Julian Hazeldine on 
MisterSmith on 
Ian Symes on 
Noriko Takaya on One More Weekend
by James Hunt ~ December 28th, 2007
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Comics Daily will be gearing up for a return on Monday with a review of Amazing Spider-Man #545 and, you can be sure, there’s going to be plenty of commentary on the matter.
For now, I’m going to pad out the week with a hastily constructed Op/Ed piece. I’d like to invite some preliminary discussion of the ramifications of One More Day. Specifically, what do you think the damage - if any - is going to be in the long term?
Incoherant rambling and some spoilers for OMD below the cut…
So, the new status quo sees the following things:
The big one - the removal of Pete & MJ’s marriage from all history.
The almost as huge one - Harry Osborn is alive again.
The not so big one - The unmasking has also been erased.
and finally, the minor one - we’re back to non-organic webshooters.
From these facts alone, it’s clear that decades of Spider-Continuity has been utterly shot to pieces, then set alight, and then the remains urinated upon. But we shouldn’t let continuity get in the way of a good story, right?
For what it’s worth, I think it’s only fair to remind everyone that there’s nothing to suggest that the Brand New Day status quo won’t be temporary. In any case, the BND creators all look fantastic and there’s a lot to suggest that the stories they’ve got lined up are going to be excellent, regardless of what continuity they’re adhering to. They’ve created an intentionally classic setup for Spidey, returning him to the centre of a wide supporting cast and given him a new rogue’s galley.
Unfortunately, it won’t count for jack if there’s no-one left to read it. Which brings us to the question that matters - Just how many people are going to be buying BND?
Right now, I’m not so sure whether I am. The idea of Jackpot and the new cast and creators does appeal to me, but on the other hand, I almost can’t believe the events of One More Day - they’ve erased a lot about the Spider-Man I knew, and what’s more, they’ve erased some recent stories that I bought. I thought the Organic Webshooters idea made sense, and I loved the unmasking, but they’re both gone. The laughably similar Spider-Man: Disassembled and The Other, a pair of near-identical stories where Spidey “dies” then receives new powers, were both almost entirely ignored by anyone whose name isn’t Peter David. Did we ever see those “stingers” outside of FNSM once The Other was over? I don’t think so. In any case, they’re both gone now despite neither really receiving a proper follow-up.
So, the question I think I have to answer is whether I really want to buy more Spider-Man comics when there’s a fairly good chance the stories will all be erased and ignored. What is there to go on, besides pure blind faith, that suggests Brand New Day’s stories will be lasting and relevant to the character? After all, the reality they’re being told is is practically built to fall apart at the drop of a hat…
To be honest, I don’t think I’m really going to know what I’m going to do until I’ve got Amazing #546 on the shelf in front of me. The Spider-Man property has been through a lot in the last 10-15 years, but not since the end of the Clone Saga has it ever felt more like make-or-break time…
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December 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I’m a long time Spidey fan and i thought One More Day was a huge spit in the face of the fans who supported the comic books. I’m done with the book and i will not bother with Brand New Day until things go back to normal.
December 28th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
As I’ve said before, there’s a simple solution for those fans who feel completely shat on by Quesada : Ultimate Spider-Man.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:26 am
There’s a new Quesada interview at CBR where he makes a very confused point:
This view doesn’t really account for any people who started reading Spider-Man comics at, say, ANY POINT SINCE 1987. My generation’s Spider-Man is and always has been married. I don’t necessarily want him to age, but the married version has worked for almost as long as the original did, so what’s the real reason for changing it? Do the Superman writers feel the need to undo HIS marriage because of the problems it’s causing? In my opinion, getting rid of MJ actually confuses the classic status quo. Surely she’s as famous as Peter himself?
December 30th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Well, Seb, Ultimate - whilst fantastic - doesn’t tell the tale of a married Peter Parker.
I got into Amazing at the start of Civil War, and devoured JMS’ entire run to that point not long after. It’s funny how a major arc running through pretty much the whole of his run (up until the crossovers began taking hold) is about Peter and MJ trying to save their marriage and work out how to balance each other’s lives [I just went randomly through JMS' issues, and came across a brilliant scene at the top of #502 that really encapsulates their relationship]. It’s not all that surprising, therefore, that he wanted his name taken off this travesty.
The previous part of OMD pretty much soured me on the future direction of Amazing, which, considering my enthusiasm for the title circa #532, is quite an amazing turnaround. I had honestly believed up until then that they wouldn’t go this way - that it was a huge fakeout - but they did. I’ll probably hold on through the first month to see how things work in this new world, but it’s a very reluctant holding on.