Comic Book Resources

No All of the Above?

Clearly, the answer is all of the above. We'll discover that Norman Osborn raped her and that she's pregnant with Goblin Babies, after which he'll torture her and get her addicted to drugs and starring in porn. Then, in a completely unrelated event, Janet van Dyne, who has snapped for no apparent reason, will dance on her brain before strangling her, setting her on fire, and throwing her off a bridge (she'll land on a pole or something and get impaled at this point) only to reclaim the body and shove it into a refrigerator, in an attempt to win back Hank.

In all the best stories the butler does it, so knifed by Jarvis.

I'll go with F)Jean Grey (killed in a shuttle craft, no wait she's not dead but she has turned evil and now she's committing suicide but that's just a clone and the real MJ is in a cocoon underwater and she's actually okay, no she just got killed by a... whoops, just a close call, everything is fine except, wait, Magneto just killed her and now she's really dead or maybe a cosmic entity of some kind).

Wow.
E seems almost TASTEFUL in comparison.

and the answer is N)Eaten by Devil Dinosaur.

Not because it kills her (which is bad), but because comics need more Devil Dinosaur.

E seems almost TASTEFUL in comparison.

Sad...sad, but true.

Sue Dibney wasn't hanged.

You're thinking of Jean Loring, who hanged herself, to make it look like Dibney's death was done by a serial killer who knew the JLA's identities

Also, Karen Page never had AIDS; that diagnosis was faked by Mysterio in order to drive her back to Matt Murdock in keeping with his broader scheme in "Guardian Devil."

This is not DC comics, so I'm still holding out hope that it will be done tastefully. If it was on Didio's watch though, I'd choose "All of the above" with an extra posthumous rape thrown in for good measure.

Oh, call me old fashioned, but I think a cocktail of all of the above is suitable. But, a BIG IF! Marvel better leak it to the paper the day it happens so all my coworkers can try and "bond" with me by mentioning something comics related.

Of course, do I really want this news?

Wouldn't it be better if there was no pointless death and Peter and MJ stayed married?

In other words, Joey Q you have no clue what spidey readers really want.

I'm going with: Tossed in to a black hole. That way her death can truly suck.

None of the above...

I'm up for some sort of cosmic rebirth. Y'know, MJ sacrifices herself for the good of humanity, etc etc. It's about the only vein of angst the Spiderverse hasn't milked yet, right? Bonus points if Spidey has to kill her himself, with her gazing into his eyes and urging him on!

She dies breaking the fourth wall in an attempt to knock some sense into Marvel editors who seem out to chase me away from their books by either making them event driven, or by trying to revert them to how they were twenty years ago when they used to read them.

Remeber when Stan used to ask for reader involvement? Was it ever as tacky and frat house as this?

Two words:

Banana.

Peel.

You know what would be mind blowingly over-the-top unbelievably crass and ridiculous?

Radioactive semen.

MJ dies while taking on 100 ninjas.

In a bizarre twist on Madelyn Pryor, it turns out she's clone, but not of MJ or Gwen, but of Aunt May!

(who then goes on to break the fourth wall to get marvel back for building events around things no one in their right mind should care about).

"In other words, Joey Q you have no clue what spidey readers really want. "

Tell us oh wise one. What do we want?

She was replaced by a skrull before she and Peter married. This will give Spiderman and the Human Torch something they can comiserate over.

I like D simply because I get this funny little image of a pint-sized Felicia Hardy stomping around on a brain.

-M

Tell us oh wise one. What do we want?

A better illusion of change than a publicized step backwards?

//A better illusion of change than a publicized step backwards?//

I'm always vexed when comics readers actually advocate for the Illusion of Change. It's a narrative style designed to trick children into thinking something has happened and characters are growing when in fact nothing has happened and they aren't growing, and everything will be the same when they come back next time.

Why would a reader who is intelligent enough to be aware of this style actually desire it?

In this case, what change would you prefer Marvel create an illusion of?

No one think abut the option that Marvel teasing us and throwing us off the real ending od OMD, because for the last 2 years people say Joe Quesada is going to end the marriage/kill MJ? He's playing with our heads!

