I know there’s a self-imposed “No Industry Drama” rule on Comics Daily, but seriously, Marvel, you’re KILLING me here. With One More Day, readers face the challenge of knowing that this is one big editorially-driven clusterfunk of a story which seems to be heading towards some kind of demented reset-switch ending designed to excise a piece of continuity that encompasses ALL the Spider-Man comics that most of the readership has ever purchased. I’ve been reading comics for over a third of my life, and the Spider-Man I know has always been married, and an unmarried Spidey is like Hulk in the Avengers or Iron Man with a Tom Selleck moustache: The Past.

Still, there are 22 pages of story here that I’m going to consider on their own merits. Let’s start with the art. Quesada, for any accusation people like to level at him, is a Grade A artist. Every page is fantastic, though Miki and Isanove deserve as much recognition for that as the stellar Inker and Colourist that they are. The Cover (the real cover) is another throwback to past cover designs and evokes nothing but nostalgia and excitement. I look at the current covers of comics, and then at the One More Day covers, and I know which ones I’d rather read. But that’s an article for another time and place.

That, unfortunately, is where the “good” column stops for Sensational #41.

In Part #3 of One More Day, we see Spidey make some brief acquaintance with his potential futures, including a bitter, isolated games programmer and a wealthy yet lonely inventor. These versions of himself lead him to the offer of a deal with Maphisto - he can save May’s life, but in return he wants to erase Spider-Man’s marriage. (Mephisto appears to be standing in for Marvel Editorial here.) Drafting in MJ to help make the decision, he allows them…ONE MORE DAY. Dramatic!

Or rather, it would be, had Quesada’s opinion on the marriage not been made fully clear for several years. Right now, it looks like we’re going to be offered fairly little in the way of twists and the marriage is just going to be erased by Mephisto next issue, and I fail to see how it can be made reasonable. Peter should know more than anything not to trust Mephisto. It’s not a stretch to call this literally a deal with the devil. In fact, if Mephisto delivers on his promise, well, that’d make even less sense because he is, y’know, THE LORD OF LIES or whatever. Peter’s bitter and depressed alternate future selves don’t even really fit in with the idea that Peter is intrinsically a heroic character even without powers, but I can almost forgive it just because it’s Mephisto’s doing.

With one issue left, Sensational #41 leaves me desperate for some kind of sign that this story is a good idea and that the Spider-Marriage isn’t as dead as it might look, but my hopes are dim. Coming so soon after The Other, it seems like every attempt to rework the Spider-franchise is fraught with misfire and I wish they’d just get back to telling stories instead of trying to fix what isn’t really broken. Oh, and charging an extra dollar for a handbook-reprint of Mephisto and a Silver Surfer Omnibus advert. I mean, seriously, what the hell?

Tags: J. Michael Straczynski, Joe Quesada, One More Day, Spider-Man
Publisher: Marvel