As the brand New Year rolls in, it’s looking like the last vestige of the Spider-Marriage might finally be over.
While a number of fans were outraged at the events of Spider-Man: One More Day, in which Spider-Man chose to “undo” his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in a deal with the demon Mephisto, they still had a few outlets for that relationship fix.
But the last vestige of the marriage — the Spider-Man newspaper strip — may yet be seeing some major changes in 2009.
In yesterday’s Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip, the year came to a close with an ominous announcement:
Attention, Spidey Fans!
Starting tomorrow, there will be a huge change in our hero’s life!
You’ll see the same Spidey surprise that Marvel Comics has given its countless readers.
It’s something we, too, must do because — with great power comes great responsibility!
Or, just think of it as our way of wishing you — a happy New Year!
And now, in today’s strip, Peter Parker is staying with Aunt May, with MJ nowhere to be seen. The comic ends with a teaser about Peter Parker’s new status quo, urging readers to keep watching to see what happened to our friendly neighborhood web-slinger. If speculation is correct, this could be a strange new tone for the newspaper strip, which famously coincided with the full-length comics during the initial marriage of Spider-Man and Mary Jane. However, if OMD has indeed crossed over into the daily strip, it would certainly work as a strange transition, with little build-up to what would be a radical shift in the series’ tone.
UPDATE: For those of you still wondering — it has been confirmed in today’s strip: a single, college-going Peter Parker is now the strip’s status quo.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
LOL… I didn’t even know the Spidey strip was still being made. It hasn’t been in my local paper in many, many years.
Odd that they’d just suddenly change Spidey’s world in the strip, without any real warning or lead-in though. But, honestly, it’s no stranger than the whole OMD debacle itself.
I’m not going to rant about all of that again, but I just find the whole Spidey thing a bore at this point. Too bad we never got those “years” of unmasked Spidey stories we were originally told (lied to) that Marvel had in store. I thought that was an interesting idea, more interesting than reverting back to the status quo of 30-40 years ago.
January 1st, 2009 at 3:04 pm
WHY DOES STAN LEE HATE SPIDERMAN??????????
January 1st, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Sigh. It’s just not worth paying any attention to Spider-Man any more.
January 1st, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Pretty much, Lemurion. I don’t even care about Ultimate Spider-Man these days.
January 1st, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I really doubt that the newspaper strip will change that much in tone. The only difference will be that MJ won’t be sitting next to Peter on the couch while he yells at the TV.
(It’s for good reason that some people who follow & snark about newspaper strips refer to the Spidey strip as “The Amazing TV-Watching-Man.”)
January 1st, 2009 at 8:32 pm
The strip wasn’t that good in the first place. But still.
Dammit.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
January 1st, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Yes, Mark Waid, how dare we refuse to buy what we’re told to buy, blindly and without thinking, no matter how many creators tell us that we should love the living hell out of it.
How dare we not be nostalgic for an era of storytelling that predates the births of at least half the “new readers” that the new (ie. old) status quo is meant to appeal to.
How dare we drive sales figures down to 66K, without any signs of slowing down, because we don’t think it’s worth our money to read rehashes of stories that were already told, and told infinitely better, more than 20-30 years ago.
Because, oh no, if this retcon fails, then that makes it even less likely that you’ll be allowed to retcon the “love triangle” back into Superman’s continuity, and how dare characters grow and evolve and improve from what they were when you were a child.
Boo hoo. Cry more. It’s time that we stopped being held hostage by the retrograde tastes of middle-aged man-children.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
K-Box:
1. I have my doubts as to whether that’s really Mark Waid.
2. Whether he is or not, I’m pretty sure he’s joking.
3. Your comment doesn’t make sense as a reply to anything that anyone has said in this particular thread.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I think he’s dealt with Waid before.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Also you just know it’s marvel corprate forcing stan to do this. They want all media on spidey to be mostly the same all over the board and stan doesn’t own marvel or spidey. They could easily take stan off the comic strip if he would refuse.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Also isn’t it suspicious that spider-girl is getting canceled (a series with a married peter parker as a character, albiet a supporting character) and the spider-man comic strip gets this change?
