Bleeding Cool has just announced that the popular Secret Wars mini is to become a new ongoing in the new Marvel NOW! relaunch, to be written by Gerry Gonway with art by Ryan Stegman.
Whether or not this is something similar to DC’s Lois And Clark series, where it ran parallel to their Superman title or it’s an actual replacement for Amazing we will have to wait and see.
And I do not have to tell how awesome this makes me feel, given that it’s the only thing that I enjoyed from Dan Slott, as evidence by my collection.
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Yes. Count me in….
I just had a thought… this is because of DC’s “Lois and Clark” book, isn’t it?
I know Peter is not Jewish. By “Jewish guilt” I’m referring to what Peter David describes the character as having. On one of the podcast interviews on this site.
Fine. Different headcanon:
When they made the deal their memories were rewritten but there was not time travel. Pre-OMD and post-OMD Spider-Man are actually from the same timeline and everything since OMD has been Peter and MJ working with altered memories.
There you go, now pre and post-OMD fans have had their Spider-Man legitimized.
@Jason: Think of it like this. Maybe this isn’t EXACTLY what we wanted but if the choice is this AU or the AU ASM has been since they changed reality in OMD this is at least something. And also hopefully will be a legitmately good Peter Parker Spider-Man book.
@Spider-Matt: the AU status of this book coupled with theevnt nature of ASM, ASM’s variants and the street cred Slott has (bafflingly) garnered all but guarantees that ASM will automatically sell better. But Marvel Knights sold well and was acclaimed inits day but it sold less than ASM too, despite being 616 as well
@Friendly Reminder: Dunno when younger writers will tackle the marriage. But the trick is that it’s not been around for them to have the chance in the first place. Dezago did well enough with it in the 90s though.
It’s gonna continue on from RYV cos look MJ’s got the Regent armour.
Adam. S: I’ve never understood Conway’s logic when it comes to disliking the marriage at all.
His reasons seemed to boil down to Spider-Man needing to be young and no older than 21 even though he wrote him as a 20-22 year old and that it flies against the illusion of change even though killing Gwen is the most anti-illusion of change thing out there in Spider-Man.
Sano: I wouldn’t like Peter killing anybody in 616 but killing Eddie wasn’t pointless in RYV #1.
Nah, it’s real simple. The mc2 universe of Spider-Verse had t’s universe number altered by the incursions like how in X-Man’s solo-series when earth 611 was destroyed it turned Earth 616 into earth 615 temporarily. It’s just not the legit Spider-Girl.
I actually don’t like the idea of Peter losing his leg as a set up for the future of the mythos. That is to say it works great as backstory for Spider-GIRL but if you use that as the climax for the main character himself it is too mean spirited and at the same time raises certain questions because he could work around that problem in the MU. I prefer the idea of him losing his powers thus removing his responsibilities.
Dude no, Eddie killed innocents plenty of times. In his first 2 stories he needlessly murdered people and then lamented it. the idea of him as this lethal protector anti-hero was entirely made up to sell him as a solo-characte it never made any sense. At the same time RYV #2 justified his characterization by floating the idea that the symbiote was in the driver’s seat. I agree that Brock isn’t going to attack Peter’s family unless provoked somehow, but again you could easily say that was the symbiote dictating what happened.
As for Peter’s actions his history actually backs up his actions a whole Hell of a lot. In ASM #122 he was going to murder Norman Osborn before he stopped himself and more than once thereafter he came close to killing people who threatened his loved ones, like Smythe, Kingpin etc.
The thing is though, those feelings would be magnified a thousand fold in the case of protecting his baby daughter. I don’t know if Spider-Man would honestly go all the way and take life to protect Aunt May or MJ but for the sake of his child? I think pretty much all parents would do that because it’s biologically hardwired into all human beings to do that.
Venom is someone much more powerful than he is, someone who honestly frightens Peter himself, who’s terrorized his wife and in that moment had defied the sanctity of his home to do the same to his baby daughter. The splash page where he walked in to find him holding MJ and Annie was nightmarish and h didn’t even hesitate before wailing on him. Then Venom said he’s gonna keep coming after them even if somehow Peter manages to stop him from going right outside and killing everyone on the spot. This psychopathic murderer who knows where Peter lives and minutes ago was trying to murder his baby straight up tells Peter he’s going to literally eat her brains sooner or later, which from Venom is not a bluff he genuinely eats people.
So yeah…in the heat of the moment Peter put him down to neutralize the threat to his child.
