Line #34 ComicBook/BrandNewDay


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_brandnewday_153.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:He might make great music, but Sting's got nothing on this Parker kid.]]
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4	''Brand New Day'' is a long chapter in ComicBook/SpiderMan's life that followed ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' and covered ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1999'' from #546 to #647, as well as all ''Spider-Man''-related comics, published during that time period. Two most characteristic elements of it were the "Spidey-Braintrust" team of multiple writers (who started with four and grew larger later) switching between each story with unusual issue frequency -- three issues were published in one month, during the first three weeks of said month with other Spidey-related comics for fourth week.
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6	It was followed by "Big Time", written entirely by [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManDanSlott Dan Slott]] with issues coming out twice a month.
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8	Not to be confused with the Music/{{Sting}} album ''Brand New Day''.
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10	----
11	!!''Brand New Day'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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13	* AbortedArc: A bad case of this, with too many writers dealing with the wreckage of post-OMD and creating many plot threads that led nowhere.
14	** ''The Gauntlet'' was supposed to lead to something the writers called ''Sinister 666'' but it never came to be.
15	** Joe Quesada hinted in an interview that Mary Jane would be caring for a baby. Fans thought this may have had something to do with Harry Osborn's newborn son Stanley (Harry had also moved in with MJ for a brief spell in the BND era), but once Stanley was born, Harry opted to move away with him, and nothing came of the "MJ with a baby" hint.
16	** Quesada's planned follow-up to the plot threads explored in ''One More Day'' and ''One Moment in Time'' never came to be -- though given how well OMIT went down, that's probably a good thing.
17	** Several hints were dropped that Mary Jane remembered her marriage to Peter, but it ultimately went nowhere, with OMIT confirming that she forgot like everyone else.
18	* AdaptiveAbility: Freak becomes horribly deformed after shooting himself up with experimental stem cells, but as a result is able to form a cocoon around himself when he dies and regenerate with an adaptation against whatever killed him. Such deaths include being set on fire (resulting in a leathery hide), getting shot (armour plating), and strangulation (thicker musculature, particularly around the neck), but he is always just as hideous as before, and all he does with his powers is try to find more drugs to snort up.
19	* BackAlleyDoctor: Mr. Negative's henchwoman Doctor Trauma is implied to be this.
20	* BackFromTheDead: Harry Osborn, in the first pages of Brand New Day. As it turns out, the Goblin Formula in his blood revived him, just as it did his father (wait, isn't that what ''killed'' him in the first place? Nah, Harry just thought it was killing him -- because he was high on Goblin Formula). He was then shuttered around for several years before returning to New York City and starting a coffee shop.
21	* BadFuture: The one Peter saw during [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski JMS' run]] has been explained, if [[spoiler:Arachne's]] visions were true -- it's a future where [[spoiler:Peter killed the recently resurrected Kraven, which led him to go down the same path as ComicBook/ThePunisher of sorts, with the added problem of alienating himself from everybody, before getting killed in a police confrontation.]]
22	* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: The fundamentals behind the relationship between Mr. Negative and [[spoiler:Martin Li]].
23	* BettyAndVeronica: Early comics was implying multiple variations of such LoveTriangle -- from Peter-Lilly (Veronica)-Carlie (Betty), Carlie–Peter (Betty)–Vin (Veronica) or Lilly–Harry (Veronica)–Peter (Betty). Finally, the official one became Lilly–Harry (Betty)–Norman (Veronica).
24	* BrainBleach: Peter was desperate in need of it once he saw Aunt May in bed with JJJ's father.
25	-->'''Peter's inner monologue:''' Must. Wash. Out. Brain.
26	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Mr. Negative can do it to people via touch, and did it to [[spoiler:Spider-Man and Aunt May]], though the latter was more Brainwashed and {{Jerkass}}.
27	* CallingTheOldManOut: Harry finally did it to Norman.
28	* CardCarryingVillain: Mr. Negative.
29	-->'''Mr. Negative:''' I propose a toast. To evil.
30	* CerebusSyndrome: Later stories, with few exceptions, grew progressively darker.
31	* CharacterDevelopment: A nice thing about BND was giving Eddie Brock another crack at trying to atone for the stuff he did as Venom and becoming Anti-Venom.
