What is the most divisive Spider-Man story?

[Venomous Mask]

I thought Aunt May's return worked. It was a swerve that was set up nicely. The rest of the story and the explanation wasn't good.

It worked, but it was a very poor decision. ASM #400 was an incredibly moving way to send off the character, and undoing it I think was just wrong (same as I think bringing back Harry Osborn was wrong). Also, the decision to bring back May instead of the baby was another sign that Marvel just did not want Peter to evolve whatsoever.

[frogoat]

One More Day was extremely divisive. People are still talking and discussing it today. The Clone Saga was certainly divisive, but given it eventually ended and much of it's changes were reverted, I'd say it is less so than OMD. One More Day doesn't really have a conclusion to speak of..it just ran out of pages and then POOOFFF twenty years of continuity are replaced with...we don't really know exactly what. One More Day makes it to the top of the divisive list for me, with the Clone Saga in second place.

[Celgress]

OMD or Sins Past, imo.

[Noronha]

I thought Aunt May's return worked. It was a swerve that was set up nicely. The rest of the story and the explanation wasn't good.

It only worked briefly with JMS, before him she was reduced to her boring role of frail old Aunt.
After OMD, she has yet to achieve the level JMS gave her. It doesn't help the she isn't allowed to know Peter´s secret which nowadays, and after Bendis and JMS proved how good it can be, is pretty ridiculous.

The swerve was a kick in the teeth to May´s (Peter´s daughter) fans brought out of spite by a EiC that had long out welcomed his stay...

As for the most divise story well that´s easy...OMD.

Not the story in itself (well except the last part which was atrocious but the build up is actually quite good with typical JMS spot on writing) but its lasting consequences.
There is before and after, with fans divided on both camps, the ones who liked it/understood its necessity and the ones who despised it/left the book (I am the latter).

[Mister Mets]

I was referring to May's return working in the context of a plot point The Gathering of the Five/ Final Chapter.

Though I think it has also worked in many other comics that came out after. JMS's take on the character was pretty good, and there were some other good stories set after she learned his secret. I liked her realization in Peter Parker Spider-Man #50 that what it meant for Gwen to be killed during a fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. Mark Millar's twelve issue run was also one of my favorite Spider-Man comics.

But there was also some good stories with May that didn't involve the secret identity. Peter Parker Spider-Man #27-28 had Peter learn about a family tragedy. Amazing Spider-Man #630-633 had the Negative Aunt May. I also liked May and Jonah Sr's wedding.

[Noronha]

I was referring to May's return working in the context of a plot point The Gathering of the Five/ Final Chapter.

Though I think it has also worked in many other comics that came out after. JMS's take on the character was pretty good, and there were some other good stories set after she learned his secret. I liked her realization in Peter Parker Spider-Man #50 that what it meant for Gwen to be killed during a fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. Mark Millar's twelve issue run was also one of my favorite Spider-Man comics.

But there was also some good stories with May that didn't involve the secret identity. Peter Parker Spider-Man #27-28 had Peter learn about a family tragedy. Amazing Spider-Man #630-633 had the Negative Aunt May. I also liked May and Jonah Sr's wedding.

Her return as plot point, in the equally horrendous Got5/Final Chapter, was explained, I think by DeFalco in Life of Reilly (correct me if I am wrong), and it was a dick move by Bob Harras aimed straight as Mays' fans.

Yes, when I mentioned JMS I forgot to include Jenkins and other writers such as PAD that managed to produce great stories (no doubt helped by her knowing the truth).

BND May is an attempt to have her act more like ultimate May and pre-OMD May but completely shackled by the impossibility of her knowing Peter's secret (hence the walking plot device known as Mr. Negative´s touch)

[1drman]

I didn't visit these forums during SSM, Mainly because i really loved it and knew there would be way too much to talk about each issue and I would have exhausted myself at the keyboard.. Still, i thought the varying ideas would be theories about what's going on. I never imagined that anyone wouldn't like it. I thought everything about it was really beautiful. His arch nemesis believes he has finally found a way to defeat him. He steals his life, and immediately upon having the lessons of Peter's life in his head, he sees for the first time that his entire life was a mistake. Even with memories of his own traumatic past still intact, in that first moment, he can't help but feel that the path he took was wrong. Slott used this character to ask that classic question should a hero take that extra final step, and we see doc ock brazenly take that choice lightly and he pays dearly for it. As far as I could tell this story declared that that question should not be taken lightly by a hero. He ultimately loses his way, in trying to become better than Peter the negative parts of his personality gain an opening and find a way back to the surface, and it's those dark ideas that ultimately destroy him. In the end it's debatable, but i think he's a true hero for knowing he himself must be stopped.

