Between One More Day and Gwen Stacy's affair with Osborn, which one is worse?

[Mr_E_88]

Hi guys

For as long as I can remember, I've heard people say that "One More Day" is one of the worst, if not the worst, Spider-man stories. But I tend to have a different opinion. Sure, "One More Day" was strange and there were other ways to make people forget that Peter is Spider-man. But to me I believe that what it was, a really strange story that could have had a better execution, the worst Spider-man story in my opinion is when it was reviled that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborne before her death.

It made little to no sense, it put a hole in Peter and Gwen's relationship it, and it transformed Gwen's death from an incident that was important to Spider-man life and made his rivalry with the Green Goblin more personal into Norman's way to get rid of the child that Gwen was pregnant with.

What do you guys think?

[NC_Yankee]

Hi guys

For as long as I can remember, I've heard people say that "One More Day" is one of the worst, if not the worst, Spider-man stories. But I tend to have a different opinion. Sure, "One More Day" was strange and there were other ways to make people forget that Peter is Spider-man. But to me I believe that what it was, a really strange story that could have had a better execution, the worst Spider-man story in my opinion is when it was reviled that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborne before her death.

It made little to no sense, it put a hole in Peter and Gwen's relationship it, and it transformed Gwen's death from an incident that was important to Spider-man life and made his rivalry with the Green Goblin more personal into Norman's way to get rid of the child that Gwen was pregnant with.


What do you guys think?

I put OMD/ BND as my most despised story. Why? Not only do I give it a grade of zero ( F is too good), but it set up everything after it under Slott except Spider-Island and Renew Your Vows gets a C at best. Sums Past is just one story that gets an F.

[Spider-Tiger]

Sins Past is a story that can be skipped/ignored. OMD can't. Especially if you read through the comics sequentially. Not only did it break 20 years of Spider-man continuity, but it remains the elephant in the room 13 years later. So, for me, OMD is worse.

[Mister Mets]

I'd go with Sins Past.

I've written this before, but Sins Past had a premise that was pretty much unworkable (Peter Parker encounters the children of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn, who appear to be adults due to medical disorder.) They're said to have a variation of progeria, which is messed up as progeria is a real disease and those who have it rarely live past thirteen. It has the advantage of lasting a total of six issues, ten if you include Sins Remembered.

One More Day had a defensible purpose, as they wanted a particular status quo change in a particular way, and some good moments, but it got to the change in a flawed way (The revelation that Peter & MJ had a rare once in a millennium in the entire universe love undercuts the other pairings in the Marvel Universe.)

One More Day was flawed, but Sins Past is worse.

[Huntsman Spider]

They're both fruit from the poisoned tree of the pathological phobia of certain individuals at Marvel of letting Peter Parker mature and grow in any meaningful way. Sins Past wouldn't have happened the way it did if Joe Quesada hadn't jumped in to tell J. Michael Straczynski that Gwen's kids couldn't be fathered by Peter because it would "age him too much" to have him as a father. Similarly, One More Day happened because Quesada believed Peter even being married was a mistake and also "aged him too much" to be relatable, much less appealing, to younger readers. I would say One More Day was even worse, because as bad as Sins Past was, at least it didn't require calling on the in-universe equivalent of the Devil for a literal Faustian bargain to fulfill the goal of retroactively annulling Spider-Man's marriage.

[Mr_E_88]

They're both fruit from the poisoned tree of the pathological phobia of certain individuals at Marvel of letting Peter Parker mature and grow in any meaningful way. Sins Past wouldn't have happened the way it did if Joe Quesada hadn't jumped in to tell J. Michael Straczynski that Gwen's kids couldn't be fathered by Peter because it would "age him too much" to have him as a father. Similarly, One More Day happened because Quesada believed Peter even being married was a mistake and also "aged him too much" to be relatable, much less appealing, to younger readers. I would say One More Day was even worse, because as bad as Sins Past was, at least it didn't require calling on the in-universe equivalent of the Devil for a literal Faustian bargain to fulfill the goal of retroactively annulling Spider-Man's marriage.

But Parker is a relatable character. He has relationships and break-ups, a job that needs to put food on his table, and a family member that he takes care of. He is a representation of a working class citizen who tries to balance his life and responsibilities as a hero. He is a human being first and a superhero second.

If they went with the idea that he should father Gwen's kids then that would have been more relatable.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts as well as others regarding this topic.

[xpyred]

Similarly, One More Day happened because Quesada believed Peter even being married was a mistake and also "aged him too much" to be relatable, much less appealing, to younger readers.

Which is still the dumbest load of crap i have ever heard - especially by towards standards.

Take a look at Instagram. You have a load of "influencers" who range from average to great to extremely freaking hot. A lot of those women have average looking boyfriends and children at ages that range from 18-30. A lot of them are super famous and some of them are just there.

