<<I don't know how or if the marriage will be written out of The Amazing Spider-Man, but I have wondered if a divorced Spider-Man is a good thing. Seems awfully grown-up to me. >>

The conundrum that has stymied editors for years..."Which is MORE grown-up? Marriage? Or Divorce?"

Howard

Glenn Greenberg wrote: See, I disagree about that. I think, if the marriage is really going to be undone, then MJ should be written out of the books for a good long time, and then she should be brought back later on in an important and impactful way. During the time when she's gone, Peter can get involved with other women--perhaps including the Black Cat--and have a wide variety of experiences with different types of people.

No surprise, I agree with you completely.

Howard Mackie wrote: The conundrum that has stymied editors for years..."Which is MORE grown-up? Marriage? Or Divorce?"

The work around for that is simply never mentioning the word "divorce" after the initial aftermath.  Write MJ out of the book for a few years, and then when she's brought back for the obligatory "romantic tension," never directly mention the marriage.  It's "a serious relationship that ended."

Yeah, long timers will know, but it's not like "magically erasing the marriage from the characters' memories" will erase the memories of the readers (or adjust the contents of the various tpbs with them married).

Glenn Greenberg wrote: perhaps including the Black Cat

Geez, not the Black Cat...  (or Betty Brant or Liz Allen or Deb Whitman or anyone even close to being romanticly involved with Peter in the past).  If all of those "incredible stories [they] can only tell is Peter is single" involve reprising old relationships, I'm going to get really depressed. 

   In comic book terms, I would think divorce is probably more grown-up
than marriage because it's the step beyond "the big one." In fact, it's
probably bringing one of the things kids are trying to escape into comics.
+++++++++

I'd only be half-surprised if Spider-Man got divorced, and then (a few years down the line, when M***** wants to have an "event") he marries either Gwen Stacy's-illegitimate-seven-year-old-daughter-in-the-body-of- a-20-something-who-looks-exactly-like-her, or maybe the Black Cat.

In my darker moments, I think that nothing can be done to fix Spider-Man in a satisfactory way at this point. Maybe we should just resign ourselves to the fact that his day is done, and hope that a few years/decades from now, he'll be resurrected and rediscovered by a new generation, as Captain America was.

But then I remember--all it takes is one good writer with a backbone. That's all Spider-Man really needs.

 


<<Larry Morris wrote:
You postulated a theory that holds no water
Instead of just conceding that you were wrong or dropping out... 
 
 Brad Danson wrote:
If you'll read all my posts you'll see that I conceded that JMS did not do it to make readers forget her. But I'm sticking with the theory that he intentionally tried to make her less likeable. "Forget" was too strong of a word. "Move past" is what I should have used. 
 
 Larry Morris wrote:
So you've amended it again? 
 
 
When was the first time?>>

You're right here and I'm wrong.  I must have had a brainfart there.  You did only amend it once, that you were retracting the word forget.  Ot at least saying it was not the best word to use.  This point I will concede you.  Your others?  I'm afraid not.

Glenn, do you read Quesada's Newsrama Q+A?  in talking about the marriage, he's mentioned that it's not the Peter/MJ relationship that he objects to, it's the marriage.

Whatever happens in OMD, I don't see MJ leaving the book on any longterm basis.  Just my take from reading Quesada's Peter/MJ comments the last several years.   

Also, I've seen him say several times that divorce or MJ dying would be out of the question, that it would age the character even more.
 
 

<<The work around for that is simply never mentioning the word "divorce" after the initial aftermath.  Write MJ out of the book for a few years, and then when she's brought back for the obligatory "romantic tension," never directly mention the marriage.  It's "a serious relationship that ended.">>

Agreed. I(or it could have been someone else) used to say that its all about the stories you choose to tell. IF you choose to tell "Woe is me!" stories about divorce... that's what you are stuck with. It goes back to what I previously said the problem was witht he marriage. Soon as MJ and Peter were married, they were being writtne as though they had been married for 20 years.

Howard

If Peter and MJ divorced, there would be a large slice of the pitiful few fans who are left who would howl and moan and carry on if every single issue wasn't about Peter whining and moaning and preferably not dressing up in that silly Spiderman costume. And the writers and editors, desperate to distance themselves as much as possible from these dreadful superhero comics that are putting so much money in their bank accounts, would be happy to comply.