Hi there it’s Sasha and welcome back to casually comics your gateway into the oftentimes
daunting landscape of comics because any comic could be someones first so we keep it casual
here.
First off I want to say thank you to everyone who subscribed I really appreciate it and
we’re going to have a good time especially today cause we’re going to be looking at
one of the more controversial Spider-Man Storylines the infamous One More Day.
If you’re all for diving right down the rabbit hole hit that like button.
This is one of those stories where if you enter comicdom you’re going to hear about
it if you’re new you’re probably wondering what is this story, and why am I supposed
to hate it cause oh man is this story...people have some feelings.
This story is known for one thing mainly and that’s spider-Man making a deal with the
devil or one of his marvel equivalents that end’s his marriage.
You’re interested now.
Ok so what happened and more importantly the why and the climate this comic came out in
in terms of what else was going on canonically plays a big part in this story.
The One More day storyline which can now be handily collected in trade paperback format
was initially a crossover event published in 2008 that ostensibly dealt with wrapped
up some of what had happened in Marvel’s civil War.
The comic spanned The amazing spiderman 544, Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man 24 and the
Sensational Spider-man vol2 issue 41.
You’ve got to get your adjectives right or you;re going to end up in a whole other
comic also it’s not weird for spidey to have multiple runs going on like that.
So part of the hope with a crossover like this is to drive you to all of the other books
cause supposedly you just have to know what happens and hopefully you’ll stick around
after...it doesn’t always work.
Get ready for Civil War cliff notes, there’s a pro human registration side and an anti
side.
Tony Pro Steve Anti Peter initially allied with Tony and was convinced by him, though
ultimately it was still his choice to reveal his identity to the public.
Which makes for a great shocking panel but obviously was not going to play well in terms
of lasting ramifications.
One of Peter’s core struggles is his life balance facilitated by the fact so few people
know who he is.
Also you know keeping his loved ones safe which doesn’t happen cause aunt May gets
shot.
Which brings us to one more Day.
Aunt May is shot, Peter is a fugitive having swapped sides in civil war and everyone knows
who he is including his villains he also has weird organic spider powers which don;t matter
cause they’re about to be retconned out in this same storyline bye bye organic webbing.
That came from a storyline that is also not very liked called Spider-Man the Other not
sdo coincidentally written by our author here j.m strazynsk of Babylon 5 fame and for some
spider-man infamy mileage varies on his run hard largely cause it ended like this.
So we’ve laid the groundwork are you ready for the demonic divorce, let’s do this.
These four issues all build up to the deal with Mephisto.
In issue one Peter having no insurance seeks funding from someone anyone and decides that
all of this is Tony’s fault so he leaves to have a very melodramatic fight with tony.
Wherein he actually punches his iron man helmet with his bare fists proving that he does indeed
make poor life choices making his Mephisto deal later more reasonable.
All of this is told through the lens of Peter’s guilt which is in line with his character
his whole superhero career is built off of feeling guilty for things he is indirectly
responsible for.
This issue is meant to deal with the fallout of the father son relationship Tony and Peter
had developed and the betrayal and in all honesty Tony is not at his best in this issue
(Read Panel) Tony did not look good coming out of Civil War though not many did the only
reason steve fared better was that he kinda died on the courthouse steps at the tail end
wrap up part of it.
It’s comics he wasn’t really dead.
You know no one likes you if you stay dead.
Oh also Jarvis is in love with aunt may and funds her stay in the hospital via Tony.
Issue 2 Peter goes to Doctor Strange to seek a magical solution and the sorceror supreme
can’t help him for reasons that vacillate between you have to accept life’s curse
and destiny which plays well until you remember all the times all of these heroes have said
screw you to the rules of life and done what they need to do.
Strange creates a conduit that allows Peter to go ask everyone for help and here’s one
of the issues people have with the arc no one can help him, no one not read richards,
not doctor doom yes he asked doom, I mean why not any excuse to go to latveria right.
Black panther can’t help him so let’s remind ourselves aunt may got shot with a
normal bullet not a magic one, or a high tech one just normal but none of these people who
deal with mystical and extra terrestrial threats on the regular can help.
Ok sure Jan either they all really hate peter or they’re suffering from plot conveniences
a chronic and contagious disease.
No one is immune.
This is supposed to be about Peter having to accept death and not but you have to suspend
a lot of disbelief that there are no options.
So Issue 3 Peter’s desperate no one can help him, it’s time for demons.
Suddenly peter sees a mysterious young red haired girl who lectures him about how selfish
he is and how he focuses on his problems and how everything affects him...I mean where’s
the lie this entire time Mary Jane’s been dealing with May being shot on her own.
Also yes Mary Jane is indeed in the story where her marriage ends, kinda for a few panels.
Peter then sees two different paths his life could have taken where he never got bitten
one where he becomes an overweight negative gamer stereotype With the captions telling
us he plays games cause he can control nothing in his real life, so harsh if you game remember
it means you are unfulfilled and sad one more day said so.
I’m cancelling my Persona 5 replay.
Also one where’s he’s rich and successful and has everything but love!