32	* ContinuityPorn: The Juggernaut story.
33	* CoolOldGuy: Jay Jameson, Jonah's estranged father, first introduced helping Spider-Man save a group of people from a collapsing subway tunnel.
34	* CurbStompBattle:
35	** Spider-Man got into two during "The Gauntlet" arc, first being on the receiving end, when Mr. Negative threw him several streets away with one punch, and then delivering, once he found out the Kravinoffs had [[spoiler:killed his clone Kaine to resurrect Kraven The Hunter]] - he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and the people that almost killed him suddenly go down like flies.
36	*** During the same arc, Spider-Man has to save Juggernaut, who has found himself at the receiving end of one of these, with the new ComicBook/CaptainUniverse delivering.
37	*** And there is also Rhino vs. New Rhino, which has a large buildup culminating with [[spoiler:old Rhino breaking the new one in a matter of seconds, and then killing him.]]
38	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''The Gauntlet'' arc, which saw some of Spidey's old foes return one by one after being absent for a year of publication, with new or enhanced powers and/or new motivations to hate Spider-man. The series gradually grew darker as it went on, culminating in the ''incredibly'' bleak, and aptly named, ''Grim Hunt'' storyline, which featured the resurrection of Kraven the Hunter after his death in ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt''.
39	* DeathOfAChild: "The Gauntlet" arc sees [[spoiler:Billy Conners getting killed by his own father after the Lizard side completely takes him over.]]
40	* DerailingLoveInterests: This happens to a few characters. Thanks to having a rotation of writers, each writer seemed to have their own {{O\|neTruePairing}}TP. Carlie Cooper, however, was the intended love interest, so that led to the derailing of several characters to make room for her. Michelle Gonzales, Pete's {{Tsundere}} roommate, suddenly became verbally and violently abusive towards him, and Mary Jane, despite still apparently being deeply in love with him, becomes more distant and even turns into a ShipperOnDeck for him and Carlie. Bizarrely, even Black Cat, who was still in love with Peter even when she knew he was HappilyMarried to Mary Jane, became an approver of the Peter/Carlie relationship, ''despite never having met her''. However, once Dan Slott took over full-time as writer, it took him less than a year to sink the Peter/Carlie relationship and brought Peter and Mary Jane much closer together as friends again.
41	* DidntThinkThisThrough: At one point, Peter is ordered by his corrupt new boss to take unfairly unflattering pictures of the mayor candidate, who happens to be the father of Harry Osborn's girlfriend. Peter agrees, because he owes Harry some cash. It doesn't occur to him that his millionaire friend would not approve of Peter betraying Harry's prospective father-in-law in the pursuit of money.
42	* EnemyWithin: Mr. Negative and [[spoiler:Martin Li]] -- the former represents evil and the latter the good side of a man they once were and are actively trying to maintain a BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil by undoing other's deeds.
43	* FiveStagesOfGrief: A side-story dealt with [[JerkJock Flash]] [[CharacterDevelopment Thompson]] coping with the loss of his legs. When he becomes depressed, he goes through the stages in the opposite of the conventional order. He eventually arrives at what Peter terms "stage 0: grace".
44	* FourLinesAllWaiting: Part of the problem of the first year of the ''ComicBook/BrandNewDay'' arc. Storylines such as the identity of Menace, the mystery of Harry's return, the election of a New Mayor of New York, and the Spider-Tracer murders were all milked for all they were worth for an entire year, and mostly resolved within a single storyline. Creators have gone on record saying they intended to touch base on the plot threads a lot more in the year prior, but ran out of time. This is despite having at least three times the length as any other series to make such plans. And that didn't stop plotlines in the next two years from being milked for all they were worth and not resolved until the "big finale" of Brand New Day - Origin of the Species.
45	* FriendsWithBenefits: Spider-Man and Black Cat -- Felicia doesn't even want to know who he is or if he's dating other people.
46	* HarmlessVillain: Override
47	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Rhino's wife, New Rhino, Billy Connors, Mattie Franklin, Madame Web, Sasha Nikolajevich, Grim Hunter (who came back to life ''three'' issues earlier)]].
