The Letters Page
As we've mentioned before, there's way too much mail for us to answer in the shows, so we'll be answering some of it right here on the blog. As always, thanks for sending in your questions, and please keep shooting them over to tips@pulpsecret.com, call them in to 888-841-7549, or post a video response on YouTube!
We've got a couple of super long letters today, so I'm gonna mostly sit back and let you guys talk. Can you guess what the letters are about?
Robert says:
This is the first time I have ever found myself writing in to voice my opinion on a given storyline. I, like most fans, have been upset with the ultimate direction of the One More Day storyline in the Spider-Man comics. I believe I am not alone in feeling cheated at having over 20 plus years of continuity gutted for the sake of a new direction for a character. It feels cheap, easy, and that we have wasted time emotionally investing in storylines that may or may not count now. There have been storylines that have dealt with an erasure of memory (the Flash's alternate identitiy becoming secret once more in Flash #200), but these stories played fair with readers, explaining what happened and not skipping over inconvenient details.I think you make some great arguments, Robert, in particular about the desire to create dramatic conflict by taking away Spidey's support system. And, as you said, great storylines have come out of terrible ones. That's why I feel like, let's wait and see. If it's terrible, not a lot you can do. If it isn't... Well, hopefully, people will still be there to read it.
Not to say I do not understand the reasoning behind doing away with the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane. While I was a fan of the marriage, and most of my history of reading Spider-Man the two have been together, it does create a lack of conflict. The best place to put a character is in the last place they want to be. Spider-Man being happily married to a beautiful, supporting wife is not a good source for dramatic conflict. I see the potential of Brand New Day, but am wary or the route taken to get to this place.
The irony of this situation is that in trying to sway those readers who may have been indifferent to the idea of the Spider-Marriage over to their side, the OMD storyline pushed many of these fans into the "for marriage camp." The idea being, "we may not have liked things the way they were, but they were certainly better than this." The saddest part of this is that this is the third time Spider-Fans have had to go through a storyline that was written for the express purpose of breaking up Spider-Man and Mary Jane. First the clone saga, then the Howard Mackie/ John Byrne run, now OMD. We now wait for the repetitive cycle of the breakup, the aftermath, the outcry from fans, and then the ret con. So instead of forging ahead, we are forced to once again go over ground we have already been through.
That is not to say there is not hope. From a bad storyline, a good one can emerge. We recieved Green Lantern: Rebirth, arguably Geoff John's finest work, from the ashes of the Emerald Twilight storyline. Colossus death, while negatively recieved, led to perhaps the greatest re-introduction for a character in recent memory. We as fans may get a great story resolving our concerns and blazing a new path for Spider-Man that marries the fans desire to respect the path, and Marvel's desire to forge ahead with new stories for the Web-Slinger.
Brian contributes:
First of all I love the show! You guys do a good job of talking about comics from different perspectives that represent the diversity among comics book fans in a way that is always relatable, intelligent and entertaining. You have a great dynamic and balance of personalities . Best of all, you take the reviews seriously and aren't afraid to be critical. I never feel like I'm watching a commercial for a particular book or comic shop. Great job!Thank YOU for taking the time to write in, and again, some really great points. Thanks, in particular, for the "explanation" of the Bishop situation, which helps a lot. I think it's very interesting to compare and contrast these two situations, although, time travel makes my head hurt.
I'm writing to respond to both the One Last Day arc and to offer some theories on another story that seems to be a retcon, the history of Bishop in Messiah Complex.
In my opinion, what Joe Q. did to Spider-Man is the comic book equivalent to using a bulldozer to get rid of the pest problem in your house. Maybe it's true that writers found it harder to write Spider-man stories after Peter got married to MJ, but did the the problem really warrant the effects this plot will logically have on the character, the continuity of the book and the Marvel Universe in general?
Was the marriage really that much of an obstacle to over come? Are there no writers out there that would have been psyched about writing a married Spider-Man. Is there anyone that sees life as an adult interesting? If anything, the problem seemed to be that once Peter got married, all of his personal problems seemed to disappear. I'm not even married, but I've lived with my girlfriend long enough to know that that's bull$#!+. Their marriage didn't have to end, just bring it down to Earth.
