The Bendis Board has another take on the whole One More Day/Brand New Day Spider-Revamp. And it’s… interesting:
“Joey Da Q is close to being the smartest person in comics [...] I am calling this right now. This whole brand new day is ‘a work’!!!! Joey has fooled everyone. This whole storyline is either a dream? Or it’s Loki and in a few months he’s going to wake up like someone pulled a black mercy off of him (linger longer) and good old aunt may is still going to be in the hospital and dying. All this secret invasion stuff is going on and civil war is all going to come to a head ina few months and nothing in this amazing Spiderman book is being reflected in any other title. Plus everything marvel has been doing has been so good lately, they have to work really hard to make something so bad. I mean, how can they do Cap, Daredevil, Avengers so well and yet fuck up spiderman so badly….it has to be on purpose [...] So I’m just saying that ole Joey has worked really hard to make the whole comic book community hate whats he’s doing. And to mr Da Q….job well done!!!! You fooled everyone…..congrats!!!”
“I’ve thought that too. Has to be a reason why its coming out three times a month now. He’s zooming us thru this storyline. End of the year, I bet things are back to pre-OMD status quo.”
“If that turns out to be the case, I will take back every ill word I ever said about the whole debacle — except for its marketing. I’m positive there could have been a better way to trick the audience without alienating half of them …IF it’s all a ruse.”
“Alright, here’s my pet theory. If it’s true, I think everyone involved is a genius, if something like it isn’t true, that I’m aghast at what they’ve done to Spiderman. What if this entire story line is meant to be the defining Peter Parker and Mary Jane love story-line of all time? It’s a mega-story….will take about 2 years to play out….over that time, Peter, Mary Jane, or both slowly realize something is wrong, and attempt to fix it. Basically a ‘What Dreams May Come’-esque storyline where the two attempt to wrest their relationship and memories back from Mephisto, slowly involving folks like Strange, Loki, Madame Web, and who knows else. It’s almost perfect…you get to play with a single Peter for a bit, and then after that you get this giant soap opera-ish, Faustian, quest in an attempt to seize back everything Mephisto took from them. The fact that we’ve been told we’re going to see Mephisto again makes me wonder if this is what’s really afoot… I’m convinced SOMETHING is going on though, and we don’t know all of it yet.”
Thankfully, Jamie Rich offers a sane appraisal of the original post: “Being the smartest guy in comics is like being the fattest corpse in the graveyard. It just ain’t that hard.”
February 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
linger longer
Opie & Anthony fan are you?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
It’d give them a better reason to be married than, LETS BEAT THE NEWSPAPER COMIC TO DOING IT.
I’ve posted thoughts like these above and agree-hope…though, I dunno, with the sales risk involved, and the precedent of the Clone Saga, not really sure if its a wise (though fun) move.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:27 am
“Alright, here’s my pet theory … … I’m convinced SOMETHING is going on though, and we don’t know all of it yet.”
For the record I said something very similar all over the internet a few weeks back and was soundly ignored by all the fanboys who were calling for Joe Q’s impeachment. I just don’t see why they would introduce a “deal with the Devil” and not pay off the storyline in a logical fashion. I hope me and this guy are right…
February 12th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
“it’s not that hard”
(Michael Scott voice) That’s what she said. (end Michael Scott voice)
Anyway, I thought Guggenheim and Larroca’s first issue was pretty good, better than Slott/McNiven and I’m looking forward to their next issue.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I don’t know. I find it hard to swallow that there’s a plan like this in place.
Now, do I believe there’s a plan to “fix” all this if Brand New Day is not a success? Absolutely.
Why is is so hard to believe that they did an actual soft reboot of the franchise? I think this is a “looks like a duck, walks like a duck, smells like a duck” thing.
It’s a duck. Let’s move on and read some fun Spidey stories.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Heh, someone else picked up on the “linger longer” tie to Opie and Anthony? Beautiful.
I don’t know that this is a “work”. So many Marvel creators have gone on the record saying that Spider-Man is so much better as a single guy that I’d really doubt we’re going back to the married life.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Why stop at backing up the universe to a couple months ago?
“Gwen…no! She’s falling from the bridge!”
(doodley-doodley-do)
(Spidey dives off the bridge and saves her)
February 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
My joking aside, this is the same sort of scuttlebutt discussion and online controversy that went around about rumors of a “master plan” that Iron Man and Captain America had to fake Steve’s death and rout the Skrull invasion, and that everything we’ve seen so far has been only what Tony and Steve WANT us to see while they plan secretly.
I for one would be happy if editorial showed some signs of having planned out such an elaborate storyline that far ahead with a payoff that means their heroes aren’t total jerks or make deals with…could it be…Satan?!?
But I’ll only believe they can do it when I see them do it. Until then…
February 12th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Bully: the return of Gwen Stacy was actually bandied about but ultimately shot down by the creative team.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
It’s a bad sign when the best defense you can make for a story is the hope that it was intended to be undone all along.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
How many Spider-Man fans who hate “One More Day” know about or remember “The Crossing”? That 1995 event was highly thought of at the time by the creative people involved–they touted it on CompuServe and other online services–but it didn’t turn out all that well, and was later clumsily retconned out of existence. Teen Tony (Stark) wasn’t any worse than “Brand New Day’s” Spider-Man, in terms of character alteration. When the people handling the characters want to make money from them, and make it quickly, they don’t dwell on long-term visions of the character’s future. They want stories that they think will sell now.
SRS
February 12th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
And “this is the last time he’ll hit me” too… sorry, I have to join the ‘walks like a duck crowd’ and say this seems like just so much wishful thinking.
Quesada hated the marriage, he’s gotten what he wants and that, apparently, isn’t my money anymore. I won’t be abused and taken for granted anymore.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Just cant stay away eh Khuxy?
February 12th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
No company deliberately produces product to annoy their customers. Not even if it’s a clever double-bluff.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:45 am
No company deliberately produces product to annoy their customers. Not even if it’s a clever double-bluff.
Except that, according to Quesada himself, this is exactly what Straczynski’s entire run on Spider-Man has been, since aside from the marriage and Harry’s death, every single one of the changes that Quesada has singled out, by name, as “what went wrong with Spider-Man,” was a) written by Straczynski and b) approved by Quesada himself.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:25 am
It’s well-known that Azrael as Batman replacement was written as an annoying character ON PURPOSE, to make readers stop demanding a grimmer and grittier Batman.
I don’t think that’s the case now (hey, I LOVE BND! if they are writing that to be annoying, they failed…), but it’s been done before.
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
February 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Is this the stage they call denial?