48	* KissingUnderTheInfluence: In ''Amazing ComicBook/SpiderMan'' issue 601, Peter and Michele wake up in bed naked. They apparently had sex after Parker had one too many at his Aunt May's wedding. Turns out, they hadn't -- it's later explained that, as a gag, Michelle kept filling his glass with cider when Peter wasn't looking, so he thought it was wine.
49	* KnightOfCerebus:
50	** Electro, the perennial B-lister, kicks off ''The Gauntlet'' arc by getting a massive power boost that makes him more of a threat than ever. While his story is still pretty light-hearted, save for [[spoiler: the leveling the Daily Bugle building]], it was a harbinger of an arc that steadily got darker as it went.
51	** Some considered ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} to be a double subversion - his fight with Spider-Man was funny but also foreshadowed (by Wade directly warning Spidey that the next weeks of his life will be a nightmare, no less!) the upcoming shift to DarkerAndEdgier that took place the very next issue.
52	* LargeHam: New Rhino, [[spoiler:It didn't do him any better.]]
53	* LighterAndSofter: Compared with pre-''OMD'' Spidey titles, before CerebusSyndrome.
54	* MadScientist: Doctor Trauma, who outfits Hammerhead with his adamantium skeleton.
55	* MeaningfulName: Doctor Trauma again.
56	* MeatgrinderSurgery: The surgical process Hammerhead underwent for his adamantium skeleton wasn't very pleasant. It was made even less pleasant when he insisted that Dr. Trauma shouldn't give him any anesthetic!
57	* MediumAwareness: A throw-away villain during #557 featured a rather bizarre manifestation of this trope, including the ability to attack our hero through between panels, declaring itself to be 'beyond time.' Holding his scythe to one side would rip through the panel and jab at Spidey's head on the previous page.
58	* MenacingMask: The Inner Demons are a gang of bodyguards under the control of villain Mr. Negative and wear [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-amazing-spider-man-547-crimes-of-the-heart/4000-121612/ silvery bluish Chinese masks]].
59	* NeverMyFault: Freak was a junkie who was chased into one of Dr. Conners' labs by Spidey. He shot himself up with experimental animal stem cells -- which he thought were drugs -- and ended up turning himself into a HumanoidAbomination. Naturally, he holds Spider-Man responsible for "making" him go into the building, and not, you know, his own rampant stupidity.
60	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: After the death of HeroicWannabe Jackpot, Spidey guilt-tripped the original Jackpot Sarah Ehret into donning the costume again despite her very much not wanting to, which resulted in her husband being killed by a supervillain, leaving her widowed.
61	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: ''Brand New Day'' recasts C- and D-list loser villains into competent and credible threats. The Spot comes back as a vengeful psychopath who slowly drives his prey insane by stalking him, while the White Rabbit is an AxCrazy drug dealer who's willing to commit mass murder to collect the money she's owed. This also applies to classic Lee-Ditko-Romita villains like Electro, the Shocker, and the Rhino, who have all been rehabilitated from the VillainDecay they've suffered.
62	* PsychopathicManchild: Ana Kravinoff.
63	* RedHerring: More than a few times in the early run:
64	** It was heavily implied that new, registered superhero Jackpot was Mary Jane Watson who had somehow gotten super powers. [[spoiler:It wasn't. It's actually a woman named Alana Jobson, who bought an ''actually'' super-powered person's name and then doped herself up with a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs because [[IJustWantToBeSpecial she wanted to be special]]]].
65	** Menace, a villain equipped with a ''very familiar'' [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn glider and pumpkin bombs]] was implied to be Harry Osborn who had slipped back into old habits. [[spoiler:Turns out, it was actually his ''girlfriend'', Lily Hollister]].
66	* RomanticFalseLead: The reporter Norah Winters. She was often flirtatious with Peter while they worked together, but later began dating Randy Robertson, son of Robbie Robertson, editor of the Daily Bugle.
67	* RoundRobin: ''Brand New Day'' was this with writers changing for each story or even during the same story and one issue even has three writers, one establishing main event and then them all dealing with an aftermath from different standpoints.
68	* RunTheGauntlet: The story arc was even [[LampshadeHanging named]] ''The Gauntlet''.
