Spider-Man: One More Day

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #544-545, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 and Sensational Spider-Man #41 written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Joe Quesada. Also contains interviews with Straczynski and Quesada taken from Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man - One More Day/Brand New Day.

This book could also have been called Spider-Man: The Retconning. Or maybe Spider-Man: Continuity Kills. Or how about Spider-Man: Spidey's Life Sure Has Become A Mess Lately, But Now We're Gonna Start All Over And Also, MJ Has To Go. After six years of Straczynski, it's time to start all over for our arachnic friend, and it all starts here. This is not so much a Spider-Man story as it is a meta story, a story between stories, or continuities if you will. It hints at the beginning of a new age of Spider-Man, a simpler Spider-Man that is closer to what originally made him great. It's also a farewell to a character that readers of Spider-Man have grown to love (or hate, depends on whether you're an MJ-guy or a Gwen-guy...) and a farewell to a writer who will be remembered for revitalizing the series but also for a couple of stories that made fans cry for all the wrong reasons. I know this story received a lot of criticism when it originally came out, so I'm probably going to catch some flak when I say that I actually quite enjoyed it.

This book highlights what I consider the strength and weakness of the American style of comics, namely the heavy focus on continuity. Continuity has given us great story lines and magnificent runs and Spider-Man is a prime example of this. To this day people are still discussing whether Gwen Stacy was or was not the right girl for Peter Parker, and at a certain level that is great. But at the same time continuity makes a book more and more complex while at the same time restraining the writers. And sometimes the best thing to do is to start all over. Marvel's Ultimate line is proof of this, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Marvel's original universe is beginning to look more and more like the Ultimate universe.

Considering the consequences of what is going on here, whether the story itself is well told or not becomes a minor issue. But it just so happens that Straczynski does deliver on this, his final Spider-Man story. The plot itself is not important, what is important is the words, the feelings and the emotions. Peter and MJ know that this is the end, even though they don't want it. And Straczynski and Quesada actually succeed in conveying the sadness of the situation very well. The story is very emotional, and old time Spidey readers will have a hard time not felling a tear or two. A lot of effort has gone into making a story where the pictures talk as loud as the words, and it seems that Straczynski and Quesada have had a good understanding of each other when working on this book.

I have to admit I was surprised at the relatively high quality of the art in this book. It's been a while since Quesada did something like this, but apparently he hasn't lost the touch. Danny Miki is credited as inking part of the book, and I suspect this is the latter half, because that half does look a lot better than the first, which is a little rough in places. This book certainly leaves me wanting for Quesada to do more artwork, but I understand he's pretty busy doing other stuff, so it probably isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Whether you will like this story or not is going to depend on several things. First, do you want Spider-Man to start all over? Second, do you want to see MJ go? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you might want to find something else to read. If you're open for change, I suggest you give it a try.

7/10