What was it that people didn't like about the story? Please just one person answer because i din't want to hijack this thread

[TheLemsterPju]

Easy one.

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[Noronha]

I didn't visit these forums during SSM, Mainly because i really loved it and knew there would be way too much to talk about each issue and I would have exhausted myself at the keyboard.. Still, i thought the varying ideas would be theories about what's going on. I never imagined that anyone wouldn't like it. I thought everything about it was really beautiful. His arch nemesis believes he has finally found a way to defeat him. He steals his life, and immediately upon having the lessons of Peter's life in his head, he sees for the first time that his entire life was a mistake. Even with memories of his own traumatic past still intact, in that first moment, he can't help but feel that the path he took was wrong. Slott used this character to ask that classic question should a hero take that extra final step, and we see doc ock brazenly take that choice lightly and he pays dearly for it. As far as I could tell this story declared that that question should not be taken lightly by a hero. He ultimately loses his way, in trying to become better than Peter the negative parts of his personality gain an opening and find a way back to the surface, and it's those dark ideas that ultimately destroy him. In the end it's debatable, but i think he's a true hero for knowing he himself must be stopped.

What was it that people didn't like about the story? Please just one person answer because i din't want to hijack this thread

Listen, I understood the reasoning behind OMD, I didn't agree with it and thought the execution was atrocious...

I didn't like SSP for the same reason...the execution was awful, the story relied heavily on everyone being brain dead around Peter (Otto), and the payoff was absolutely terrible and it could not have been further from achieving its goal.

That and Slott´s understanding and characterization on PP have never been my cup of tea.

[Scott Taylor]

The weird thing about OMD is that the controversies are almost never about whether it was a good story, as most agree it was not, but are about whether people should continue to discuss the story. For a while it was like Lord Voldemort to some people, a "he who must not be named."

[ViewtifulJC]

I'm not gonna put OMD/Gathering of Five/Clone Saga into the discussion, because those are universally disliked, with a few defenders here and there. I'm thinking of a story or saga that seems to have an almost equal amount of fans and non-fans.

I think Superior Spider-Man is as good a guess as any. A lot of people just hate the whole concept, on top of not liking a lot of the issues....but a lot of people love the era, including wishing for Spock to come back. I'm a big fan of the era in general, shame about Goblin Nation.

[Kevinroc]

The weird thing about OMD is that the controversies are almost never about whether it was a good story, as most agree it was not, but are about whether people should continue to discuss the story. For a while it was like Lord Voldemort to some people, a "he who must not be named."

I've thought things along this line as well. Marvel just seems to brush it off as "people were going to complain no matter what," but they did themselves no favors by having such a horrible story serve as the ending of the marriage years.

Not helped by the early BND stories being kinda average, and seemingly rather repetitive, as well. (How many times did Peter run out or almost run out of web fluid in those early BND stories?)

[ViewtifulJC]

All these years later, I still wonder why they didn't go with Loki in the Mephisto role. I kinda thought they set that up in that JMS/Fiona Apple fill-in, with Loki owing Spider-Man a wish. Then Loki could have fulfilled his wish for Aunt May's revival, and did some Loki trickery that screwed Spider-Man out of marriage. Some tricky wordplay, sleight of hand, that kind of thing he's been doing for decades. That would've killed the whole "HE MADE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL!?" talk, and you can put more of the blame on Loki being a dick then Spider-Man knowingly trading his marriage.

In fact, in my head, I like to imagine this happen instead. Head canon is an amazing thing.

[The Whovian]

OMD. Not even close

[RD!]

The Clone Saga is the most divisive, some love it, some hate it.

Sins Past is probably the second most divisive, but even fans of the story can see how stupid the premise is.

OMD/OMIT is panned by all but the most die-hard apologists, not that divisive.

Dying Wish ultimately came to naught and had no lasting consequences, apart from making Peter a successful millionaire (how do I sign up to be body swapped?) Maximum Carnage is just a crazy story, it would be like calling Spider Verse divisive. If you don't like them it's easy enough to forget about them.

Can't think of anything else that really warrants a mention.