Reboot FTL

I know that I am months, probably even a year, behind on this, but regardless, I am pissed off and I need to vent. I did my monthly run to the comic store on Monday and I picked up Amazing Spider-Man numbers 545, 546, and 547. There is nothing special about this except for that #545 is the last issue of the "One More Day" story arc. "One More Day" is a four part series that served two purposes:

1. End production of Sensational Spider-Man (SSM) and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (FNSM) and consolidate those issues into a thrice monthly publication of Amazing Spider-Man (ASM). I like this because now story arcs will be finished in their entirety in ASM instead of the first issue of the arc being in ASM and the rest of the story playing out in SSM or FNSM. I disliked having to read multiple lines of books to finish a story, so this change is for the better.

2. Reboot the Spider-Man franchise. Spider-Man has been stuck in a rut for a couple of years now, with Peter Parker becoming more and more "emo," whiny, and selfish; all in all, not a lot of fun to read. Marvel felt that the franchise was going off on a tangent that was not good for the brand, so a reboot was in order.

Starting a series over in the middle of production is not unheard of; many Marvel and DC comics have successfully done so without creating too much nerd rage among its readers. I do not have a problem with refreshing the Spider-Man image because characters and stories need to be updated for the time in which we live. I do, however, have a problem in which Marvel went about refreshing the Spider-Man brand.

"One More Day" takes place after the Civil War story arc. Peter has unmasked himself to the world and has publicly taken a stand against Tony Stark and the government mandated super-hero registration movement. Since the whole world now knows who Spider-Man is, the bad guys are going to be coming after Peter to exact their revenge on the man who foiled their evil plan to take over the world (or whatever). In somewhat of a predictable move, an assassin is sent to kill Peter. Peter is alerted to the assassin's presence at the last possible second and leaps out of the way before the shot is fired at him. Also largely predictable, the bullet misses him and his Aunt May. May goes to the hospital, Peter goes emo, and "One More Day" begins with Peter trying to find a way to save his aunt.

I will say upfront that I am not a big enough fan to keep up with the politics and the happenings at Marvel. I do not know who the Editor-in-Chief is of Marvel, nor do I know the names of the artists and writers who work on my favorite books. Understanding that, when I read issue 545 of ASM, I thought Marvel had lost its collective mind. Part 4 of "One More Day" is quite possibly the worst writing I have ever had the displeasure of reading in my entire life. I do not even have the proper words to describe how abysmal this book actually is; it is like a 7 year old wrote it while wearing boxing gloves and hopped up on kool-aid.

Without writing out the whole story, Peter basically makes a deal with the devil to save his aunt, with the stipulation being that his marriage to MJ would be erased from history. It would be as if the marriage never happened. Marvel took it a step further and also re-masked Spider-Man, brought back Harry, and said that everything in the past still happened, it is just that the marriage did not happen. Issue 546 of ASM starts up as if nothing has happened and everything is hunky-dory. Peter and MJ dated but broke up (never even knowing they were married), Harry is back, and Peter's identity is protected again.

Marvel basically killed 50 years of canon and their response is, "Get over it."

Issues 546 and 547 are great in their own right, but with "One More Day" casting such a negative shadow over them, I found it really hard to enjoy reading the two books that followed the reboot. I did not have the month everyone else had to get over what Marvel did; I read all 3 books in an hour, meaning I could not digest and "get over" what happened. I think that had I had a week between each book I would have been more okay with the refresh. Even though I suspected the story would end this way, I cannot help but to be bitter towards Marvel. What a sad and stupid way to update a series.

I am going to keep reading ASM for another month or so to see how it goes. If it sucks, I have no problem dropping it from my rotation. I am going to start reading Ultimate Spider-Man, if only because it is a once a month publication and it will not cost much to add it to my rotation of books, especially if I drop the (now) thrice monthly ASM.