DC Editor Brian Cunningham remembers Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21

[Mister Mets]

There was an interesting twitter discussion on Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 kicked off by DC group editor Brian Cunningham.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #21 walked down the aisle on this day in 1987. To this day, I dislike that Peter married Mary Jane. It removed a key part of Pete's soap opera romantic life that his Spidey time always made
volatile. And fun. I now brace for the vehement disagreements...

I could accept Peter marrying MJ if it were, say, the final issue ever of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. And they ride off into the sunset giving Pete a happy ending at last. Until then, Peter's heart is broken time and again. And we love him for it because he always gets back up. Always.

One More Day broke my heart... never picked up another Spidey issue after that.

It may be cold comfort to hear, but there have been some truly excellent Spidey stories since then. Stories that validate why you love the character to begin with. Not all the post-OMD choices are home runs...but the ones that matter most were really well-done.

Fabian Nicieza responded, remembering what it was like at Marvel at the time.

most of us disagreed with it too, but editorial was trapped on a runaway train.

Oh, I bet. It had to be tough having a fundamental disagreement with both the EIC and the co-creator of the character. Where do you take that grievance?

if memory serves (was there less than a year at that point) publicity/licensing departments got so excited about the concept (which came from Stan and the strip syndicate) that it basically became a fait accompli.
editorial gave up figuring they could say it was Mephisto's fault

That was also a pretty tense time in Editorial. My impression is no one was very happy.

pretty much eliminate the word "very".
(and it was a year and half for me by that point)
it was a whirlwind of activity in the promo dept. but my takeaway from it all was that the "live wedding" at Shea was held the game Gooden came back from his first rehab to pitch!

Nicieza was also asked his thoughts on One More Day.

Never read it can't say... though I do think the worlds of Spidey and Mephisto rarely play well together

[Celgress]

If a person is creative enough she or he can tell a compelling story within any status quo. Anyone who says otherwise is simply a lazy writer who is looking for excuses. That is my final comment regarding this subject.

Edit sorry for the vitriol folks but I'm so tired of hearing this same excuse over and over again. It comes across as a combination of a crutch and simple whining to my ears. And I'm not even a hardcore Spider Marriage fan.

[Frontier]

This is kind of disconcerting considering Cunningham is taking over the Superman family of titles with a married Superman (and with a child to boot).

Although I think the argument that Peter's marriage to Mary Jane made his life less of a soap opera or volatile, or that there's no drama to be had with married protagonists, is very much incorrect.

[Miles To Go]

The sooner this generation of writers and editors who are allergic to forward thinking are tossed out of the industry the better.

In the meantime, I take great pride that even today, the marriage still finds a way to cling to life.

This is kind of disconcerting considering Cunningham is taking over the Superman family of titles with a married Superman (and with a child to boot).

And it's no coincidence the first story under his watch has Lois and Jon written out

[The Dying Detective]

The sooner this generation of writers and editors who are allergic to forward thinking are tossed out of the industry the better.

In the meantime, I take great pride that even today, the marriage still finds a way to cling to life.



And it's no coincidence the first story under his watch has Lois and Jon written out

Yet Bendis said that the readers will see that they really do care for Superman and his family. A very weird things to do when Brian Cunningham is wholly against marriage in comics. Unless it's just Spider-Man's marriage he has issues with. I know a guy just dislikes the idea of Superman and Batman having kids on the grounds that it takes away from the fantasy. I'm not even sure what that even means but given how he already hates Damian for allegedly being in his eyes an infallible Mary Sue but yet I can see that Damian has flaws and weaknesses. I think he thinks kids of Batman and Superman are bound to be unbeatable. What is wrong with comics? You can't marry people off and you can't let them have any kids it's a sad life these stuffy old men have. Interesting that Fabian Nicieza didn't like it since he was the architect to giving Tim Drake the Batfamily's Spider-Man lots of issues with romance in his Red Robin run.

[Celgress]

Yet Bendis said that the readers will see that they really do care for Superman and his family. A very weird things to do when Brian Cunningham is wholly against marriage in comics. Unless it's just Spider-Man's marriage he has issues with. I know a guy just dislikes the idea of Superman and Batman having kids on the grounds that it takes away from the fantasy. I'm not even sure what that even means but given how he already hates Damian for allegedly being in his eyes an infallible Mary Sue but yet I can see that Damian has flaws and weaknesses. I think he thinks kids of Batman and Superman are bound to be unbeatable. What is wrong with comics? You can't marry people off and you can't let them have any kids it's a sad life these stuffy old men have. Interesting that Fabian Nicieza didn't like it since he was the architect to giving Tim Drake the Batfamily's Spider-Man lots of issues with romance in his Red Robin run.

