Did anyone enjoy Spider-Man in spite of One More Day?

[CTTT]

Some people feel like the breakup of MJ and Pete's marriage caused them not to read Spider-Man after that but was there anyone that enjoyed and still enjoys despite One More Day? Anyone that actually like One More Day?

[Miles To Go]

Some people feel like the breakup of MJ and Pete's marriage caused them not to read Spider-Man after that but was there anyone that enjoyed and still enjoys despite One More Day? Anyone that actually like One More Day?

One More Day does have somewhat of a reassuring ending which took about ten years to manifest in the comics (MJ's promise that the two would find each other again), but other than that it's generally considered a write-off.

As for people who enjoy post-OMD Spidey, you'll find there's plenty, either ones who did not care for MJ, the marriage, or were very bitter about both being endgame for Peter, and others who liked the marriage and MJ but didn't want one bad apple to define the remainder of the fruit you find on the tree.

Others did not care for the last decade like me, but we always had alternatives. The marriage never actually went away and lasted pretty much the same length as the post-OMD era has been in existence.

Stories like "Emergency Stop", "Grim Hunt", "Spider-Island", "Superior Spider-Man", and "Spider-Verse" have all been sales successes and were heavily instrumental in defining where the Spider-Man books are now or were just fun done-in-ones. Could these stories have still happened with the marriage intact? Some could, and some might have been more interesting, there's no way of knowing unless we get an AU run covering those ideas.

[The tall man]

I liked it because I didn't tie my enjoyment of Spidey to his marriage. I am first and foremost a Peter fan regardless of MJ's presence, its almost as if some want to position MJ as the center or foundation of the Spider mythos. And I don't like how some seem to think he's somehow lesser or incomplete without her. No one would ever apply that to a female character, being lesser because she has no love interest. Wheather he's married or not should not matter, it does not define him and if MJ is in the picture or not should not matter. If her presence is a deal breaker then maybe its more about being MJ fans than Peter fans.

[Vortex85]

I liked it because I didn't tie my enjoyment of Spidey to his marriage. I am first and foremost a Peter fan regardless of MJ's presence, its almost as if some want to position MJ as the center or foundation of the Spider mythos. And I don't like how some seem to think he's somehow lesser or incomplete without her. No one would ever apply that to a female character, being lesser because she has no love interest. Wheather he's married or not should not matter, it does not define him and if MJ is in the picture or not should not matter. If her presence is a deal breaker then maybe its more about being MJ fans than Peter fans.

I started reading at a time when being a Peter fan WAS being an MJ fan, because Peter's #1 most important thing to him was Mary Jane.... and the whole point of that period (Clone saga era) was Peter trying to find his happily ever after with her amongst the chaos around him. Rooting for Peter and his happiness was rooting for him and Mary Jane to find a happy life together. That was his goal... and in reading about him and what he wanted to acheive, what his definition of success and happiness was, meant I had the same goal as well... for him to have a happy life with Mary Jane. They two were two sides of the same coin and you really couldn't seperate them in those stories. She was his world and his heart. I still feel that's the case today too, though some writers don't follow that line of thought like others do or did.

I can understand how fans who did not get established with Spider-Man with the same stories would feel differently, especially if during a period where Peter and MJ were not a couple. But the way I was introduced to Spider-Man informed me about how central and important MJ was to the mythos.

That's my stance on the issue. I cared about and still care about Peter and MJ equally and always will. So yeah, OMD broke me and I dropped intereset in the title for many years.

[Miles To Go]

If her presence is a deal breaker then maybe its more about being MJ fans than Peter fans.

Or maybe people are interested in both of their stories and how they compliment and enrich one another.

Spidey sales were fairly uneven for a long time prior to Superior, and dropped again after it was over with the exception of bumper issues and Slott's Renew Your Vows (oh look, something with the marriage), Peter on his own or being with other love interests had less appeal than him being together with MJ, we've seen healthier sales stats for the book ever since Spencer reunited them.

