Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Story Preceding Spidey Becoming Single Again
Source: Wikipedia

Spider-Man: One More Day is a 4-part, 2007 comic book crossover storyline, connecting all of the Spider-Man comic book series. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada, with art by Quesada, it concludes the storyline of the fallout of Spider-Man's actions during the 2007 Civil War crossover. It starts in Amazing Spider-Man #544, continues in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 and The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41, and concludes in Amazing Spider-Man #545.

The plot is that after his Aunt May is shot, the superhero Spider-Man searches for help in saving her life. Spider-Man meets the demon Mephisto, who offers to save her life if Spider-Man gives him his marriage. Spider-Man and his wife Mary Jane Watson agree, and the character's history is subsequently retconned so that he has never been married. The storyline serves to set-up a restructuring of the Spider-Man titles, resulting in the cancellation of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and The Sensational Spider-Man, replaced by Amazing Spider-Man revamped as a thrice-monthly publication.

Plot
The story begins in Amazing Spider-Man #544. With Aunt May slowly dying after being shot by a sniper during the closing hours of the Superhero Civil War, Peter Parker is forced to ask Tony Stark for financial assistance. Iron Man first attempts to bring Peter in for opposing the Superhero Registration Act, but stops when he learns of May's situation. He listens to Peter, but tells him he can't help him. He does however send Jarvis with a $2,000,000 check that will cover May's medical needs. Peter then sets out to help May, any way he can.

Continuing in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24, Peter seeks council with Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange informs Peter that he can do nothing to grant Aunt May her life back. However, he helps Peter seek the aid of several others including Doctor Doom, the High Evolutionary, Reed Richards, and Doctor Octopus. Without Strange's approval, Peter attempts to go back in time using one of the spells. He harms himself in the process. Strange heals his wounds and sends him on his way, encouraging him to be by his Aunt's side at her death. On his way to the hospital, Peter is confronted by a little girl, who says she holds the answer to his problem.

In The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41 Peter talks to the little girl, who runs off. While pursuing her, Peter encounters two men; An overweight software tester who says he wishes he were a hero, and a middle-aged technology magnate, who says he'd give up all his fortune just to be with a girl he'd known and lost years ago. Peter then encounters a woman in red, who tells him that the two men he met were him, from alternate possible timelines where Peter was never bitten by the radioactive spider. In light of this revelation, Peter asks if the little girl was an alternate version of himself as well, but the woman doesn't give a straight answer, saying that she'll save it for another time. The woman transforms into Mephisto, who tells Peter he can save Aunt May. But as payment, Mephisto wants, not Peter's soul, but his and Mary Jane's marriage. He also reveals that he approached Mary Jane with the same deal. In return for saving May, he wants to wipe all memory of their marriage from all but one part of their souls, so that they may listen to those parts' pain for the rest of eternity. Peter and Mary Jane are given until midnight the following night to decide their answer.

As the story concludes in Amazing Spider-Man #545, Peter and Mary Jane agree to the deal after several hours lamenting over the decision. Mary Jane whispers to Mephisto that she can offer him something in return for removing the knowledge of Peter's identity from the world. Before sealing the deal, Mephisto reveals that the little girl was a representation of Peter and Mary Jane's possible child, answering Peter's earlier query about her. Mary Jane reassures Peter that the two will find each other again. History is altered so that Peter and Mary Jane never married, and Spider-Man never unmasked. Peter wakes up alone in bed, living again with Aunt May. He attends a party being held for one of his friends, a resurrected Harry Osborn (who didn't die in this timeline). Peter glimpses Mary Jane sadly leaving the party. They then all toast a "Brand New Day".

Development
"One More Day" was announced as the concluding storyline of writer J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man in early 2007. Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was announced as the artist for the storyline. While no plot details were given, Marvel issued a promotional image in February that consisted solely of the line "What would you do...with one more day?" against a backgound of spider webbing. At a panel at the San Diego Comic Con in June 2007, Joe Quesada gave few details about the story, but described it as "a Peter-MJ story." At the same panel Marvel editor Tom Brevoort announced that Amazing Spider-Man would become the sole main Spider-Man title, and would be published three times a month.

Straczynski surprised many when he publicly revealed: "there's a lot that I don't agree with, and I made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel, especially Joe Quesada... there was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the OMD arc. Eventually Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don't want to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those."

Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada downplayed this disagreement with Straczynski, claiming that their rift was primarily over the "methodology" of how to erase Peter and Mary Jane's marriage, and that Straczynski was onboard with the editorial mandate of undoing the Parkers' marriage. Quesada said that various major Marvel writers, including Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Ed Brubaker, and incoming Amazing Spider-Man writer Dan Slott had a hand in the story's development, and also claimed that he and Straczynski had planned to resurrect Gwen Stacy in Part Four along with Harry Osborn, but that a number of Marvel editors and writers had prevailed upon them to leave the venerated character dead.

