Reviewing "Brand New Day"

Despite all the whining and bitching about “One More Day”, many Spidey fans will still be reading the Wall Crawler’s adventures in Amazing Spider-Man. I count myself among them. What can I say? We’re junkies. While nothing is going to make “One More Day” any better the best us Spider-Fans can hope for is that the top notch new creative teams on Amazing Spider-Man turn out some good stories.

The first attempt is Amazing Spider-Man #546 - 548 written by Dan Slott and penciled by Steve McNiven. I remember reading an issue of Slott’s Avengers: The Initiative that guest starred Spider-Man and thinking “I’d love to see this guy write a Spider-Man book.” So, despite the circumstances, I was looking forward to these issues. Steve McNiven’s artwork was fantastic, but I’ve yet to see anything of his I didn’t like. I was disappointed to find out he won’t be returning for Slott’s next run on the book.

This is “Brand New Day” which means a whole new status quo for Spider-Man and the first issue establishes it with all the subtlety of a punch in the face. Very first page, Peter is seen making out with a random club girl. In case you missed it, Spidey’s single now, ladies! He’s also broke, practically unemployed, hanging out with his rich friend Harry Osbourne, and living with his elderly Aunt May in Queens. He’s also an unlicensed super hero, which makes him wanted by the government. Ol’ Sad Sack Parker is once again the lovable loser, only this time it’s slightly less lovable.

It seems Spider-Man’s been off the radar for a few months now.(How this fits in with the timeline of the rest of the Marvel U, I’d like to see.) J. Jonah Jameson has been using the Daily Bugle to tout how much safer the city is without that wall crawling menace but the truth is that the paper’s sales have tanked without Peter Parker’s pictures of Spider-Man. So much so that shareholders are dumping off their stock and it’s being bought up by Dexter Bennett, an idle billionaire who wants to own a newspaper and run it his own way. In order to hold onto every share he can, Jameson has stopped paying the Bugle’s staffers yet they continue working as a show of solidarity. Turns out Jonah still owes Peter for some old Spidey photos and Peter isn’t willing to wait. He wants his moneys and he wants them now. When Jonah calls Peter ungrateful for all he’s done for him, Peter fires back that it’s Jonah who’s the ingrate and that the current situation proves that it was his photos of Spider-Man that kept the Bugle in business so long. This makes Jameson so mad that he has a heart attack. Seriously. Peter feels so guilty that he decides to go out in costume and get some new Spider-Man pictures to save the old man’s business and life. But Jameson’s wife decides to go ahead and sell the paper to Dexter Bennett anyway, so it’s all for naught.

There’s a new villain named Mr. Negative. He has the power to…um…be the opposite color of what he should be…or something. He’s a low level crime boss who’s trying to take out the heads of the mob families in New York so that he can run the show. He has a bomb, some kids are in danger, Spidey saves the day. Mr. Negative escapes. The end. The whole thing seemed nothing more than a generic super hero adventure. And with someone as bad ass as The Hood running around trying to take control of New York’s criminal element, Mr. Negative seemed all the more pointless.

The new angle on Amazing Spider-Man seems to be to be reminiscent of the book during the 60s. Down on his luck Peter Parker, money troubles, lady troubles, a large supporting cast and monthly encounters with a new super villain who wants to put kittens in a wood chipper or something. I think that’s what Quesada and company were going for, to be honest. Nevermind all the growing the character has done over the last forty years. That being said, it’s an enjoyable read and a decent story. But in this case, decent’s not good enough. Coming off of the universally panned “One More Day”, the first three issues of “Brand New Day” needed to be a home run. It needed to not only establish the new status quo for Spider-Man but tell an excellent story in the process. Accomplishing that would outshine the grim specter of “One More Day” and genuinely make people forget about the old and embrace the new. As it is, Dan Slott’s story is only slightly above average. And it raises even more questions about continuity that only serve to remind fans of the ghastly story that came before it.

They say when you get your heart broken, all it takes is one great date with someone new to make you forget all about it. Aside from figuring out how Spider-Man works in the rest of the Marvel Universe, I believe us Spider-fans are just one great story away from putting “One More Day” behind us. This, unfortunately, is not it.

Ten Reasons "One More Day" Is the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

#4 - The Spider-Man Swings Alone

As much as the intended purpose of Civil War was to tear the Marvel Universe apart, it did an excellent job of bringing things together. After setting it up in House of M, Civil War established an over arching theme to the entire universe. You really got the sense that all of these characters, even in their own books, existed in the same universe at the same time. What happened in books like Captain America and Iron Man had ties to what happened in other books like Wolverine and New Avengers, and so on. Not in the sense that you had to read everything to get the whole story but that you’d get some bonus insight and background information if you did. One can argue that Marvel’s always been like that, but to me it seemed much more prevalent post Civil War. I was such a fan of this newly integrated universe that I started collecting five new Marvel titles after Civil War.

Right there in the thick of things was Spider-Man. This was a relatively new place for him. Before joining the New Avengers Spidey had mostly swung solo, sticking to his own book(s) and doing his own thing, barring the occasional team-up or special guest appearance. He was sort of where Daredevil is now, and even he has some dealings with The Hood to tie him into New Avengers. I, for one greatly enjoyed the character’s wider integration into the universe over the last couple years. Peter’s friendship with the Avengers, his mentor relationships Captain America and Iron Man, and even the new spin on old connections brought about by the unmasking. Realistically, what more could you have done with Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson?

"One More Day" and the resulting "Brand New Day" storyline have effectively wiped away those stories and pulled Spidey back into his own corner of the Marvel U. All of his relationship and character developments over the last twenty years, but specifically the last three, have been called into question. Who does Spider-Man know and not know? What did he do and not do? How will writers tackle the issue of Spidey's place in the Marvel Universe without throwing their hands up and saying "It's magic, we don't have to explain it."? Will it even be attempted or will Spider-Man just stick to his own books and drop by New Avengers merely to shoot webs at something and say a funny one liner? My money's on the latter.