Whose idea was it to bring back Aunt May?
( I remember JB drawing spiderman at the time)

One of the greatest Spiderman comics of the modern age is ASM #400.
It was a dramatic, very strong and gripping issue.
The clone saga was at its height (YES I LOVED THE CLONE SAGA AT THIS POINT IN THE SAGA (and still do)) and the death of Aunt May was done extremely well. The scene where she tells Peter that she has known for some time that he was Spiderman makes perfect sense. And the subtle way it was done without it being a issue-ending cliffhanger actually made a stronger impression only to have her collaps and eventually die. (Many People actually seem to come out of sickness with renewed energy just before they die. I clearly remember this happening to my grandmother and the similarities in the way she died and May's death was written might be one of the reason I feel so strong for this issue of ASM).

Anyhow it left a bitter taste in my mouth when she was eventually brought back and it was retconned that the May dying in ASM#400 was an actress (yeah right).

Learning that plans were afoot to correct this stupid mistake and restore Aunt May to her proper place in the Spider-Mythos was one of the key factors in my decision to accept the assignment.

As has been noted many times before in this Forum, and its predecessors, one can almost track the events which, spread across a couple of decades, show the writers, editors (and fans) forgetting who Spider-Man is. The killing of Aunt May was the capper to the whole "famous photojournalist married to a supermodel" mishmosh. When Aunt May died, the last vestige of the real Spider-Man was gone.

Maybe they should have just cloned Aunt May.

(runs!)

Since I have been reading my forum, I have had my mind almost completely changed on the issue of, erm, change...as a reader, I gave very little thought to change happening in a comic book - I was growing up, leaving them behind, and assumed (because it had always been so) that they would remain much the same for succeeding generations and had no real idea of the damage real change could do (I had honestly given it no thought - why would I?)

Now that comics respond far more directly to the vocal wishes of their readership, and that the people producing the comics have come largely from the fanbase itself, it is incredibly important that this issue is understood more fully...if May is dead, then UNLESS YOU ARE A LONG TIME READER, she nbecomes a nothing...if Spider-man is grown up then again, UNLESS YOU ARE A LONG TIME READER he was always grown up...so the uniqueness of the character, the thing that made him who he was and so interesting and so much fun, has gone for all except those dwindling numbers who remember him 'when'

Once considered properly, this seems to be very, very obvious.  So that JBs comments about selfishness are just demonstrably true, however his detractors might try to colour him bitter, single minded or whatever. 

It would be interesting to ask a reader who has only known Spider-Man for, say, the last 20 years, what exactly it is about the character that s/he finds interesting. Nothing remains of Lee and Ditko's original concept, save a few names of characters. What exactly does a "new" reader find "cool" about Spider-Man -- other than people telling him that Spider-Man is "cool"?

John Mietus wrote: Yeah, but just think -- if they had kept Alfred dead, it would have spared us two decades worth of bad John-Gielgud-as-Arthur's-Butler imitations. (Kidding! Geez...) ...

I do think that the "John Gielgud as butler" version of Alfred is grating. Having Alfred lip off to Batman or Bruce Wayne seems wrong to me, and I cringe everytime I read it. Over in "The Ultimates," it seems that Jarvis has adopted this same smartass attitude.

And even though my friend and I argued over this forever, it seems, I never thought killing Aunt May was a good idea. I don't understand why so many fans hate her.

My dad just told me that Aunt May and Mary Jane have moved into "Avengers Tower" (whatever that is) with Peter, and that they all know all of the Avengers secret identities now.

In retrospect, the character was better off dead.

That leads me to another line of questioning, JB! You were one of the stewards of Spider-Man's mythos for a couple years out of the last 20, along with Howard Mackie (who can chime in too, if he's lurking about). What were your expectations for the relaunch? Do you feel that you were able to steer Peter any closer to the original Lee/Ditko concept? Would you have done more if you could? Did editorial interfere with any suggestions that you and Howard put forward to accomplish this?

<When Aunt May died, the last vestige of the real Spider-Man was gone.>
How you define the REAL spiderman depends on when you started reading spiderman in the first place. When I started, Peter had been living away from home for some time and aunt May didn't have that much "airtime" in the spiderman books as in the old Lee/Ditko days.

<Aunt May is a key part of who Peter Parker is.  She is a constant living reminder of his inaction that lead to Ben's death and, therefore, a living reminder of "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.">
I disagree on this. Whenever the question of power and responsebility comes up it is always Uncle Ben that is referred to. I think May lost her usefullness after Peter moved away from home. She was essential during the Lee/Ditko run, but
I bet no one would have complained a lot if she had been killed of around issue 150 or so, or if Stan had done it before he stopped writing the title.

