The Spider-Man fandom is one of the most contentious to be a part of. Anyone who frequents Spider-fan spaces will tell you just how angry they seemingly always are, and we all know why: “One More Day”. This 2007 story, which was partly written by J. Michael Straczynski but mostly written and drawn by Joe Quesada, with help from Marvel editorial and an army of creators, did away with the marriage between Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Spider-fans have been yelling about it ever since, often blaming Quesada personally for the story. Spider-Man fans can’t let the whole thing go and we just saw another example of that on Joe Quesada’s Substack.
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A fan left a comment on one of Quesada’s posts about the story, basically re-litigating the whole situation. The fan’s point was that the former Marvel editor in chief “ruined Spider-Man” with the story, with Quesada pointing out that the character was still massively popular and successful despite the years of complaints about “One More Day”, refusing to engage with the fan’s combative points. It has been 19 years since OMD dropped, and fans can’t let it go, but here’s the thing: Quesada is right. There’s no reason for him to keep defending himself, and it’s honestly time to let it the whole thing go.
“One More Day” Never “Ruined” Spider-Man and It’s Time to Admit That
“One More Day” is considered the worst Spider-Man story, and for many fans, it was the end of their esteem for the character. Several generations of fans grew up with the marriage, and loved the way that Peter Parker had matured over the years. Spider-Man is Marvel’s most relatable hero, and fans liked to see him as a grown up. “One More Day” was meant to bring him back to his roots as a hardluck hero who never got the girl, and fans have been rebelling against the character’s portrayal in Marvel ever since.
One of the things that a lot of fans forget about the days after the story is how successful the Spider-Man was. Marvel recruited a teams of writers and artists, led by editor Stephen Wacker, like Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Zeb Well, Dan Slott, Chris Bachalo, John Romita Jr, Phil Jimenez, and many others for “Brand New Day”, with The Amazing Spider-Man coming out sometimes three times a month. Fans loved those early stories, even while complaining about the story that made them all possible, and The Amazing Spider-Man spent years at the top of the sales charts, only falling from that spot recently.
There’s nothing wrong with disliking OMD. No one is going to mistake it for one of the best Spider-Man stories ever. You can have a problem with the stories that have come out in the last few years. There are definitely some stinkers made possible by OMD. However, spending years seething over the story, to the point that you’re going to attack the person who made the story is taking it entirely too far. It was a story. It happened. You didn’t like it. It’s time to let go of that and enjoy all of the other Spider-Man content out there.
Joe Quesada doesn’t need to defend himself from fans for the rest of his life because of the story. It didn’t even actually ruin Spider-Man. The character remained one of the most popular characters in fiction, and he was definitely the most popular by comics sales (switching the top spot with Batman) for years. We’ve had several movies that fans love. We just got a new volume of The Ultimate Spider-Man that fans praised and The Amazing Spider-Man has gotten much better, with fans really enjoying the latest run. You don’t need to love “One More Day”, but it’s time to be real about the whole thing. Quesada wants to stop talking about it, and he’s right. Spider-Man isn’t ruined and never will be.
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Courtesy of David Production
