Aw, for Christ's sake, let it go with the Spider-Man already!

[jmatonak]

Yeah. I read the beginning of Brand New Day. It's a well-written Spider-Man comic, which makes for a nice break after the crapfest of the last few issues. But... They can tag it with the word "new" as much as they like, but I'm pretty sure I read this back in 1979. Also, the letters page makes me want to kill... it's a rancid imitation of Stan Lee being carried out by someone who doesn't understand the difference between "break new ground like Stan did" and "do what Stan Lee did."

There is *not one panel* of Amazing Spider-Man #546 that would have to be any different if the main character were married. A couple of throwaway dialogue boxes about how MJ is in another city for work, and you're done. Young married couples socialize, look for housing, and argue with their employers. I've seen it. They even spend large chunks of their days out of each other's presence. Not one panel needed to be different, just slightly different word balloons.

You can have women flirt with Peter. It happens to young marrieds. Even if he's single, I already know the flirtation won't go anywhere. You know how I know? I read this in 1979!

Let me see: marriage unduly "ages" Spider-Man, but his best friend and college roommate can have three ex-wives? Harry and Peter are the same age, no? So in order to promote reader identification, Peter must remain pure and unsullied by post-marital sex? Too many questions, but I'm flummoxed.

"Girlfriend" is okay, because he can almost-but-not-quite have teh sexxors, but "wife" is the kiss of death to the Spider-Man franchise. I see.

*cue sarcastic clap*

Comments

[dynapink.livejournal.com]

Let me see: marriage unduly "ages" Spider-Man, but his best friend and college roommate can have three ex-wives? Harry and Peter are the same age, no? So in order to promote reader identification, Peter must remain pure and unsullied by post-marital sex?

Whaaaatt?

Oh, the logic. It burns.

[jmatonak.livejournal.com]

I absolutely cannot wrap my head around it. Harry and Peter are (at least) close in age, Harry has been married three times, Peter must never be married because it "ages" him. It makes the kind of sense that's not.

[mmaresca.livejournal.com]

I almost... almost... think Joey Q is clever enough that this whole thing is some elaborate shot across the bow at all the fanboys who whine that they want Spider-man to return to this "everyman" status-quo where, hey, he's broke, living with Aunt May, not married to a supermodel, etc., etc. Like, to show them that what they want is kind of foolish and it would take a reality-bending deal with the devil to have it actually happen.

Or, it's more likely that Joey Q just IS one of them, and therefore he does it.

Well, sooner or later Wolverine will realize things aren't right (as Wolverine always does when reality changes), and get on it.

[jmatonak.livejournal.com]

hey, he's broke, living with Aunt May, not married to a supermodel, etc., etc...

I loathe the supermodel thing. Somebody decided they wanted to do a story where Peter's wife was much more successful than he was, which I think was a fine thing in and of itself. Since then, Mary Jane has had career ups and downs. And yet, a certain kind of fan always describes MJ as a supermodel. That's like saying Spider-Man has eight arms because, in three issues, he did. If you don't like Mary Jane being a supermodel, why not get rid of the job instead of the character?

But I repeat myself.