| The Amazing Spider-Man #545 |
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| Posted by Kris Bather |
05:41 AM Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
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 Man, this was a hard review. Not because it was a bad comic necessarily. There's just so much baggage. For those of you who have been staying away from the net and the vocal fans on message boards (are there any of you left?) this issue is infamous for 2 major reasons. 1: it is famed writer JMS' swansong to the Web Slinger; 2: it is the culmination of the worst kept secret in comics - Spider-Man is getting divorced. For the story behind the story, Joe Quesada, Marvel's EIC does his best to explain this decision here, without exactly saying, "It looked good on paper." I have yet to read anyone outside of Marvel who thinks this is a grand concept for their flagship hero, and even inside those hallowed halls many have been conflicted about it. Surprisingly even the writer of this One More Day arc, J. Michael Straczynski has been uncharacteriscally forthright against this plan, but he takes orders from the man at the top. In a nutshell, after the events of the awesome mini-series Civil War which saw lots of superheroes taking opposing sides, Spidey unmasked and revealed his identity to the world. His beloved Aunt May was then shot instead of him. May goes to the place where she spends most of her time - her death bed. Spidey gets back in his black costume and goes 'dark.' And then he makes a deal with the devil to get her back. Now, I've never been a huge fan of Spidey, but I do feel sorry for the guy. After the Clone Saga in the 1990s which turned away many fans, such as myself, Peter Parker has had a long road to credibility. But to wipe away the last twenty years worth of wonderful married plots on the whim of basically one man is not a wise move. Hopefully, this won't last. However, I must say, this issue is written very well. JMS does a superb job as he has done since he first took the reins writing Spidey a few years ago, and Marvel are kind enough to give him a one page farewell salute with lots of nice words about him from fellow creators. The extras also include an Aunt May bio and strangely, seeing as its now ending, a brief look at Peter and Mary Jane Watson's wedding from 1987's Annual.
Joe Q handles the art here and it looks great. He's always been a master at figure work and page design and the frustration and heart ache between Peter and MJ as they count down their final hours as a loving couple is handled perfectly. At one point Mephisto says to the pair that a pure, unconditional love like theirs comes along only once in a milennia and to deny God that is a victory like no other. So, no one else in the Marvel U loves each other? Bummer.The ending seems rushed though, as if Marvel are in a hurry to set up the Brand New Day status quo. Now this is not a bad issue as such. Good art. Good script. bad idea. That's the frustration. Joe Q wants Spidey to be more relatable to younger readers so making him single (against his will) seemed like the best way to do that. It's just unfortunate that he believes a single life offers more excitement than a married one. It works fine for Clark and Lois. It actually creates more tension and more story possibilities, but I can kind of see Quesada's rationale. I firmly believe that this will be a jarring change to many long time Spidey fans and many will drop this book. For my two cents I believe that there's no greater way to live a life based on "great power and great responsibility" than staying faithfully married. If Aunt May could speak I'm sure she'd say, "Peter Parker! You've protected me for years! I'm 104 years old! Now let go already and love your wife!" And she's not the only one. |
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