I am no saint but I’ve never killed anybody, but frankly if I was in his position and I had a kid to protect that guy is dead meat. And again, every parent would agree on that. Every parent would kill to save their child.
Peter isn’t Jewish, he’s some sort of Christian. Probably protestant I’d guess.
WHEN the MC2 universe diverges is weird. In What if #105 the implication is it breaks away at PPSM #75. In the MC2 universe there was no kidnapping of baby may if you go by that issue. Later on that was changed and the breakaway point moved to the Final Chapter storyline. But then elements from the Mackie/Byrne Reboot and even JMS years crept in either implying that those events happened earlier or that the Final Chapter happened later. I believe it’s the latter as more than one MC2 story implies Peter lost his leg when May was 2 which was much later than when the Final Chapter would have occurred. I explain this by saying Kaine’s returning of baby May to the Parker’s and hunting down of Norman caused him to move the Gathering of Five ceremony to a later date. So in those 2 years Peter raised Mayday with MJ and they dealt with the Maguire Beck Mysterio and he met Arana and so on until he retired.
RYV obviously diverges somehow well before the wedding because Peter’s black costume is different to his 616 version and that’s reflected in Venom’s design.
@hornacek: You should really read Spider-Girl it’s great.
Venom’s attitude towards innocents boils down to him talking the talk but not walking the walk. He’s a hypocrite who has a warped sense of morality he drops at a moment’s notice whenever it’s convenient for his own selfish goals.
I did a whole essay series examining Spider-Man killing people and attitudes towards bad guys getting killed and ultimately the times he has killed have obviously been writers making mistakes but in-universe he’s never DELBERATELY killed anybody, just taken actions in the heat of the moment in legitimate “do-or-die” situations, or else when he’s basically not thought the situation through. What happened in RYV was very different and has not happened in 616 to my knowledge because in that he was consciously aware of the situation and made a cold decision to take life.
With the ASm annual #5 death I feel it’s tricky because it didn’t make sense for other reasons but ultimately it was Peter thinking he had no choice in order to save himself and limit the danger to the surrounding population, he might also have not intended to kill anyone as the driver of the car he blew up survived and he wasn’t that surprised by it. He didn’t care much thereafrter but I think that’s because he has this thing about mercenaries and assasins wherein he doesn’t value their life as highly as other people.
I want the marriage to be in the mainstream comic, same with Bruce Banner and Betty Ross.
@Sano
As for MC2 being Spider-Girl’s world and not Spider-Man’s, yes Peter is still alive and active working for the police, but he is retired from being Spider-Man. The wiki says he has gotten into costume as Spider-Man a few times, but for the majority of MC2 issues, Spider-Man is retired. So RYV is a continuity with a continuously active Spider-Man that is a spouse/father, but MC2 is not. Even when Peter goes back into costume in MC2, Spider-Girl is the star/protagonist, not Spider-Man.
@Sano
Venom has killed people when they are his target or they get in his way (police, guards, etc) but he doesn’t (usually) kill people indiscriminately. In the early Micheline issues he didn’t kill MJ or Aunt May because they were not his target. He wanted to kill Peter. But he’s always been a threat to Peter’s family in that (a) he knows Peter’s secret identity, (b) he is psychopathic, and (c) he has killed before and has killed again.
I didn’t see RYV #2 as justifying that Peter had made a bad decision at all. It was Peter’s guilt., his usual reaction to a decision he has made even when it was the right decision. This is the same guy that feels guilty about EVERYTHING. Just because the Eddie in Peter’s nightmare says that he would never have killed MJ or Annie doesn’t mean that was true for the real Eddie. That is Peter’s guilt. In this story, Eddie would have killed MJ and Annie, no doubt about it. Peter knows this is true and that he made the right decision for his family’s safety, but still feels guilty because he doesn’t believe in killing people (even though he’s done it before).
I have no idea where 616 ends and RYV continuity starts. I won’t take any art choices as proof like a different wedding dress or different superhero outfits since there are many instances of a current artist depicting a scene from the past and getting details wrong. I’d want to have the writer state it in the comic (not on Twitter) where it starts. And we don’t know that there was no baby kidnapping in the RYV-verse – baby May was kidnapped in MC2 continuity.
