If Spider-Man comics went in a different direction after "The Other"

[Mister Mets]

Every now and then someone makes a comment about what Spider-Man comics might have been like without One More Day.

But I don't know if we've ever explored that counterfactual in detail.

What do you think would have happened if Joe Quesada's plans for One More Day were vetoed by higher-ups, or something similar?

And this butterfly's wings would have further effects.
- J. Michael Straczynski would have likely stayed on the book longer. He has said he enjoyed being on a series where he didn't have a complete beginning, middle and end. He mainly left the series because he didn't want to work on it after the status quo changed.
- "The Other" would probably have been published the way it was, since that was planned some time in advance. They might have explored his new powers soon.
- Spider-Man might not have unmasked in Civil War, because a major reason that happened was that Marvel knew they'd have a big retcon coming. No Spider-Man Unmasked- No Back in Black (at least not the way they planned it; it was a last minute change because they originally planned to have One More Day immediately after Civil War.)
- Without an unmasking, would Spider-Man have been so close to Tony Stark? Without that, with a smaller role in Civil War and without the iron spider suit, would his introduction have been the same in the MCU?
- It's not clear that they would have gone with the thrice-monthly schedule of Amazing Spider-Man. If they stuck with satellite books, that could lead to different creative teams, although there would still be the problem of satellite books selling much worse than Amazing Spider-Man. Would Marvel have recruited Stephen Wacker, if not for the almost weekly schedule? They had been considering the almost weekly schedule before, so it's possible they would have tried it at some point, but it makes for messy logistics.
- Dan Slott got the idea for Superior Spider-Man because of a scene in Amazing Spider-Man #600. We can figure he'd have been willing to take Spider-Man comics no matter the status quo, but his run could have gone differently. Spider-Island occurred because Marvel wanted to do Superior Spider-Man at that point, but Slott thought it was a better fit later in his run, so that story probably wouldn't happen if he got a different phone call in late 2010.
- If the Amazing Spider-Man books didn't go in a more back to basics direction that made Ultimate Spider-Man redundant, would Miles Morales have been introduced to replace the Ultimate Peter Parker?

One problem with counterfactuals is that we know the unplanned ways things go wrong in the comics that were published, but there likely would have been some serious errors (the equivalent of Nick Spencer's rushed departure) if the series went in a different direction.

We also don't know reception. So you might think it'd be great if Peter and MJ had a kid, or you might think it's a bad idea, but we wouldn't know how well it is executed or how well it sells.

With all the caveats in mind, what do you think the Spider-Man comics, and related media would be like if it weren't for One More Day, and Quesada was told by his bosses that Marvel's going to have to go for different stories after "The Other"?

[Frontier]

I don't think a lot of the BND writers would have ended up working on the title.

[Lee]

- It's not clear that they would have gone with the thrice-monthly schedule of Amazing Spider-Man.

That was primarily a business/publishing decision. I don't think a story decision getting vetoed would have impacted that publishing initiative.

[Daibhidh]

Whoever they'd got writing the title would have written their own thing. Straczynski had left some plot threads that presumably he wanted to pick up. The Loki favour, for example, and the Last Stand Spider-man (though I don't think Last Stand was one of his better ideas - that kind of future to be averted is often unsatisfactory).
There is a question about whether Norman could have functioned as the Big Bad for Dark Reign if he'd still known Peter was Spider-man. But they could have decided to make him forget anyway or come up with some reason why he couldn't go after Peter officially.

The way Spider-Island finishes is really begging for a follow up in which Peter retires and gives up his powers only for Mary Jane to be chosen as the new totem.

[Tuck]

And this butterfly's wings would have further effects.
- J. Michael Straczynski would have likely stayed on the book longer. He has said he enjoyed being on a series where he didn't have a complete beginning, middle and end. He mainly left the series because he didn't want to work on it after the status quo changed.

His run would be remembered less fondly than it is. The post-JRJ portion of his run is not as good. I only hope the whole Avengers Mansion stuff would have ended anyway. Never liked that.

- Spider-Man might not have unmasked in Civil War, because a major reason that happened was that Marvel knew they'd have a big retcon coming. No Spider-Man Unmasked- No Back in Black (at least not the way they planned it; it was a last minute change because they originally planned to have One More Day immediately after Civil War.)

I'll take it. The only thing (besides To Have and to Hold) I'd miss is the character development Felicia got in Back in Black. Of course, they junked that anyway.

- Without an unmasking, would Spider-Man have been so close to Tony Stark? Without that, with a smaller role in Civil War and without the iron spider suit, would his introduction have been the same in the MCU?

Good. Was never a fan on the Tony-as-mentor thing. And Civil War is a premise-denying story. In the real world, Tony is 100% right, and they had to turn him into a fascist to make him wrong.

- If the Amazing Spider-Man books didn't go in a more back to basics direction that made Ultimate Spider-Man redundant, would Miles Morales have been introduced to replace the Ultimate Peter Parker?

I'm very behind on Miles. But this might have been a better situation. I like their interactions, but Miles's reason for being Spider-Man doesn't really translate to 616 (unless there's been some retcon I'm unaware of.)

[Mister Mets]

That was primarily a business/publishing decision. I don't think a story decision getting vetoed would have impacted that publishing initiative.

This gets a bit messy.

There was a plan to move JMS to another title so that Kevin Smith could take over Amazing Spider-Man after the completion of Spider-Man/ Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do. The assumption was that the second half would be completed on time.

JMS was bothered by this, but he was willing to go along with it.

Maybe there's a way to have a conversation that there should be an overhaul and that he should be the equivalent of a showrunner on Amazing Spider-Man, but that roughly twenty issues a year would be by others.

But there would presumably be some kind of change to the status quo to fit that. I doubt they were going to announce that Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man would be cancelled with Issue 10, but that Peter David will be joining Amazing Spider-Man.

In theory, "The Other" would be a convenient time for an overhaul like that, but I would imagine if they were interested, they could have tried it then. Perhaps they were treating it as a test.

I don't think a lot of the BND writers would have ended up working on the title.

Maybe.

Mark Waid seemed to favor a single Peter.

But I'm pretty sure Dan Slott would've been on board. The main question would be whether there's too much of a difference in style between the cinematic and decompressed JMS and the denser/ comics-savvy Dan Slott.

I could see Peter David working with JMS, in which case they would only need one other writer at most to deliver 36 issues a year plus mini-series, annuals and tie-ins. Both can be cinematic, have familiarity with other media and there are some connections (both are close to Neil Gaiman; Peter David wrote some Babylon 5 tie-ins.)

Marvel might not go for Bob Gale if they already have JMS.

But Marc Guggenheim's TV background could lead to him seeming like a good match if JMS is the main writer. Same with Wells.

Fred Van Lente seemed to have the type of background for Spider-Man fill-in work at that time, so I could see him being involved.

It seems Marvel had been interested in Joe Kelly on Spider-Man for some time, so I suspect his name would still come up as a potential Spider-Man guy.