How should the new ASM writer handle Peter and MJ?

[oldschool]

Whether it's Nick Spencer or someone else, it is all but certain the new ASM writer has started his/her first story arc already and has a vision for how to handle Peter's relationships, romantic and otherwise (among other things). So.....the simple question I have for you all is: how should he handle Peter and MJ's relationship?

Dan Slott did next to nothing with MJ over the last decade; his high water mark, at least in my eyes, was the RYV series and----for a brief moment---she was handled well as a supporting character in Spider-Island. I really don't feel strongly that they should be married but I do think they have way too much history to just jettison her from the title as has been done the last 10 years. An on-again, off-again romance makes sense to me and, at the least, she should be a confidante who loves him. This still enables Peter to not be "tied down" and he can still date others; it is the more or less the way their relationship was written in the mid-1980's during the Stern and DeFalco eras before the marriage. But I do think she should be brought back----and I think enough time has passed that she will be.

Thoughts?

[Miles To Go]

Yeah, if she were to be used as the confidante and the two tooke gradual baby steps towards something more, only with the perks of MJ's current job, it would be nice...but I really think they ought to just be glued at the hip again...no other love interest bar probably Felicia is ever going to match up and I don't think the writer's hearts are into these new relationships. Slott never went a year with one, not even the sacred cow that was Carlie at the time. The more these female interests pile up, the less remarkable Peter's romantic entanglements become...so it's better you give him the definitive support pillar and concentrate on finding new ways for Peter to evolve with her at his side.

I've had enough hard luck Parker stories, and bad attempts at them, to do me for a decade. Be more like the daily comic strip, which tells more positive and triumphant stories expanding and celebrating Peter and MJ's relationship

[Lukmendes]

Just write her well if they're gonna bother to put her in, whether or not she's a love interest is irrelevant to me.

[oldschool]

Yeah, if she were to be used as the confidante and the two tooke gradual baby steps towards something more, only with the perks of MJ's current job, it would be nice...but I really think they ought to just be glued at the hip again...no other love interest bar probably Felicia is ever going to match up and I don't think the writer's hearts are into these new relationships. Slott never went a year with one, not even the sacred cow that was Carlie at the time. The more these female interests pile up, the less remarkable Peter's romantic entanglements become...so it's better you give him the definitive support pillar and concentrate on finding new ways for Peter to evolve with her at his side.

It's hard to disagree with that assessment. We had Carlie, Silk and Mockingbird all auditioning and failing as a real romantic interest; we even had some brief dalliance with someone at the Parker Industries Hong Kong office early on in "Worldwide" and, truthfully, it was so dull that I forgot her name. I may be missing one or two more but these were all pretty much failures. Truthfully, I thought SpOck's relationship with Anna Maria was light years better than any of these.

[Miles To Go]

Truthfully, I thought SpOck's relationship with Anna Maria was light years better than any of these.

I agree with this. Anna Maria was Slott's best stab at a well-rounded female interest, he put a lot of energy into her and as a result she comes off as the one constant of his era that you'd like to very much stick around.

[Frontier]

I think what we can expect would probably depend a lot on how the writer views Peter and MJ's relationship and Mary Jane as a character.

I mean, I don't want to assume or insinuate anything of Slott, but from interviews and how he used her I don't think he ever put much stock in the relationship of Peter and MJ as it developed into or MJ as more then a minor supporting character who occasionally showed up. So, basically her role in the Lee/Romita run.

And, from a story perspective, I think it does make things difficult to keep Mary Jane around in a significant way when you're trying to push a "swingin' single" Pete because she'll always feel like a bar that no other love interest can surpass. Which is probably why her role in the books and in Spider-Man in general has been diminished as much as it has, to where she's now stuck in an Iron Man book barely doing anything.

Not that that stops Marvel from using her to sell variant covers.

It's hard to disagree with that assessment. We had Carlie, Silk and Mockingbird all auditioning and failing as a real romantic interest; we even had some brief dalliance with someone at the Parker Industries Hong Kong office early on in "Worldwide" and, truthfully, it was so dull that I forgot her name. I may be missing one or two more but these were all pretty much failures. Truthfully, I thought SpOck's relationship with Anna Maria was light years better than any of these.

Honestly I think Anna Maria was probably the most well-developed romance in ASM in a while and it didn't even involve the real Peter .

[Kevinroc]

Honestly I think Anna Maria was probably the most well-developed romance in ASM in a while and it didn't even involve the real Peter .

Technically it wasn't in ASM either.

[Frontier]

Technically it wasn't in ASM either.

Well, there you go .

[blackspidey2099]

Good friends at least, if not love interest. I mean, she is still one of the few non superheroes who cares about him and knows his identity, so it makes sense that she would be there for him during his struggles. And of course Peter would always help her too.

[Starrius]

Whether it's Nick Spencer or someone else, it is all but certain the new ASM writer has started his/her first story arc already and has a vision for how to handle Peter's relationships, romantic and otherwise (among other things). So.....the simple question I have for you all is: how should he handle Peter and MJ's relationship?

Dan Slott did next to nothing with MJ over the last decade; his high water mark, at least in my eyes, was the RYV series and----for a brief moment---she was handled well as a supporting character in Spider-Island. I really don't feel strongly that they should be married but I do think they have way too much history to just jettison her from the title as has been done the last 10 years. An on-again, off-again romance makes sense to me and, at the least, she should be a confidante who loves him. This still enables Peter to not be "tied down" and he can still date others; it is the more or less the way their relationship was written in the mid-1980's during the Stern and DeFalco eras before the marriage. But I do think she should be brought back----and I think enough time has passed that she will be.

Thoughts?

on and off again relationships make people in the relationships look bad like either person cannot be reliable
and they get brought up in relationship fan wars to slam why the person is not good love interest for the main character

[Scott Taylor]

The last 9 years have been shades of Debra Whitman, romance-wise. Not so good, not very compelling, and sometimes downright annoying (Michelle, I am looking at you!). The closest we came to a genuinely interesting love interest was Anna Maria. But she loved Ock, really, and was not too fond of Peter. I also liked Norah, but it seemed that Carlie was being pushed at the time and so Norah just disappeared.

As to bringing MJ back to the book? Nah. Not with the current status quo. Until they deal with the Mephisto in the room, I'm not interested.

[WebLurker]

Personally, I want OMD totally undone. However, I suspect that ain't gonna happen.

[darthblinx]

Personally, I'm in no hurry. I support them being together, but I agree it's a weird time to do it. Honestly, I want it to be very slow.
I want at least a full year (or two) of single Peter. But not the single Peter we've been seeing. Not pursuing relationships and not being pursued by others, just simply being a hero and living his life. I don't even want to see MJ during this time.

Then one day we can be graced with this hidden knowledge (never hinted about) that Peter and MJ have actually been slowly reconnecting on their own. The entire time we think Petes single, he's actually just rekindling an old and very important relationship to him. It's something they both want to try again, but they're both afraid of repeating patterns. And then one of them can be honest and ask the other if they want to be together again. Obviously, that's all just my personal thoughts about their relationship.

Sidenote: I'd absolutely adore an all silent issue with them on a date and at the end, one of them proposes. Pipe dream, I know~

[Digifiend]

I agree with this. Anna Maria was Slott's best stab at a well-rounded female interest, he put a lot of energy into her and as a result she comes off as the one constant of his era that you'd like to very much stick around.

I wonder if Stark will hire her, or even buy Horizon?

[LordMikel]

By not teasing every third issue they might get together. If the relationship is finished then that shock value has no meaning.