CBR Spider-Man Forum FAQ

[Mister Mets]

We have a thread devoted to coming up with a list of the major disagreements.

Then there's the Clone Saga discussion thread.

Is Mary Jane Watson-Parker Marvel's most popular female character?

Who was the better artist- Steve Ditko or John Romita Sr?

How old is Peter Parker?

Which fan is better for the long-term health of the franchise?

So, when was Spider-Man's prime?

What is the Spider-Man brand?

What would you retcon if you had the chance?

Can Peter Parker balance being a family man and being Spider-Man?

How awesome was Roger Stern's Amazing Spider-Man run?

The Illusion of Change VS A Commitment to Change

What was so good about JMS's Spider-Man?

What happens if the Norman Osborn who came back at the end of the clone saga were revealed as a clone?

Is a "Supermanification" process making Spider-Man more generic?

What Spider-Man characters should be killed off?

[Mister Mets]

We've got several threads about the disagreements that have arisen in the last two years or so.

When have Quesada & company lied to fans?

Was anyone expecting more from Mayor J Jonah Jameson?

How should Peter Parker's love life be portrayed?

Were the changes for Dr Octopus successful?

What did you think of Steve Ditko's "toyland" article?

When will Spider-Man be back to normal? Hell of a loaded question.

What did Brand New Day improve?

Should Ben Reilly return?

Who should know Spider-Man's secret identity?

In hindsight, what should the BND creative teams have done differently?

Does Spider-Man seem less capable/ experienced to you?

What is Spider-Man's timeline post-Brand New Day?

Does something feel off with Peter Parker since BND?

Is the post-BND Spider-Man a bit like the Morrison/ Quitely All-Star Superman?

What were Marvel's intentions with BND?

Is Spider-Man "Spider-Archie?"

What elements of the post-BND Spider-Man can the movies incorporate?

How seriously should fans take deep wounds?

Is the attitude of some of the professionals at Marvel inappropriate?

What post-BND stories couldn't be done with a married Spider-Man?

Is the content in Amazing Spider-Man too "adult?"

What do you think of Norah Winters as a character?

How about Carlie Cooper?

What do you think of Peter Parker getting fired?

[Mister Mets]

There's a general OMD/ BND thread.

Was One More Day a true faustian bargain?

Were JMS's original plans for OMD and Sins Past better?

Did OMD retcon itself out of existence?

Can you resolve it in-continuity, without changing the current status quo?

Is Mephisto exactly like Satan?

Why shouldn't OMD be mentioned?

What do you think of editorial mandates?

Did One More Day change the past or memories of it?

Shouldn't the butterfly effect ruin One More Day's promises?

Why didn't Marvel just make Ultimate Spider-Man thrice-monthly?

Does Mephisto own Peter's soul because of One More Day?

How about MJ's soul?

Would a divorce have been better?

What was the "One More Thing?" changed during OMD?

How much should OMD count against Spider-Man?

Could there be two contemporary ongoing series, one in the post-BND world and one in a universe in which OMD was handled differently?

Which group fears change: those who liked One More Day, or those who want the title back the way they enjoyed it?

[Mister Mets]

The Clone Saga and previous attempts to make Spider-Man single.

How is Peter and MJ's marriage different from the other Marvel marriages?

Is it true that a married couple is "Dramatically Inert?"

Why would the Editor in Chief want to restore the Spider-Marriage?

And what would you did if that were to happen?

Why would Marvel's next Editor in Chief keep Spider-Man a bachelor?

What stories could only have been told with a married Spider-Man?

What stories can only be told with a married Spider-Man?

Should Spider-Man have been married to begin with?

Should Peter Parker ever be married to anyone?

Does the marriage represent a smaller story-space?

How important is romance in ASM?

What did you think of the four controversial, editorially-mandated issues which altered Peter Parker's marital status?

How are those stories that don't require Spider-Man to be married going?

Was Mary Jane a good fit for Peter Parker?

[Mister Mets]

We've got several threads about why we're better than the current writers and editors.

What do you want to see in Spider-Man's future?

What reading/ viewing material do you recommend for Spider-Man writers?

How can Marvel rejuvenate the Spider-Man franchise?

How would you make a series of monthly Spider-Man titles with writers and artists who have worked on the book since BND?

How would you make a series of monthly Spider-Man titles with artists who haven't worked on the post-BND Amazing Spider-Man?

How can you increase the Spider-Girl franchise?

Why should one (or more) of us write Spider-Man?

Why should one (or more) of us never be allowed near Spider-Man?

How can Marvel make more money with the Spider-Man comics?

Should there be an Astonishing Spider-Man title as a companion to Astonishing X-Men?

Which artist (who has never worked on a Spider-Man title) would you like to see on the book?

How do you balance multiple writers?

What would you do if you edited the book?

You can also submit plots for "Spider-Man the Forum" series.

[Mister Mets]

We have plenty of weird discussions on the Spider-Man comics.

What moral lessons does Spider-Man teach us?

What DC villains should Spider-Man tackle?

Who the hell authorized these Mexican Spider-Man comics?

What moments from the comics influence your take on the character?

What material shouldn't be done in the Spider-Man comics?

What are your sacred cows with Spider-Man?

And there's always the 2012 Spider-Man movie.

What are the worst Spider-Man covers?

How do you rate Bill Mantlo's Spider-Man?

What are the most overrated Spider-Man stories?

What should be done with Aunt May?

How much forward progress has there really been?

[Mister Mets]

Included in the Directors Cut of the Swing Shift one-shot (which set up the current status quo of the Spider-Man books,) these were editor Tom Brevoort's guidelines for the Spider-Man comics.

