Warning: SPOILERS for Amazing Spider-Man #29
Marvel Comics seem to be preparing to undo the most controversial Spider-Man story of all, "One More Day." In 1987's Amazing Spider-Man annual #21, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were married. It didn't take long for Marvel's editors to begin to regret it, though, because they realized they'd changed the Spider-Man dynamic completely.
Every comic book character has what is sometimes called a "core concept," a single idea that's central to their popularity. Marvel's editors believed that Spider-Man's youth was at the heart of his appeal, and that his marriage worked against this. As a result, writers spent the next two decades desperately attempting to find a way out of this. It all came to a head in "One More Day," a controversial story in which Peter Parker made a deal with Marvel's version of the devil in order to save his beloved Aunt May. The cost was that the marriage between Spider-Man and Mary Jane was written out of continuity altogether.
All that appears to be changing in this week's Amazing Spider-Man #29. Peter and Mary Jane have recently gotten back together, and in this issue Aunt May gives her nephew some strong advice that she knows how much they truly love each other. Peter decides to take this advice, and he buys an engagement ring. Naturally, superheroics promptly get in the way of things, but the relationship between Peter and MJ is clearly headed in a serious direction.
It's an interesting move by Marvel Comics, especially given previous long-term writer Dan Slott had insisted Peter and MJ would never get together in this way again. He'd insisted that marriage just couldn't be part of the Spider-Man brand, and that was why Marvel had split them up again. It looks as though Marvel's whole approach to Spider-Man is changing, and that may be connected to their current nostalgia push. Marvel appears to have decided to focus in on old readers, and many of them grew up reading Spider-Man comics in the '90s, when Peter and MJ were married.
Unfortunately, Amazing Spider-Man #29 also saw MJ head off to the other side of the United States for an acting gig - another callback to her career in the '90s. And readers are well aware this is a trap, planted by Spider-Man enemies in order to expose the love of his life. That means the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane is about to be tested yet again. Don't miss out on this issue, Spidey fans!
- Amazing Spider-Man #29
- Written: by Nick Spencer
- Art by: Francesco Manna
- Cover by: Ryan Ottley
- The aftershocks from Mary Jane’s recent decision are felt throughout Spider-Man’s life! With that throwing Peter’s life into upheaval, a super villain rearing their head is NOT HELPFUL!
Amazing Spider-Man #29 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.