Well, in my mind that’s the way it happened.

You may not be aware, but Stan Lee still writes the adventures of Peter Parker.  Granted, its for a syndicated comic strip that appears in newspapers, but still…   The strip is free of comics continuity, but apparently changed directions roughly six months ago to reflect the new, un-married Brand New Day status of Peter Parker.   (I had no idea, personally.)  But it seems ol’ Stan The Man didn’t like cow-towing to the Man… err, the other Man I guess.  (There’s more than one.)  According to io9, unmarried Peter was allllll just a silly dream.

(courtesy of io9.com)

Okay, yeah, its sort of a cheap stunt, and it isn’t exactly great story-telling.  But I kind of like the fact that it sort of bitch-slaps Marvel for one of the worst Editorial actions in comics’ history.

But realistically, thats probably not their intention.  

So who made the decision?  It seems unlikely that EIC Joe Quesada would have anything to do with the comic strip.  But already fans are speculating that this change may soon be reflected in the regular series. I’m unconvinced.  And whats more, I’m not even sure they should do it.

I am a fan of the marriage.  I hated One More Day both in terms of content and execution. I understood why they did it though, even if I’m not sure what they did.   When the decision was made to “out” Spider-man’s identity, they basically painted themselves into a corner.  It was obvious they would need to retcon something.   Although why that something ended up his marriage, I don’t know.  

So yeah, I have a lot of complaints with the editorial choices, but I’m not certain meddling with things further will do anything other than damage the property even more.  But there’s no denying Brand New Day has been filled with mis-steps.

The fan reaction has been mixed at best.  And a lot of that likely stems from the fact that the Spider-man brand is the most depressing it’s ever been.  Peter’s alone.  His roommate turned out to be a killer.  His best friend is dating a homocidal maniac.  The Daily Bugle is now a tabloid rag. Steve Rogers is dead and has been replaced by a gun nut in a ballet leotard.  Venom is using his name and is be-loved.  And he is still being hunted by the US Government over the Superhuman Registration Act.  Oh… and Norman Osborn is the biggest Superhero in the world.  When Brand New Day was announced,  Quesada promised a return to the uncomplicated, free spirited Peter Parker of yesteryear.  And so far it is anything but.  The only actual changes are a boring cast (does anyone really care that Harry is alive?) and no MJ.  And the lack of Mary Jane is not really a selling point for me.

And apparently someone up there agrees.  Marvel is planning to bring her back for at least a little while with their upcoming “Red Headed Stranger” arc. 

So is she back for good?  Will she re-ignite old flames with our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man?  

Doubt it.

I will say that if it was done properly, I would read a book that deals with One More Day.   And J Michael Straczynski did leave Marvel an out. 

At the end of the story, Mary Jane whispers something to Mephisto and he agrees.  No one knows what though.   She may have been saying that the Mets are better then the Yankees.  She may have asked him if he likes Pepper jack cheese.  Or she could have been a typical woman and simply requested that she be the one who leaves him at the alter.   But it could also be a loophole.

Did Mary Jane ask to be the only person who remembers their marriage?  Makes sense.  And again, it leaves Marvel a way out of the mess they made.  If Mephisto didn’t erase the marriage, but instead made the world forget (Sentry, anyone?), then this isn’t a retcon anymore.  It’s a longterm storyline.   

And the right writer could make it something worth doing.  Maybe.  

So is Stan Lee making a statement about his most famous creation, or is this a sign of things to come?

I’m still going with my SUCK IT theory.