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 am
I would think this would even be more confusing for newspaper readers who don’t get the whole story. Then again, I got the whole story and stopped by the book so I guess that’s no better.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:05 am
Oh, well. I don’t even get the Spidey newspaper strip so this is something I don’t have to worry about. However, if I did get the strip, I’d stop reading it like I stopped reading Spidey’s comic books. If you want something relatable, Spider-Man SHOULD be married. Hell, his wife should have a little bun in the oven, too. If there’s a 30-year old comic nerd out there who lives with their parents still and has no job and is a complete dimwit and they can’t relate, tell them to pick up Ultimate Spider-Man or Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. I can’t relate to Spidey anymore so I won’t read him anymore. Made me up to see in Wolverine #69 that everyone knows Spider-Man was Peter Parker in the future. Maybe there’s hope yet. Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, I can relate with Wolverine. I am also a hairy Canadian.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:24 am
Nerds make make me laugh to no end. Funny stuff this is.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:45 am
Hey there…
HUGE Spidey-Fan here.
Fresh direction is what the new year is all about.
Hauzabout’ “Brand New Year”.
Well…looking back on Spidey this past decade…almost the first full decade of the 21st Century! I read Spidey as a kid. I was there for Secret Wars as a rug-burned knee kid…sometimes we tend to hit the fast forward button and fail to remember that Spidey wore Black for Years. My Years.
I came back to Spidey in the early ’00s. The JMS/JR Jr. run. Wow. I was back. Spidey was accessible and good again. I was thrilled. I ate it up. Although I put ASM down with the “Sins Past” retcon/failure. What ever happened to the Grey Goblin?
I pay attention because I am a Spider-Man fan. I don’t buy it but I “stay tuned”. I think it’s rushed and not as fine as it should be. Right now I enjoy Spidey in Bendis’ Ultimate and I think I found my “brand”. Does this mean I smoke “Lights”?
The Spider-Man daily has been running in my local paper, the Boston Globe since I was a kid. Kids if they have to endure a newspaper will find the funnypages and keep their attention there. The Spidey daily strip is a real standard in story-telling. I can’t tell you what story their telling but I know three panels a day and Sundays In Color, Stan Lee & brother Larry Leiber have been spinning this web for decades!!! The credits still are Lee & Leiber…I wonder if this is true or Ghosted such as Clancy or Ludlum?
I think that perhaps the Spidey should remain in the newspapers but this ancient throwback…does it work? Is it relevant? Should or could it be replaced with something new or even licensed such as the CW’s Spectacular Spider-Man. If you look down once in a while, notice that boys in America are clad in Blue & Red with Silver trim, sporting licensed Spidey apparel. I go all fanboy and try to figure out the artist. Mark Bagley’s Ultimate Spidey is everywhere on merchandise. CW’s Spectacular is out there too…EVERYWHERE. Spidey is bigger than Elvis in 2009. Whatever with Fanboys, Kids love Spidey.
I think the Daily Strip should stay. But perhaps it’s time for something akin to the MARVEL ADVENTURES material or brand-new based on Ultimate, making Peter 15 again. Where it’s most fun. It seems Peter Parker’s Golden Age is 16.
‘namaste…
Rev. Sully
Eric O’Sullivan
Boston, MA
PS Happy New Year!
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 am
One More Day: it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
And by “giving,” I mean “crapping all over the character and the readers.”
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:08 am
“Nerds make make me laugh to no end.”
Says the guy who reads an internet comics news site’s blog.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am
Smart move.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
I’m more upset that I don’t even get this strip in my local paper. They stole Dick Tracy from me a fe years back too.
Yet somehow, Zippy remains.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 am
No one reads newspapers anymore. So this is actually non-news … so to speak.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Feb Says:
“Says the guy who reads an internet comics news site’s blog.”
Hey, who’s the one getting a kick out of this and who’s complaining? From the looks of things I’m the winner here.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:01 am
Really? You find Spider-man unrelatable NOW? The marriage is what did it? Really? Nothing to be said about his character? How he deals with situations, and relates to others? I have been with my fiance for 5 years, and I am set to be married in 3 weeks, and I still find Spider-man just as relatable as he’s always has been; Ultimate, Amazing, or otherwise.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Look again, Joe.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Why would a business keep making a change that has not been good for them? I might be wrong, but aren’t sales falling on Amazing? What is going on? Isn’t the very definition of good business to give the people what they want? And no one was asking for this and many people seem to hate it. Like I said, I might be wrong, but I was pretty sure sales have been slipping since December of last year when this whole farce started. Why then is it continuing? Is this some kind of mad idea on Q’s part? Like, I’m going to make you all like the way I do it if it kills the character!!??