If the marriage does end, I think Peter will find a solution that will make his ID secret again and put MJ in a safer place - in the cost of their marriage (and probably all memories of their history together). I don't think MJ is going to die. If she does, maybe this event will drive Peter to take that road of changing everything back but losing his wife.

MJ might go the way of Jeanne DeWolf.

I'd rather have the ILLUSION of change than a permanent BAD change.

Not to say that this is a bad move.

As much as I like MJ, I'm inclined to feel that getting Spider-Man hitched was a mistake to begin with. But I'd hate to see her get killed off for it.

Oh, and I think Tomer's theory is on target and Aunt May's death will be the trigger for the decision.

Hulk smash Mary Jane!

Andy Khouri said:

"I’m always vexed when comics readers actually advocate for the Illusion of Change. It’s a narrative style designed to trick children into thinking something has happened and characters are growing when in fact nothing has happened and they aren’t growing, and everything will be the same when they come back next time.

Why would a reader who is intelligent enough to be aware of this style actually desire it?"

As always, I point to this column I wrote, because it's very long and trying to condense it down always loses something:

http://fraggmented.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-defense-of-status-quo.html

There ya go, feel free to respond here or there.

Great Mercy!! None of the Above, natch. Now for Joey Q...all of the above sound loverly in HIS case... I've read Spidey both ways (married and single) and I prefer the married version... as long as JMS is nowhere in sight, anyway. By the way, brillance like the above is why comic fandom gets such odd looks fro mthe general public.

I don't suppose "with dignity" is an option? No?

It's another of Joe Q's "say something inflammatory to get the fanboys frothing and interested, then pull a switch and do something else".

I don't think she'll be killed off.
No way.

They might have their marriage get "dissolved" (mystically - it never happened), but that's it.

Aunt May MIGHT get killed off.
Maybe, but I don't even know about THAT.

~P~
P-TOR

I think they'll try to tie into another recent controversy for the publicity, so she slips and drowns while doing Peter's laundry.

Regardless of what they are changing Spider-Man's status to MJ should not be killed. There is far too much cheap, gory character death in modern superhero comics already. If he goes that route then Marvel's EIC might was well change his name to Joe DiDio.

Under Joe Quesada, they have brought back to life Bucky, Captain Marvel, and the Green Goblin. The three previously most permanent deaths in the Marvel Universe. Depending on when he took over, they have killed Aunt May at least once, maybe twice, and brought her back twice.

Does anybody really think that whatever this change is will be permanent?

Quesada is *all* about the illusion of change.

Green Goblin was revived in '97, 3 years before Quesada became EIC. May died and came back years before he got the job.

She dies finally taking down the Hulk where everyone else failed.

I’m always vexed when comics readers actually advocate for the Illusion of Change. It’s a narrative style designed to trick children into thinking something has happened and characters are growing when in fact nothing has happened and they aren’t growing, and everything will be the same when they come back next time.

That's not the definition for illusion of change, but of status quo - as already pointed out by the Fragmented In Defense article.

Everything I like, everything you like has a status quo. We each see value in certain types of stories and want to see them continue, as long as they're of quality.

The "illusion of change" comment above was likely an acknowledgement that apparently **some** people apparently need to see Spider-Man get older, get grey hair. Probably just because it's happening to them.

I think that's crazy. And egomaniacal. Spider-Man existed before most of us were born. Same as Superman, or Batman. They're going to outlive us...not age like a "real" person.

And MJ will not be married to Spider-Man forever...because that's simply not according-to-Hoyle Spidey. It's just not his identity. Therefore - it's only a matter of time before someone at Marvel has the marbles to act accordingly.

But I'm still kinda doubtful that it's going to be Quesada.

Wait... Spider-Man still has a comic book?

If it's not possible to get her in a fistfight with Bullseye, definitely have her ganked by Mephisto

I've totally got it. We were all completely on the wrong track.

Mary Jane isn't going to die. She's going to kill Aunt May. (Probably with Uncle Ben's frozen corpse.) Then she'll turn into the New Venom or something.