Good point, for example, I initially detested the concept behind Damian Wayne. I felt Batman should not have a biological son. That said, DC proved me wrong. They have made Damian into an engaging character. Even back in the day, I would have never (if given power at DC) pushed an agenda to erase the character from existence. I think to do otherwise is both disrespectful to those who came before as well as admitting your own lack of creativity. There is a lot that can be done, as DC has shown us.

[leokearon]

The sooner this generation of writers and editors who are allergic to forward thinking are tossed out of the industry the better.

In the meantime, I take great pride that even today, the marriage still finds a way to cling to life.



And it's no coincidence the first story under his watch has Lois and Jon written out

Exactly, instead of moving forward the keep going around in circles. Instead of say the X-Men moving closer to Xavier's dream they decide to have another mass-extinction event.

[comicscollector]

Lol at fans hating comic books professionals for making creative decisions in regards of keeping a character the best creatively speaking(Something that means making decisions like say changing the Status Quo)
For all the times i read these negative reactions as "Oh Noes.how did they dared changing the Spider-Man stories after twenty years worth of stories of Peter and MJ married.Why can not the stories remain the same forever?" i just find it silly that there are some fans that would actually read the same stories with the same Status Quo forever and find it dificult to realize that any comic book can not have the same type of stories forever.

[farmernudie]

The sooner this generation of writers and editors who are allergic to forward thinking are tossed out of the industry the better.

In the meantime, I take great pride that even today, the marriage still finds a way to cling to life.

Couldn't agree more!

[Grim Ghost]

The sooner this generation of writers and editors who are allergic to forward thinking are tossed out of the industry the better.

So basically fire anybody who disagrees with you about a fictional characters marriage? Wow. Take a look at what you're suggesting here man.

[Miles To Go]

So basically fire anybody who disagrees with you about a fictional characters marriage? Wow. Take a look at what you're suggesting here man.

Nothing wrong with suggesting an improvement.

All kidding aside, I wouldn't "fire" them, I'd just put them on books that benefit from their philosophies, Spider-Man shouldn't be one of them. Ever.

[comicscollector]

This is kind of disconcerting considering Cunningham is taking over the Superman family of titles with a married Superman (and with a child to boot).

Although I think the argument that Peter's marriage to Mary Jane made his life less of a soap opera or volatile, or that there's no drama to be had with married protagonists, is very much incorrect.

Err,or Cunningham have a diferent opinion of what work for Spider-Man is not the same that what works for the Superman family.
And considerating that 90% (or more) of all super heroes that have a comic book are bachelors this idea that married protagonist work less better that single characters is not that far fetched after all.

[Miles To Go]

And considerating that 90% (or more) of all super heroes that have a comic book are bachelors this idea that married protagonist work less better that single characters is not that far fetched after all.

Both work just as well as the other

[oldschool]

I don't wanna go down this rabbit hole again but I think it's important to remember that decisions about these characters are portrayed have always been somewhat fluid as Stan/Steve surely didn't expect Spider-Man stories to still be told in 1970, let alone 2018 when they first started on the title. Nor did anyone at Marvel. By 1987, Spidey was arguably the world's most famous super-hero and the USA was in the midst of a big-time marketing/money-making era: New Coke was launched and then walked back, retail was exploding and meetings were quickly convened at every company to decide how they could make headlines and more $$ quickly; the marriage was green-lit. Then, by most accounts, it dawned on editorial that it wasn't a very good long-term plan for storytelling and more meetings were quickly held to try and figure out how to back away from it (and that is how the 1990's Clone saga came about). So....the point is that it was never a viable long-term plan for Spidey to be married to anyone despite some great stories told with MJ and despite how much anyone likes her character.

[comicscollector]

Both work just as well as the other

I liked much more the stories of Spider-Man while he was single up intil Amazing Spider-Man Annual:21 and after the start of BND that i liked the stories of Spider-Man during the marriage years.
Just because that there were writers that did wrote great stories with Peter and Mary Jane married does not mean that this SQ was better that the single SQ.If i compare the stories of while Spider-Man was single to the stories with Peter and MJ were married there are lots more stories that i enjoyed from the single quo that i liked from the married SQ.