingOfDreams]

Well, I'm not reading any of them right now and killing MJ would be another thing to add to my intense dislike of the direction Spider-Man is going in and has gone in for a little while now.

 

[DACrowe]

Look I hate writers and fans seeing MJ as "an obsticale." What the ****? Only if you think in terms of plot devices. Why not have a mature relationship about a character who has to balance his marriage with a woman with her own complexities? Oh no, it is more fun for him to keep his identity secret from his gal pal....been down that road time to move on staying in flux is VERY boring as Joey Q is now proving by having to do stupid **** shock events to prove otherwise (unmasking, The Other, Gwen's a ****e). I'm sick of it now.

 

[kainedamo]

I'm really sick of people calling Gwen a ****e. Wise up.

 

[DACrowe]

Sins Past turned her into a ****e. "I love you Peter, oh Mr. Osborn your son's sick, wanna' **** me? Okay!"

Sorry.

 

[kainedamo]

Sins Past turned her into a ****e. "I love you Peter, oh Mr. Osborn your son's sick, wanna' **** me? Okay!"

Sorry.

Nah, that's not how it went. You only make her a ****e in your mind. It's quite frankly a very odd attitude to have. You have many female friends?