[Russ840]

I have hated everything from OMD up until the Start Of Spencer’s run.

I hate character regression and, to me, Peter never felt like the same character post OMD. I found him to be incompetent, a laughing stock and a man child.

[NC_Yankee]

I have hated everything from OMD up until the Start Of Spencer’s run.

I hate character regression and, to me, Peter never felt like the same character post OMD. I found him to be incompetent, a laughing stock and a man child.

I agree 100%. I gave Slott a grade of F. Does it mean there were not good stories? No Spider Island and Renew Your Vows come to mind. But he made Pete look like a loser ( and inferior to Doc Ock) and MJ and Felicia look even worse.

[Russ840]

I agree 100%. I gave Slott a grade of F. Does it mean there were not good stories? No Spider Island and Renew Your Vows come to mind. But he made Pete look like a loser ( and inferior to Doc Ock) and MJ and Felicia look even worse.

Yeah, I fully appreciate others opinions about BND and onwards, I mean, that is some people’s entry to Spider-Man but it is not Peter Parker as he was from ASM 1 to 545. Like I said. Felt like a totally different character.

For me, I will never own any hard copy of any of those stories. I have every Spidey masterwork and collect Omnibus’ for material that is not available in masterworks but after JMS’ inevitable Omnibus Vol 2, there will be nothing else on my shelf until Spencer’s run is available. I will likely never read any of BND and Slotts run again.

I have coined that period the ‘Dark Age’ of Spider-Man.

[PCN24454]

While OMD annoyed me as it did other people, I loved Slott’s run up until Superior.

[phantom1592]

I liked it because I didn't tie my enjoyment of Spidey to his marriage. I am first and foremost a Peter fan regardless of MJ's presence, its almost as if some want to position MJ as the center or foundation of the Spider mythos. And I don't like how some seem to think he's somehow lesser or incomplete without her. No one would ever apply that to a female character, being lesser because she has no love interest. Wheather he's married or not should not matter, it does not define him and if MJ is in the picture or not should not matter. If her presence is a deal breaker then maybe its more about being MJ fans than Peter fans.

This.

There was always more media without a marriage then there was with. Betty Brant in the early Stan lee days... Then Gwen dominated his 'best of' stories... The amazing Friends cartoon, the 70's live action series/movies , the 90's cartoon had MJ but they weren't married. Spectacular cartoon, Ultimate comics and cartoon had MJ, but he dated other girls too (for some reason I REALLY liked PEter with Kitty Pryde) The Raimi movies were leading up to the wedding, and quit right when it happened, and the two reboots since had no MJ at all...

And honestly I loved MOST of those interpretations. I was reading in the 90's where they WERE married, and honestly it was a drag. She was constantly fretting about his danger... or if he was spending too much time with Black Cat... or whether Venom or some random stalker was going get her... He was constantly yelling about how he HAD to do this... and then complain about her smoking... It wasn't FUN. It is what it is... but I never once considered it MANDATORY to the Spider-franchise.

I hate OMD. As a story, it was pretty bad and downright insulting. However I like what's come after it. I wasn't one of those people who stopped reading in protest and BND had some pretty amazing stories. And for as much as I hated OMD, I was one of those people who hoped they wouldn't restore everything with magic or whatever. They made this mess, now they should live with it. Now here we are over a decade later and I don't even think of OMD or what happened.

Agree with all of this. I used to tell people BND was TONS of fun and I was loving everything about it... but still HATED the road they took to get there. It was a bad, terrible, stupid setup... but when the dust cleared, I did like the new status quo. Though I also hated how they had to mess with the whole foundation and nobody knew WHAT happened or HOW anymore... Not enough written in stone, but it was still Spider-man to me.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

This. There was always more media without a marriage then there was with.