Again, I’m no Spider-Girl expert, but I think it’s been established by DeFalco that the breakaway point is the Gathering of Five. Except this time, the Goblin dies in that final battle, Peter loses his leg, and retires from being Spidey. There is no return of Aunt May, and I think the baby May kidnapping still happens but Kaine eventually finds her and returns her to Peter and MJ (someone from Mayday Mondays can fact check me on this).
I guess we’ll just agree to disagree. I don’t think Peter or Venom were written out of character in RYV #1, and have no problem with Peter killing Venom here as he was put into a situation where a super-villain was going to try to kill his family, and Peter knew that he would never stop trying. Peter knows killing is wrong, and he may feel guilty after it, but in this situation he made the right decision.
@Jeff Gutman
I feel pretty much the same way. My interest in the MU right now is almost zero with just 2 titles on my pull list. As much as I’m also not a fan of alternate dystopian universes, I’m really hoping Gerry Conway is going to hit this out of the ballpark.
Only thing I wanted to point out before but didn’t want to triple post or anything is that Peter Parker is very active in Mc2 / Spider-Girl’s world, he even got in costume and got down with the fighting now and then.
It’s still Mayday’s story and all that but just don’t go thinking Peter just sat in his chair smoking a pipe while reading a newspaper every day.
…That was Earth X Peter Parker. Except swap out pipe smoking and reading a newspaper with eating a lot. 😛
Sano, what I’m getting at is you can’t call her May because that’s a totally different person who I guess never existed. Baby May was kidnapped or died during birth, whichever you believe. I go with the former and always hoped she’d make an appearance as the Green Goblin’s minion.
I like the headcanon Al suggested that’s similar to DC’s Rebirth, Peter and MJ being the pre-OMD versions placed in an alternate reality with different memories,after all, they faded from sight at the end of OMD, that could mean something more than just time being altered….the drawback to that would, however, be pissing off fans who have followed the book the last ten years being told, like Clone Saga fans were, that the Peter they’ve been invested in is either a fraud or just the bad side of the same coin, with the “better half” being the RYV Peter.
You could say both are damaged goods because one made a deal with Satan and another killed Venom, but the latter actually had a redemption story that made that particular crime A-OK. Post-OMD Peter has yet to have his redemption story, though they are indicating it may come soon.
Another idea I had was in this reality, MJ accepted Peter’s proposal the FIRST time rather than reject it. We know certain events from Peter’s classic comics still happened to him in RYV’s universe, In the final issue of the original mini-series, Peter’s memories of MJ include when they kiss at the airport, then it deviates, showing May’s death and the birth of Annie.
Confirmed by Wikia AKA I’m not crazy. Annie May Parker. Her name sounds like “Anime” lol!
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Annie_Parker_(Earth-18119)
Jason – IIRC in RYV issue 2 they revealed that the child’s middle name was May. I might have the wrong issue number, but I remember that pretty clearly.
Personally I don’t care if Peter is married or not. To me, that’s not the only requisite factor in why I enjoy a Spidey comic. I understand people who grew up reading Pete and MJ together long for that and for these people, that’s the only status quo that will work. This comic seems to be made to appease these people.
Personally, I don’t care if he’s married or not. I just want good Spider-man stories. I wasn’t getting them under Slott so I stopped buying Amazing a year ago after 40+ years collecting. We’ll see if Conway can deliver good stories still. I’m worried that he’s well past his prime.
Sano, baby Parker was named Annie, not May. It’s certainly plausible Annie was their second child, keeping with the timeline pre One More Day.
I agree that it’s inconsistent and he did kill people that got in his way. But Venom had the chance to kill MJ in Amazing Spider-Man #300. He also had the chance to kill Aunt May when he visited her house later and asked if “Peter could come out and pway” or something like that. He has never been a threat to Spider-Man’s family or friends.
The second issue somewhat justifies that Peter made a bad decision by him having nightmares about it and Eddie telling him that it was just the Symbiote talking smack, that he wasn’t really going to kill his family. Usual Peter’s jewish guilt? Slott already catering to people who would have trouble with the first issue? The second issue even gave their daughter the “May” name so this may have been the case. First comes sour, then comes sweet.
Both are alternate realities but RYV defers even further. MJ wore a different wedding dress. There was no kidnapping of their baby as far as we know. Some of the heroes wear different outfits.
I’d say the break away point for Mc2 would be after the Clone Saga but the break away point for RYV takes place before the 616 wedding or even further back.
Ya know I think a lot of us would want a future that breaks away right before Peter makes a deal with Mephisto but JQ would probably burn Marvel’s building to the ground if that ever happened ha ha!