The sixth post has scans for all interested.

[Mister Mets]

Inspired by a new thread on a subject that comes up pretty often.

The answer depends on what you're interested in.

If you want to read the classic Spider-Man stories from the beginning, those are collected in several formats.

If you're looking for the most accessible recent stories starring the "616" Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man #612-614 should fit the bill. There was a major revamp a few years ago, in Amazing Spider-Man #546, so if you like what you see, you may want to check the issues that have been published since then.

There's also Ultimate Spider-Man, set outside the regular Marvel Universe and featuring a perpetually teenage Spider-Man. It was recently relaunched as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, and it's been reprinted in several forms (trade paperbacks, slightly larger cheaper trade paperbacks, oversized hardcovers.)

[Mister Mets]

Marvel's website offers subscriptions to Amazing Spider-Man at a price of fifty dollars for 36 issues/ one year's worth of the thrice-monthly comic. This represents a savings of more than fifty percent.

In my experience, the issues arrive about a week and a half after your local comic shop gets their copies.

[Mister Mets]

This one comes up often enough.

In a free Spider-Man/ Power Pack comic distributed to school-children in the 1980s, Spider-Man revealed that as a child he had been molested as a child by an older boy who looked a lot like Uncle Ben.

It has not been referenced again in the regular continuity, and is generally not considered canon (which means it's essentially out of continuity.)

It was mentioned in a follow-up one-shot Spider-Man: National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse in 1987, but there's no indication that one is in continuity.

[Mister Mets]

This question comes up every now and then.

The final chapter of One More Day began with Mary Jane standing by a bathroom, shortly after Mephisto offered to save Aunt May's life in exchange for Peter Parker's marriage. From this, some readers assume she was vomiting.



After Peter & Mary Jane accepted the deal, Mephisto gloated and showed them a vision of the daughter they would have otherwise had.

Comics is a medium which is heavily reliant on visual shorthand, and morning sickness is visual shorthand for pregnancy. So, some posters here believe that Mary Jane was already expecting the perfect daughter, and that One More Day constituted a cosmic abortion.

From the issue, there was no reference to the future child having already been conceived (something Mephisto might have enjoyed gloating about.) Nor was there any indication that Mary Jane was aware of any pregnancy. She could easily have just been throwing up due to the stress.

In my opinion, there isn't sufficient reason to conclude that she was pregnant. But it's technically possible. And it doesn't even matter what Marvel's planning at the moment.

The next EIC and writers could always reveal that MJ was pregnant, even if that wasn't the intent of Quesada or JMS.

Likewise, if Quesada and JMS intended to reveal that MJ was pregnant, those plans could very easily change.

It is worth noting that the same art (and much of the dialogue) was reused in One Moment in Time, in which Peter and MJ were explicitly not married.

[Mister Mets]

One argument against One More Day and the ensuing status quo was that Joe Quesada had promised years of stories with the world knowing that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

After an attempt to find the source for these comments, it seems likely that some readers mixed up something Quesada said in an issue of Wizard with something another writer said in the next issue.



From Wizard #178...
Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada assures that this is more than a ploy to raise sales. "If there had been no plan behind it, I would have stopped it in its tracks," admits Quesada. "But knowing what's happening an year or two down the road and how it plays into Spidey stories has me feeling really good about [this]."


From Wizard #179
"I hate it," said Moon Knight writer Charlie Huston. "I think it's a bad call both in terms of the character and the long-term health of the title. I can't imagine this will be one of those "it was all a dream" scenarios- I imagine that Marvel editorial and the writers handling Spider-Man have some specific and powerful storylines planned to spin off on this, and I expect there's going to be some great stuff they can do with the title for a couple of years."

There was a plan for the unmasking, and Quesada knew how it played into Spider-Man stories in 2008. The "years of stories" comment was speculation by Charlie Huston, who was not speaking for Marvel.

[Mister Mets]

Facade was a villain who appeared in the poorly received storyline "Live and Let Die." (Web of Spider-Man #113-116)

His identity was a mystery and he killed off long-time supporting cast member Lance Bannon.

He hasn't been seen since.

A Marvel handbook entry on Norman Osborn (which might not be canon) suggests that he was Facade. This was not writer Terry Kavanagh's intention but it fits a few central clues. Before he died, Lance Bannon said that he knew who Facade was based on a photograph which was later destroyed. A photo of Norman Osborn (believed to be dead at the time) would be pretty damn incriminating.

[Mister Mets]

As revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #638,

she whispered...

[Mister Mets]

In One More Day, Mephisto changed one thing in the past so that Peter Parker and Mary Jane were never married.

This has led to some speculation that Amazing Spider-Man is no longer set in the mainstream Marvel Universe.

As Amazing Spider-Man has referenced events in other titles, and other titles have referenced events in Amazing Spider-Man (including whether or not Peter Parker's ever been married), the title is still set in the regular Marvel Universe.

The counterargument is that previous comics (including Karl Kesel's Fantastic Four one-shot Death in the Family) established that attempts at time travel usually just result in the creation of an alternate reality.

It seems that this is not the case with the time manipulation in One More Day.

Otherwise, the next page after this sequence would involve Peter and MJ wondering why nothing's changed.










stewart48 summed up the tenuous nature of the 616 Marvel Universe, for anyone trying to argue that it should now be called something else.

Based on the Marvel rules of every potential choice has its own reality, 616 is just a term for the here and now of the Marvel U. Marvel U has probably been through different numbered universes with all the time travel storylines the x-men alone have been through.

Just wanted to blow your minds once again.