Sigh. There’s no other way to do this. (Mods, if you technically consider this a rant, feel free to ship it off to the Pit.)
Geeze, Bendis. I had a lot of faith in you. A LOT. I was willing to overlook your mutated Green Goblin and the Australian Kraven in exchange for the fine product you and Bagley have been producing. I mean, it’s Spider-Man made completely new, and yet completely recognizable. I loved it. I seriously loved buying this book every week.
Issue #13 almost made me cry, because you began anew Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s relationship from the eyes of innocent teenagers. Look, Peter’s a loser. That’s why the character is so damn appealing. His Uncle gets shot because of his own blunder, his best friend’s dad is a super villain, and the duty to be Spider-Man always costs him a normal life. But Mary Jane…man, she’s Peter’s one ray of hope, one victory. So in issue 13, you laid out Peter’s one rock, the one person in life he’d come to rely on. You made us believe that for all the crap young Spider-Man would be facing in the future, she’d be there for him.
You can read my review of that issue over here.
Well, nevermind. I can see by #25 that your ego seems to have taken over. Screw what the fans desire…now it’s your Spider-Man, and you can mess around with the legend however you want.
OK, I admit, my reaction may be premature. Maybe you didn’t really decide to put Mary Jane in the Gwen Stacy role at the end of that issue. But I largely suspect this isn’t a red herring. True to controversial form, I’m betting that MJ’s neck was broken when the Goblin tossed her from that bridge. And Peter’s going to go nuts, the Goblin dies, and Gwen assumes the MJ role. You couldn’t wait to tell this story, could you?
Dammit, I’m pissed about this issue. I liked this comic, but now I largely suspect it’s going to turn into the 21st century’s “Man of Steel.”
This entire world needs a reverse Crisis, doggoneit.