Scratch That

Why should I have to give up my hero? If I and thousands like me are willing to pay money to read a book that follows a maturing superhero, should we not be able to have that? I understand that Spider-Man is Marvel's property and they can do whatever they want, but shouldn't they also do what we want, as we're the ones employing them (essentially)?

If you want a more light-hearted Spider-Man, hire writers to write a light-hearted Spider-Man. Don't give Mephisto continuity-altering abilities that "allows you" to write the kind of Spider-Man you want to write about. Because, aside from the Betty Brant issue, all of these stories could have been told with MJ.

And let's be honest. The Betty Brant issue was really good. But good enough to throw Peter and MJ's marriage away for? Not by a long shot.

So man up, Marvel. Accept and embrace your characters' continuity and tell better stories! You know why all us fanboys loved Green Arrow's ressurection? It's not because we were all missing Green Arrow. It's because his ressurrection was the most continuity-embracing ressurection we'd ever read. He wasn't brought back with a spell or some reality-shaping witch. He was brought back in such a specific way we all collectively pulled a Keanu and went, "whoa." You could be doing the same thing -- instead of this "Brand New Day" crap that has left us all going, "what is going on?"

And not in a good, Usual Suspects sort of way; in a do-they-have-a-clue-what-they're-doing Phantom Menace sort of way.