Was Spider-Man One More Day Really That Bad?

Spider-Man has been around for over 60 years, and with a history that long it’s understandable that not every story is going to be great. That’s just the way things work in superhero media; there will be some amazing stories that change the face of comics or movies or TV and there will be some stories that are best left forgotten, ones that deserve to be buried under the never-ending avalanche of new stories. Most of the time, the stories that are most maligned by fans and critics alike are the ones that Marvel does its best to distance itself from. They want fans to forget about these stories and do their best to erase the things that fans don’t like. However, there’s one Spider-Man story that Marvel refuses to undo no matter how many complaints it’s gotten — “One More Day”, by J. Michael Stracznyski and Joe Quesada.

“One More Day” is infamous not only in the history of Spider-Man stories, but Marvel Comics in general. It’s a story that was meant to change Spider-Man for years to come. At the very least, it did succeed in changing Spider-Man forever, but most fans would tell you that change definitely wasn’t worth it. However, it’s been almost twenty years since “One More Day” and sometimes, when we look back at things our perspective changes. So, with that in mind, we ask is Marvel’s most infamous Spider-Man story really as bad as fans say it is?

One More Day’s Problems Don’t Really Start Until the End

So, purely from the standpoint of the creators involved, it’s impossible to call “One More Day” a terrible story. J. Michael Straczynski is a brilliant writer; his claim to fame is the mid ’90s sci-fi series Babylon 5 and his comic work is full of examples of how great a writer he truly is. His run on The Amazing Spider-Man is usually ranked as the best of the 21st century, so he’s not considered a bad Spider-Man writer by any stretch of the imagination. Meanwhile, artist Joe Quesada is no slouch in the penciling department. Quesada is considered one of the greats and looking at the above image shows why that is. His art is detailed and has a gorgeous look and sensibility to it. “One More Day” looks amazing, and it reads very well throughout its four issue run.

“One More Day” takes place in the days after Civil War. Spider-Man revealed his identity to the world during the superhero conflict, something that made his family a target, especially after he left Iron Man’s pro-Registration forces. The meat of the story is Spider-Man is trying to find someone who can heal Aunt May, who was shot by one of Kingpin’s assassins and is on death’s door. That’s a pretty great premise for a Spider-Man story. The first part of the story even has Spider-Man beating up on Iron Man, which was a thing during the post-Civil War days. Looking at this story just from the pieces involved, it should be one of the greats; there’s a skilled creative team, the premise is pretty cool, and it involves that old Spider-Man chestnut — the potential for one of Spider-Man’s loved ones to die tragically. “One More Day” has all the ingredients that a peak Spider-Man story needs.

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“One More Day”, throughout its first three chapters, is actually a really good story. Stracznyski knows how to tell an exciting, emotional Spider-Man story with big stakes and Quesada was basically meant to draw Spider-Man. There are a lot of great moments throughout the story’s beginning, as Spider-Man keeps failing to find someone that can save the woman who raised him. And then we get to the end and everything falls off the rails. See, the point of “One More Day” was never to continue Spider-Man’s story, but to regress Spider-Man’s story. Marvel editorial had wanted Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson undone for years, and “One More Day” became the tool by which to do that. Quesada wasn’t just a legendary artist, but also Marvel Editor-In-Chief at the time of the story’s publication; he wanted the marriage gone, and that’s where “One More Day” comes from.

The end of the story sees Spider-Man and Mary Jane go to Mephisto for help, willing to sacrifice anything to save Aunt May. When he names his price, Mephisto asks for their marriage, but this isn’t simply a situation where the two have to break up or get a divorce. No, Mephisto wants to wipe their marriage and relationship from existence and as insane as it sounds, the pair agrees. Aunt May is saved and their relationship is simply gone.

It’s one thing to want a marriage gone. It’s another thing to completely change the history of the Marvel Universe. It’s another still to change Spider-Man’s history because you don’t like a decision made by a previous editorial regime. “One More Day” could have been a fine story, but instead its an incredibly petty story that also somehow misunderstands Spider-Man completely. Spider-Man doesn’t want to take responsibility for his actions and their repercussions, and that leads to him trading a massive part of his life away so he can have the thing he wanted. This action is from a character for whom “responsibility” is a huge part of who the character is. It’s ironic; Quesada and company felt that the Spider-Man of 2007 wasn’t anything like the classic version of the character they grew up with, so they changed him back, but that change completely invalidated everything that Spider-Man has always stood for.

One More Day Really Is That Terrible

It’s easy to think that most Spider-Man fans hate “One More Day” because it did away with Spider-Man’s marriage. This is partly true, of course. However, that’s not the only reason that the story is considered terrible. Marvel editorial wanted to regress Spider-Man to a level they were comfortable with, one that reminded them of what they thought Spider-Man should be. However, by doing so, they basically forgot the greatest lesson of Spider-Man — “With great power comes great responsibility.”

“One More Day” is indeed a terrible story. It’s a terrible story with great art and good writing, which is one of the weirder aspects of the hatred of it. “One More Day” could have been something amazing, especially if it pulled the trigger and killed Aunt May, with Spider-Man accepting his responsibility in the tragedy. However, because Marvel editorial was obsessed with early Spider-Man, they created a Spider-Man story that not only regressed but entirely misunderstood the character. They got what the wanted and readers have gotten 18 years of Spider-Man stories that have never managed to bring the character back to what he could have been if Marvel had just left well enough alone.

What do you think? Do you still hate “One More Day”? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section?