Stop relegating MJ to sighing by an open window and saying "Go get 'em Tiger!" Being married to a cool and hot woman doesn't erase the fact that you're a total geek who is a bit socially awkward and insecure. Actually show what it is liked to live with a brilliant and heroic man who is usually broke, and doesn't get the glory. What's it like to be seen as cool and glamorous and be married to one of the most cool and glamorous people of all, only you are the only one that knows it and everyone else keeps asking you why you stay with such a loser? Does she get annoyed? Does she have problems coping with the thought that he might be killed on a daily basis? Does she get on Pete's case about leaving is sweaty tights on the floor? And what about her needs!? Keep it real. That's why Reed and Sue's marriage continues to contribute to interesting stories. Now, we get to see Peter go out on some horrible dates and skip out to fight unexpectedly. Yeah! It's like a broke Bruce Wayne!
In my opinion, a much more significant problem that has caused the books to suffer has been Joe's constant push for character altering big events. Ironically, while all the focus blame was placed on his marriage, many of the other aspects of his life that we Joe decided needed to be changed, including those brought about in the big, largely hyped Spidey events The Other and his identity reveal in Civil War, occurred under Joe's watch. I'm surprised no one seems to be calling him out on this. I feel he's made a big stink about one aspect of the book which he personally doesn't like in order to divert attention while he sweeps all of his mistakes under the rug. Unfortunately, in the process, he once again sets up yet another short-sighted, sweeping change that will just have to be changed later.
What kills me about this is this is that most of these changes could have been achieved in stories that move forward rather then retconning. Want to get rid of the organic web slingers and other physical changes from Disassembled and The Other? Have his arms get seriously injured in a battle, or write a story about how these new developments are threatening his health and he has to devolve (I know, it's been done, but so has making Spider-Man more like a spider!). How do you bring back Harry? Try asking his resurrected, genetics and cloning genius father! What about him regaining his secret identity? First of all, this was the last dumb stunt that was totally out of character and pulled off for shock value with no thought of the long term effects. Look how that turned out! That being said Dr. Strange, an image inducer or plastic surgery (he is a fugitive) might have worked for a while until some one smarted then me could come up with a good way to fix this stupid, stupid mistake permanently.
Even getting rid of the marriage could have been done without a retcon. It goes like this: "Hey Peter, you know I love you but you're a fugitive for S.H.I.E.L.D. and all of your deadly enemies know I'm your wife so. . ." "Wait MJ, you can't leave! We were going to raise a family!" "Yeah, about that. . .I'm pregnant Peter, and I'm not raising a baby around this crazy $#!+" "What! No baby, we can work it out! Just look at Luke and Jessi. . ." "Oh right, like their babies gonna grow up to be normal! Have you ever looked in it's eyes?! Creepy! That kid is gonna be %#&*@ up! Our child shouldn't have to suffer for your stupid mistake!" "But... but... &@*# it, you're right! I guess this is just another time that I'll have to suffer the consequences of one of my stupid mistake! What could have made me do such a stupid thing! I mean I can be dumb, but I can't believe I was that dumb! I was acting so out of character. How could I have been so stupid!" Done!
These changes made in One More Day may have been easier to deal with if Spidey remained a loner with only occasional interaction with other heroes. However, that all changed when Joe decided to put him in a high profile team book. How does this effect the history of New Avengers anyway? In my opinion, some of the most significant developments in his life that have occurred the last few years have taken place in or been tied to this book. Are we supposed to believe that while his life took a dramatic change in so many other ways, his history with the Avengers, and thus the history of the Avengers, basically stays status quo? If this is the case then how are we to accept that the changes to his history were really all that significant?
I wonder how Joe explains to his wife that a man can have his marriage erased and end up in the exact same place in life and have the exact same interactions and impact on everyone around him?
The only way that any good can come out of this story is if there is an ongoing plot where Peter is forced to realize what a dumb move it was to rewrite history and has to undo the damage to the universe while allowing history to play out as it should, even if that means him suffering the loss of Aunt May, teaching him that 'with stupid decisions come great consequences'.
