Apparently, the problem is that no one on the Marvel staff has seen the Gweneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors:
Close to two years ago at one of our creative summits, the seeds of that idea began to blossom. Those ideas were then taken and a two week long e-mail chain began where we started to throw around ideas until we got the story kind of where we wanted it to be. The guys involved in all of this from the beginning were Joe, Bendis, Millar, Loeb, Tom Brevoort, Axel Alonso and myself. It then all carried over to the next summit, at which Ed Brubaker and Dan Slott also had some stuff to add. It was at one of these summits that JMS said the methodology we were using was more akin to the movie "Sliding Doors" than "Back to the Future." Rather than a single incident not happening that causes a huge domino effect across the timeline, he explained it was more like one door that wasn't taken or opened that only changed the subtlest of things.
That's just not how I remember the movie at all. I'm pretty sure that the movie was about how one subtle little change to the timeline, like making it on one train instead of having to wait for the next, can have huge implications on your life, like ending up getting hit by a bus and dying, or not. And aside from the whole dead thing, everything in the two timelines was completely different. Also, that movie made sense. Really, I never would have thought that a writer's understanding of a fairly mediocre, though far better than "OMD," romantic melodrama would have such a huge effect on my superhero comics. Trippy.
This interview,
part 2 of 5 with Quesada over at CBR, also reveals that I was totally right about them wanting to bring Gwen back. In a way I wish they had. It would have ensured this whole thing would get undone sooner rather than later.
Actually, bringing Gwen back might have made more sense, now that I think about it. It would have been like saying that it was the only way to ensure that Peter and MJ never got together was if Gwen hadn't died. Had Gwen not been dropped off a bridge, MJ wouldn't have been there to help him get over Gwen's death, and therefore would never have seen that there was more to MJ than just the ditzy party girl. (This would have also neatly stuck a pin in the idea that had Gwen lived, she and Peter would have lived happily ever after, which would have made me pretty happy and a lot of other readers I know.) It also would have opened up the potential for Norman Osborn never dying, thereby making it so Harry never went nuts, becoming the second Green Goblin, and ultimately dying from the serum. That means that it would make some amount of sense for Harry to have continued his druggie lifestyle, never marrying and having a son.
Instead, we inexplicably have a Harry Osborn who is a lush and has no wife, and apparently no child, both of which he obtained before Peter's marriage to MJ, and a bunch of friends who don't care enough about him to not let him drink when he has just come out of rehab. (Peter Parker: worst best friend ever!) Peter's also living with Aunt May, which he hasn't done since the early college years (aside from some brief periods where he and MJ were lacking in funds) and has his original webshooters back, both of which are also changes that had nothing to do with his marriage. And I still fail to see how either version does anything but negate 30 years of comic book history. Now I know what it must be like to be a life long Superman reader after each Crisis. It makes my head hurt. A lot. How does Superman retain any readers this way?
Also, in the interview, Quesada keeps mentioning the "science" that JMS wanted to use (which is apparently what necessitated all the rewrites), and I just really don't think that word means what he thinks it means. I am, however, willing to bet that JMS's version made sense, because while he has written some startlingly bad Spider-Man stories during his run, he has always written them well. Some ideas are just crap.
I would also like to point out that Quesada, for all the "the buck stops here" talk about the delays, spreads the blame for this story pretty widely around the Marvel offices, and I have subsequently lost some respect for Brubaker. I'm sure that will last until I read the issue of
Captain America that came out on Friday. (Damn you, Brubaker, and your scary talent making it impossible to hold a grudge!) The fact that so many creators, albeit of varying levels of talent, talked about this for so long and it didn't occur to them that maybe the hero shouldn't be making deals with the devil just so he doesn't have to feel guilty, especially ones that amount to a mystical abortion, boggles the mind. I guess Marvel heroes can get by being good role models as long as they don't smoke. That's the important thing.
I wasn't going to post any more about "OMD," but now that I have opened the flood gates, more posts are sure to follow.
Awesome movie. I've seen it already, so I listened to 2 of the audio commentaries first. The only thing geekier than the Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary is the Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino commentary. The Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary talks about how Wright would direct Pegg to "Marvelize" his performance by exaggerating his eyebrows like a Ditko drawing and references Norman Osborne's widow's peak. I now have a crush on Edgar Wright.
Can you believe I did not have a copy of this on DVD? Clearly, my life was incomplete and that needed to be rectified.
I mostly bought this for Ollie, but the Ultra Humanite was an added bonus. I love him on JLU. The Supergirl figure is kind of lame though.
Isn't that the cutest little Cyclops you ever did see? I seem to be building up a collection of Cyclops figures. When I was looking for this picture, I found that there's a set with Wolverine and Phoenix. I have no interest in owning a Wolverine figure, but since they never seem to make Marvel Girl figures, I need the Phoenix one. It would make the perfect mascot for my car.
She's so pretty. It was right above the Buffy comics in the shop and I just couldn't resist. Sometimes I think the guys at the comic book shop do that to me on purpose. I haven't decided whether or not to take her out of the box yet. (Yes, I do do that on occasion.) 