Ok great Peter is primed now Mephisto reveal himself so Peter assumes that he wants his
soul a trade, but no Mephisto doesn’t want his soul he wants him to suffer so he wants
his marriage.
And this panel oh this is the panel.
So let’s take a step out to look at the climate for a moment the reason this storyline
happened was ostensibly to find a way to retcon away the fact that everyone knew peter’s
identity and also to bring Peter back to a more relatable state as editors and writers
felt he was no loner someone readers could identify with.
However the main reason many felt was causing this was his marriage they felt him being
in a stable relatively happy married relationship made him seem well unidentifiable.
The author himself was never a fan of these two’s marriage which caused some ripples
when it was put into effect as some felt it was a cash grab and it totally has nothing
to do with them not knowing how to wrote married people nothing at all.
Who said that lies.
Penciller and editor Joe Quesada had a notorious hate on for this marriage and had wanted it
ended for years.
So this story became the opportunity for that to happen.
Issue 4 is where the dissolution happens and it is meant to come across as a heroic sacrifice
Peter giving up his happiness for the life of another even though the rest of the issues
were talking about how he had to accept death so I guess mephisto was right he is selfish.
Mary Jane agrees to this mostly cause the plot tells her to and whispers something secret
to Mephisto that drove fans crazy for years.
The two spend the last issue deciding what to do and agree to the deal so long as Peter’s
identity is erased,it is then revealed that the girl Mephisto was manifesting as was their
future unborn daughter who will now never exist, at the time, because of their choice.
Peter is then retconned back to not being married living with aunt may and chillin’
with Harry Osborn cause being a perpetual college/post college person is more identifiable
than any stability ever even a constant job seems impossible for peter.
So here’s the thing lots of fans liked Peter and MJ’s marriage and the whole oh they’ll
still be together anyone who’s been through a character reset like this knows that part
of that means new love interests.
Even those who were’nt a huge fan of the marriage or felt that yeah they could break
it up hated how it was handled even the author who had to be persuaded not to take his name
off but not cause of the marriage retcon but cause of the whole demon thing but don’t
just take my word for it, we have quotes aka receipts.
So this was Quesdada’s idea to preserve the longevity of Peter as a character he stated
"It's very easy to un-marry a character, or fix something like that: you just do a huge
universal retcon, and say a few events in history didn't happen.
But that's really not the way we do it here at Marvel."
He pitched this to J. Michael Straczynski as his last story what a way to go.
Of the final project he said There's a lot that I don't agree with, and I made this very
clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel, especially Joe Quesada... there
was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name
off the last two issues of the OMD arc.
Eventually, Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don't want
to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those."
However he too agreed that spidey needed to be unmarried.
Quesada also took this as an opportunity to undo the mj pregnancy plot cause he just really
hates domestic peter and mj he felt it was an editorial marriage and never for over it
and it festered clearly.
He says of the devil divorce as it was dubbed which is most peoples main problem with the
issue that it’s better than a divorce because a divorce would mean "they gave up on their
love, that their life in love together was so awful, so stressful, so unfulfilling that
they had to raise a red flag and walk away from it.
They quit on their marriage and even more tragic, (they) quit on each other.
Instead, we had them make a deal with the devil.
'Cause that isn't as bad."
"Peter and MJ didn't quit on their love, they sacrificed it to save a life, that to me is
a pretty heroic story."
So divorce bad deals with the devil good much better than a legal proceeding why give up
on love when you can lose your soul instead.
In no way was he blinded by his hatred of this pairing at all, this is what happens
when you have the power to undo your NOTP.
This wasn’t the only marriage undone either essentially every marriage was erased except
for reed and sue richards.
So this dislike for this comic comes for the rationale behind the reboot, and how it was
executed as it makes the story sloppy and at times very forced.
There are good moments there but they’re overshadowed by the heavy deus ex machina
elements and the silliness of a lord of evil stating I want your marriage.
Now it’s been years since this story and many love what has come for Spidey and MJ
since but this moment for many is just a blip they’d rather block out, and who knows new
creators might see these two married again in the mainverse out of spite they are in
an alternate reality it’s complicated.
So for those who are new to comics this is a moment that one can form their own opinions
on, and if you like it that’s great, but this was just outline exactly what the fandom
consensus is which you don’t have to follow march to your own drum.
Honestly this may have worked better as what if storyline what if mephisto was super invested
in breaking up peter’s marriage or the alternate title what if mephisto was joe quesada.
How do you feel about the rationale behind why Peter can’t be married?
If you agree how would you have done it?
And how would you have retconned away his identity reveal?
Is this really all Civil War’s fault probably.
If you read this comic back in the day what did you think of it if you haven’t do you
want to read it now?
Yeah I ask a lot of questions and I want a lot of answers.
Thanks so much for hanging out with me here on Casually comics.
I’m not down for the devil divorce but maybe you are.
We’re going to explore many more comics do you have anything you want us to check
out Let me know down below and do all the things.
Like, share, comment subscribe, watch it again.
And I will see you all again next Friday for another casually comics vid.
Buy Bye.