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September 15, 2007

Comments

cinephile

Mark,
Any thoughts on the marriage itself? I stopped reading comics altogether a few months before they tied the knot, and haven't been able to read the recent Spider-Man books (Ultimate Spider-Man excepted), so it's been hard to get any sense of it. I think it's an interesting idea, though.

Mark Engblom

Though I adore the character of Spider-Man, I haven't been a regular reader for many, many years. However, I keep up on the books through trades from the library, and from what I've read, the marriage hasn't been handled well by the writers. There's a half-heartedness when it comes to writing a marriage into the title of a major comic book character like Spider-Man and Superman...part of which comes from it's low potential for superhero action and adventure, and part of which comes from younger readers having little to no interest in that sort of thing.

So, that's all to say that the Peter and MJ marriage hasn't been portrayed very well over the years. Still...I'm dreading whatever "fix" Marvel is planning to bring to the situation.

philippos42

There's a whole generation of Spider-Man fans who grew up with a married Spidey. To them, this is like breaking up Reed & Sue Richards, or even Ralph & Sue Dibny. This is not going over well at all, & I really think, if it is going the way Joe Quesada's threatening, that Joe Q's going to be pushed out of Marvel once Stan Lee & Larry Lieber (who write the Spider-Man newspaper strip) make a stink about it.

Mark Engblom

Yeah, I can see how the generation that grew up with a married Spidey could be upset. Heck, I've never been a giant fan of the marriage, but even I don't want to see the destruction/cosmic reset of their marriage made into an event. Still...at the end of the day, they're fictional characters that have to sell comics, and that's what Joe Q. and Co. intend to do.

As for Stan, I don't think he has much pull around Marvel these days, outside of being a figurehead of sorts...much less his brother Larry. I'm sure he's not thrilled about making the destruction of the marriage a spectator sport, but then again, he understands the nature of the comics biz and its constant demand for drama and spectacle more than just about anyone.

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