Issue 638 of Amazing Spider-Man brought us the first part of Joe Quesada’s “One Moment in Time” story. We saw the events of that fateful day when Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage was erased from history. Now, in Issue 639, Quesada has the daunting task of making sense of the intervening twenty years of Spider-Man stories; the stories that old-school fans are upset about because the retcon rendered them worthless.
Or did it?
Issue 639 picks up the morning after the wedding. When Pete finally confronts MJ with the truth of the situation, she reaches her breaking point. She doesn’t mind being Spider-Man’s girlfriend, and definitely wants to be Peter Parker’s wife, but she has realized that she cannot and will not be Spider-Man’s wife. Through some introspection they realize that, despite not wanting to go through with the marriage, Pete and MJ still love each other and still want to be together.
The whole decision comes off as a bit forced, but Quesada and Rivera deliver some genuine emotion to pull it together. Overall, it’s an acceptable solution to the problem, and likely the only way they could have incorporated the changes of “One More Day” while still maintaining the integrity of previous storylines. While I was expecting something a little more creative, I can’t be upset with something that makes sense.
That said, the last couple pages threw the story into a completely unexpected direction. Part of Mephisto’s deal was Peter would have his old life back, secret identity and all. Though, if it’s now been established that everything previous to “One More Day” still happened, the events immediately preceding that story need to be explained. The most notable of these events are Peter revealing his identity and the shooting of Aunt May. It looks like we’ll have to wait to see how the unmasking is reversed, but the way they chose to keep Aunt May around just didn’t work for me.
A lot of the tricks Quesada pulls in this issue seem like he’s taking the easy way out. After three years of buildup, I was simply expecting something more substantial out of “One Moment in Time.” However, while the writing may be a bit questionable, the story is still worth reading, and it’s important to make the distinction between the two in this case.
Amazing Spider-Man Issue 639 “One Moment in Time, Part 2”
Marvel Comics
Story: Joe Quesada
Art: Joe Quesada, Paolo Rivera, Danny Miki, Richard Isanove