Quesada, answering questions for Comic Book Resources, said that every story in the Spider-Man canon still "counted", with the only change being that Peter and Mary Jane didn't marry and his unmasking to the public during the 2007 miniseries Civil War has been forgotten. A "back and forth" developed between Quesada and J. Michael Straczynski in separate interviews and messages, with Straczynski outlining some of his original plans for the "retcon" and conversations he had with Quesada about the storyline.

Release and delays
The four issues that comprised "One More Day" were originally scheduled to ship weekly in August 2007. The story encountered delays due to Quesada's art duties. Sensational Spider-Man #41 was rescheduled for release in late October, and the concluding chapter of the story in Amazing Spider-Man #545 was rescheduled for November. The issues were again delayed in late October, with Sensational Spider-Man #41 and Amazing Spider-Man #545 resolicited for release on November 28 and December 27, respectively.

Reception
The storyline of One More Day was heavily criticized by reviewers, although Joe Quesada's artwork received praise. IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen described Amazing Spider-Man #545 as "undoubtedly the worst comic Marvel published in 2007" and a "deus ex machina of the highest order". He admitted that writer Straczynski "had a great handle on the Peter/Mary Jane dynamic", making their potentially-final moments mean something, and that Quesada's artistic style made sense given the dark tone. However, he also dismissed the story as "infuriating and downright disrespectful to anyone who has come to love Spider-Man comics over the years." IGN published two "Additional Take" reviews for Amazing Spider-Man #545. Bryan Joel said that he'd been a "vocal supporter" of Brand New Day, but summarized the OMD story as "flip, weightless, and painfully brief". Richard George stated that One More Day "could prove to be the best example of editorial influence gone horribly, horribly wrong" and "in trying to preserve the appeal of Peter Parker, Joe Quesada has actually managed to fundamentally undermine the character." Both Joel and George agreed with their colleague in complimenting Quesada's artwork.

Newsarama's J. Caleb Mozzocco agreed that Spider-Man was easier to relate to while young and single, but that retconning the marriage of Spider-Man was unnecessary due to the existence of titles such as Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. He found the story confusing, wondering how this retcon made sense in the larger Marvel Universe as Spider-Man played important roles in New Avengers and Civil War. Other Newsarama reviewers claimed, "you can feel editorial mandate dripping from this"; called the story "utterly ridiculous"; and criticized Quesada's decision to have heroic Peter Parker make a deal with the Devil for selfish reasons. Richard Renteria felt that the story's conclusion was a missed opportunity "to add a new layer of guilt to Peter’s already rocky life by allowing May to finally have the send off she deserves", while Troy Brownfield felt that the storyline damaged Marvel continuity and Spider-Man's decision was "selfish and childish", not to mention "a big middle finger to the idea of marriage in comics". He speculated preferable endings to the story before concluding that "As it stands, Peter, MJ, May . . . and the readers . . . all got a raw deal." A more positive view came from Brandon Thomas, who felt that One More Day was "an incredibly well-told story". He praised the writing, in particularly the morally ambiguous decision Peter has to make and the way he and Mary Jane deal with it together, as well as Quesada's art, which he felt set the tone of "guilt, regret, and despair". In regards to the retcon, he claimed that "Peter Parker being married really isn’t a vital component of the mythos" and that it allowed Marvel to make "big, sweeping changes to bring things slightly more into focus and back on message".

Wizard praised the artwork, specifically the way Quesada differentiated visually between the dark and light tones before and after the retcon. However, they felt that "the entire set up and execution just doesn’t make sense" and failed to empathize with the characters and their decisions. They also criticized the use of magic in a largely science-based book, calling it "the biggest cheat since ‘Dallas’ when J.R. getting shot was all a dream", and felt that the concept of making Spider-Man more accessible was undermined by the new and unfamilar characters.

Future Direction
Marvel posted a sneak peek at the final pages of the first post-OMD issue, Amazing Spider-Man #546, and a two-page spread penciled by John Romita, Jr. entitled "Spider-Man: The New Status Quo!" Among them: That Peter and MJ had not been married but had "dated seriously for years," yet she does not know that he is Spider-Man, and that she has moved to California to become an actress, and that Harry Osborn is not dead but has been living in Europe for many years. The Civil War retcon reads, "Although some people seem to recall that Spidey unmasked himself during Civil War, no one quite remembers whose face was under the mask." The spread concluded with "Any questions? Hey, don't ask us -- we're new here ourselves! Anyway, the past is past -- so don't look back, look forward, to the next great epoch in the ongoing saga of Spider-Man: Brand New Day!