>Brand New Day, an Update of sorts

In light of the comments I’ve made about this topic, both here, over at Cuppacafe (my “other” blogspace), PopThought and on Newsweek.com I want to weigh back in with not only some personal observations, but what some of my fellow Spiderophiles feel on the subject.

No, I haven’t changed my mind on the topic, even after having read Amazing Spider-Man #546 (unavoidable aside; if that last link doesn’t work it is only because the ASM reviewer for SpiderFan hasn’t posted it by the time I’ve posted this. Swing back in a day or two and it should work just fine by then.) Truth is I’ve finally forced myself to actually read the issue (and yes, I do mean forced — it sat on my desk for a couple of days as I pointedly ignored it, then it was everything I could to to sit still through reading all the words. Painful doesn’t begin to describe the tension and anxieties I felt during the read.

No, I’m not kidding. I felt that everything that I read during the past two decades become unraveled as I read. It hurt. Spider-Man is no longer being written by fans, he has become a corporate entity being controlled by a faceless, soulless corporate entity who cares not one whit for the character but only for the bottom line. (Hell’s Bells, I’m almost surprised that they didn’t turn him into an African-American, Muslim in the process, I mean, there’s an entire demographic that they are not reaching with depicting Peter Parker as a white male.)

But, (in the words of Peter David) I Digress.

I still haven’t Read Amazing Spider-Man #547 or the Marvel Spotlight One More Day/Brand New Day, but I’ve been chatting with the folks over at SpiderFan, and I’m now willing to go out on this limb:

I think that we are being taken for a ride.

Think about this, (I’m about to go all Spider-Geek/fanboy here, so bear with me for a bit). With the conclusion of One More Day, Marvel canceled the The Sensational Spider-Man, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (the other on-going Spider-Titles) and changed Amazing Spider-Man into a three-times-a-month title. This means that Amazing (currently at issue #547) will reach issue #600 in 18 months, rather than in something like four-and-a-half-years. The reports that I am seeing indicate that this storyline will last 18 months. Anyone starting to see a pattern?

This is what I think. The entirety of Brand New Day is either taking place in the mind of Peter Parker, or Mephisto has moved him to a pocket universe (Think Heroes Reborn)

As stated, Mephisto is to be considered Marvel’s equivalent of Satan, (who has often referred to as “The Prince of Lies”). Hence he is not to be trusted. Further, it has never been demonstrated that Mephisto has the ability to undo time on this level. Quite simply; he does not have this much power. His sole abilities are essentially smoke and mirrors. Hence this is a trick.

Where does that leave us? Well, in limbo so to speak. This storyline will be used to test the waters to see if history can be unmade, and to see how it will reflect in sales. With issue #600 things will revert back to the end of the Civil War, with Spidey shoved back in the main timestream. As to whether or not his marriage to MJ will be restored, or Aunt May will survive, I’m not sure.

I have nothing at all on which to base any of this information save for 45+ years of reading comics in general and Spider-Man in particular. Plus there have been a couple of clues that lead me to believe what I say is true:

*** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT ***

In Amazing #545 (post Mephisto) we have Pete making the following comment “Well, you know what they say, Harry, speak of the Devil and he appears”(click image to left). This is made at a party where the long-dead (since Spectacular #200, May 1993) shows up after apparently detoxing in Europe instead of being, well, dead). We were told that the only change to continuity was the marriage itself, yet here is Harry Osborn. WTF? Seems like someone is playing fast and loose with the concept of “only.” My feeling that it is either Marvel editorial, or Mephisto, personally, I’m currently leaning towards Mephisto (the afore-mentioned “Prince of Lies”).

Next up, we see Harry respond to this toast with a curious gleam in his eye.



Then, in Amazing #546, in one of the back-up stories, we have Harry making the following comment (see image to right). I have to be honest, this is not the way Harry talks, er, talked. (He’s dead, remember?) Seriously, the Harry I remember was pretty much of a poser and a pansy. He was a mama’s boy being raised by a wealthy, over-bearing, disinterested, megalomaniac father, who was more interested in killing his son’s best friend (Spidey) than in raising his own son (Harry). This Harry is something of a spoiled rich brat than the confused, down-to-earth, drug-addict we all remember.

This is not Harry. This is Mephisto injecting himself into Peter’s delusion, so as to add to Peter’s pain and suffering. (Mephestio, as you may recall, is all about the pain and suffering of others, so this is actually entirely in character for Mephisto.)

*** END OF SPOILER ALERT *** END OF SPOILER ALERT *** END OF SPOILER ALERT *** END OF SPOILER ALERT ***

The only real problem is that I neither trust Marvel to pull this off (The Clone Saga started out just fine — exciting, in fact — then eventually degenerated into a long, overly-drawn-out, mishandled mess) Need more examples? The Other, Sins of our Fathers, That storyline with the Sider Queen, The whole attempt to retcon Spidey’s abilities into a more pseudo-mystical-based abilities? The past several years of Spider-Man have been one discarded storyline after another. No wonder Joe Q. wants so desperately wants to return to the Glory days of Spidey, because no one seems to know what to do with the character.

