Spider-Man Brand New Day was Great (And I’m Tired Of Pretending it’s Not)

I understand that One More Day is a comic that shouldn’t have happened and that Marvel’s stance on Spider-Man’s marriage is as misguided as it is paradoxical. The notion that Spider-Man can’t be relatable, or can’t have enjoyable stories, as a married man, feels erroneous and arbitrary. It doesn’t matter that the character began his career as a single high-school student; the hero’s overall ethos can evolve while remaining true to the motto, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” The Spider-Verse movies have proven that audiences and people can accept the character as a family man.

Nonetheless, Brand New Day is great in spite of the erasure of Spider-Man’s marriage in One More Day. Even though Peter becoming single in Brand New Day rarely, if ever, helped the storylines, the initiative injected a lot of fresh and fun energy that Amazing Spider-Man desperately needed at the time. From the opening arc with Mr. Negative to the Gauntlet, there are plenty of worthwhile stories fans should check out. Not every comic worked (looking at you, Freak), but there’s a back-to-basics approach to the character that is appreciative. For better and worse, Brand New Day became the standard for how Spider-Man would be portrayed going forward.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Felt Fresh

Right off the bat, Brand New Day takes no time to remind readers Peter is single again, with the first page showing him kissing a random girl at the club. The comic clarifies that this is a new Peter Parker we’re following, further exemplified by the new villains and supporting characters. Brand New Day was initially split between four writers – Dan Slott, Marc Guggenheim, Zeb Wells, and Bob Gale. Comic writers Mark Waid and Joe Kelly would later join the team. Amazing Spider-Man was released thrice monthly, ensuring fans got a new Spidey almost every week.

The large team of writers meant the comics weren’t always consistent, with the different writing styles from the many creators often feeling detached from one another. Brand New Day had a youthful spirit, though many believed it was a regression on Peter’s character arc. Nevertheless, the sprightly energy incorporated a sense of fun in the comics. After dealing with back-to-back dark storylines like Civil War, Back in Black, and One More Day, it was a breath of fresh air to see Spider-Man be fun again. The Spidey braintrust followed a seasonal story structure, with the first year following an ongoing story thread that ended with a “season finale.” It was a cool structure to have in the comics, especially since most superhero comics suffer from long-gestating plotlines that take years to have a payoff. It’s pleasant to have a long-form Spider-Man story with a beginning, middle, and end structured like a season of television. It’s a story structure I wish more comic books would implement.

The light-hearted beginnings of Brand New Day soon build up to something sinister underneath. The Gauntlet was a long-form Spider-Man story and served as the finale for Brand New Day. Spider-Man fights against his iconic rogues gallery again, with each villain receiving a new wrinkle. The Gauntlet featured some of the darkest and saddest plots in the character’s history, with standouts being SHED and Endangered Species. SHED had the Lizard mentally kill his Curt Conner subconscious, becoming the Lizard full-time. Endangered Species is the tragic story of how the Rhino found and lost the love of his life. The storyline utilized the hero’s classic enemies in the best possible way, creating a memorable plotline that is still amazing to read.

Brand New Day Brought New Characters for Spider-Man to Play With

The Amazing Spider-Man editorial brilliantly had Pete dealing with new enemies before he could reface his infamous rogues gallery again. The early parts of Brand New Day were chock-full of new supervillains and side-characters. The new characters were often hit-or-miss, with several quickly getting abandoned. One of the earliest new villains, Freak, was notoriously awful and has remained an oddity among Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery. Freak was a drug addict who transformed into a hideous monster, but every time he dies, his body re-adapts and becomes stronger. Freak felt out-of-place in a Spider-Man comics, and his only characterization, being a druggie, was used for unintenionally hilarious effect. There’s a panel where Freak, as a grotesque monster, is smoking narcotics, which is as silly as it sounds.

Some villains had cool powers, yet with flat personalities. Paper Doll was a supervillain who could make herself two-dimensional, hiding on the surface of paper, posters, or other flat drawings. Unfortunately, Paper Doll’s defining personality was being a stalker and an obsessed fan. However, Brand New Day‘s first major villain remains one of Spidey’s best – Mr. Negative. The supervillain is a Chinese immigrant who controls the Darkforce and Lightforce, the same powers as Cloak and Dagger. He also has dissociative identity disorder, with his Mr. Negative persona being his evil side. Of all the Brand New Day villains, Mr Negative has endured the most. Early stories also had enjoyable stories where Spidey fought against Mayan Gods, a plot point that becomes very important later on. There was also the fantastically hilarious Overdrive, Spider-Man’s biggest fan, who was also a getaway supervillain.

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The side characters were more forgettable. Carlie Cooper, a forensic pathologist who was immediately set up as Peter’s new love interest, never took off in a way the writers were hoping for. On the other hand, Norah Winters was introduced as a headstrong and arrogant reporter. Whereas most Brand New Day side characters were typically flat and not engaging, Norah added much-needed personality to the cast. Her character is intentionally unlikable, making her a difficult sell for some readers, but she added a fresh perspective to the Amazing Spider-Man books. She was also secretly a very layered character, as displayed in the Osborn mini-series from 2011 and Greg Rucka’s Punisher run.

One of the surprising developments from the end of One More Day was the resurrection of Harry Osborn. While a later comic arc would retcon Harry’s rebirth as a clone, the character has been dead since 1993, so seeing the character in the 21st century was refreshing. Brand New Day was also the only time both Harry and Norman were alive at the same time since the 70s. Harry-starring storylines offered a new outlook on his relationship with his father, finally giving fans a modern interpretation of their dynamic.

Peter Being Single Was the Worst Part of Brand New Day

The worst plotlines in Brand New Day, besides Freak, were the ones focused on Peter’s singlehood. None of his other potential romances were ever engaging enough for fans to forget about his marriage to Mary Jane. The slow-burn romance between Peter and Carlie fizzled out, whereas his one-off romances felt too superficial and only existed to remind readers he is single again. The final page of Brand New Day had Peter kissing Carlie, which always felt like a weak note to end the initiative on. Carlie would soon break up with Peter, not too far into Dan Slott’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, making their entire setup pointless.

Nevertheless, I refuse to acknowledge Brand New Day as bad because there was too much good stuff to remember. While fans were still reeling from the heartbreak of One More Day, the Spidey braintrust delivered some of the most pleasurable comics in the character’s history. It was never the most consistent series of comics, yet it was worth the experiment for some strong storylines and characters like Mr. Negative and The Gauntlet. Brand New Day never did enough to justify why Peter should be single, but I still look back on the initiative fondly for supplying some of the best Spider-Man comics of the 2000s and 2010s.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.