My grandmother used to love soap operas. It was cliche, but she still called them ‘her stories’ and would avidly follow the exploits of who was sleeping with who’s evil half-cousin who showed up mysteriously at the funeral for their mother who was having an affair with the mayor who wanted no one ot know about his secret dealings with the mafia don’s girlfriend. And heaven help us if there was a wedding going on, because those were the best, full of pageantry and romance.
Comics are kind of similar, really. There’s always some twist and turns, plenty of clones and long lost relatives, evil twins and dirty business. And as we saw with the Black Panther/Storm affair, everyone loves a ‘Wedding of the Century’. But is that where it ends? Does the gown and the reception just lead to misery and heartbreak? What is with the 2006 and Year of the Mighty Marvel Marriage Meltdown?
Now, I’m not saying this is anything new. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne went through the Slap Heard ‘Round the World and continue to pay dues on an incident that keeps them at arm’s length from each other to this day. Say what you want about reconciliation, but writers do so love to dredge up Pym’s sudden spousal abuse to create tension and drama. When the Incredible Hulk was to move in a new direction, one of the first things to go was his wife, Betty, who had been a major force in his supporting cast. Now, Peter David did explain in his afterward to the trade paperback ‘Beauty and the Behemoth’ that the title of the book was the Incredible Hulk and if Marvel wanted to go in a more ‘Hulk Smash!’ direction they were going to have to make some changes.
And there is a threat with long term stability in a character. After all, isn’t the danger what really makes the comic sing? The thought of losing it all at any moment, the edge of rejection razor-close? This isn’t Sue and Reed’s first marital spat in Civil War, Sue being rather an old hand at being the little woman of a superheroic brainiac. In hard times previous, she’s pulled through and stuck by her man for better and for worst and that’s what marriage meant back in Fantastic Four Annual #3. Mind you, after her rather stirring (if not a little drill sargent-y) pep talk to a confused Mary Jane in Sensational Spider-Man #32, it seems like being the rock of matrimony is the Fantastic way. Looks like that one’s a little out order with the rest of the Marvel line as we now have Sue storm out (ha ha) on Reed not only in Civil War #4, but Fantastic Four #541. Separations like this are always surprising, especially when they involve kids.
Can love dull over time? Scott and Jean got married and that was after a death, another death, two alternate dimensional children and a previous marriage with a clone. By that time, I would suspect that the Jean/Scott romance was a little overdone, so while my soap opera-loving genes long for Jean’s return, the new relationship with Emma has helped me (and a few others I suspect) look at Scott in a whole new way.
Is the chase more interesting than the catch? Joe Quesada has gone on record plenty of times throwing fandom in a tizzy that he would prefer a Mary Jane-less Spidey for a number of reasons, from incredulity at such a geek as Parker could land a supermodel to writer drought as there are more stories to be written with a single Spider-Man than a ball-and-chained one. Which, you have to admit, sounds like a cop out. Saying that writers can’t write stories for Spider-Man because he’s married is saying that their imagination is limited. If J. Michael Straczynski can come up with Gwen Stacy’s hyper accelerated children by way of Norman Osborn, I’m pretty sure he can find a way to work in storylines for Peter and still keep him married.
Is the bond the most beautifully tragic thing of all? For every overdone scene of longing between Rogue and Gambit, there’s Medusa and Black Bolt. A rather touching story of distance and dedication, my soap operatic soul sings to see a monarchy so devoted to one another and their people. In the Inhumans mini-series by Paul Jenkins, this is hammered home by the torture and eventual dismemberment she suffers in order to see her husband and king’s plan succeed. Sure, she just gets her hair snipped off by a little Gary Oldman-looking maniac, but still… it’s a pretty strong sacrifice and well written into the storyline as only Paul Jenkins can do. While they are still hitched, they still created drama out of their relationship and a sense of risk about how far they would go for one another. Now, according to an article in Wizard, it looks like the Silent War will test the bond between Medusa and Black Bolt where being defaced by Maximus the Mad did not.
Currently by my count, only Storm and Black Panther are close to ‘happily married’ in the Marvel Universe. Good ol’ sensationalist news reports have noted that marriage on the decline and it has certainly become an issue in the country. Is the idea of a happy marriage not even fiction anymore?
Perhaps we should save it for the movies.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
My first issue of ASM I bought and when I started collecting was issue #290 where Pete proposed to MJ. I have pretty much grown up with a “Married Spider-Man”. I have since collected numerous back issues and the idea of reading a story about single Pete trying to pay rent and buy flowers would just be boring. Its been done. To death. I think JMS does a good job of writing the marriage and let’s face it, kids today should be able to see a happy marriage somewhere! A marriage built on trust and partnership. Read how Pete and MJ talk under JMS. It really is quite well done and MJ is Pete’s rock. If CW see’s the dissolution of Pete and MJ’s marriage, I will be very, very annoyed. As for the “ludicrousness” of Pete hooking up with MJ, sometimes good guys do get the girl! Oh, and note to Queseda, the lack of cool spidey stories does not stem from a ‘Married Spidey’ but from a lack of support on your part of the marriage and writers stuck in the past or who lack creativity/skills to write a healthy relationship or ill-concieved concepts. I mean, its not like you can blame the awfulness of “The Other” on the marriage…Can you?
December 6th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
I think some of us hang on to fictional examples of happy marriages to prove to ourselves that one day we might find something very similar. Real life examples just don’t quite measure up, even if, well, they’re reality. Perhaps that’s why I care more about relationships like that of Apollo and Midnighter, as well, because that’s an example that I put at least some personal investment in; I relate to them more than straight couplings, which always leave me a bit more on the outside. All the same, issue after issue of perfectly content characters might get dull; Joss Whedon has commented before that happy relationships between his characters never last for long, because they’re just not as interesting (I hope I didn’t get his reasoning wrong). I think I’m generally more content when relationships face challenges rather than breaking apart, but it always depends on the story. Then again, in the wonderful world of comics, I know that there’s always a second chance at life, love, and everything.
December 6th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I remember one of my English Lit professors stating that “heroes are never married or have children. It takes away from their epic deeds and quests.” I promptly corrected him by saying that Spider-Man was married and in no way did his marriage dilute his heroics. I have always found Peter to be much more interesting with Mary Jane at his side; during their seperation, I longed for MJ to return, if only to cheer up an increasingly despondent Peter. Her support of her husband’s decision in Civil War rang true to her character and was truly and deeply moving (for me at least). Mary Jane does love Peter, and Spider-Man is a better hero because of it.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
The Black Panther Storm wedding was all too sudden. Everything Joe Quesada says about the Spider-Man marriage more or less REALLY applies to the Storm marriage.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
People seem to keep forgetting that Sue’s left Reed before. She did eventually return to him, but their separation in the 70s seemed like a pretty big deal at the time (“stuck by her man for better and for worst” implies never having left at all).
Not that I disagree with her reasons for leaving in either case, but I wanted to mention this, seeing as I’m seeing various people in the blogosphere talking like the recent walk-out is totally unprecedented (not to mention the people who were putting her down for not being independant enough the year before Civil War).
December 8th, 2006 at 11:53 am
And as we saw with the Black Panther/Storm affair, everyone loves a ‘Wedding of the Century’.
Excuse me?