Let me take it even further. I live in Rego Park/Forest Hills Queens. The area I live in has a huge demographic of Georgian Jews and Bukharian Jews (from Uzbekistan.) 95% of the people I went to school with graduated high school by the age of 16-18, went on to college, got married and had children by the time they were 22-25 years of age. So Quesada's reasoning is just the dumbest thing i have ever heard.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Hi guys

For as long as I can remember, I've heard people say that "One More Day" is one of the worst, if not the worst, Spider-man stories. But I tend to have a different opinion. Sure, "One More Day" was strange and there were other ways to make people forget that Peter is Spider-man. But to me I believe that what it was, a really strange story that could have had a better execution, the worst Spider-man story in my opinion is when it was reviled that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborne before her death.

It made little to no sense, it put a hole in Peter and Gwen's relationship it, and it transformed Gwen's death from an incident that was important to Spider-man life and made his rivalry with the Green Goblin more personal into Norman's way to get rid of the child that Gwen was pregnant with.

What do you guys think?

You and others might be interested in this thread I made when I'd read Sins Past and One More Day for the first time last year:

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...s-One-More-Day

I hate both of them. The two worst Spider-Man stories and two of the worst stories I've ever read.

[federicodettofred]

Honestly I think that Sins Past is the WORST SM story EVER. It's simply awful, it completely destroys Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane for no reason at all. Gwen becomes a stupid girl who had sex with a 50 years old man without a reason cheating on her 20 years old boyfriend and MJ looks like a total b**** who knew everything and never told Peter. Also, the story is completely incoherent with lots of earlier stories. It's 100% garbage, terrible and offensive.

[Kevinroc]

Honestly I think that Sins Past is the WORST SM story EVER. It's simply awful, it completely destroys Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane for no reason at all. Gwen becomes a stupid girl who had sex with a 50 years old man without a reason cheating on her 20 years old boyfriend and MJ looks like a total b**** who knew everything and never told Peter. Also, the story is completely incoherent with lots of earlier stories. It's 100% garbage, terrible and offensive.

When was MJ supposed to tell Peter? "Oh yeah, it turns out Gwen had two kids and Norman's the father. How do you want your eggs this morning?"

[federicodettofred]

When was MJ supposed to tell Peter? "Oh yeah, it turns out Gwen had two kids and Norman's the father. How do you want your eggs this morning?"

I hope you don't have trusted people in your life, then!

[PCN24454]

When was MJ supposed to tell Peter? "Oh yeah, it turns out Gwen had two kids and Norman's the father. How do you want your eggs this morning?"

That would've been bad even if he wasn't the Green Goblin.

[Celgress]

That would've been bad even if he wasn't the Green Goblin.

Indeed, Norman being the father is so out of leftfield and slimy I can't buy it. Now, if it was explained Norman hypnotized Gwen (basically raped her) I wouldn't object, well, I'd object but for different reasons.

[esskay]

I kind of like Sins Past. It's not totally unbelievable that Norman could have slept with Gwen. It makes the Gwen period more interesting, in a way. Of course, such huge retcons 30+ years later are bullshit. The accelerated aging of the kids is stupid. It's a stupid story, don't get me wrong. But a lot of people's first point when criticising the story is that Gwen would never do that. I happen to think she probably would. That one aspect of it makes sense to me.

OMD destroyed Spider-Man. There's no going back from it. It took me a long time to realise it. It's just a different guy. I started reading in 1977 - some breaks, but I read everything from that year onwards one way or another. I kept reading with Slott, though I hated a lot of it. But I loved Superior. That's about it. After Superior, it was genuinely awful, but I waited for him to go. And then the next guy, Nick whatever, it's the same tone. Better stories, but it's the Slott version of Spidey in them, for sure. Not for me. I'm sure there are people who read these stories and like it, but if they ever read e.g. Stern/Romita Jr issues it must be obvious that was a different character. That guy is dead now. Dead in so many ways.

[PCN24454]

I kind of like Sins Past. It's not totally unbelievable that Norman could have slept with Gwen. It makes the Gwen period more interesting, in a way. Of course, such huge retcons 30+ years later are bullshit. The accelerated aging of the kids is stupid. It's a stupid story, don't get me wrong. But a lot of people's first point when criticising the story is that Gwen would never do that. I happen to think she probably would. That one aspect of it makes sense to me.

OMD destroyed Spider-Man. There's no going back from it. It took me a long time to realise it. It's just a different guy. I started reading in 1977 - some breaks, but I read everything from that year onwards one way or another. I kept reading with Slott, though I hated a lot of it. But I loved Superior. That's about it. After Superior, it was genuinely awful, but I waited for him to go. And then the next guy, Nick whatever, it's the same tone. Better stories, but it's the Slott version of Spidey in them, for sure. Not for me. I'm sure there are people who read these stories and like it, but if they ever read e.g. Stern/Romita Jr issues it must be obvious that was a different character. That guy is dead now. Dead in so many ways.

"It made sense for Gwen to sleep with Norman?" Are you serious?! If it was Harry, it could've been tolerable, but nope!

As for Slott, I think most people hated how "normal" everything felt.