@Sano
But The MC2 future of Peter is not an alternate future of Spider-Man, it’s an alternate future of Peter Parker who is no longer Spider-Man. I’ve never read any Spider-Girl but from everything I’ve heard it nails the characters of Peter, MJ and Mayday and their family relationships. But if I want an alternate future of a married Peter Parker where he is still Spider-Man, I’m gonna take Renew Your Vows over MC2 every time.
“Eddie Brock doesn’t kill innocents” This is wildly inconsistent. When Venom was turned into an anti-hero they gave him the “innocents must be protected” characterization, but before that he killed many innocent people whose only crime was that they got in his way. Even years later, he still killed innocent people. So I call shenanigans on Brock not killing innocent people.
“I get that it’s an alternate reality and everything, but this is the DNA of the characters.” But it’s not part of his DNA; he’s a psycho who kills people and then makes up reasons to justify why it was the right thing to do. And while Peter makes every effort to not kill people, he *has* killed people in the past (enough to make up an entire Spider-Jeopardy category “Spider-Man Killed A Guy”). Even Stan had him kill someone in annual #5, so you can’t say it’s just modern writers.
As mentioned in my previous comment, Venom had told Spider-Man that he was going to kill his family and he would never stop until he did. Spidey knew that Venom would always break out of any prison he was put in. His family would always be in danger as long as Venom was alive. It was an extreme example, but he killed Venom to keep his family from being killed. I can’t believe I’m saying this … but in this instance … Slott did not make the wrong decision in his writing (looks up for lightning bolt from the blue).
Apologies for repeating the first paragraph twice. Web browser’s acting up a bit.
Overall I find Peter Parker losing his leg in the final battle against Green Goblin a much better set up for the future of his mythos.
Eddie Brock doesn’t kill innocents and Peter Parker would find an alternative to killing him. I get that it’s an alternate reality and everything, but this is the DNA of the characters. Once again Slott’s Spider-Man is making the wrong decision. Nothing new there I guess.
Issue 2 onwards I’ve enjoyed Renew Your Vows so still looking forward to the new series.
Still, I think Spider-Man losing his leg in a final battle against Green Goblin is a much better set up to the future of his mythos.
@Sane-Did’nt DeFalco leave hints everywhere the MC2 affected by Spider-Verse wasn’t the “real” MC2? Hell even the Spider-Man Unlimited game gives you the option of “Unmasked Mayday” and she has her long hair from the final years of her run, ( 2006-2010), so it’s safe to say there’s a reality out there where they’re fine.
Plus the UK Comics continuity have a version of MC2 as it’s future.
@Sano – Personally, I didn’t have a problem with Spidey killing Venom in RYV. Marvel would have never let Slott do that in regular continuity, but since it was a Secret Wars offshoot he could kill of Venom (along with all the other superheroes). Plus in that situation Peter had a powerful enemy who knew his secret identity, had told him straight out that he was going to kill his family, and he knew from past experiences that Venom was always going to break out of any prison he was put into. I don’t want a Spider-Man that is going to kill his enemies, but in this situation, given all of those facts, I have no problem with Peter doing what he had to to keep his family alive and safe.
AI – Nah MC2 Spider-Girl is still a better future for me because Peter Parker doesn’t pointlessly murder Eddie Brock in that world. Too bad Slott ruined MC2 by killing Peter, but hey it’s comics. In my mind he comes back to life eventually and everything is good. 🙂
Al – that makes a lot more sense than the dreck we’re reading now. There may not be alternate universes, but parallel timelines are still in play, I think. I think Marvel is stuck in an eight-year “What If?” sequence.
Can we all agree to headcanon that as a result of the Devil Deal pre-OMD Peter and MJ were spun off into a pocket dimension and their lives there took some twists and turns and actually RYV Peter and MJ are in fact the original 616 versions?
This….has been a surprising week for me.
Marvel haven’t given me EXACTLY what I want but it’s a step in the right direction, especially with it not just being Slott doing it but an inherently better writer like Conway. Even if he screws up like he kinda did with Spiral it’ll still be better than what we’re getting from Slott.
So I kinda sorta in a way which does make me happy get the Spider-Marriage/ backSpider-Man as a parent status quo I’ve always wanted to see.
I am however dead tired so take my jubilation as read even if my comments are more reserved.