In response to your comment about Bishop's time-line Alex, while it may be confusing that his history has shifted seemingly off panel, it really makes sense if you think about the nature of the character. After all, he's a guy who came back to the X-Men's present with the intent of altering his own past. In addition, this is a possible future that builds off of the events of the "Days of Future Past" time line which the X-Men have struggled to avert several times throughout the series. Therefore he is by definition a paradoxical character. Either you accept that his future is inevitable and all efforts to change it are a waste of time, or you believe that these efforts did have an impact on the future and thus on Bishop's history.
If the first premise is true then the short simple answer would be that this is just a chapter of Bishop's past that has never really been explored. He never really takes much about his life before the Summer's rebellion. Everything that we have known about Bishop remains true. This is just a part of his past that he never mentions because A) he'd rather forget it, and/or B) he mistakenly assumed that he was successful in significantly changing his time-line, preventing it from really happening and thus making it irrelevant.
If you can accept the later, then it's only logical that the history of the Bishop that is presently in the books would be somewhat different then the one we have seen in the past in ways that we have not seen until now. However, this is not as problematic for Bishop as it would be for other characters, like, just as an example, Spider-Man. Unlike in Spider-Man, where erasing his marriage to MJ logically changes his actions and decisions and thus a lot of the Marvel Universe history that hinges of them, the changes in Bishop's history wouldn't necessarily change anything vital to the way that the present day plots have played out.
It's totally possible that despite these changes to his personal history, Bishop (a somewhat one then the one we were initially introduced to) still grows up to be a member of the XSE, comes back with his partners to track down mutant convicts and stop an X-Man turncoat. The most significant changes to the character that would result in this time-shift can be viewed as mostly internal changes that did not change his actions once he traveled back, thus preserving established continuity. In other words, this "new" Bishop would act much like the "old" Bishop even though he has somewhat different memories of his childhood, except now he has a secondary secret motivation for his actions up to this point that have just now become relevant.
If you made it through this long e-mail, I am both shocked and in awe that you would devote this much time for a fan's response. Much appreciated.
Joe (Not Quesada) sez:
I can understand people's frustrations about the "lazy" retcon, but the situation could have been much worse. There are several alternatives that could have gone down and I don't think any of them could have been done much better than what had been done.Yeah, it totally could have been worse; it could have turned out that Peter Parker was a clone. Cough. As for reading the issue, we were picking out things that made us feel icky. It's like seeing your Dad kissing someone else right after he divorces your Mom. Not that this happened to me, I'm just saying. Oh god.
First, we could have had MJ die. While that would make for a heart breaking story, I do agree with Joe Q it would be a huge downer for Spidey to be a widower and that his supporting cast would be dwindled down even more.
Second, they could get a divorce... just as depressing and what would they divorce each other for? They've been through MJ staying up all night worrying, a miscarriage, a separation, clones, and more.
Third, they could have gone with JMS's version of the retcon and there being repercussions for messing with the past, and then instead of sorting a few things out then they'd have to fix the whole universe. Is the method used perfect? No. Is it as rushed and awful as people are saying it is? I don't think so. Also, why is it so hard to use the same suspension of disbelief that you use to find something like the Speed Force or genetic mutations that turn people into living piles of rock, ice, metal, diamond, etc believable and it is to believe a magic character can take out selective points of time from existence?
That said, as someone who has never had the opportunity to read a Spidey book with Harry as a supporting character, I loved reading this character's dialog. And your comment about "some random girl kissing Peter" struck me as odd as it was clearly explained that she was trying to leech onto Peter to get into Harry's group and "upgrade" as she put it. So I'm not sure if you actually read the issue and just skimmed through it or if your just picking at bits that you didn't like because it showed that Peter wasn't married anymore. By the way, this is coming from a Spidey fan that has read and grew up on a married Peter since '93.
Eduardo from Puerto Rico asks:
What do you guys think of Jackpot, aka. Painkiller Mary-Jane (Get it? Joe Quesada? I'm so goddamned clever)? Do you think this has something to do with what Mary Jane whispered to Mephisto's ear at the end of One More Day, and why she reiteraited her "Face it, Tiger..." line?That certainly seems to be the implication... Rumor has it that MJ remembers everything, but can never tell Peter, as that would cause a "time-quake," or something like that. If that IS true, it's also a built in "out" for the storyline, isn't it? That all being said, I feel like there has to be something else going on. In comics, if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's most likely a red herring.letters, page