You're forgetting the video games, almost every Spider-Man video game from the end of the '80s to just before the Raimi trilogy tie-ins, and even then after that you had a couple of games showing them married. There's more video games with Peter and MJ married then with Aunt May appearing or Peter being in high school. And you are forgetting the Oscar winning movie ITSV which features two, not one but two, married Spider-Man.

Until Weisman's Spectacular Spider-Man there had never been one cartoon showing Peter as a high schooler. All the Spider-Man cartoons since 1967 to the MTV Cartoon showed Peter in college as an adult. Since Spectacular, and since the Disney buyout, Spider-Man appears exclusively as a teenager in cartoons put out by Disney. So just because the media showed things a certain way doesn't indicate or mean that it should or could always be that way since now Marvel and others are trying to push that "Spider-Man should always be a high-schooler and it was a mistake to send him to college". "More media without a marriage" is true of Lois Lane and Superman too. But a lot of people want them married but don't want Spider-Man and MJ married. So that kind of argument doesn't make sense.

[

]Betty Brant in the early Stan lee days... Then Gwen dominated his 'best of' stories...[

]

Even back in the Betty Brant days, MJ was set-up and first mentioned in ASM#15 as the girl Peter should marry. That's there in the Lee-Ditko days. MJ was far more popular than Gwen in that period to the point that MJ first appeared in the 1967 cartoon while Gwen was a no-show, and this when Gwen was alive. MJ appeared alongside Peter and Jameson opposite Superman, Clark, and Morgan Edge in Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man the first inter-company crossover, a best-seller, and a classic. The story ends with a double date as Peter, MJ, Clark and Lois walk out like Guys and Dolls, which basically equates MJ to Lois. More than any other love interest, Mary Jane appeared consistently and cameo'd numerous times in other non-marvel titles. Even when Gwen was alive.

[phantom1592]

You're forgetting the video games, almost every Spider-Man video game from the end of the '80s to just before the Raimi trilogy tie-ins, and even then after that you had a couple of games showing them married. There's more video games with Peter and MJ married then with Aunt May appearing or Peter being in high school. And you are forgetting the Oscar winning movie ITSV which features two, not one but two, married Spider-Man.

Wasn't one of those spider-men divorced? Not sure that's a very good point.

I didn't play a LOT of the video games and I actually beat fewer of them. There was the first Genesis one that I really liked. The playstation one then the Raimi movie tie ins.. The SNES version with the X-Men that SUCKED... but no MJ there I'm pretty sure. If MJ was in any of those games she wasn't very integral to the story and certainly not focused on the marriage. (MAYBE Maximum Carnage... that story took place during the married years, but I never got that far in it.)

Until Weisman's Spectacular Spider-Man there had never been one cartoon showing Peter as a high schooler. All the Spider-Man cartoons since 1967 to the MTV Cartoon showed Peter in college as an adult. Since Spectacular, and since the Disney buyout, Spider-Man appears exclusively as a teenager in cartoons put out by Disney. So just because the media showed things a certain way doesn't indicate or mean that it should or could always be that way since now Marvel and others are trying to push that "Spider-Man should always be a high-schooler and it was a mistake to send him to college". "More media without a marriage" is true of Lois Lane and Superman too. But a lot of people want them married but don't want Spider-Man and MJ married. So that kind of argument doesn't make sense.

I hear ya... I'm sick to death of high school Pete. MY Spider-man was always the college age version. Still dating and going to parties... Still dealing with responsibility of taking care of May and classes and a job... but not a case of criminal child negligence if he sneaks out to fight crime. My core Spider-man came from Amazing Friends and the 90's cartoon. So yeah, I can live with him being married.. and I can live with him being not-married.

For that matter I also preferred a Lois who was constantly trying to prove clark was superman as opposed to happily married and raising a kid. No hypocrisy here. I actually prefer Superman single.

