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Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
I kind of doubt that was meant as a Take That! to OMD. Didn't JMS not only support the retcon but request an even bigger one?
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JMS was drafted to write this story since Joe Quesada knew he was ending his run soon and he felt introducing this generation-dividing retcon would be best with the changing of writers since the backlash of what happened would not be seriously blamed on the new guy starting out, while he could have a clean slate. Quesada stated that JMS didn't question the intent of the story (i.e. Peter and MJ's marriage dissolving and shaking up the status-quo) but rather he was angered over the fact that Quesada didn't allow him to fully explain the story and that he didn't get to write it the way he wanted. Things reached the boiling point when JMS outright threatened not to put his name on the final two issues.
JMS said later that he respected Quesada, accepted that Spider-Man is Marvel's baby and as EIC it was Quesada's call on how to handle the IP. In other words, JMS disagreed with the idea of erasing the marriage but was willing to play the company man and write the story even though he as a writer disagreed with that direction. He saw One More Day as a stopping off point for his run and hoped to end it with a good enough clean slate that still maintained most of the story points from his run going forward (namely Aunt May knowing Peter's identity). He also disagreed with the logistics of Mephisto and Quesada's "It's magic we don't have to explain it" and the fact that the retcon virtually negated his entire run and the character development he had written. JMS finally disagreed with the idea that it was MJ rather than Peter who made the deal, feeling it was too cowardly on Peter's part to pass the buck to his wife, and that it was out-of-character for him not to take the responsibility and guilt for this action.
A few years later it was found out that JMS really did hate the OMD retcon, and got into a rather public spat with creators of Marvel in late 2011 about it, stating that he felt that Quesada exploited the goodwill and favor that had generated between them to write a story that would go down as one of comics' all-time great turkeys, which falls in his CV, while also sullying the work that he had done on Spider-Man, pointing out that the Post-OMD continuity is essentially a Cosmic Retcon for Spider-Man that rewrites years of continuity and fundamentally changes the nature of the stories that Quesada and other claims still happened but only with a Peter who lived with MJ and Harry who was still alive throughout the entire thing but doing nothing of importance.
Edited by TomWithoutJerry on Aug 7th 2024 at 4:19:16 AM
Please remember that, ultimately, fictional works of entertainment are just that.
Huh, I used to hear a completely different version during the days I was on CBR that JMS wanted a For Want Of A Nail scenario reaching back to the '70s - in the altered timeline, Peter would get Harry into drug rehab, which in turn averts Norman relapsing into the Green Goblin personality, which in turn would avert Gwen's death, every subsequent Goblin-related story, and the marriage with MJ because, presumably, Peter would still be with Gwen. It was rejected because eliminating every Goblin-related character post-Norman would have major knock-off effects on other corners of the 'verse, not just Spidey, and that's why JMS was peeved at Quesada.
Now I'm really wondering what's the truth. Might be an interesting story to trace the origins of.
OK, found it. The source for the aforementioned storyline is a quote from Quesada from a now-gone CBR interview. Here is what he said:
"When I was halfway through issue three of OMD, we received Joe’s script for issue 4. After reading it, we (Axel, Tom and myself) all quickly realized that we had a problem — the script we had just received was not the one we were expecting, and the events that were being set forth in that issue were going to conflict with the work that was already being done on “Brand New Day.” I thought that perhaps Joe had forgotten some of the stuff discussed at the summit meetings and the subsequent e-mails and discussions that followed, but that didn’t seem to be the case; this was the story he wanted to tell. In his story, Mephisto was going to change continuity from as far back as issues #96-98 from 1971. In Joe’s story, Peter drops the dime on Harry, and that helps get him into rehab right away. Consequently, MJ stays with Harry, and Gwen never dies and never has her affair with Norman, etc., etc. And in the end, Peter and MJ are never married."
There's YT footage of JMS talking about OMD and how he loved writing Peter and MJ being married, so no, it's B.S that he 'supported the retcon', but he had a boss and was given his marching orders, he's also the kind of writer who really doesn't like to be told what to do and he did question Quesada a lot about the retcons, specifically Harry, which is where we got the famous "it's magic, we don't have to explain it" line from, which were supposedly Quesada's words to him in a meeting.
I think JMS's version also wouldn't have resulted in Peter and MJ having much tension post-OMD either, with MJ never coming clean about knowing Peter's identity and just being there for him as a friend. MJ probably would have been better off as a character in her role as foil to Gwen if she were alive and she and Peter were still steady. Gwen, I feel, would have gotten far worse treatment because the mandate was for Peter never to have another long-term marriage/relationship again, so inevitably her 'saintly' characterization that she's had since her death would have taken a hit.
They rejected his pitch for a Symbiote Fighting Federation and he was mad?
Wake me up at your own risk.Shay still around, Peter is late for their date due to fighting Stilt-Man and has forgotten his shoes. His excuse? He 'Stood in it'. He's also got a black eye that Shay notices
Spider-Editorial: "Behold, the Paulverse!"
Is anybody going to lament that? Has Jackpot been setting the world on fire with her rng mechanics?
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI said before but the "What happens if I get 3 skulls?" bit is a built-in out for when MJ loses her powers. Makes it kinda hard to get attached when that's floating over her head and said drama is not the focal point of her stories.
But on to something else, I really dug Peter's conversation with Venom in the current Venom War run. Pete's mended fences with Brock, and has talked with Flash while he wore the symbiote, but he's never really had a heart to heart with the alien itself. So him laying the ground rules and making it clear "Fine. We're cool now, and I'll wear you for now. But I've seen you do good with Flash. I've seen you save the world with Eddie. You don't get to pull the 'I don't know any better' card anymore. So your actions are on you." was a pretty cool turn in their relationship.
#IceBearForPresident

It's that he loses pathetically. Was having to beg Norman to help with vulture really needed...
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."