69	* SequelEpisode: Creator/RogerStern's story, ''ComicBook/NothingCanStopTheJuggernaut'' from the early 80s, in which Spidey fights the recurring X-Men villain Juggernaut, is followed up by 2009's ''Something Can Stop the Juggernaut''. And to make it even better, the sequel was written by Stern as well!
70	* ShipperOnDeck: [[OutOfCharacterMoment Mary Jane]] ''[[OutOfCharacterMoment and]]'' [[OutOfCharacterMoment Black Cat]] are this for Peter and Carlie.
71	* SuperpoweredEvilSide:
72	** Mister Negative.
73	** Lizard too, until [[spoiler:he took total control, eliminating the original Dr Connors persona]].
74	* ThatManIsDead: Noticed by Norah, after [[spoiler:Old Rhino avenged his wife]].
75	-->'''Norah:''' [[spoiler:Aleksei Sytsevich is dead. New Rhino is dead. All hail old Rhino.]]
76	* TitleDrop: The first big event of the era made sneaky use of this trope. It had what sounded like a pretty typical comic title until Norman Osborn dropped it in-story:
77	-->'''Osborn:''' For every life you save...there's a million '''new ways to die.'''
78	* TookALevelInBadass: Almost all of Spidey's classic villains, and some C-listers! Chameleon is now one of the most feared asassins in the world, Rhino's undergone a comeback that's made him look more like a force of nature than a common thug in a fancy suit, Mysterio became TheChessmaster, Doctor Octopus easily took control of New York City, Sandman can now create his own duplicates, Electro can turn into lighting, Lizard eliminated the old Connors side, even Hammerhead had become stronger -- now he has an exoskeleton made of adamantium and [[MemeticMutation KEVLAR! THROAT!]]
79	* UnstoppableRage:
80	** Rhino went on one after [[spoiler:New Rhino killed his wife]], and even Spider-Man couldn't stop him from [[spoiler:impaling the guy]].
81	** Spidey himself went on it twice -- first [[spoiler:After the Kravinoffs brought back Kraven by killing Kaine]] and then [[spoiler:when he thought supervillains killed Lilly's baby]].
82	* UnwantedHarem: Peter Parker had this, with every writer (until Slott took over the book) having a different favorite girl. Throwing a lot of girls around Peter — Carlie, Lilly, Norah, Michele, Black Cat, Mary Jane, Betty Brant — resulted in this, which led to people complaining that Spider-Man turned into a bad HaremAnime.
83	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Hilariously named The Extremist -- an invisible serial killer who murders people for talking bad about superheroes. He's a WithUsOrAgainstUs type of person who sees all superheroes as purely good and all who criticize them as villains, trying to blur the lines between right and wrong.
84	* WhatIsThisFeeling: The Lizard when Curt Connor's emotions start bleeding into his after he [[spoiler:ate Billy Connor's]].
85	->'''Lizard:''' I feel strange. What's that feeling?\
86	'''Spider-Man:''' It's called shame. [[spoiler:You killed a child.]] Get used to it.
87	* WithUsOrAgainstUs: To the Extremist, you are either with the heroes or with the villains, and anyone who dares to criticize superheroes or even laugh at them is evil and schemes to blur the line between good and evil-- and therefore, must be eliminated. He even tried to kill the guy who made a website dedicated to laughing at Spider-Man--[[spoiler:who happened to be [[SelfDeprecation Peter Parker, himself]]]].
88	* WriterOnBoard: At one point, Peter derails a scene to talk about how he's too young to get married, and that the only Mrs. Parker in his life is his dear Aunt May, almost going into full-on AuthorFilibuster territory. ''Very subtle.''
89	* YourMom:
90	** Spider-Man and ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} end their fight by challenging each other to a good old-fashioned "Yo Mama" contest.
91	--->'''Deadpool:''' Your mom is so fat that Hank Pym had to beat her up in the back of the Quinjet!
92	** Wade also had something he calls ''Yo Mammageddon'' -- a "your mom" insult that is so terrible that it can make people cry until they ''[[BrownNote die from dehydration]]''. He was just about to unleash it upon Spidey, when... his timer hit zero. He'd reached the end of how long he was supposed to keep Spidey occupied. When someone accused him of not actually having an ultimate Yo Momma joke, he whispered ''half'' of it into the poor kid's ear. The kid burst into tears.

Context ComicBook / BrandNewDay