For that matter, there are a few characters that I DO feel that a marriage is part of their core. Black Bolt and Medusa... Reed Richards and Sue Storm. We may see them dating... but their core iconic characters have always been together.

Even back in the Betty Brant days, MJ was set-up and first mentioned in ASM#15 as the girl Peter should marry. That's there in the Lee-Ditko days. MJ was far more popular than Gwen in that period to the point that MJ first appeared in the 1967 cartoon while Gwen was a no-show, and this when Gwen was alive. MJ appeared alongside Peter and Jameson opposite Superman, Clark, and Morgan Edge in Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man the first inter-company crossover, a best-seller, and a classic. The story ends with a double date as Peter, MJ, Clark and Lois walk out like Guys and Dolls, which basically equates MJ to Lois. More than any other love interest, Mary Jane appeared consistently and cameo'd numerous times in other non-marvel titles. Even when Gwen was alive.

Yeah, she was around a lot in the comics and stuff... but she was also NOT around a lot too. I just checked a 'top 25 Spider-Man stories' list https://www.cbr.com/greatest-spider-man-stories/ and Kraven's last Hunt was the only one in the top 10 that she was there for. Maximum Carnage and Venom's first appearance show up deeper in the list. But there are SOOO many like Hobgoblin Saga and Nothing can stop Juggernaut and kid who collects Spider-man that really dig deep into who Peter is and What Spider-man is all about... and the marriage isn't there.

Superman and Reed Richards can't say that. Superman had a lot of girlfriends too... but Lois was there from the beginning and never REALLY had any competition. Most of the Lori lemarus or Lana Lang stuff was always in the past of an imaginary tale. It was always Lois and Clark forever... But I do think the journey was a lot more fun than the destination.

[Lee]

MJ was far more popular than Gwen in that period to the point that MJ first appeared in the 1967 cartoon while Gwen was a no-show, and this when Gwen was alive.

Mary Jane appeared in that single episode of the cartoon because it was an adaptation of Amazing Spider-Man #59, where she was part of the villain's plan.

[Chubistian]

Some people feel like the breakup of MJ and Pete's marriage caused them not to read Spider-Man after that but was there anyone that enjoyed and still enjoys despite One More Day? Anyone that actually like One More Day?

I don't like OMD as a story nor the whole concept with Peter and MJ "selling" their marriage, but I don't hate the story either. I just think it was poorly crafted and stretched, and personally would have prefered another way of ending the marriage (divorce), but I have enjoyed a lot of what Slott did with the character once BND started. I have a lot of catching up to do, but so far I'm a big fan of New Ways To Die; Big Time (New Hobgoblin, Marla's death. I have yet to read No one dies); Spider-Island (which I had pretty low expectations because I didn't like the concept and I ended up enjoying a lot); Ends of the Earth; the death of Peter and the beggining and ending of Superior Spider-Man (I'm missing some issues in between); Spider-Verse and some minor arcs Slott wrote. The only arc I disliked a lot by Slott was the first story with Peter back in his body after the end of Superior Spider-Man

[WebSlingWonder]

I don't like OMD as a story nor the whole concept with Peter and MJ "selling" their marriage, but I don't hate the story either. I just think it was poorly crafted and stretched, and personally would have preferred another way of ending the marriage (divorce), but I have enjoyed a lot of what Slott did with the character once BND started. I have a lot of catching up to do, but so far I'm a big fan of New Ways To Die; Big Time (New Hobgoblin, Marla's death. I have yet to read No one dies); Spider-Island (which I had pretty low expectations because I didn't like the concept and I ended up enjoying a lot); Ends of the Earth; the death of Peter and the beginning and ending of Superior Spider-Man (I'm missing some issues in between); Spider-Verse and some minor arcs Slott wrote. The only arc I disliked a lot by Slott was the first story with Peter back in his body after the end of Superior Spider-Man

Oh I really disliked that first arc too. Volume 3 as a whole (besides "Spider-Verse") was just awful filler to me.