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Amazing Spider-Man #545
One More Day Part 4 of 4
Credits
Story: J. Michael Straczynski & Joe Quesada
Penciler: Joe Quesada
Inker: Danny Miki
Inks pages 23-31: Joe Quesada
Colourists: Richard Isanove with Dean White
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Asst. Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Synopsis
Carrying the weight of Mephisto’s deal with them, MJ and Peter talk about their options. MJ tells Peter that this simply could be Aunt May’s time but Peter is unable to accept that answer as it was his fault she got shot. In a loving stalemate, they hold each other. No words are needed as the day passes and the time of reckoning approaches…
On the first chime of midnight, Mephisto appears to them. Peter needs more details and asks Mephisto how the deal will work. All he tells him is that the stitch in time that is their marriage will be erased and everything else will be the same. When MJ gets angry that they are not going to get enough, Mephisto says that Peter’s public identity as Spider-Man will also be erased. MJ agrees but offers Mephisto something more to give Peter the life of happiness he deserves. What else she offers is a mystery…
Time runs out as Peter forces an agreement from his lips. In triumph Mephisto reveals the other possibilities that visited Peter yesterday. The woman in red is a story for another time but he does torment Peter and MJ by showing them the daughter they could have had!
With moments before the chimes end and the deal becomes reality, MJ tells Peter that their love will find a way and they will find each other and be together.
They kiss, and he holds her as she says ‘Face it tiger… you just hit the jackpot’ and reality fades…
… Peter wakes up late for a surprise welcome home party! He pulls on his clothes and races down to see Aunt May who is making him breakfast in their old home in Queens. Peter races out on his bike into the city and enters a penthouse apartment where Flash and dozens of other people are gathered.
Peter catches a glimpse of MJ, standing alone and quiet. Flash asks Peter if things are still frosty and Peter tells him that that he thinks she will never forgive him for…
… and in bursts Harry Osborn! The guests all yell “Surprise!” as he walks out of the elevator with two beautiful women. He introduces Lily Hollister as his girlfriend and Carlie Cooper introduces herself to Peter.
Peter notices MJ leaving in the elevator Harry just came up in…
Harry gathers his friends and they all drink a toast (as we notice that Peter is wearing webshooters underneath his clothes) … to a Brand New Day!
Highlight
MJ.
Comments
With there being so much out there about this issue already I have to take a step back and actually think about what my own opinion is. It’s easy to get swept away in the fury, interviews and threats but ultimately it is about having your own opinion and backing it up.
So here I go.
As a conclusion I don’t like it. I believe that there is too much emphasis on the results of the deal and not on the making the decision itself. The Brand New Day should introduce and establish the new life Peter has and the issue I just read should have been more about Peter, MJ and their love. I know the whole point of the series is to leave it behind but there is simply not enough dedicated to the history and impact of their relationship and no real appeasement for the fans who did not want this path trodden.
Accompanying this emphasis, the clear change in tone (and author) once the final bell chimes is overly apparent but creates the break the creators were looking for. The dialogue naturally takes a lighter tone along with the content and for the first time in a while we get to see Peter interact with his support cast and come across as light-hearted and, some of it with Aunt May, fairly pointless. It’s quite refreshing. The art matches this as we go from dark, emotional poetry to bold, basic and open layouts and somehow simpler portrayals of emotion. I prefer these pencils of Quesada, even though I know they are a little rushed. The disappearance of excessive lines on his characters’ faces is a positive, even if they look a little bit too polished.
The explanation as to what has happened after the final chime is too vague. Even when Peter and Mephisto are used earlier to clarify some of the details of the deal, it doesn’t really take us any further. I don’t think there was an easy way out of the marriage, but there is one that could have been explained and supported with more reason than this.
Questions arise that I have a feeling wont be answered within the comics themselves, however the continuity issues, the memories and how the Peter we now have in front of is going to fit into the Marvel Universe now will be apparent over the next few months. I was originally furious that the last however many issue had been forgotten, continuity being something that bothers me a lot, but they haven’t. I just can’t work out how history will be mentioned when it’s been changed yet…
On a positive note, the final few pages offer, and this is something that really comes blaring onto my radar, a classic tone and a potential return to the style and content of my favourite period of Spidey comics. When Spider-Man appeared for a few awesome panels and the rest of the issue was spent filling in characters, Peter’s day-to-day life, developing future plot threads, taking time over mysteries and throwing in minor rescue and fight sequences with crooks and muggers and regular Joes left right and centre. That tone and spark is what gets me a little excited as to what happens next. Paul Jenkins had it, J. M. DeMatteis had it, and so did Stan Lee: the ability to create and manage a cast. And if their previous work is anything to go by, so can Dan Slott and Marc Guggenheim at least.
But again this is all talking about what happens next. Time after time the emphasis is always put on what happens next and this is already the case here and I simply don’t like it. I’m very aware of the potential of the next few years and the creative ideas and line-ups excite me but I’ll go back to my original argument that One More Day should not have been about the future, it should have been about the past and the discussion between Peter and MJ is short, unfulfilling and dedicating a couple of double-pages to years of character progression is not enough.
So… Harry is back, something happened between Peter and MJ, Peter lives back with Aunt May, webshooters are back, MJ gave Mephisto something for Peter’s happiness, we don’t know what Peter gained as a result of this (is it Harry?) and there is a lot of explaining to come out of the next four months.
It is a Brand New Day, but I’ll always lament what was missing from the One More Day.
Rating
Cover –   
Overall –
Reviewed by Adam Rivett
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Ultimate Spider-Man