YMMV / Trouble (Marvel Comics)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: May fears going home to her parents after discovering her pregnancy, because she is afraid that her conservative father will get mad, and take his anger out on her or her mother. But the audience ultimately gets no evidence of May's father being abusive other than her claims that he is; both her parents show nothing but normal parental concern for her while she is on the run, and even accept her with relief and open arms when she comes back home. It all paints May as an Unreliable Narrator when it comes to her claims about her father being an abusive tyrant.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: Aside from the series attempting to market itself as a romance comic (which it really isn't), it tells the story of the youthful sexcapades of Peter Parker's parents and aunt and uncle (the latter two of whom, particularly May, are famous for being the crustiest old folks in comics), and reveals Peter is actually May's son from her affair with Richie, that Mary raises as her own. Who at Marvel thought this is a story people wanted to see?
• Bile Fascination: The amount of Canon Defilement this comic commits leads to a lot of curious readers wondering why it's one of the most infamous Marvel comics ever published.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: The comic reveals that Peter is actually May's son, from when she cheated on Ben with Richie. Mary took the baby to claim it as her own so May wouldn't get in trouble with her fundamentalist father or have to deal with being a teen mother. On top of this, there are the fact that the story opens some pretty messy Plot Holes in regards to the timeline, as it doesn't really add up that May was supposedly a teenager when pregnant with Peter. Even with the most liberal applications of Vague Age and Comic-Book Time, May is clearly a senior citizen in the mainline comics, while Peter is frequently implied to be somewhere in his early twenties, with the age gap between them clearly being somewhere in the 30-40 years range; even in the Ultimate Universe — which Millar later attempted to retcon the story into being canon to — May is still middle-aged and at least about two-decades-plus-change older than Peter. There is also the issue of Richie and Mary having been secret government agents and dying while Peter was still in his early childhood, something which doesn't really make much sense either if Peter was born while they were still in their teens. The reasons fans and other comic creators don't care much for this idea should be obvious. Marvel themselves seem to agree, having all but outright declared the story Canon Discontinuity, through somewhat vague official statements that suggest that it was either removed from canon or never meant to be canon in the first place.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: May admits to having fantasized about having sex with a guy in a (Mickey) mouse costume. In 2009, Disney would buy out Marvel Comics.
• So Bad, It's Good: If you're willing to look past the connections to Spider-Man, you might be able to have a fun time laughing at the comic's poor attempts at romance with characters who do nothing but act horribly to each other.. at least until the last two issues, which change the tone completely to be more somber and sad.
• Squick: So very, very much.
  • It bears repeating: this is a comic series about Peter Parker's parents, and aunt and uncle, meeting up as teenagers and having lots of sex. Keeping that knowledge in the back of your mind as you read through the comic adds a fine layer of "ew" to everything the characters do.
  • The covers for the series are photo covers, depicting two girls in bikinis, often making provocative poses with each other and giving the reader suggestive expressions. They look young enough that they may very well be underage, and if they aren't, they still look like it.
  • May and Mary look like Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, respectively. It's probably meant to be a Mythology Gag, but some readers have interpreted that the comic is trying to imply that Peter is attracted to women who resemble his mother and aunt. And when you connect it to One More Day, where Peter and MJ give up their marriage to save May's life (and ended with May using the nickname "tiger" for Peter like MJ would), you get a whole new level of Oedipal subtext.
  • May admits to having fantasized about having sex with a guy in a mouse costume. Mickey Mouse fetish, anyone? And though it's been said before, it all gets a new dimension because of who these people are. AUNT MAY, as in that Aunt May,◊ gets all hot, bothered, and horny at the idea of a guy dressed up as a mouse. Yes, the writers of this really, truly thought we'd love to know that and be thrilled to embrace it.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: May. She has a pseudo-romantic relationship with Ben while also going out to play strip poker with strangers in the explicit hopes of hooking up with them, and also sleeps with Richie, who is in a serious relationship with Mary. She then admits to Mary she's cheating on Ben, but doesn't reveal who, claims that their relationship isn't serious anyway, and makes Mary swear not to tell anyone. And then she continues to sleep with both Ben and Richie. This makes what happens to May seem like Laser-Guided Karma for how she manipulates her three friends like this. However, a reader's opinions may reverse when May gets pregnant from Richie and contemplates suicide.

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