For young readers she adds no value to the spiderman comic (we are not talking Ultimate here) and for old readers she has become a walking pill popping clich'e).

So I think it was a mistake to bring her back after issue#400 and besides now she knows Peters spiderman identity anyway thanks to JMS, so what was the point?

Matt Reed wrote: Next to Aunt May dying,  worst...idea...ever.  Not only a bad idea, but a harmful one to the characters as well.  I still can't get over a maskless Spider-Man fighting 100 villains (many of them his own) alongside Cap in NEW AVENGERS.  Idiotic, ridiculous, stupid and damaging doesn't even begin to describe what both JMS and Bendis! are doing to my all-time favorite character.

Except the bit about Aunt May I completely agree.
What is this stupid trend about outing the masked heroes to the villians that seem to be running through Marvel theese days. It is bad enought that EVERYBODY knows Matt Murdock is Daredevil, but Spideman?

It is harmfull to the feel of the character and is extremely hard to retcon with any sort of credibility.

They brought back Aunt May and JMS promptly "killed" her -- in the sense of what she represented. Her knowing Peter's secret identity and even forgiving him for his part in Ben's death (along with the retcon that she and Ben had been fighting that night) is absurd.

It amazes me when creators forget that certain characters are meant to be "normal." That's the major function of their existence. Making Betty Banner "Harpy" or having Aunt May move into Avengers mansion ruins all of that.

First of all, Michael, Stan would never have killed off May.  Ever.  Second, I would have complained about her dying in ASM 150 just as much as I did when it happened in 400. That's damn close to when I started picking up the title.  In any event, "living reminder" means that Peter feels guilt every time he looks at May.  His inaction took away her soul-mate, her life partner.  Take that away, or ::gag:: have her forgive him, and you take away his reason, his driving force, who he is as a character. 

FYI, May has never lost her usefulness, unless your parents lose their usefulness once you move away from home.  That's a silly notion on it's face.  Also silly is the notion that she would hold no value for a young reader of Spider-Man comics (by the way, there's a hyphen in his name.  BIG pet peeve of mine, especially if you're a self-professed fan of the character).  What, kids don't have parents?  Kids don't have grandparents?  Kids don't have parental figures, role models or authority figures in their lives?  And when, pray-tell, has May ever been a pill popper?  Answer: Never.  Don't make crap up to support your contention that you believe May is a useless cliché.

Michael Ellwood Jorgensen wrote:  Joe Zhang wrote: Hey Michael, have you ever worried about the health and well-being of a parent? If you have, you would understand why Aunt May is so important to Spider-Man.  I think you are missing the point. Aunt May is important to Peter Yes - but Aunt May is no longer important for the Spiderman story/saga.

Bullshit.

<Aunt May is a key part of who Peter Parker is.  She is a constant living reminder of his inaction that lead to Ben's death and, therefore, a living reminder of "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.">
I disagree on this. Whenever the question of power and responsebility comes up it is always Uncle Ben that is referred to.

************************************************************ ***

May REPRESENTS Peter's greatest failure. If he waffles on whether he should risk his life to stop some costumed lunatic, he just has to look at Aunt May, knowing what this woman has lost to know what his responsibility is.

<I think May lost her usefullness after Peter moved away from home. >

Peter should have never left home. Creators should have a cheat sheet or something nearby when considering changes to a character. If the changes make the character "less unique," then it's a bad idea.

Spider-Man was unique because he was a  teenager who lived at home with his aunt. When he becomes an adult (a SCHOOLTEACHER for Pete's sake) who lives with his wife, you stray so far away from the concept, that the character has just a superficial resemblance to the original.

Michael,

I just want to point out to you that you are arguing about Spider-Man with a 30-year comic book professional who was paid to write and/or draw Spider-Man's adventures. You are entitled to your opinions, but I think that JB may have an edge on you as far as which one is more fully informed.

Personally, I think you have a short-sighted attitude toward the whole concept of serial fiction. I was a young reader of Spider-Man when I first encountered the Lee/Ditko Pocket digest reprints. When I read new comics off the stands, Peter was in college instead of high school, but all the other elements from the Lee/Ditko years were still in place. Twenty years of stories with very litle change in the status quo. Compare that to what has happened since Roger Stern left the title in the mid-'80s.

Peter's struggles to protect Aunt May and make her proud are as important as any other aspect of the character. Peter lost Uncle Ben because of his selfishness, and as a result he will never fail to protect Aunt May. Removing her from the equation is like allowing Charlie Brown to kick Lucy's football.