The Big Picture: The Devil & Mr. Parker

[Johann Goethe]

The idea that a simple gunshot wound can't be solved by Dr Strange, who probably has gods as Facebook friends, or Reed Richards who builds Ray Bradbury-style wonder machines out of whatever he happens to have handy, is irritating already. I think on some level JMS was resisting this since it's made clear Aunt May is meant to pass on (and even tells Peter to just let her go).

But that's not really the point. The point is that Spider-Man, who always does what's right, would give up his marriage to the Lord of Hell, all to save an elderly woman who by rights should have been dead at this point, and who isn't that fussed about it either. Quesada was asking me to believe that Peter would give up the woman he loves, and I refuse to accept the character would ever act so selfishly.

And Identity Crisis was a horrible story that wiped its arse on the idea that superheroes could ever be good people. I got that shit with Watchmen.

 

[Magnax]

I don't really follow comics (I read Civil War recently, but that was about it) but this is a pretty different take on the whole One More Day story than what I've heard. Most of the fans I know hate Joe Quesada for it. Though I guess there's no real consensus on what does or doesn't work in the context of comic book plots.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

I used to love comics. I could overlook their stupidity and just all around awfulness, because I knew that every now and then there would be a gem that would justify the entire medium.

For me it was The Ultimates.

I was eagerly waiting for The Ultimates 3, for such a long time. Everyday my anticipation grew and grew. I stuck with comics, despite things just getting worse and worse. I got tired of comics trying to pander to horny teenagers, so I started looking for more indie comics... only to find that they did the same...

But... I stuck with them... The Ultimates 3 was coming and even though it's a new writing/art team it will be awesome...

Finally it was released. I opened it up... on the very first page; Tony Stark sex tape. Which all but entirely killed comic books for me. I kept going, only to encounter the final nail in the coffin; Hawkeye looked like a douchbag.

 

[Vault Citizen]

BND was such a cock punch by Quesada, a man who even explicitly stated when Spidey revealed his identity, "There will be no magic retcons for this". Then he pulls a literal magic fucking retcon out of his bloated ass. Also, NO ONE CAN SAVE MAY FROM A FUCKING GUNSHOT?! Riiiiiiight, it's not as if Doctor Strange can't magic her wounds away, Reed Richards can't make a bacta tank or the X-Men, who had a guy who's sole power was to heal people NO MATTER THE WOUND, couldn't help.

Noooooo, Mary Jane had to go away because if there is one thing comic fans don't understand, it's marriage and relationship problems because we're all just a bunch of greesy misanthropes masturbating in our mom's basement, right Quesada? So now Spider-man is a weekly comic, with villain-of-the-week flavour and no complexity because Spidey is back to his swinging 60's days.

Again, punch right to the cock.

On the bright side the man has to lose his job sometime right?

 

[CynicalMarcus]

Whoops. Double post.

 

[Razhem]

The really sad part is he has been married longer than being single, so it doesn't make any sense to even appeal to the "ol hip SpiderMan" because the ol hip spiderman has been hitched for decades. If you wanted to read about the young hip spiderman you had ultimate spiderman for that which also gives us a young Parker who makes sanse to still be living with his aunt and not be a loser in a basement pushing his late thirties that can't even fucking cope with death after being a hero for so long.

 

[Rorschach II]

ha i thought this was gonna be about the new movie thats scheduled sometime soon (which will obviously bomb as you pointed out).

But that was an interesting insight.

 

[qbanknight]

Sorry Bob, but gonna have to disagree with you here. Don't mind Spidey being single, it's the way they went about doing it. The whole dealing-with-the-devil doesn't even fit the morally-upright Peter Parker. And all to save his geriatric-mother-figure? It's pretty weak

 

[PumpItUp]

Hey, that was uncalled for.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

[HEADING=2]It doesn't exist. We deny it. It was the day Spidey died.[/HEADING]

 

[AgentBJ09]

Yeah, um... watch the #2 pick in the following video. It outlines all the problems with One More Day.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/27731-at4w-top15comicsineverreview

I saw that a while back, and I'm in agreement with Linkara on this 'comic'. Joe Casada is a hack, and this makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[RTR]

Retcon can give you such a headache sometimes. This makes the "Captain America gets frozen" arc look like Dr. Seuss.
WHen I saw the title to the video, I thought Bob was going to talk about the horrible things being done to the Spider-Man license these days.

 

[Monshroud]

To comment on "The Big Picture" as a series and not just this episode.

I am really liking these weekly bit. I like the writing and pacing. What I find I am having issue with the the B&W pics. I don't mind the pics, I have issue with there being only 6 or 7 of them and how often they get repeated. Can we get some more added to the collection? Surely there has to be others we could use for these.

 

[thublihnk]

Well yeah, he's a MARVEL villain. Of course he has no idea what he's doing, most everyone at marvel has no idea what they're doing anymore. Also: my last name is Parker. So the title of this was mildly humorous for me.

 

[pearsmb06]

Really? People aren't reading comics because they are weird? Doesn't the popularity of manga and anime blow that theory out of the water? Two people selling their marriage to the devil to save someones life isn't even that weird, it's just stupid.

Come to think of it, I think that's your problem right there.

 

[syltman]

Dat music kicks ass

 

[malestrithe]

I do not hate One More Day for existing. It was a massive retcon that probably was long overdue. I do not have the serious case of nostalgia goggles.

All it did was reaffirm one thing that I've always suspected about Spiderman. He can give lessons about being emo to even the most harcore goth out there. He was happily married for 20 years, but he still managed to find something wrong with that. He has done great good in his life, but he focuses on the tragic events of his life more often than the good. He chose his almost 100 year old aunt over his marriage. Those actions are the definition of emo.

Then again, knowing internet fans, if Aunt May did die, there would be an equally mountainous amount of letters and complaints telling the writers, how dare they mess with our fanboy nostalgia.

 

[thereverend7]

This comic was so bad. I'm not even a hardcore comic reader (that would be my older brothers thing) and even I thought this was no more then a cheap sell-out.

I read the entire "One more day" story and by the end i was just like... bwah? ok? I guess thats what we're going with...

 

[Tanis]

The reason comics don't do to well is that Western mentality is that anything 'cartoon' is for kids...unless it's porn or CGI.

The reason manga does do well is because the Eastern mentality isn't so limited.

 

[AssassinJoe]

The Devil's in the details!

no kidding........

And what the hell! When Peter Parker makes a deal with the devil he forgets his marriage, but when I do it, the devil creates the Jersey Shore? That's not fair at all!