"Or to put it another way, Spidey was known for his memorable villains and great supporting cast.  Maybe Joe should ask himself, which the marriage doesn't affect, why has not a single memorable Spider-man villain been created since Venom (or arguably Carnage)? 

Why besides MJ and Aunt May (and recently some New Avengers) does Spider-man have no supporting cast?  They moan about that in Wizard. JMS of all people!!!!!   Oh, he had such a good supporting cast and now they are all gone."

The lack of villians has to do, I suspect, with creators consciously or subconsciously "holding back" their best work out of fear that they'd create a big money-making character under work-for-hire rules.

The lack of supporting cast I would actually attribute some to the marriage.  A Spider-Man comic isn't about Peter Parker anymore.  It's about Peter and MJ.  I believe that causes creators to focus too much on the marriage as the chief subplot or secondary story in the comics (when they bother to have subplots).  I also think the shift from serialized storytelling to story-arcs and emphasizing trade sales leads to less use of the supporting cast.  When each issue of  Spider-Man is meant to stand on it's own as part of his continuing adventures, I think it's easier to find places in the story to have Peter interact with his supporting cast.  But a story-arc is 4 or 6 or more issues about one single story, a story which may not have any place for a visit to the Daily Bugle to chat with the gang.  Have just two or three story-arcs like that and it's been a year (real time) since you've shown the supporting characters.

I also wonder if some creators just don't think in serialized terms anymore.  I remember a JMS issue of AMAZING (before I bailed on it) where the story was about this annoying secretary/administrator that Peter had to deal with at school and the issue revolved around him having to save her as Spider-Man.  The problem was that we had never before seen or heard anything about this character who was supposed to be such a thorn in Peter's side as a substitute teacher, even though it had been months and months since JMS introduced that circumstance.  Instead of creating a recurring annoyance for Peter that could amuse us issue after issue, JMS just told us that the character was a recurring annoyance because he needed a character like that for the immediate story.

Of course, that gets us into how JMS gives Peter this new job and then mostly ignores it because it doesn't fit into the stories he's telling.

Mike

QUOTE: The lack of villians has to do, I suspect, with creators consciously or subconsciously "holding back" their best work out of fear that they'd create a big money-making character under work-for-hire rules.

I'd partially go with that.  At the same time, I think there's also "fan resitance" to new villains.  They want to see their favorites, just as a lot of fans turned pro want to write their favorites.  Plus I think most writers try too hard to create the next Dr. Doom instead of the next, I dunno, Electro (i.e., someone who will put up a decent fight but not "strike at the very heart of the character").

QUOTE: The lack of supporting cast I would actually attribute some to the marriage.  A Spider-Man comic isn't about Peter Parker anymore.  It's about Peter and MJ.  I believe that causes creators to focus too much on the marriage as the chief subplot or secondary story in the comics (when they bother to have subplots).

When done right, the married days weren't really that much different than the single days as far as this was concerned.  Back then, other supporting characters got some play to varying levels, but the primary focus tended to be Peter and the Current Love Interest (+ Aunt May).  For example, I think the most use Robbie got was during the married days (the Tombstone stuff in the Conway run).

QUOTE:  I also think the shift from serialized storytelling to story-arcs and emphasizing trade sales leads to less use of the supporting cast.  When each issue of  Spider-Man is meant to stand on it's own as part of his continuing adventures, I think it's easier to find places in the story to have Peter interact with his supporting cast. (snip) I also wonder if some creators just don't think in serialized terms anymore.

These play a huge role, IMO.  Not just because of what you mentioned, but also because it tends to leave little room for subplots, which tended to be the biggest way to develop the supporting cast.  (You let them do their thing for a few months as a subplot, and then when it's time you put them back with Spider-Man for a lead plot.)

QUOTE: Of course, that gets us into how JMS gives Peter this new job and then mostly ignores it because it doesn't fit into the stories he's telling.

Yeah, that bugged me.  I was open to the teaching thing, but I was hoping we'd get a whole world of new supporting cast members that Peter could tick off by constantly ditching, later turn out to be mystery villains or long lost relatives of same, etc.  (I was thrilled when they introduced the annoying secretary.  Then they never used her again.  (sigh) )  What we got was a huge disappointment.