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Was Venom ever in the newspaper strip? I hate the One More Day storyline. Pete and MJ should be married until death do they part.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 am
“From the looks of things I’m the winner here.”
You read comic book message boards to take pleasure in the dissatisfaction of others. You’re a real internet champion there, Joe.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
Ha ha. I love it! I love watching whiny fanboys’ heads explode.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 am
the strip is pretty funny. they take like 3 steps and say 1 line before “NEXT TIME ON SPIDER-MAN”
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 am
Why do they have to crap on the fans of the marriage in every possible outlet? Do I really have to read old issues and Spider-girl to find a married Peter Parker? I mean come on, Marvel said the didnt have enough single Peter stories and now thats all you can find anywhere.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 am
No, Spider-Man isn’t relatable anymore. Plus, all I was really saying is that it’d be nice if there was a Spider-Man title for everybody. There isn’t anymore. Not that I really give a crap. I quit reading the book and I’m enjoying my $11.00 saved every month. Maybe when Marvel comes to their senses, I can give that $11 back.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
Did Mark Waid really write “Spiderman”?
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 am
I’m getting an odd sense of deja vu…
Guys, OMD/BND/WTF is only going to last as long as the current editorial staff. Joe Quesada isn’t going to be the editor-in-chief forever, and someday some writer who’s in his/her teens right now is going to say that the married Spider-Man is due for a comeback, and the powers-that-be at that time will think it’s a swell idea.
People were getting exactly this riled up when Hal Jordan became Parallax back in 1993. Anyone remember H.E.A.T.? So, who’s the primary GL now, and who’s one of several in a different title? Hmmmm?
Okay, so maybe you don’t like the books right now. Fine. Save some money. Start a savings account. Pick up Captain America, ’cause that’s a damn fine book right now under Ed Brubaker’s watch. Same goes for Matt Fraction’s Iron Man and Uncanny X-Men. Or, if you’re not exclusively Marvel, Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern and Justice Society of America is good reading, albeit one must be “steeped in the lore” to get the most out of those titles.
Or y’all can start a massive letter-writing campaign to that Buckley guy. You know, Quesada’s boss. You never know. If you REALLY want the book to change before it cycles naturally, you have to do more than kvetch about it online.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:59 am
It is my firm belief that the whole “Brand New Day” thing is just an illusion that Mephisto has set up for Peter and Mary Jane. Mary Jane and Peter really are still married, and Aunt May really is still dying. The Marvel/Top Cow Crossover was a big hint for me. Mephisto doesn’t really have the power to totally alter reality like that. He can create the illusion of it. Of course I could be wrong.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
just my opinion , but I think Ultimate Spiderman or even those lost years spiderman that came out a few years ago would be awesome for the newspaper comic strip. It’s fun, light, and totally within the “outside” mythos of Spiderman, enough to be different and updated, but still the same in recognition and style. I don’t mind the marriage or lack of it. But to update today’s teen living at home, we’d need to have Peter downloading MP3s, skateboarding to the mall, and taking digital photography for MySpace.
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I don’t think Venom was in the daily newspaper strip.
I like the irony of 15-year old genius Peter Parker being the Web Manager for ULTIMATE in addition to building his own web shooters.
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
..
The best part of this story?
Even fewer people have read the Spider-Man newspaper strip than read Spider-Man comic books.
..
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
GOOF and Rev Sully - Venom was actually in the strip before last year, just mentioned and shown though, no real storyline centering on him or anything. Copy and paste this link -
http://bp3.blogger.com/_sVZPqErKWcU/R2rR9pKxXEI/AAAAAAAAAEc/gTUOxJ7sjJw/s1600-h/20071220.gif
And I don’t mind what Stan Lee is doing. He’s just taking Peter Parker to a time in the strip when he wasn’t married. I wish Marvel did the same thing. I mean seriously there’s a 5 year gap (our time) when MJ wasn’t even in Amazing Spider-Man, you want single Spider-Man then just write stories about that time, that’s all you have to do. Goes to show you that even at 85 Stan Lee is still a better writer than the entire current Marvel squad. Making deals with the devil is bad, m’kay?
