Register to Vote!!

We need to take a small break from this debate to stress the following:

Register to vote! Every state has different days for the deadline to register is, make sure you register if you haven't already!

For all my fellow Tennesseans:

Monday (October 6th) is the last day for you to register to vote! If you want to vote this year, you HAVE to be registered to vote! If you don't do it on Monday, you're going to have to wait another four years!

Put it on your to-do list on Monday! Do it before work, or after work, or during your lunch break or just call in sick and call it your Patriotic Mini-Day of Vacation. If you're in school, skip class.!

If you're one of my many non-Tennessean friends, here's a Rock the Vote site that will let you know when your state's deadline is. Mark it on your calender in red and be sure to get out there and register before the deadline!

They say it every election, but I do believe that this election may very well be the most important election of our time!

I don't care which way you vote.

I just want your voice to be heard.

The Problem With MJ

As I continue to wrap my mind around the concept of "a single Spider-Man is superior to a married one," I've tried to put myself in the writers' shoes. What would it be like to write the current Spider-Man? What would it have been like three years ago (pre-OMD)? What would it have been like in the very beginning? And I've realized something.

Mary Jane doesn't lend herself to the Spider-stories the way, say, Lois Lane can compliment the Superman stories.

In the Superman books, it's not uncommon for Lois and Clark/Superman to be fighting the same fight. While Supes takes on the giant robot/alien/Lex Luthor, Lois is on the ground, using her investigative journalism to expose said robot/alien/Lex Luthor plot to the world. Her job and her character go hand-in-hand with action stories. And honestly, her character lends itself well to a wide range of story types. You could put her investigation into the heart of a thriller, a horror, a sci-fi, a comedy, a drama, or an adventure story and it wouldn't be a stretch at all.

Then there's MJ.

You can tell she was created to be a supporting character. She was created to be part of Peter's life for a time and then, in all likelihood, leave. Or marry Flash or . . . Harry or . . . The Spot.

She originally showed up as a party girl. Someone who got bored when the situation became serious. She was there, really, to be a sexy counterpoint to Gwen -- who was a more natural fit to Spider-Man, Peter Parker and the whole universe. MJ went on to become an actress and a model and then (in the hands of Todd McFarlane, I believe), she became a supermodel. Not only was she quickly becoming someone readers couldn't relate to, she was becoming harder and harder to fit into the typical superhero-fights-supervillain stories that are comic books. Despite sharing more and more of the spotlight with Peter, she was still a supporting character. Because that's who or what she was created to be.

When Gwen died, though, everything changed. Some have argued that comic books everywhere changed forever. I can't testify to that, but I can say that the Spider-books definitely changed forever. Because it was then that Mary Jane stepped up and began to show some real character. When Peter was mourning the loss of their friend (his girlfriend), it was MJ that stuck around and tried to comfort him -- something that had never happened before. Thus began her journey towards becoming something bigger and something better.

She grew, but perhaps not in the way she should have. To be incoperated into the story more, she needed to find an occupation that would put her in harm's way more often and more naturally. And I'm not saying "so Spider-Man can rescue her" but so that she could carry her own. But instead of becoming a reporter or an activist or a politician, she became a supermodel. I would argue that was the first nail in her coffin (so to speak). But how do you incoperate a character like that into your story without grinding it to a hault? You have Spidey over here, swinging through the city, and then you flash back to MJ, who's on set or at some photo shoot.

I can understand the writers' frustration.

Because, as Peter's wife, you want to give her the best you can. You don't want to relegate the wife as the person Peter comes back to and whines at every night. In 2008 and beyond, you don't want to relegate her to Susy Homemaker. You want her pro-active. So I can understand the frustration. This seems like the constant problem you have in superhero books. How do you give your hero a partner that both fits your hero and the world he lives in? Looking back over the loves of Peter's life, none of them (with the exception of Black Cat) have really fit into the super-heroic world. Betty Brant might have, but people would have called her a Lois Lane knock-off (Black Cat is already seen as a Catwoman knock-off).

However.

This whole situtation reminds me of high school. I used to come home and complain about my teachers. When my grades would come in, and my parents would see a row of C's, they'd ask me why I wasn't doing better. I'd often blame my teachers, saying they weren't interesting or they were unfair or they just weren't challenging me. My dad's response was always the same: A good student will rise above a poor teacher.

A good writer will rise above a poor set-up. A good writer would make it work. A good writer would find a way to spin the story in a new and exciting direction that was also a natural one. While Brand New Day might seem exciting and new, it's not natural. It's an abrupt 180 degree turn.

Even acknowledging MJ's faults, this is still poor and sloppy story-telling.

But I guess I really shouldn't expect more from a comic book. Despite the leaps and bounds of growth we've seen over the years, it's still a medium that depends on sensationalism.