…Unless of course they pull a Rebirth and reveal post-OMD Peter and MJ are “not who we think they are” and the RYV Parkers are somehow connected to them (which is backed up by Peter and MJ “sensing” them in Power Play)
@Enigma_2099- No, this series will be cancelled to make way for a line wide relaunch of the titles, only lasting around seven issues or so.
I don’t expect this to last long. I think it’s meant to keep up interest in Peter and MJ while the “real” books move the pair into position to reunite them for real.
My oh my wait a good writer that understands Peter and spidey? Wait Mary Jane as a character and not a plot device? Wait we get to see what people think is a natural progression for a hero/man that was married and had a kid on the way? Say it ain’t so it almost feels like Conway has done this in secret and as soon as quesada finds out this exists he will shut it down fast oh so fast but I will enjoy it and read it while it lasts!! Holy hell in buying a spidey book again for the first time in 5 years I am beyond excited (not counting spiral since that felt like out of continuity and a one off)
This will get canceled before Marvel lets it outsell the main book. Either that, or it will become a backup to Slott’s book. Either way, you know it won’t last.
This is exciting news, however I find it interesting that Conway is writing this. He likes the Peter/Mary Jane relationship, but he doesn’t seem to be a big fan of them being married.
@Chase: I was going to go to the panel anyway because I guess I’m a sucker, but since this news has come to light I’m hopeful it will make it worth it.
Hooray another monthly Marvel title I can read other than X-Men ’92! I avoid all current 616 titles like the plague. No millionaire Spider-Man dancing around in my brain. GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT!
Lol! Really excited. 🙂
Holy shit! Conway AAAANNDD Stegman!?
If this is for real, then I am in. I’d probably pick it up even if it was a writer I’d never heard of before, but having Gerry bleeding-heart Conway (according to Spider-History) on the title, that gives me even more hope for it.
Hey, how about the podcast drop reviewing ASM and review this instead? Just kidding, but I wonder if the panel would get more enjoyment out of it?
Well, now I guess i’ll go to the Spider-Man panel at SDCC after all…
Loved Conway’s take on the marriage when he wrote Spectacular and Web, and I’m hearing nothing but good things about Carnage (horror isn’t my thing) plus his .1 issues was the most authentic Peter Parker since OMD.
So here. Finally take my money, Marvel.
@Al, I’ve seen the artwork. It’s real. Peter, MJ, and Annie, and it’s called “One More Chance”, the picture is doing the ’rounds on places like comicvine. It’s real.
Also, Miles and Spider-Gwen will be dating
Well if it worked for Superman and DC why not.
Guys it’s bleeding cool I treat this with A LOT of suspicion
4Chan just leaked that the story is called “ONE MORE CHANCE”
Wow, a Spider -Title I’m actually interested in picking up and can get excited about.
Hopefully we’ll see a PP characterisation that actually seems like the Peter I know and love, not the inane man-child over in Amazing right now.
I’ll be voting with my wallet on this one and picking it up.
Hey, it worked for Spider-Girl, so I’m guessing it will probably have a good run here as well. This has to be an alternate universe thing. I find it hard to believe that Bleeding Cool is even floating the idea out there that it would replace the main title, except they are trolling for comments from people who hate the current series and are hopeful to get someone else writing the main series.
I’ll pick up the first issue.
I’m excited. I expected them to do something like this with Superdad currently proving to be a smash hit for DC, who knows what this could lead to down the line, you never know. Will this universe be set in a 616 that did not see the deal with Mephisto come to pass, or will it carry on from the story Slott left it at with Peter, MJ and Annie rebuilding their world with the Battleworld resistance led by Hawkeye?
The one drawback I have, and slap me if I come across as ageist here, but when are we going to get some young and hungry writers on the marriage? Conway is great, and Jurgens is great on Superdad, but even Jurgens has someone like Tomasi helping to flesh out Jon Kent and the Kent family. Maybe a rotating creative team would be best for this, like with BND
I’m down. I’ll probably drop ASM and read this instead. Let sales dictate which book is better
That is an impressive creative team.
I’ll take it–I’d have liked to see PAD writing it, but Conway is a great choice.
I’m about as disinterested as I’ve ever been with what’s happening in the current Marvel U, so I don’t even mind that it’s an alt-U.
I think this will be a great book.
Good news, yes, but it is kind of disappointing knowing we need a possibly separate, parallel book in order to read what we really want. I don’t want an alternate universe marriage. I want THE marriage. I may end up buying the trade anyway, but it’s not the same.