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
My wife and I were watching SPIDERMAN (the first one) on DVD the other day, and we both started laughing at the beginning when Tobey Maguire’s voice over says “like any good story, this one is all about a girl. THAT girl. Mary Jane Watson.”
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:12 am
—
I mean seriously there’s a 5 year gap (our time) when MJ wasn’t even in Amazing Spider-Man, you want single Spider-Man then just write stories about that time, that’s all you have to do.
—
To be fair, there is the need to tie into current continuity with the monthly comic.
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 am
Should add to the above that I say that as one of the biggest OMD/BND detractors (an informed opinion, since I’ve read most of it).
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
Wow, that is a really dumb and (IMO) pointless move.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Peter may be in college, but the art still makes him look like a hungover 40 year old.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Used to read this regulary when I had the Post and actually had time/head space to read the paper. Who bothers now though? All the headlines bleak enough to make me not even want to open it.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I can honestly say that Amazing Spider-man is the worst comic book I have ever read. It’s become a compass of bad comic book material in terms of what direction NOT to go. I’ve never seen a comic book that promised so much to readers in terms of content. They had Stracynski on the book for five years before they just gave up and let him start doing some bizarre stories that involving every gimmick he could think of: Sins Past, The Other, Costume Change, Power up grade, and finally Quesada let them do the last thing you can do with Spider-man. What happened? Nothing. They never cared about doing a story where everyone found out who Spider-man was, all they wanted to do was drag it out and make his life worse. After that Peter Parker seemed like a moron and then seemed like the worst person in the world.
Who cares about this guy. I can’t even recognize him. I still read a couple issues with the Mephisto garbage and another one with some character called Menace and the new Venom guy. It didn’t seem like Peter Parker at all. And what is supposed to happen? They did an unmasking story they didn’t put energy into to begin with, that’s was supposed tobe the big story. It even got a story on CNN. What’s supposed to happen, now. Wow, a new character that looks like Mary Jane? Big deal.
I feel sorry for those ‘brain trust’ writers, they have to write the generic strip three times a month in 22 issues of… nothing. Guess what, folks. The Clone Saga wasn’t what destoryed Spider-man.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Ras - It’s funny you say that ‘cuz outside of Avengers / Invadrers showing the DB intead of the Daily Bugle, no one is referencing BND at all. Hell Bendis doesn’t even touch it in New Avengers. It might as well be an Ultimate book. Though yeah I’m sure that will change eventually. Who doesn’t want to get to write dialog for Freak! (?) LOL!
January 4th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I have saved so much time and money since BND began.
It’s great to not be saddled with buying comics from Marvel.
I hope that was their plan.
G.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
How much you wanna bet Quesada twisted Stan’s arm on this one?
Sounds like the guy’s still stuck at fifteen or whatever age he was when the marriage happened. He’s certainly acting like what would happen if a fifteen year old got a hold of a major character. Odds are if there are anyone who still reads the newspaper strip they have no idea whats going on in the main titles anyway. The short time it ran in my local paper it was a snore (other then some cool references to Superman and Batman).
Seems to me both of the Big Two are desperately trying to relive the Silver Age. DC has brought back everything but Superbaby in the Super-titles.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Based on what I read on the internet and other sources, it seems there is an overwhelmingly large number of detractors to this Spider-Man thing. Will good business prevail? Will this all be some sort of trick from Mephisto? Or will Q keep ignoring the fans?
January 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Yes Sunday’s strip confirms that Stan Lee is doing a flashback series, not a OMD/BND retcon. This I don’t have problems with really. I still wish Marvel would have done the same.
[url]http://meekrat.net/2009/01/04/not-a-brand-new-day-flashback/[/url]
January 5th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Oh sorry about that. Without the url tags -
http://meekrat.net/2009/01/04/not-a-brand-new-day-flashback/
January 6th, 2009 at 4:45 am
In five years no one will even remember they were ever married. Thank god.
And please, keep Peter Parker in college forever.
-Mike-EL
PS: before anyone accusses ME of being a fanboy, keep in mind two comics that are FAR more popular than any of the ones you buy: Archie. Peanuts.