Needless to say, if editorial could stop mucking around in his life, and let the very talented writers they have hired actually write some interesting stories rather than mandating then abandoning “event” storylines perhaps we’d have some powerful storylines (like The Tablet storyline — a personal favorite of mine). Which brings me back to where I started. I think we are being fed a bill of goods, and all of this is just one more “event” that is designed to waste time and be a big buildup to sell more books. I could be wrong, but I’m not so sure.

The thing of which I am sure, is that Marvel will somehow lose its nerve and screw the entire thing up, and then be forced to scramble around in order to find a way to fix yet another travesty in bad editorial management and direction.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

~~~~~~
I would like to thank my buddy Patrick over at SpiderFan for his invaluable help in hunting down several bits of Spider-Trivia while I was writing this column.

Oh, yeah, I’d also like to include a link to what someone else has to say about this style of what he calls “top down” editing

Protest One More Day Now...Avoid the Rush!

Well boys and girls, I hope you all had a happy year-end festivities (It is Festivus for the Restofus!) I know I did. Spent the last six or so weeks of the year working on a big project for a brand-spankin’ new client of mine (racking up a ton of hours sos I can pay for my own little shindig)

Well, all of that aside. I have a new rant that I want to lay down on you all, and as you can see, it is about the latest crap being foisted on us by Marvel in the absence of any real story content. Yes, I mean One More Day. As you all know, this is a retcon (or retroactive continuity implant) that is being gengeneered by Marvel, or — more specifically — by Joe Quesada who has long held that Peter Parker’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson was a mistake.

All of which is fine, but instead of simply having the two of them break up, separate, or get divorced (some of these storylines have already been explored in the series), he had Mephisto — Marvel’s literary substitute for Satan — neither of which are Spidey villains) pop in to “trade Peter’s marriage” for the life of May Parker. That’s right, he had Peter cut a Faustian deal with the Devil.

OK, let’s ignore for a minute that utilizing Mephisto as a (if you’ll pardon the expression) Deus ex Machina to “fix” a problem that only Joe Q seems to have is a not only a huge conceit on Quasada’s part, but something that comes out of nowhere for the character and fans (especially the utilization of a non-cannon character to manipulate the events). Let us also ignore that cutting a deal with “the Prince of Lies” is, well, stupid beyond belief.

Yeah, yeah, I know that Peter was desperate because the bullet that put May in a coma was meant for him, and yea, it was because he (wrongly) sided with Tony Stark during the Civil War Event, and then stupidly revealed his identity to the world before switching sides and taking up with Captain America. (All of which was manipulated, but again let’s ignore all of that.) Let’s talk about the fact that this ending (the use of Mephisto) was considered and then dismissed as unbelievable as a possible ending for The Clone Saga.



*** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOILER WARNING ***

Joe Q. has stated that the only thing that The Mephisto Deal has effected is the actual marriage of Pete and MJ. He has indicated that they have spent the past several years together as live-in lovers, but never actually got married, OK, that’s all well and good, but then why, at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #545 did the long dead Harry Osborne show up? Does this mean he never died? Did he ever marry and have little Normie? Are there any other inconsistencies in previously-established Spider-continuity? At this point, we don’t know.

*** END OF SPOILER WARNING *** END OF SPOILER WARNING *** END OF SPOILER WARNING *** END OF SPOILER WARNING ***

What we do know is that this is a seminal and earth-shaking an event as the death of Gwen Stacy The one important difference is that the Death of Gwen moved the series forward, this moves it backwards, and we are all the poorer because of it.

My suggestion is that you read the book and make your own decision and write to Joe and Marvel (as well as post on whatever blogs and board to which you regularly post) and let them know what you think.

If you haven’t as of yet patched into what I think, here it is. I think that One More Day is a bone-headed, badly conceived, poorly-executed, sloppily written act of self-indulgent, intellectual masturbation that disrespects us fans, the pros who have been writing Spider-Man for the past couple or three decades, and is the ultimate form of cop-out that loudly proclaims to the world that not only has Marvel run out of ideas, but that it’s writers and editors really can’t write themselves out of a paper bag.

It is a really bad idea that is so bad it really isn’t an idea as much as it is the admission that no one has an Idea, and anyone that actually does, simply isn’t to be tolerated, and will be asked to leave the room.

This entire dirty episode is such a reflection of what is going on culturally and politically in this country that it is an effin shame. Still, that topic is the subject of an entirely separate rant. For now I’m done, and will move on to other topics for a bit.

I thank you all for your indulgence, and respectfully ask that you leave comments expressing your own views, observations, and concerns. Personally, I’m going to have a strong drink, shake the dust off my dry bones, and hope I live long enough to see this contemptible mockery be put to rest and Spider-Man be reverted to his former glory.



UPDATE *** EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! *** UPDATE

This just in, I’ve been quoted by Newsweek on this storyline. Yes, you read that right, Newsweek!

How Wicked-Cool is that, eh?