"Civil War happened. Peter revealed his identity. Since then, everyone forgot. The name might be on the tip of their tongues, but they can't remember. The same with his face. It's like... remember that guy on the news three months ago?

Don't forget that in the Marvel Universe, Peter isn't that famous."

Yeah, but Spider-Man is and is also now in violation of the Super-Hero Registration Act.  Which means there are folks (like SHIELD agents) actively looking to capture him.  Folks who remember that Spider-man revealed his identity.  Do I need to go any further?

Mike

"That situation exists NOW. Had JMS done the story his way, then the
readers would presumably be no better or worse off than they are at this
very moment. But based on what JMS said at Newsarama, it seems like he
at least a rationale for how much of it would have fallen into place."

Even if it was much (and I doubt how much could reall be explained), it wouldn't be all.  Which means there would still be questions to be answered and fans demanding those answers.  JoeQ's option makes it possible for the book to go forward, even if fans don't come along.  JMS's option would have pretty much guaranteed the book will spend years dwelling on the past and trying to make everything work out.

Mike

"Again, how is that different from what the readers have right now?"

 
Because right now there is one answer to every question - "It's magic, bitches!"  Readers can either accept the answer or not.  They can either go along with the conceit or not.

JMS's way is trying to polish this turd of a story long enough and hard enough until it looks good enough to hang in your window.  But hanging a turd in your window is stupid, no matter how good it looks.

Try this.  I believe that you have stated that Norman Osborn was resurrected because it was felt that a character of his stature was needed to bring the Clone Saga to a satisfactory end.  And from that perspective, it makes sense.  But did bringing Norman back really redeem the Clone Saga in any meaningful way?  Has bringing him back done any good at all for Spider-Man?  Looking back, wouldn't it actually have been better for Spider-Man, Marvel and the readers if the Clone Saga just had a lame ending and everyone moved on?

Mike

>>"Civil War happened. Peter revealed his identity. Since then, everyone forgot. The name might be on the tip of their tongues, but they can't remember. The same with his face. It's like... remember that guy on the news three months ago?

Don't forget that in the Marvel Universe, Peter isn't that famous."<<

therein lies the trouble with people 'just forgetting' -- it was On The News -- ie. physically recorded for anyone to look up who just can't remember -- undoubtably as easy to look up on the Internet as any other few month old news item. 

I was mulling over this, as I've not been a "fan" of Spider-Man since the MARVEL TALES days reprinting Ross Andru, and the Wolfman/Pollard run of the 1980s.

Instead of engaging in this completely retarded "out", there's certainly more imaginative ways to approach the "rebooting" of Spider-Man.

Personally, I would have presented a scenario where Mary Jane is thrown from the Golden Gate bridge by one of the Sinister Six, Norman Osborn as Green Goblin most likely...Spider-Man saves her, but about then the Vulture swoops in to deliver the coup de grace with his "power pack" cranked up to full power, detonating upon imact on the tug boat the injured Spider-Man delivered Mary Jane to. Fade to black.

Spider-Man wakes up in the hospital, still masked, to find his wife "dead" and most of the Sinister Six escaped. Set up Spider-Man for Real Big Revenge Mode. He's going to kill every member of the Sinister Six with his bare hands, including the Green Goblin, the critically-injured Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, the Chameleon, and the Lizard.

This is a year-long "Event" (ugh), occurring within both Spider-Man titles, AMAZING and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. Oh, they don't exist any more? Whatever.

Here's the kicker...after about five months of Serious Spider-Man Badassery, as he crushes the "low-end" first few members of the SS, Spider-Man discovers Mary Jane DID NOT DIE.

She was saved from drowning by one of the Big Guns of the SS...Octopus, the Sandman, or the Goblin. She's alive, but in the clutches of one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies. Cue the even more desperate Spider-Man mode.

So, this whole arc culminates in Spider-Man defeating the last of the Six, to further discover that Mary Jane had been RELEASED by her captor, who realizes that the true measure of the conflict has only to do with the IDEA of Mary Jane, not her reality.

Mary Jane has taken up a "new life" under another name. What the hell?

When Spider-Man DOES find her, she's not injured, or an amnesiac...she's just ready to be on her own, find her own way. She wants something different, something more than a "fictive" model/superhero wife life. She's realized she needs to become someone else. She's "dead", and wants to remain that way.

Wouldn't this make more sense?

Nicky DeVito wrote: Also, technically:

Thanks for the blow up of the cover.  Much better, although the sentiment from me still stands that there are a ton of people out there, self-professed fans of the character, that insist on leaving out one keystroke to spell his name right.

As far as the "technically" that really doesn't add anything to the discussion.  Used once in AF 15 and never again doesn't support it as the proper spelling of his name over thousands upon thousands of times Spider-Man has been spelled with a hypen, most importantly in the titles of his numerous books.  It's "technically" nothing.