Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine: "High Tide"

[superboyprime]

"These 'ideas' are not ideas at all. Ideas bring life to these legends and extend/renew their freshness. Chopping off Aquaman’s hand did nothing for Aquaman, marrying off Clark Kent did nothing for Superman. They sold some comic books, but these are dead ideas in that they lead to dead ends. Marvel *completely* misinterpreted and distorted Spider-Man vs. Wolverine to use it as justification to marry Pete and MJ, when the point of that story was the *exact* opposite: why theirs would be a dysfunctional and unsustainable relationship. Years later, Marvel did it again, completely missing the entire point of my BP/Storm flirtation–the unconsummated love since childhood–and married them off. No offense to the writer, but it was a dead idea in that all it did was build a dead end to T’Challa’s future and make him less interesting. Having Batman run around with an un-dead 10-year old violates everything Batman is about." - Christopher J. Priest

Comments

[arrogantcur]

The main thing I want to talk about is that Priest quote too.

I got into comics at a time when Peter & MJ were married. I liked them together. I was pissed when they were broken up and I hate it to this day.

I've resigned myself to not seeing them get back together in any way that matters. (For example, SpOck's brief relationship with MJ didn't matter, because that wasn't really Peter.) Just like fans who hated Gwen Stacy dying eventually had to resign themselves to her never coming back. There was a huge uproar when Gwen got killed. But then newer fans came along, fans who had never known or become invested in Gwen, myself included. Those fans would read the old stories and might think "Gee, I kind of like this Gwen Stacy, kind of sucks that she isn't around any more. Oh well."

That's the best we can hope from younger fans of Spidey. For them to read the old trades and think "Gee, I think MJ and Peter were a good couple. Kind of sucks that they aren't together any more. Oh well."

It's been 8 years and counting. Marvel's no longer under any pressure to reunite them.

Having said all of that...I only wound up buying and reading the issues where Peter proposed and MJ agreed in 2010. I typed up my thoughts on the subject after reading those here. For those who don't want to read, though, I'll summarize them:

After reading that story, I thought that as much as I thought MJ & Peter made a great couple, and as much as I wish they hadn't been broken up...the way they got together was way too rushed and wasn't done well.

See, Peter is thinking about his life one day, and as I recall he came to a sudden conclusion: "Mary Jane is the perfect woman for me! How could I not have seen it sooner?"

At the time of the story, the two of them were just friends. They did have a history, true. But if you have an ex who shows up at your place out of the blue (despite your protests that you are getting ready to leave for the airport and too busy to talk right then) and pops the question after the two of you have been broken up for years, how are you likely to respond?

Because that's what Peter did, much to MJ's shock.

To David Michelinie's credit (Michelinie's one of my faves, btw), MJ's initial response was to say no. To tell Peter that she thought they were just friends and that this was coming out of nowhere. Before much else is said, MJ says that she still needs to catch her plane and that they can't go into this right now, and leaves.

By the end of the story, though, after Spider-Man saves her life from Alistair Smythe, she does a complete 180 and decides she wants to marry him after all.

I still think that they turned out to be a good couple, but the execution of actually getting them engaged and married was all kinds of WTF.

[starwolf_oakley]

It is an odd quote, even if you agree with the "Damian should not have been resurrected" part.

Regarding Peter and Mary Jane, "why theirs would be a dysfunctional and unsustainable relationship"

All right. Why? "Someone is always going to need Spider-Man to save them" works on a few levels. "Mary Jane has too much baggage from her parents' messed-up marriage" was used in One Moment In Time