He is one of the most loved and infamous heroes to has ever appeared in comics, Peter Parker, also very well known as the Amazing Spiderman. After following a long career of hardship, difficulties, brave acts of heroism, and even challenges that would force any hero to retire a career of costume heroics, Spiderman has touched the lives of several comic fans with his history of fulfilling Uncle Ben’s valuable lessons of responsibilities.
But now, Spiderman holds a long history of controversy and being horribly mishandled by Marvel Comics after the event known as One More Day ended with a majority of comic fans completely shocked and outraged that ended with an Editor and Chief being recognized as one of the most hated men within the comic industry.
Yet, this isn’t another insight of OMD or a Joe Quesada rant, but a history of how Spiderman’s respected career went horribly wrong and controversial moment where Marvel suffered greatly. It actually started with the intent for Spiderman’s career to be completely restarted after Spiderman married Mary-Jane Watson in 1987, but it was in 1994 where Marvel ultimately decided to take the steps on making it happen when introducing one of the most confusing and controversial events of all time known as The Clone Saga.
As many comic fans remember, 1994 was also the same year where DC was hitting comic sales at a ridiculous rate with their events Batman: Knightfall and The Death of Superman. So the idea of changing Spiderman would be Marvel’s plan to reach the same level of popularity with the intent of controversy that would end with a successful outcome that would not give equal popularity, but also successfully restart Spiderman’s career as a single hero.
Yet the Clone Saga found itself suffering greatly for several reasons, mostly with the fact that the event was horribly fatigued and having several key moments that were unnecessary and unexplained. Even though Marvel did successfully revamp Spiderman’s career by replacing him with a clone known as Ben Reilly, by that time Marvel had very little control over the event and their plan for a new Spiderman when fans began to horribly backlash against Marvel after it was published that Peter Parker was infact a clone the entire time and the shocking reaction that resulted him accidentally striking Mary Jane. With the Marvel staff changing and the Clone Saga getting out of hand, Marvel then decided to bring Peter Parker back from retirement and quickly put an end to the Clone Saga for good. The original idea for the Clone Saga to end was that both Mephisto and Judas Traveller (a pointless character that Marvel despised using) would go into a contest of sending Ben Reilly into the past to see if he would save Peter Parkers life in replacement of his own. But because of Marvel didn’t like the idea of mixing Mephisto with Spiderman in the same story, instead they added more fuel to the fire by roughly bringing back Norman Osborn from the dead as it was revealed of him being the mastermind of the whole damn event.
With Marvel failing both goals for the Clone Saga in 1996, 1998 would introduce Marvel’s second attempt to restart Spiderman’s career with John Byrnes, Spiderman: Chapter One. This attempt ultimately failed with 13 issues of controversy and outcries from the fanbase when Byrne made an attempt to alter Spiderman’s history. As if the lesson of the Clone Saga was not enough to learn that Spiderman’s lifestyle didn’t need any change, it was also a lesson Joe Quesada would later fail to follow.
The idea for a new Spiderman was still seemed to be on Marvel’s top 5 to do list in 2000, and new Editor and Chief Joe Quesada decided to do something quite unique when adding a new Spiderman series from a different universe known as the Ultimate Universe. Thanks to Michael Bendis, Ultimate Spiderman quickly became one of Marvel’s most greatest creations and fan favorite series for the new millennium. But, by theory, this attempt was also probably an experiment for Marvels original idea to change the Earth-616 Spiderman’s history as well where the fanbase would probably cope with the idea that Spiderman would be better as a single hero and back at his original roots.
It would be after the event known as the Civil War, where Spiderman exposed his identity to the public where Marvel took the steps of setting the goal of restarting Spiderman’s entire career. With Spiderman now having a completely differently lifestyle, Joe Quesada decided to ultimately take that step of restarting Spiderman by introducing One More Day. With his ideas for a new Spiderman already sitting on his desk, Quesada was confident that Brand New Day would reach fan success as OMD would be a faded memory and an overdue goal that was finally accomplished.
Even though BND was successful with the idea of the Amazing Spiderman issues being released on a weekly basis. Comic fans (mostly Spiderman fans) didn’t sit well with the fact that Spiderman chose sell his marriage to Mephisto to save his dying Aunt May (who was supposed to be dead during the Clone Saga). This would mark a new chapter that will never be forgotten in comic history and will always follow Quesada’s name as the primary example of why he would be the most hated man in the comic industry.
Of course Quesada didn’t really ponder behind his Mahogany Desk as a watered down criminal mastermind who’s intent was to ruin the Marvel Universe’s most beloved hero. The true goal that Quesada wanted was to have Spiderman back at his roots as a single hero and for Quesada be a man of success when accomplishing something that Marvel has been striving to do since 1994. With the Spidergirl series from the MC2 universe displaying a world with a married Spiderman for those who prefer a married Spiderman and with fans having a positive reaction with the Spidergirl series and the Ultimate Spiderman series, these were two things that Quesada felt secured acceptance from the fanbase and proceed with the original idea of restarting Spiderman’s career.
By my guess, One Moment In Time was probably Quesada giving the finger to the Marvel fanbase before being replaced as Editor and Chief.
Personally, I find the fact that Marvel’s 14-year goal of having Spiderman return to his former career prior to his marriage was something unnecessary and completely oblivious to the fanbase. Before the Clone Saga, I held a respectful opinion for the fictional hero when reading how one of his greatest challenges is dealing with everyday issues that’s common in today’s world. Even as a husband myself, there are times where I would rather fight the likes of the Sinister Six rather than the IRS, Wife problems, or even retain a respectful career under the fear of being fired for something stupid. Yet Marvel just couldn’t accept SpiderMAN growing up and respectfully continue on the Spiderman legacy with any predecessor. It also baffles me how Marvel has sat on two great ideas that would respectfully retire Spiderman and have the Spiderman series continue on with another. But because of the fear of an outrage from the fanbase and possibly the tendency to lose comic sales in a time where competition is priority #1 rather than a respectful way of handling the most infamous heroes, there’s very little room for any decent storylines without having comic sales and the fans steer the future for our beloved heroes.
This blog is purely made for my collection rather than a poor attempt to stir a pointless controversy or gain attention. This blog isn't entirely a fact, but based on research and a theory. Any comments, questions, or critiques is well respected and thankyou for reading.
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