[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/title_length_limits_suck_by_torquesmacky_9895.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Your [[BlatantLies Friendly]] Neighborhood [[Creator/JoeQuesada Joe Quesadilla]].]]

->''"I'll never let anything come between us, MJ. Not supervillains, not dictators, not mad scientists, or monsters, or hypnotists, or aliens, or dimensional vortexes...not even comics editors."''
-->-- '''Peter Parker'''

The 2008 Website/PlatypusComix miniseries ''[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/miscellaneous/index.php?issue=11&page=1 True Believers]]'' takes place while the characters from the website's flagship comics have gone on strike. The Head Executive tries to tide readers over with a ComicBook/SpiderMan comic, hoping he could get away with featuring characters he doesn't own when the characters he does own won't cooperate. The resulting story became Platypus Comix's TakeThat against Creator/MarvelComics' reviled ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' comic, which had concluded two weeks earlier. In a 48-page, two-month-long, ''[[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Roger Rabbit]]''-ish storyline, Spidey and Mary Jane Watson fight to save their marriage from being wiped out by their own editor, Joe Quesadilla -- a vicious [[Creator/JoeQuesada Quesada]] [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed caricature]].

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!!This comic provides examples of:
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:On the last page, Peter and MJ walk off into the sunset. Green Goblin then swoops in and whisks her away.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Spider-Man:''' Sigh... It never ends, does it?]]
* AuthorPowers: Joe Quesadilla can change anything in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse with a flick of the pen.
* BattleCouple: Peter and MJ become one as they protest Joe Quesadilla.
* TheBigDamnKiss: The only kiss that Peter and MJ get to share in this whole story follows [[spoiler:MJ defeating Joe Quesadilla once and for all]]. It is accompanied by what looks like an aura surrounding the couple, and [[spoiler:CherryBlossoms falling]], the latter much to the duo's confusion.
* BerserkButton: When Quesadilla declares to Spidey that [[spoiler:if necessary, he'll ''kill'' MJ in order to break them up]], Spidey becomes so enraged, he grabs Quesadilla's clipboard, and tears up the notes.
* BookEnds: The comic begins and ends with Spidey having to save MJ after she gets kidnapped.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Joe Quesadilla takes control of Mary Jane's mind and tries to make her [[spoiler:kill herself]].
* CerebusSyndrome: Platypus Comix author Peter Paltridge said that "True Believers" started out as a less dramatic story for the fourth week of the Character Strike. He first published the early chapters under the {{Self Deprecati|on}}ng title, "Peter Paltridge, The Amazing Spider-Hack."
* ChekhovsGun: After turning down the offer to become Jackpot, Mary Jane carries a stamp out of Quesadilla's office. [[spoiler:During the climax of the comic, she presses the stamp against Quesadilla's forehead and {{Retcon}}s his existence.]]
* ContinuityReboot: After getting rid of Mary Jane, Joe Quesadilla also undoes the last 30 years of storylines to make Peter unemployed and living with his aunt.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Joe Quesadilla shows no qualms with putting Spidey's and MJ's happiness [[spoiler:or MJ's life]] in danger for the sake of boosting comic sales.
* DeathIsCheap: Comic book characters "always come back", as [[spoiler:Mary Jane]] explains after a revitalization. Happens to Spider-Man himself too, during his DespairEventHorizon detailed below.
* DespairEventHorizon: After Spidey discovers that Quesadilla erased ''everything'' that happened in the last 30 years, he asks ComicBook/DoctorOctopus to MercyKill him. He gets better, "five miniseries, three crossovers, and one apocalyptic battle later."
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Mary Jane after Joe Quesadilla tries to kill her, following Peter's refusal of TheFinalTemptation, since again DeathIsCheap for Marvel characters.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Quesadilla makes two attempts at causing MJ to fall to her death. However, they both become subverted.]]
* DividedForPublication: An early treatment for the comic treats it as a trilogy, but the finale ended up getting divided into two parts.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Do they succeed? [[spoiler:'''Yes!''']]
* FatBastard: Quesadilla has a noticeable beer gut and is a very unpleasant person.
* TheFinalTemptation: During the climax, Quesadilla offers Peter the revivals of Uncle Ben, Richard and Mary Parker, and/or Gwen Stacy if he lets him erase the marriage. [[spoiler:He nearly accepts, but after deciding [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy he wants MJ to be happy]], he asks her what to do, then follows her request to decline the temptation.]]
* GodwinsLaw
-->'''Mary Jane:''' This is sick! You can't just unmarry two people in love! They didn't even do that in Nazi Germany!
-->'''Joe Quesadilla:''' Well, maybe they should have.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** After the Head Executive's intro, the comic begins by revealing that Doctor Octopus has once again kidnapped Mary Jane. He boasts to her that when Spider-Man comes to the rescue, he will fall into the DeathTrap he planted underneath the floor. To Doc Ock's dismay, MJ then reveals that Spidey was waiting in the hypothetical wings for him to reveal what he had up his sleeve. Spidey proceeds to pull Doc Ock into the trap, then take back MJ.
** See also ChekhovsGun above.
* HomageShot:
** In a ShoutOut to ''Series/{{Dallas}}'', Spidey wakes up in bed, walks into the bathroom, and finds [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Venom}}]] in his shower.
** Some panels of [[spoiler:the surprise party various comic characters hold at the end in honor of Peter's and MJ's anniversary]] closely resemble [[spoiler:the party held at the end of ''One More Day'']].
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: As the story progresses, Joe goes from an editor doing a questionable (putting it mildly) job to an outright supervillain, going so far as to [[spoiler:hypnotize Mary Jane into committing suicide and]] present Peter with a SadisticChoice (see TheFinalTemptation).
* NeverMyFault:
** Joe Quesadilla is quite adamant about this.
--->'''Spider-Man:''' If your main concern is [[ThisLoserIsYou sympathizing me with the average schmuck]], then why don't you just cancel all my titles and start making a comic continuation of ''Series/MySoCalledLife''?\\
'''Joe Quesadilla:''' No. I'm still right. People are losing interest in you, and it's her fault.\\
'''Spider-Man:''' Maybe the problem isn't MJ! Maybe the problem is '''''your writing sucks!!'''''\\
'''Joe Quesadilla:''' (''thinks for a while'') No. No, it could never be that.
** Even as he [[spoiler:sends MJ plummetting to her (apparent) death:]]
--->'''Joe Quesadilla:''' ''(to Peter)'' Whoo! Tough break. But you know, you can't blame anyone but yourself.
* OneTrueLove: Creator/StanLee tells Spider-Man that he and Mary Jane were literally made for each other.
* PrecisionFStrike: After Peter tears up the paper Joe Quesadilla used to brainwash MJ, she tells Peter, "Kick his ass."
** There's another from MJ even before at the start, when she finds out that Quesadilla was the one who ordered their marriage to be undone: she calls him a "f***ing snake".
* RageAgainstTheAuthor
* RealityWarper: Joe Quesadilla
* RetGone: [[spoiler:Joe Quesadilla and (unintentionally) [[ComicBook/ScarletSpider Ben Reilly]], after Mary Jane performs a retcon with the stolen stamp.]]
* RogerRabbitEffect: The story portrays comic-book characters as real people, and editors as their gods.
* ShoutOut[=/=]ReferenceOverdosed:
** After Spider-Man rescues MJ from Doc Ock, he threatens, "[[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget I'll get you next time, Spider-Man...Next tiiiime!]]" A RightHandCat meows afterward to complete the homage.
** MJ asks Peter to [[Film/SpiderMan1 kiss her upside-down]]. [[spoiler:In a twist, he tries flipping ''her'' upside-down for once.]]
** Peter says that the last time he felt anxious about the writers' decisions, [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied he lost Gwen Stacy.]]
** In lieu of a wedding photo, MJ framed [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070203171820/marveldatabase/images/a/a1/Amazing_Spider-Man_Annual_Vol_1_21_Variant.jpg one of the covers]] of the wedding issue of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''.
** Joe Quesadilla [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries drops MJ into an interdimensional portal.]]
** Joe Quesadilla's right-hand woman, Miss Teschmacher, shares a last name with one of ComicBook/LexLuthor's accomplices from the ''Film/SupermanFilmSeries''.
** Creator/{{DC|Comics}} decides to [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis kill]] ComicBook/{{Batman}}.
** An African-American version of ComicBook/LoisLane appears a few times, in reference to a story in which she disguised herself as a black woman.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} wears glasses despite being completely blind. This is the exact reason he gives for this.
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: As Peter dances with MJ the Friday evening after Quesadilla announces plans to erase their marriage, the song being played is Music/TomPetty and the Heartbreakers' "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Peter points out the irony of the song's lyrics[[note]]mis-reproduced; the chorus says "one more '''time''' to '''kill''' the pain", rather than "one more ''night'' to ''feel'' the pain"[[/note]], but MJ informs him the song's actually about smoking pot.
* TakeThat: In addition to all the potshots taken at Joe Quesada's ego and questionable business decisions...
** DC gets criticized for relying too heavily on generic and lengthy {{Crisis Crossover}}s.
** Joe Quesadilla admits he felt surprised that Creator/KirstenDunst's treatment of Mary Jane in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' didn't cause MJ to lose any fans.
** Some time after Peter and MJ secede from Marvel, MJ grows desperate for another acting gig, and tells Peter that she might go into fanfiction. Peter warns her that she'll "throw away [her] decency" if she does so.
* ToonTown: Storagetown, where comic book characters go when their publishers don't want to make books about them anymore.
* {{Troll}}: Joe Quesadilla shows shades of this when [[spoiler:he creates HomoeroticSubtext between Spidey and Venom through the aforementioned HomageShot to ''Series/{{Dallas}}'']]. Spidey doesn't enjoy experiencing it so soon after having a ContinuityReboot and a forcefully undone MercyKill, and quits Marvel afterward.
* TrueArtIsAngsty: In-universe, Joe Quesadilla claims this as his reason ''Spider-Man'' would sell better if Spidey weren't HappilyMarried.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Platypus Comix Character Strike doesn't get brought up again after the first page. The return of the flagship series' characters a week after this storyline's resolution made up for that, but this still became the only comic released during the Strike in which the Head Executive does not appear on more than one page.
* AWizardDidIt: After [[spoiler:the RetGone of Joe Quesadilla drastically improves "the real world's continuity" '''and''' the comic book industry]], Peter remarks that he can't believe the aforementioned ChekhovsGun could cause such a great effect. MJ reminds him, "It's magic, Tiger," so Peter exclaims, "[[IronicEcho Yeah, it's magic! We don't have to explain it!]]"
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