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Brian Hague
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Let's face it, fictional characters were made to suffer. Cinderella. The Little Match Girl. Spider-Man. One of the most assured methods of heaping misery upon these beloved characters is the romantic break-up or the otherwise tragic end of a love that promised so much more. Gwen Stacy. Silver St. Cloud. Sally Sellwyn; the possibilities of what might have been for our heroes and heroines but sadly will never be.

What moments of thwarted or doomed comic book romance hit close to home for you? What love interests of days gone by would were your favorites? What couples maybe haven't gotten together, but should, if only to experience a terrible, crashing end to their hopes and dreams together against the jagged rocks of fate?


Edited by Brian Hague on 10 February 2018 at 2:26pm
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Since we're on the JBF, I'll be topical and mention Lori Lemaris and Superman in SUPERMAN VOL. 2 #12 (1987). Definitely touched me, that one did. 
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Phillip L Lightfoot
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Scott Summers and Jean Grey.  Done in by editorial interference (Shooter) and years of writing Scott as an asshole and relentlessly pushing the Wolverine-must-bang-Jean idiocy. (Claremont and others.)   
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Jim Petersman
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Wonder Man's unrequited love of Wanda.

Gar's heartbreak over Terra's true self being revealed.

Johnny's pain and physical anguish when Frankie left earth.
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I seem to recall a female in a Hulk tale - RAMPAGING HULK, perhaps? - that was very close to Hulk. Anyone?

I think the tale ended with Hulk shedding a tear. Unless I imagined it.
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Wallace Sellars
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 8:19pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Rayek losing Leetah to Cutter…

The Hulk losing Jarella… Twice!

Jack and Jasmine drifting apart…

Clearbrook mourning the death (then "half life") of One-Eye...

The Sub-Mariner's bad luck with every woman who's ever caught his eye...

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Christopher Frost
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Peter & Mary Jane. I know there is a faction of fans that feel that Peter should never actually find any happiness, but I always liked them as a couple and wasn't happy when they pulled that One More Day crap.  
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Brian Hague
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Robbie, was this the tear-shedding scene you remember? If so, it took place in Hulk #207... 



The only female I recall from his black & white days in the Rampaging Hulk was Bereet and she was not romantically linked to the Hulk. I do not have a full collection of those stories, though, so there may be a love affair in there that I don't know about. 

Bereet herself showed up again in Mantlo's "Amnesty" storyline, wherein it was revealed that all of those B&W adventures were merely artistic "holo-visions" she filmed with her "Star-Eye" for broadcast as popular entertainment on her homeworld.

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Brian Hague
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 10:30pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Wallace, I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right about Jarella being a double punch in the gut! 

And yeah, Namor never has an easy go of it, either, does he? Policewoman Betty Dean was his longest lasting relationship and even then, they never seemed especially romantic. His long-term involvement with Sue is one of Marvel's most interesting, you should forgive the term, "sub"-plots, varying at times between romantic and platonic (planktonic?)

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Greg Kirkman
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 10:48pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Peter & Mary Jane. I know there is a faction of fans that feel that Peter should never actually find any happiness, but I always liked them as a couple and wasn't happy when they pulled that One More Day crap.  
+++++++++

Y’know, I like Peter and Mary Jane as a couple, but I also understand why the marriage caused enough problems that it would lead to the horrors of the Clone Saga, One More Day, and beyond. 

The best way to go would probably have been Roger Stern’s idea, which was to have Peter and Mary Jane forever be on again/off again, and bringing her in as a wild card when Peter was dating other women.

I do tend to see Mary Jane as The One for Peter, though. I like what DeFalco and later Conway did, by showing that Mary Jane is basically a mirror-image of Peter who uses her party-girl facade to hide the pain of her bad childhood. 

On paper, Gwen Stacy was surely The One for Peter, since she was smart, kind, and innocent, but the idea of Peter and Mary Jane finally lowering their respective masks and finding each other really appeals to me. Even if it was mostly retconned in so as to justify the marriage. DeFalco’s initial deepening of Mary Jane’s character was not done with the intent of making her and Peter a couple again, after all. Conway took that groundwork after the marriage was forced onto the Spider-Man books and used it to justify things in a way which worked pretty well.

Although, the idea that Mary Jane knew Spider-Man’s true identity literally from the beginning is iffy, at best. I like the idea that she knew, but pinning down when she found out without throwing a wrench into a bunch of stories is problematic. I believe DeFalco was going more for the idea that she gradually put the pieces together and figured it out on her own, over the years.
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Greg Kirkman
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Posted: 10 February 2018 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Oh, and some of my other choices would include Scott Summers/Jean Grey, Matt Murdock/Elektra, and the Hulk/Jarella.


I’m gonna throw Gwen Stacy in there, too. Despite the reprecussions and endless rehashes of that story, her murder is easily one of the most heartbreaking endings to a romance in all of comics. It’s literally Peter Parker’s worst nightmare come true: one of his deadliest foes learns his secret identity, and strikes at his loved ones. So many layers of horror to unpack in that story, from Spider-Man accidentally (and unknowingly, as originally intended by Conway) snapping Gwen’s neck to Gwen never even knowing the truth about anything— why the Green Goblin kidnapped her, the fact that her boyfriend was Spider-Man all along (and that he didn’t cause her father’s death), etc.

As much damage as that story ended up causing in the long run, it’s still incredibly powerful, decades later, and cuts to what I consider to be the core themes of Spider-Man. There are two defining deaths and two defining moments in the character’s history. The first is Ben Parker’s murder, and Peter’s life-changing realization that he could have prevented it. The second is Gwen Stacy’s murder, and Peter’s last-second refusal to kill the Green Goblin out of grief and revenge. When I think of Spider-Man, his morality, and his heroism, those are the two Big Moments, for me.
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Brian Hague
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Posted: 11 February 2018 at 12:14am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Some excellent observations, Greg, and I tend to agree with you concerning Gwen Stacy's death and the ways in which it reflects the themes in Spider-Man's life. Conway's "Parallel Lives" was a turning point in my moving away from comics in general as it basically erased every thought balloon MJ's character had ever had, replacing it "something else, we know not what," and turned her into Pete Ross. It really cemented the idea that casual retcons were going to be an ongoing thing in the writer's utility belt going forward.

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