of Spider-Man The last few decades of comic book continuity have been overshadowed by a controversial decision, and it has had the side effect of downplaying an era that I think could be invaluable to the next Spidey movie. UCM phase. Every cloud has a silver lining, and this was Spidey’s era, playing with Spider-Man’s history and format in a way that still remains to be talked about nearly two decades later.
The erasure of Spider-Man’s wedding is a constant sore point for fans, and one unfortunate consequence of this is that the following New day era is criminally underrated. This era followed 2007 Spider-Man: Another Daywhich saw Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson’s wedding literally erased from the timeline thanks to Peter making a deal with Mephisto. Fans weren’t… happy at all, to say the least. The problem was that this fan anger, most commonly pushed by Marvel’s then-editor-in-chief (and One more day artist) Joe Quesada, I meant that Brand New Day never got a fair shake in my opinion.
of Spider-Man New day Era remains underrated and could be a model for future MCU stories
But what exactly was it?
Starting with 2008 Amazing Spider-Man #546Brand New Day shook up everything for Spider-Man, both in the universe and behind the scenes. Every Spider-Man Book in Progress, Plus ASM concluded, and ASM it began publishing three times a month, with a rotating ‘brain pool’ of writers (and artists) at the helm. Spidey also appeared in books such as that by writer Brian Michael Bendis New Avengersbut he wasn’t overexposed in the same way that so many larger-than-life characters can be. The challenge was to convince understandably tired fans to give this new book the chance it deserved.
In-universe, the status quo heralded major changes and resets in Peter’s life. Not only was he not married to MJ, but he was also single and living with Aunt May again. Harry Osborn, who had been dead for over a decade, was back, redefining other characters in his orbit, like his now ex-wife Liz Allen. Most importantly, in addition to his marriage, Spider-Man’s secret identity, which had been made public just a few years earlier in Civil War (by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, who also drew the first full BND arc) it was now secret again.
Why Brand New Day works for Spider-Man?
(The middle word is the important one)
If the era were just a reversion to some version of a classic status quo, though, I wouldn’t be talking about it so positively. New day also brought a ton of new ideas and characters to the franchisesand. From villains like Mr Negative and Menace to love interests like Carlie Cooper. Brand New Day was relentless in throwing new things at the wall, and while not everything stuck (as with every era, there are absolutely some stinkers), as a whole it was a really exciting prospect in an industry that finds change difficult.
He also did something that often gets lost in Spidey stories, which is limiting the scope. For the first time in years, Spider-Man truly felt like he was at street level again. He wasn’t working with Tony Stark like he was in the past. Civil War was. He didn’t have a fortune, or even a real job. Their threats were mobsters and smaller-scale individual villains. Hell, one of their biggest problems was a guy who wore a Spider-Man mask to mug people (the aptly named Spider-Mugger). These limitations forced Peter and his writers to think for themselves, and the era was all the better for it.
New day I also managed to do the rare thing that all Marvel resets aim for, in a way, which is to attract a new reader… me. As a very young reader at the time, I didn’t buy weekly comics, but around 2010 I picked up some Brand New Day trade paperbacks at the local public library, and it was this time that led me to Spider-Man. I didn’t to need know decades of history because much of the history was new and being introduced to everyone.
The Brand New Day structure was a risky experiment for Spider-Man comics that paid off
Sometimes less is more
Another thing I love about Brand New Day it is your real-world structure. Fans complain endlessly about how bloated modern comic book lines are. It can be draining on both your wallet and your attention span to pick through, say… 10 different X-Men titles. What the BND did was take away to go back the Spider-Man line. Amazing Spider-Man became the only ongoing Spidey book, but its scheduling meant fans didn’t have to wait long for more stories. At times it almost felt like an anthology book, but it was grounded in Peter Parker’s day-to-day concerns and struggles.
What’s even better is the rotating ‘Brain Trust’ of writers who have ensured the book is released bi-weekly. This format likely introduced many readers to writers who would become big deals in Spider-Verse soon, like Dan Slott and Zeb Wells (this is not an invitation to complain about Well’s current run in the comments, by the way). The reader didn’t love the work any individual writer was doing, they weren’t stuck with it every issue. This format also helped frequent artistic changes seem less jarring, providing a proving ground for art superstars like Marcos MartÃn.
The MCU could learn from the new day (seriously)
Keep it simple, stupid
It may seem like heresy, but the MCU’s Spider-Man could learn a lot from Brand New Day. It’s not like there’s no precedent. Spider-Man: No Way Home already used the broad plot structure of One more day in his identity-concealing and timeline-altering antics. In an era of superhero properties defined by these often exhausting multiversal crossovers, it would be a breath of fresh air to see Spidey sent back to some semblance of basics. This does not mean discarding everything that came before, One more day It’s still a cautionary tale, just sometimes simpler is better.
If the MCU wants to continue its cultural relevance and regain some of the status losses it has suffered in recent years, then Spider-Man has to be rock solid. You can’t go back to the mine of previous adaptations forever, especially with Sony’s Spider-Verse films already being nearly flawless in their version of the Spider-Verse. Then go in the opposite direction. Introduce strange new street characters and break Peter’s dependence on Stark-Tech. To have Spider-Man be the friendly web-swinger in the neighborhood he was in New day.