See? It's all so obvious!

(I tried to work some rape in their somewhere, but I couldn't think of a way to do it. This is what separates amateurs like me from professional comic writers like Brad Metzler.)

Why does she have to die? Why not just make her crazy when the Wasp asks her about Mayday Parker and have MJ be responsible for the deaths of Thor, Ant Man, and the Vision? And then send her to Europe and never speak of her again...

I can't wait to someone smoke some "Mary Jane"...maybe Jay and Silent-Bob show up and mistake her for their stash.....

I think what will happen is that Peter will become a WoW widow when MJ becomes addicted to raids, guild drama, and grinding Netherwing rep. Pete introduces her to the game after she stops getting modeling/acting gigs, hoping to give her something to do during the dreary hours of her day, while waiting for callbacks. This is the best possible solution for Joey Q. MJ is good as dead - as are all victims of warcrack. And Peter feels the weight of great responsibility as it was he who introduced her.

I think they need to do something original and classy. They should turn her in to ice and shatter her.

Actually, Joe Q has stated that, since marriage makes Spidey "too old" having him be a widower or divorcee would make him even older. That means the only option left is some kind of magical mindwipe or DC style alteration of the space/time continuity a la Superboy Prime's retcon punch. I'm leaning towards the later, especially since that hand holding that fragment could very well be the alternative future Spider-Man from AMS #500 a couple of years back, also by JMS, and that "One More Day" will basically show how this future comes about before we get into all kind of time-travel nonsense.

And the catalyst? Well, over at Millarworld, there's one guy who suggests that Spidey makes a deal with Mephisto to save his Aunt May but it ends up losing Mary Jane as a result, or at least has the marriage wipe-out of existence. Course he's also suggesting Gwen Stacy makes a reapparence.

On the last page of Omega Flight 5, there seems to be an ad for a costumed super-heroine fighting alongside Spider-Man with...long, flowing red hair? Could MJ decide to be some kind of superhero, or am I just way off base and not checking wiki fast enough? Pretty sure I've never heard of or seen this mystery woman before.

Well, this is Marvel Comics, where rape is a bonus character motivation (see Hardy, Felicia). So, MJ will be raped to death by the Kingpin's minions, only she'll experience a cosmic rebirth so she'll lose all of her memories while Peter keeps his, creating DRAMA and ANGST~!

Brain haemorrhage. In her sleep. Nice and natural, but spawning totally unjustified Spider-rage against presumed assassins...

I’m always vexed when comics readers actually advocate for the Illusion of Change. It’s a narrative style designed to trick children into thinking something has happened and characters are growing when in fact nothing has happened and they aren’t growing, and everything will be the same when they come back next time.

Why would a reader who is intelligent enough to be aware of this style actually desire it?

In this case, what change would you prefer Marvel create an illusion of?

What long running comic series are you reading where you don't think that's happening?

The X-men have yet to make humans and mutants equal.

Batman can save the world, but he still can't save gotham.

Superman's still superman, no matter what they've done to him.

I'm shocked that you can be aware of the theory of 'illusion of change' and think that it isn't happening in nearly every superhero comic from the big two.

And as for me desiring it? Yeah, sure. I only read books that have creators I'm interested in, so I don't get too bored with characters.
If everything I read had it, nah, maybe not, but I like Spiderman being in roughly the same spot he was in last time I read him for when the next writer comes along.
I mean, since I've started reading comics, 12 years ago, he really hasn't gone through that many changes (last year excepted - and that all seemed weird to me).
Sure there have been minor cast changes, setting changes, but nothing too major has happened.
That's the illusion of change.

Joe Quesada is going to eat her.

Yes, but how's she going to die?

Doomsday, but it'll turn out to be Amalgam universe Mary Lane Watson-Kent.

Mark Millar retcons Mary Jane to be Petey's sister, both mothered by May, as previously written in that EPIC title he wrote (you know, the only one that sold?). They both go, "Eww," and henceforth only give awkward waves to each other at cookouts.

Two words: Hulk Sex.

she should die of an overdose on heroin ,cuz life was just to much=]